I suggest you take this review as a Public Service Announcement.

The Eye is the latest Chinese horror classic to be remake for American audiences and it’s also the latest film to star everyone’s favorite dream girl, Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four films and the movie that I would not see even if it’s the only film available at the video store, Good Luck Chuck).

The film is about Sydney, a young violinist, (Alba) who’s been blind since childhood. She is then given a second chance to see when a doctor performs an astonishing corneal transplant, which gives Sydney the ability to see again. Everything’s well for her, until she begins having visions of death and seeing the condemned get dragged away from the living. Soon her sister (Parker Posey) and eye doctor begin to wonder if Sydney might be going insane. Sydney must find out whom the eyes originally belonged to and discover the secret visions that lie within in it before she’s driven insane by the eye. The Eye is directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, the directors of the cult French horror film Them).

(This part contains minor spoilers)

I had that his feeling that was going to be horrible, after watching the first minute of the film, where it spends one minute on backstory, then cuts into Jessica Alba and the opening credits. Then it gets worse. Six or seven minutes later, she’s having the eye surgery. Will somebody tell screenwriter Sebastian Gutierrez to slow down and develop a backstory, like he did in 2003 when he did a very good job with Gothika. The screenplay really didn’t spend any time developing characters; it seemed like it was Jessica Alba (I’ll get back to her in a bit) and some other people, as the dialogue wasn’t good. It could have used fifteen or twenty minutes to get to know the main character before the surgery. Some of the scares in this film were predictable and that’s not how you make an effective horror film. The film also suffers from bad special effects. The ghosts looked like aliens in my opinion. Then again, maybe it was the editing, as The Eye was moving too fast and scenes weren’t fully developed, like the beginning scene of the film. Also, I didn’t like the decision that the directors decided to use the shaky cam method for this film. I didn’t feel like it was warranted for this film. It was okay for The Blair Witch Project or 28 Weeks Later to use this method, but not here.

The acting wasn’t good neither. Sometimes, I really don’t understand Hollywood suits because the lead in this film was miscast. I’m sorry but why Jessica Alba is the lead in any film is way beyond me. It’s amazing that Jessica Alba continues to come off as a pretty face in the media instead of being a bad actress. She had talent long ago, when she was on the TV show Dark Angel. Whatever talent she had on that show is gone, as today she’s just cashing in on his pretty face. Here is no different. To me, it was Jessica Alba being Jessica Alba. Her acting is not good in this. She didn’t make me connect with her character. Frankly, I was bored watching her here, as she didn’t bring any intensity to her character. Also, I really feel sorry to see Parker Posey having to do these kinds of films to pay the bills. She is very talented actress but she isn’t giving much to do here and felt a little out of place.

If you really need to see a PG-13 horror film very badly, then I suggest you go to your video store and rent 1408 instead of seeing this. You should only see The Eye if the studio actually agrees to gives you a free coupon for eye surgery. Without that, don’t bother this film as might do damage to your mind and your eyes.

Review Rating: 1 Star