The Eye DVD Review
The success of The Grudge and The Ring opened up Pandora’s Box, allowing every director to think they have the chops to tackle J-Horror. Which explains why David Moreau and Xavier Palud took it upon themselves to remake the Pang Brothers’ 2002 international horror film, Gin Gwai (a.k.a. Jian Gui), or The Eye.
My Rating: 
As if that wasn’t enough, they cast Jessica Alba in the lead, playing Sydney Wells, a blind violinist who had sight when she was a small child but lost it in a tragic accident. Her sister, Helen (Parker Posey), twists Sydney’s arm into having an operation to have the corneas of a recently deceased woman replace her own, allowing her to see again. After the operation, Sydney’s sight is restored, but she’s seeing things that may not really be there. When Sydney begins to believe she’s seeing the things her cornea donor saw, she has a hard time convincing anyone else that’s possible. She turns to a therapist, Dr. Paul Faulkner (Alessandro Nivola), for help adjusting to being in the world of sight once again.
Moreau and Palud don’t have many credits to their names as of yet, so I think this might just be a case of them being in over their collective heads. Alba (The Fantastic Four, Sin City, “Dark Angel”) does an adequate job with her role, but she and Nivola (Grace Is Gone, Junebug, Laurel Canyon) share little in the way of believable chemistry. Posey (The Anniversary Party, Best In Show, Scream 3, Clockwatchers, Party Girl) seems to make the most of her minuscule role, and I think the film probably would have been a whole lot better had she been cast in the lead, or at least given more to work with.
The Eye is presented in 16×9 Widescreen 2.35:1 DVD Screen Format, with audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 and optional Spanish 2.0, as well as optional English and Spanish subtitles.
Extras include eight deleted scenes and four featurettes. The first is “Birth Of The Shadowman,” which is about the menacing figure seen in the film and the man who played that role. The second, “Becoming Sydney,” delves into Alba’s work on the film and how she got into character. The third, “Shadow World: Seeing The Dead,” offers insight from a parapsychologist, a doctor, one of the executive producers, and Alba regarding how patients who have undergone transplants have actually started to have similar characteristics as those of their donors. The fourth, “The Eye: An Explosive Finale,” talks with the cast and crew involved with the end of the movie. There is no commentary track.
In all, The Eye is a mediocre horror film that’s neither terrible nor great. It’s rated PG-13 for “violence/terror and disturbing content.” But if you’re looking for a good J-Horror/horror, I would skip The Eye and go for The Grudge or The Ring, both of which deliver the same punch as the originals.
I give The Eye 2 out of 5 stars.