And Another

3rd Eye Vision

During last week’s research into the Pang Brothers’ Eye series, I found some odd, mostly negative reviews of the third part of the series, nonsequentially titled The Eye 10 (sometimes The Eye: Infinity), and decided to check it out for myself. Good thing, too – the reviews don’t quite do the movie justice. It’s no fault of theirs, though; the movie is a jumble. It’s part usual ghost story, part comedy, part Hong Kong Final Destination. A group of Hong Kong kids, on a trip to Thailand, start with the ghost stories one boring night; their Thai host brings out a book called The Ten Encounters (hence the titular 10), a primer on ghostspotting. Proceed as expected.

The methods:

1. Haunted eye transplant.
2. Attempting suicide while pregnant.
3. Playing a round of Spirit Glass (translated in the subtitles as “Witchy Board”).
4. Bringing a meal for three to an intersection and tapping chopsticks on an empty bowl.
5. Playing hide and seek at midnight, holding a black cat.
6. Rubbing grave dirt on your eyes.
7. Dressing as a policeman and then skipping.
8. Opening an umbrella indoors.
9. Brushing your hair in front of a mirror at midnight.
10. Pretending to be an artichoke but punching people as they pass.
11. Bending over and looking between your legs.
12. Dressing in used formal funeral wear and taking a nap.

The keen mind will notice that #1 and #2 refer respectively to the plots of The Eye and The Eye 2. Also, at least two of them are Woody Allen jokes. The film contains numerous references to the first two Eyes, repeating in semicomic tone the elevator scene and the kid with the report card from the original, and in fact “semicomic tone” might finally be the best way to sum up The Eye 10. I like to think that Danny and Oxide intended it as a spoof, a snarky refusal to make a third Eye in the usual style (which by 2005 was fairly played out in Asian horror), or at the very least, a bored attempt to get out of the horror rut. At the same time, they stick to the ghost-story basics and their basic creepy visual style, retaining cinematographer Decha Srimantra, who shot the first two. It’s certainly the scariest film I’ve seen that includes a breakdancing scene.

This apparent (or invented by me) distaste makes additional installments unlikely.

Comment from pla - December 14, 2007 at 2:50 am

You know, after falling asleep about 10 minutes into The Eye, I’ve ignored the entire franchise. This one, however, sounds fantastic! I’ll have to track it down.