| View Larger Image | The Eye (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy) | DVDStarring: Jessica Alba
| List Price: | $34.98 | | Price: | $31.49 | | You Save: | $3.49 (10%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 97 minutes | | Format: | AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Studio: | Lions Gate | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 2.35:1 | | Release Date: | June 03, 2008 | | Sales Rank: | 44,545th |
|
FEATURES | - Sydney Wells is blind and has been so since a childhood tragedy. After undergoing surgery to restore her sight she learns to see again. But soon after, unexplainable shadowy and frightening images start to haunt her. Not knowing if they are an aftermath of surgery, her mind adjusting to sight, her imagination, or something horrifyingly real, Sydney is soon convinced that her anonymous eye donor ha
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
Sydney Wells is blind and has been so since a childhood tragedy. After undergoing surgery to restore her sight she learns to see again. But soon after, unexplainable shadowy and frightening images start to haunt her. Not knowing if they are an aftermath of surgery, her mind adjusting to sight, her imagination, or something horrifyingly real, Sydney is soon convinced that her anonymous eye donor has somehow opened the door to a terrifying world only she can now see. |
Amazon.com
Jessica Alba can see dead people in The Eye, the umpteenth Hollywood remake of an Asian horror film. The source material is Korean directors Danny and Oxide Pang's chilling 2002 feature of the same name, and the remake (by French directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud, who made 2006's Them) sticks to the basic facts of the original. Here, Alba is a blind concert musician who undergoes a corneal transplant; the catch is that while the operation restores her sight, it also allows her to glimpse the spirits of the dead that pass among the living, as well as the underworld figures that bring them to the beyond. The frustration and terror of Alba's predicament makes for a compelling story, but while the film is executed with the utmost of professionalism, the scares (the picture's raison d'etre) are delivered in the same ham-fisted manner as any big-budget horror film of the last few years. The result is another disappointing American remake that underscores how the international film community has become more successful at delivering yet another of our most quintessential film genres. -- Paul Gaita |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.0 based on 27 reviews)
|
Pretty Boring!!! by Pumpkin Man  2 Stars
February 23, 2009
Although it has the sexy beautiful Jessica Alba, it's boring, and dull. Alba plays Sydney Wells, a classical violinist who has been blind as a bat since she was 5. She has a cornea transplant, and now she can see again. She begins to see visions of fire and people dying. I didn't really like the ending. I probably wouldn't recommend THE EYE!!!
| |
Not a Terrible Remake, But Maybe It's Time to Stop ... by Tsuyoshi (Kyoto, Japan) 2 Stars
November 07, 2008
Jessica Alba is Sydney Wells, a concert violinist who has recently received an eye transplant. The operation is a success, but soon she starts seeing scary things that other people cannot see. Could it be that her new eyes are deceiving her, or is she just imagining things?
The film's premise itself is fairly interesting, but "The Eye" fails to really interest us because of its derivative story and the lack of scare. It was a bit shocking for me to see the director team David Moreau and Xavier Palud, responsible for their brilliant film "Them," using so many familiar tricks of horrors like sudden big sound or shadowy figure moving around.
The 2002 Hong Kong film (directed by the Pang brothers), upon which this new version is based, made a good use of the premise against the background of the Asian locations and culture. It may not be the greatest horror film (or maybe I should not call it a horror as the story was more about the characters - the recipient and the donor - than about the terrors they experience), but the direction was imaginative and Angelica Lee's acting as the tormented heroine was splendid. Unfortunately Jessica Alba's performances as the terrified heroine is not as good as Lee's and supports including Alessandro Nivola and Parker Posey are not very memorable.
As you know, films with stories related to "the second sight" are nothing new (remember "The Eyes of Laura Mars"? or how about "Blink"?) To create a truly engaging film, however, you need something more, something that makes the whole film more suspenseful or some clever twist as in "The Dead Zone" or, naturally, "The Sixth Sense." Though some may find the film is reasonably entertaining (and I have never said the film is terrible), "The Eye" needs original ways and ideas to develop the story.
| |
Ground out another cheap Chinese remake by bernie (Arlington, Texas) 2 Stars
September 20, 2008
This must be the latest movie making trend. Back in the sixty's they made a lot of cheap Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns that made money. Little did the public know that the stories were borrowed from Japan?
Now someone is trying pitifully to recreate the success of the Eastwood films with such films a "Dark Water" a remake of
"Honogurai mizu no soko kara". Evidently they did not learn their lesson as now we have "The Eye" a cheep remake of the Hong Kong film "Jian Gui". When will they ever learn?
Yes it is the standard formula artist gets a new set of eyes that contain the memory of the donor. Now she sees dead people and must decipher the reason.
This has been done a lot better many times before. And I am sure this is not the last time. The film passes time but has no great insight. To make it scary they turn the volume up 10 times the voice level and for Blu-ray lovers they have lots of flashy things. Somehow I do not remember her getting her eardrums fixed also; so how come she can hear dead people as well?
Jessica Alba is cute and plays her part well. But not well enough to stop the fast forward button from being pressed.
Eyes of Laura Mars Starring: Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones
| |
One of Year's Worst Movies by SarahtheFussy (Fort Lauderdale, FL)  1 Stars
August 23, 2008
This incredibly dull sleeper had almost no plot and wooden performances. Jessica Alba's performance was boring, expressionless and a bit precious. The movie only has one good scene - towards the end - when it explains the reason for the events. Avoid this badly paced, poorly written snoozer.
| |
ALBA A HOLLOW LEAD FOR J-HORROR REMAKE by Tim Janson (Michigan) 2 Stars
August 22, 2008
The Eye is the latest American remake of an Asian horror film, this time of the Hong Kong produced film of the same name. The general theme of nearly all of these Americanized remakes is stick with the original! I know...some of you don't like to read subtitles but in the case of this film, the original is vastly better. Jessica Alba continues to get starring roles without demonstrating any particular skill at acting and she's no better here.
She plays a blind concert violinist named Sydney Wells who undergoes cornea transplant surgery to restore her sight. The operation proves to be successful but soon after, Syndey begins experiencing horrific visions. At first she thinks these are just nightmares and tries to pass them off but she soon becomes convinced that she's seeing things that the cornea donor saw. Her Doctor (Nivola) thinks it's merely stress from dealing with the new sensations of her restored sight.
Sydney continues to "see dead people" although why her eyes also allow her to HEAR dead people remains a mystery of the film. The visions are mostly those fleeting glimpses designed to make you jump in your seat although they never amount to any prolonged tension. Sydney is determined to find out who the donor is and what message they are trying to send with the visions. While she will learn that donor had a sort of precognitive power to see people's deaths and attempt to prevent them. This, however, doesn't explain why Sydney would see the ghost of a little boy in her building who is looking for his report card nor the ghost of the little girl in the hospital who died of cancer. It's just one of the many senseless continuity gaffes in "The Eye". Sydney is also able to see mysterious shadow creatures, which seemingly escort dead spirits off to wherever. These creatures appear to be evil so are they devils? They don't like that Sydney can see them but that plot twist goes virtually untapped.
Alba is easy on the eyes (no pun intended) but she lacks any presence or charisma in this role. The only real strength of her performance was her emotions and struggles as a formerly blind person who is able to see for the first time in decades. As tedious as Alba was, her co-star Alessandro Nivola is even more boring. He defiantly tells Sydney that he could ruin his career if he reveals who the donor is...and then he goes and steals the file anyway.
The Eye freely borrows clichés from just about every other J-Horror film that's been made in the last decade but none of them are exciting enough to save this film. Sydney may have had her eyes opened in the film but she'll make ours close tightly.
Extras
The Eye comes on two discs although the second disc features just a digital copy of the film that you can load on your PC or iPod. The first disc includes four featuettes:
"Shadow World: The Paranormal Past"
"Becoming Sydney"
"Birth of the Shadowman"
"Dissecting a Disaster"
There are also a few minutes of deleted scenes and a theatrical trailer.
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Shutter (Widescreen) (Unrated Edition)
Starring: Joshua Jackson, Rachael Taylor, James Kyson Lee, Megumi Okina, David Denman
Directed By: Masayuki Ochiai
Also With: Arnon Milchan (Producer), Boosaba Daoruang (Producer), Doug Davison (Producer), Banjong Pisanthanakun (Writer), Luke Dawson (Writer), Parkpoom Wongpoom (Writer), Sopon Sukdapisit (Writer)
Treading territory similar to JU-ON: THE GRUDGE (2003), RINGU (1998), and ONE MISSED CALL (2003), all Asian horror films remade for American audiences, SHUTTER is the first English-language film for director Masayuki Ochiai, whose career has been primarily within the horror genre. The result is another potent ghost story able to conjure up feelings of dread through a single longhaired, poker-faced female apparition. Newlywed New Yorkers Ben (Joshua Jackson, THE SKULLS) and Jane Shaw (Rachael...
| 
| Untraceable
Starring: Diane Lane, Zachary Hoffman, Joseph Cross, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks
Directed By: Gregory Hoblit
Also With: Anastas Michos (Cinematographer), Christopher Young (Composer)
Within the FBI there exists a division dedicated to investigating and prosecuting criminals on the internet. Welcome to the front lines of the war on cybercrime, where special Agent Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) and Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks) have seen it all - until now. A tech-savvy internet predator is displaying his graphic murders on his own website and the fate of each of his tormented captives is left in the hands of the public: the more hits his site gets, the faster his victims die. When...
| 
| The Ruins (Unrated Edition)
Starring: Shawn Ashmore, Jena Malone, Jonathan Tucker, Laura Ramsey, Joe Anderson
Directed By: Carter Smith
Also With: Ben Stiller (Producer), Chris Bender (Producer), Gary Barber (Producer), Jeremy Kramer (Producer), Roger Birnbaum (Producer), Stuart Cornfeld (Producer), Scott B. Smith (Writer)
Movie DVD
| 
| Jumper
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Diane Lane, Jamie Bell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jesse James
Directed By: Doug Liman
Also With: Barry Peterson (Cinematographer), John Powell (Composer)
David is a Jumper who can teleport himself anywhere in the world, which creates a fun and exciting life. But things turn deadly when David finds himself pursued by a secret organization sworn to kill Jumpers. Forming an uneasy alliance with another Jumper he becomes a player in a war that has been raging for thousands of years.
| 
| One Missed Call
Starring: Jason Beghe, Donna Biscoe, Edward Burns, Wilbur Fitzgerald, Rhoda Griffis
Also With: Shelly Johnson (Cinematographer), Glen MacPherson (Cinematographer), Reinhold Heil (Composer)
It happens to one. Then another. And another. College students discover eerie voicemail messages on their cell phones. Each call comes from the near future. Each call has the chilling voice of the student during his or her last moments alive. And each call comes true. Terror is One Missed Call away in this got-your-number shocker based on the hit Japanese thriller Chakushin ari. Does the viral spree of calls have a single source? Is there something that links the victims? Psych student Beth...
|
|
|
