Watch the original film by the Pang Brothers to see if Renee Zellweger can match its award-winning performance in the US remake of The Eye.
World Premieres:
The EYE - Hong Kong, May 2002;
THE EYE 2 - Hong Kong, March 2004
Year of last DVD release: 2004
Country of Production: Hong Kong
Distribution: Lions Gate Entertainment
Language: Mandarin, Thai, English
Subtitles: English
Pang Brothers, Danny and Oxide, brought horror to a whole new mind twisting level that plays with contemporary ghost stories.
In The EYE, we follow Mun (Award winning performance by Angelica Lee Sinji), a girl who's been blind most of her life learning to see with her new eyes for the first time. Trouble is, she isn't really sure what she's seeing should really be there.
In The EYE 2 (which in my opinion should've been renamed altogether), we follow Joey (Shu Qi), a woman who's just attempted suicide while being unknowingly pregnant. At the point of both bringing life and facing death, she unwittingly opens the gates of the spirit world; and discovers ghosts are stalking her.
Both DVD releases surprised me because of one simple thing: MAKING OF featurettes ... with ENGLISH SUBTITLES. Most Asian DVDs I buy come with a 'Making of' featurette with cast and crew interviews subtitled in Chinese which I can neither read nor understand Cantonese or Mandarin. So the English subtitles were a welcomed surprise to be able to understand the genesis of the film.
Also included are Special Effects featurette on The EYE DVD and Alternate endings and trailers on The EYE 2 DVD. Both are presented in 16:9 Anamorphic with Surround Sound.
When the news of its US remake (like The RING) was announced, my sister and I wondered if US audiences would get its level of superstition with the supernatural that is so imbedded in Asian cultures - which could explain why those who watched the original after the remake were bored. Still, we figured it may work within a Mexican or First Nations context since both those cultures are imbedded in the US audience consciousness and still have cultural ties to the spirit world.
At the time of the writing of this review, Renee Zellweger is confirmed to play the lead in the US remake currently in production. The film is care of Tom Cruises' production company. I wonder if it'll have the same creeped out/ lingering feeling as the original.
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