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How sad is this?

Excellent but underrated film

A lot of fun.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

When it comes to understanding the creepiness, I think Asian film makers have better grasp of horror than their western counter parts.There are no statistics about the number of Asians vs Westerners about their ghostly encounters during their youth, but many places in Asia seems to be naturally haunted (like the hospital in this movie), and percentage of people who have direct experience with ghosts may be higher there. The creepiness of many good Asian horror films are based on these first hand experience, only amplified about ten times. They really know how to hit your subconscious fear. On the other hand, Western horror films seems to be focused more on physical violence (like seen in "1408"), which really isn't as terrifying.The Eye is good, because the horror is intensely personal. We can really emphasize with the fear of the main character. This is an excellent film that has no violence, but still has high creepiness factor to it.

Wong Kar Mun went blind at the age of two, 18 years later she undergoes a cornea transplant that appears to be a success. Unfortunately that success comes with a terrifying side-effect; the ability to see unhappy ghosts…….Gin Gwai (The Eye) is directed by the Pang brothers Oxide and Danny and stars Angelica Lee (Mun) and Lawrence Chou (Dr.Wah) as the two main principals.No matter what source of reference you use for film reviews, one thing that can be guaranteed as regards Gin Gwai is how divided people are on it. One of the few things that most tend to agree on tho is that it's visual flourishes are nothing short of fantastic. And they are. Blended with the editing, music, sound, camera-work and the effects, it therefore fuels the fire of those calling it style over substance. It's also fair to drop onside with those folk decrying its over familiarity with its central themes. If you have seen Irvin Kershner' The Eyes Of Laura Mars, Michael Apted's Blink and M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, well you wont be watching anything new thematically here. But the Pang brothers have crafted a thoroughly engrossing, menacing and nerve gnawer of a film, one that delivers chills and scares for the discerning horror sub-genre fan.Here's the crux of the matter with Gin Gwai, it is the opposite side of the Asian horror coin to the likes of the blood letting Audition. This is pure and simply for those not in need of murder death kill to fulfil their horror needs. I was creeped out immensely by this film because the ghost and supernatural side of horror is what really works for me, as long as it is done effectively. To which Gin Gwai most assuredly is. The various scenes shift from ethereal unease to hold your breath terror, from classrooms to lifts, to hospital wards, the brothers Pang, with beautiful technical expertise, held me over a precipice of dread. Even the opening credits are inventive and have the ability to send a cautionary shiver down ones spine. There's a barely formed, and pointless, romantic angle that marks it down a point, but as the blistering (literally) last quarter assaults the senses, so as the time for reflection arrives, Gin Gwai ends up being one of the this decades best horror pictures. To me at least. 9/10

It is only after seeing the trailer for the Jessica Alba remake that I found out there was an original Japanese version, and this is it. Basically, blind since the age of two, eighteen year old Wong Kar Mun (Angelica Lee, or Lee Sin-Je) in Hong Kong submits to a surgery of cornea transplantation, i.e. being given new donated eyes, allowing her to have her sight back. Recovering from the surgery, she gets more than she bargained for when she starts seeing apparitions, i.e. dead people, and some of these ghosts are pretty unfriendly. So she begins a journey, with the help of Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou) to find out who donated her new eyes and get rid of these horrible visions. In the end however, she goes to pretty drastic lengths to get rid of seeing the ghosts, I can't remember much, I just know there is an explosive crash, and her eyes end up draining blood. Also starring Chutcha Rujinanon as Ling, Candy Lo as Yee (Mun's Sister), Pierre Ping as Dr. Eak, Yin Ping Ko as Mun's grandmother and Edmund Chen as Dr. Lo. The effects and story, as far as I remember, were quite effective, and it was a stylish psychological and visceral horror thriller. Very good!

Editor note: my computer is old, and I cannot hit the "contains spoiler" button; I'll have to leave out some of why I LOVE LOVE LOVE this film.Replaced The Shining as best horror I've ever seen. I bought it cuz I rented it too much.I've never seen a movie break viewer sense of space/time/expectation so often. Even owning it and watching it a million times, I cannot watch two scenes without screaming bloody murder.Premise genius: you don't even recognize your own reflection? Bonuses to horror fans: 1. Tribute to Hitchcock ending. But then, it doesn't end.2. Every common nightmare you actually have in real life, hit, HARD.3. No truly happy ending.I just can't explain my two favorite scenes well, as they're spoilers and I can't hit that button.1. Best break-of-space EVER.2. Best real-time horror EVER.If you have a better one, I WANT TO KNOW.