Horror Movie Review: J-Horror: The Eye (2002)

Mun has been blind most of her life, she hasn’t seen since she was 2 years. An eye cornea transplant looks to change that though now that a donor pair of eyes has arrived.

The operation goes well & her sight is restored albeit with limited vision at first. It is through this limited vision that Mun spies some mysterious shadowy figure standing nearby.

That night through her hazy vision she sees one of these figures leading out a patient so she decides to follow. This leads to The Eye’s first & one of the most effective scares…I won’t spoil it.

Mun starts her sight rehabilitation but continues to see things that others can’t. Scared she confides in her Dr Wah who is unconvinced but begins to develop deeper feelings for her. As Mun continues to be tormented by what she sees her fragile mind begins to break & she starts to become a recluse.

Dr Wah agrees to help but finds resistance from his Uncle, the doctor who performed Mun’s transplant. Everything changes when a young girl who Mun befriended in the hospital dies & Mun gets a chance to say goodbye before one of the shadow figures takes her way.

Broken emotionally but grateful, she is in tears in the hall when the Dr Wah’s uncle comes to tell her about the child’s death but she stops him as she already knows.

It’s one of the best moments I’ve ever seen in a horror movie… as we see this doctor, so used to dealing with hard facts & reality just briefly believe that Mun might actually be able to see ghosts.

My description can never do this scene justice…it is absolutely standout amazing.

Anyway, he gives the donor details to his nephew, Dr Wah, so he & Mun set off to find out just who the donor was & just what is going on.

The revelation is exciting & leads to an ending/payoff that doesn’t let you down which sums up the movie perfectly. At no stage does it take a bad mis-step…the scares are excellently placed with some incredibly tense scenes (the lift sequence is very uncomfortable). On repeated viewings most of them hold up well too.

In between the scares the film tells Mun’s story wonderfully…you feel for her as she struggles to come to terms first with just being able to see. Mun is a classically trained violin player & her skills allow many of her tormented scenes to be backed up by her immense talent. It creates emotion when it is needed most.

All of this would be pointless though if the acting was below par & thankfully it isn’t. In fact it is some of the best acting in any J-horror. Everyone is believable in their roles & you can easily get behind Mun & Dr Wah’s developing relationship. They are both young & thrown together through impossible circumstances but it never delves into cheesiness.

The Eye is a J-horror that combines genuine scares, great music, fantastic acting & a more sophisticated style of filming. If you haven’t seen it…what are you waiting for!?