The Eye (2002 film)

Last updated

The Eye
The-Eye-2002-poster.jpg
Hong Kong film poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 見鬼
Simplified Chinese 见鬼
Directed by Pang brothers
Written byJojo Hui
Pang brothers
Produced by Peter Chan
Lawrence Cheng
Starring Angelica Lee
Lawrence Chou
Chutcha Rujinanon
CinematographyDecha Seementa
Edited byPang brothers
Music byOrange Music
Production
company
Applause Pictures
Distributed by Mediacorp Raintree Pictures
Release dates
  • 9 May 2002 (2002-05-09)(Hong Kong)
  • 27 June 2002 (2002-06-27)(Singapore)
Running time
98 minutes
CountriesHong Kong
Singapore [1]
Languages Cantonese [1]
Mandarin
Thai
BudgetSG$4,500,000
Box officeHK$13,733,856 [1]

The Eye, also known as Seeing Ghosts, is a 2002 Hong Kong-Singaporean horror film directed by the Pang brothers. The film spawned two sequels by the Pang brothers, The Eye 2 and The Eye 10 . There are three remakes of this film, including Adhu , made in 2004 in Tamil, Naina made in 2005 in Hindi and The Eye , a 2008 Hollywood production starring Jessica Alba.

Contents

Plot

Blind since the age of 5, 20-year-old Hong Kong classical violinist Wong Kar Mun undergoes an eye cornea transplant after receiving a pair of new eyes from a donor. Initially, she is glad to have her sight restored but becomes troubled when she starts seeing mysterious figures that seem to foretell gruesome deaths. The night before her discharge from the hospital, she sees a shadowy figure accompanying a patient out of the room, and the next morning, the patient is pronounced dead.

Mun goes to see her doctor's nephew, Dr. Wah, a psychotherapist, about the strange entities that she has been seeing. He is initially skeptical, but as he gradually develops a closer relationship with her, he decides to accompany her to northern Thailand to find Ling, the eye donor. When they ask a village doctor about Ling and her family, he is unwilling to reveal anything but becomes more cooperative when Mun tells him that she sees what Ling used to see. Ling had a psychic ability that allowed her to foresee death and disaster. However, her fellow villagers misunderstood her as a jinx and refused to trust her. Once, Ling tried to warn the people about an imminent disaster, but they drove her away in disbelief. When her vision came true, she felt guilty about the tragedy and hanged herself. Ling's mother is both depressed and angry with her daughter and has never forgiven Ling for committing suicide until one night, Ling's spirit possesses Mun and attempts suicide. Ling's mother saves Mun and breaks down, saying she has forgiven Ling, and Ling's spirit leaves in peace.

On the return journey, their bus is caught in a traffic jam, and Mun sees hundreds of ghostly figures lumbering on the road. Believing that a catastrophe is approaching, she runs out of the bus and tries to warn everyone to leave, but no one understands her and thinks she is insane. The traffic jam is due to a tank truck that has toppled over and is blocking the road. The truck starts leaking natural gas, but nobody notices it. A driver restarts his engine and ignites the gas, causing a chain explosion. Dr. Wah saves Mun from death by shielding her with his body, but Mun is already blinded by glass fragments. In the epilogue, a blind Mun is seen roaming the streets of Hong Kong. Although she has lost her sense of sight again, she is happy that she now has the support and friendship of Dr. Wah.

Cast

Production

The Eye is a co-production of MediaCorp Raintree Pictures in Singapore and Applause Pictures of Hong Kong, and was shot in Hong Kong and Thailand with a pan-Asian cast and crew, including Malaysian actress Angelica Lee, Chinese-Canadian singer Lawrence Chou, Singaporean singer-actor Pierre Png and Thai actress Chutcha Rujinanon. [2] The crew included Thai cinematographer Decha Seementa and the Thai music collective Orange Music provided the score.

Danny and Oxide Pang said they were inspired to write the screenplay for The Eye by a report they had seen in a Hong Kong newspaper 13 years before, about a 16-year-old girl who had received a corneal transplant and committed suicide soon after.

Oxide said in an interview: "We'd always wondered what the girl saw when she regained her eyesight finally and what actually made her want to end her life". [3]

At the end, the scene with the accident, is based on an actual event from Bangkok gas explosion on New Petchburi Road on 24 September 1990. [4] It killed 88 people, injured 36 people, 67 cars were destroyed and total damage was 215 million baht.

Release

The Eye was released in Hong Kong on 9 May 2002 and in Singapore on 27 June. In the Philippines, the film was released on 5 February 2003. [5]

Critical reception

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes offers an approval rating of 64% based on 104 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Conventional ghost tale with a few genuine scares". [6] The film has a score of 66 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [7]

Box office

The film was released in the United States and Canada in 13 cinemas on 6 June 2003, grossing $122,590 its opening weekend. In those countries, the film's widest release was 23 theatres and it eventually grossed a total $512,049. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Naina</i> (2005 film) 2005 Indian film

Naina is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language horror film directed by Shripal Morakhia and starring Urmila Matondkar. The film was premiered in the Marché du Film section of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. The film is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong-Singaporean horror film The Eye directed by the Pang brothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelica Lee</span> Malaysian-Chinese actress and singer

Lee Sinje is a Malaysian film actress and pop singer. She started her career in singing and later moved on to acting in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Lee starred in The Eye, the hit Asian horror film by the Pang Brothers, winning her the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress, Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards and a Hong Kong Golden Bauhinia Awards. She is among the very few Asian artists to be awarded Best Newcomer Awards at the Berlin Film Festival in 2001 for her role in Betelnut Beauty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonzee Nimibutr</span> Thai film director, film producer and screenwriter

Nonzee Nimibutr is a Thai film director, film producer and screenwriter. Best known for his ghost thriller, Nang Nak, he is generally credited as the leader among a "New Wave" of Thai filmmakers that also includes Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Danny Pang Phat and Oxide Pang Chun, collectively known as the Pang Brothers, are a filmmaking duo of screenwriters and film directors. The pair are twins, born in Hong Kong in 1965. Among their films is the hit Asian horror film, The Eye, which has spawned two sequels, as well as a Hollywood version also titled The Eye and a Hindi film called Naina. Besides working in Hong Kong, the pair frequently work in the Thai film industry, where they made their directorial debut as a team, Bangkok Dangerous.

<i>The Eye 10</i> 2005 Hong Kong film

The Eye 10 is a 2005 horror film directed by the Pang brothers. An international co-production of Hong Kong and Thailand, the film is the third entry in a trilogy, following the films The Eye and The Eye 2. It stars Bolin Chen, Kate Yeung, Isabella Leong, Bongkoj Khongmalai, Ray MacDonald and Kris Gu.

<i>The Eye 2</i> 2004 Hong Kong film

The Eye 2 is a 2004 Hong Kong supernatural horror film directed and edited by Danny and Oxide Pang. It is a standalone sequel to The Eye (2002). Produced by Mediacorp Raintree Pictures and Applause, the film was released in Hong Kong on 8 March 2004.

<i>Bangkok Dangerous</i> (2008 film) 2008 American action thriller film

Bangkok Dangerous is a 2008 American action thriller film written and directed by the Pang Brothers, and starring Nicolas Cage. It is a remake of the Pangs' 1999 debut Bangkok Dangerous, a Thai film, for which Cage's production company, Saturn Films, purchased the remake rights.

<i>Re-cycle</i> 2006 film

Re-cycle is a 2006 horror film directed by the Pang Brothers and starring Angelica Lee. The film was the closing film in the Un Certain Regard program at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. It was also a reunion for the Pangs and the actress Lee, who starred in the Pangs' 2002 hit The Eye. It is a Hong Kong/Thai co-production.

<i>An Autumns Tale</i> 1987 film

An Autumn's Tale is a 1987 Hong Kong romantic drama film set in New York City starring Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, and Danny Chan. The film is the second entry in Mabel Cheung's "migration trilogy."

<i>Visible Secret</i> 2001 film

Visible Secret is a 2001 Hong Kong horror comedy film, directed by Ann Hui, starring Eason Chan, Shu Qi, Anthony Wong, Sam Lee, James Wong, Wayne Lai, Kara Hui, Tony Liu and Cheung Tat-ming.

<i>Split Second</i> (TV series) Hong Kong TV series or program

Split Second is a 2004 Hong Kong crime thriller television drama produced by TVB and Thailand's TV3, with Marco Law serving as the executive producer. It ran from October 4, 2004 to November 12, 2004, with the total of 30 episodes.

<i>Adhu</i> 2004 Indian film

Adhu (transl. That) is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language horror film directed by Ramesh Balakrishnan, starring Sneha as a spirit possessed girl. The film, that has Aravind, a newcomer, Suha, Kazan Khan and Vijayan in supporting and Abbas in a cameo role, is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong-Thai-Singaporean film The Eye. The film, with music scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography by P. Selvakumar, released on 15 October 2004 and received generally negative reviews and is considered a box-office disaster.

<i>The Eye</i> (2008 film) 2008 film by David Moreau

The Eye is a 2008 supernatural horror-thriller film directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, scripted by Sebastian Gutierrez, and starring Jessica Alba, Parker Posey, Alessandro Nivola, and Rade Šerbedžija. It is a remake of the Pang Brothers' 2002 film of the same name.

<i>Looking Back in Anger</i> Hong Kong television drama series

Looking Back in Anger was a 1989 Hong Kong TV series and one of the most watched TVB series by Chinese people in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and around the world. Many factors contributed to the success of this series. As well as its tragic but memorable storyline, the series featured a strong cast, with Felix Wong, Deric Wan, Carina Lau, Kathy Chow Hoi-Mei and Maggie Shiu. The popular theme song of the series "Yat sang ho kau" (一生何求) was sung by Danny Chan and later by Deric Wan himself.

Spacked Out is a 2000 Hong Kong social realist film directed by Lawrence Ah Mon and produced by Johnnie To. It has a Category III rating in Hong Kong.

<i>Dream Home</i> 2010 Hong Kong film

Dream Home is a 2010 Hong Kong slasher film directed and co-written by Pang Ho-cheung. The film is the story of Cheng Lai-sheung who saves up money to buy her dream home. After the sellers decide to turn her down, she goes into a murderous frenzy.

<i>The Childs Eye</i> 2010 Hong Kong film

The Child's Eye is a 2010 Hong Kong horror film by the Pang brothers. It takes place in 2008 in Bangkok where six find themselves at the Chung Tai Hotel. After Rainie sees a female ghost and Ling finds a disembodied hand, they find that while at dinner, the three men they came with have disappeared. Rainie leads the girls to find their friends.

<i>SPL II: A Time for Consequences</i> 2015 Hong Kong film

SPL II: A Time for Consequences is a 2015 Hong Kong-Chinese martial arts action film directed by Cheang Pou-soi and produced by Wilson Yip and Paco Wong. The film starred Tony Jaa, Wu Jing, Simon Yam and Zhang Jin, with Louis Koo making a special appearance. The film was released on 18 June 2015 in both 3D and non-3D formats.

<i>Vampire Controller</i> 2001 film

Vampire Controller is a 2001 Hong Kong action comedy horror film produced, written and directed by Tony Leung and starring Gallen Lo, Wayne Lai, Kathy Chow, Joey Meng, Yuen Wah and Kingdom Yuen. The film is considered a throwback of the jiangshi fiction-genre films popularized in the 1980s by Mr. Vampire.

<i>Missing</i> (2008 film) 2008 film by Tsui Hark

Missing is a 2008 Hong Kong dramatic fantasy horror film directed by Tsui Hark starring Angelica Lee.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Eye". Hong Kong Film Archive . Hong Kong. Retrieved 4 May 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. ↑ Ho, Karl. 9 August 2002. "Eyeing a trend", Straits Times/Asia News Network via Nation Weekend, page 8 (print edition).
  3. ↑ Ho, Karl. 9 August 2002. "Seeing dead people", Straits Times/Asia News Network via Nation Weekend, page 8 (print edition).
  4. ↑ Ancuta, Katarzyna (2016). "That's the Spirit!: Horror Films as an Extension of Thai Supernaturalism". Ghost Movies in Southeast Asia and Beyond: Narratives, Cultural Contexts, Audiences. BRILL. p. 127. ISBN   9789004323643. ...turned to the infamous 1990 LPG tanker explosion on New Petchabure Rd. in Bangkok for inspiration.
  5. ↑ "Opens Today!". Philippine Daily Inquirer . The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc. 5 February 2003. p. A30. Archived from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022. Flash! Flash! Flash! 'The Eye' is currently breaking box office records in every territory in Asia- making it the most successful horror film of all time!!
  6. ↑ "Gin gwai (The Eye) (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "The Eye (2003) Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  8. ↑ "The Eye (2003) (2003) – Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.