The Eye (2008 film)
Encyclopedia
The Eye is a 2008 supernatural horror film starring Jessica Alba
. It is a remake
of the Pang Brothers' 2002 film of the same name
.
ist who has been blind
since the age of five. Fifteen years later, Sydney undergoes a cornea transplant, which causes her eyesight to return, a bit blurry at first. As time goes on, Sydney's vision begins to clear; however, she also begins experiencing terrifying visions, mostly of fire and of people dying. The bulk of the rest of the film concerns Sydney unravelling the mystery of the visions, and trying to convince others, primarily her visual therapist, Paul Faulkner, who becomes a helpmate in her quest. She knows that she is not going insane.
She finds herself in Mexico
, where the donated cornea
s were originally from. The fire and people dying are the result of an industrial accident that the former donor foretold and shortly after that hanged herself because she could not stop the accident from occurring. Sydney puts the spirit to rest, and began her trek home. As Sydney and Paul wait in a queue of vehicles to cross the border, a high speed police chase ends with the fugitive crashing through the border barriers and into a tanker full of gasoline.
Sydney, able to still see the death silhouettes, begins to try to get everyone she can off the highway. The tanker explodes from a spark in the getaway car's engine, and Sydney is blinded by flying glass. After recovering at a hospital, she returns to her life as a blind violinist, though with a more optimistic view of her condition.
known as mirrored self-misidentification
.
Other themes include the concept of precognition
, or premonition, perhaps becoming a popular cultural crossover from Asian beliefs about the unknown – since this film was a remake of a Hong Kong horror flick, and still retains Asian themes in the 2008 version.
, were purchased by Cruise/Wagner Productions
.
The band Blaqk Audio
provided instrumental versions of the songs, "Between Breaths" and "The Love Letter" that were used in trailers and on the official website for the 2008 film. In response to the buzz it created, Jade Puget
of the electronic duo suggested a possible public release of all the CexCells songs in instrumental form.
Alba spent much time with the blind soprano
Jessica Bachicha to learn about how blind people lived, used the white cane
, read Braille
, etc.
A similar movie was planned by Alfred Hitchcock
many years ago, as referenced in Patrick McGilligan's Biography, Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (as well as others). The movie was about a blind pianist and Alfred Hitchcock had hoped to get James Stewart
to play the part. The pianist undergoes a breakthrough eye transplant surgery and sees images and things that the donor once saw, including a murder.
This American remake follows Naina
, a Hindi movie released in 2005, that is also based on the Pang Brothers' film.
area. The establishing hospital shots – wherein Sydney is supposed to have had her sight-restoring surgery – are of LAC/USC Medical Center
in the Boyle Heights district; 3/4 shots looking north- and southeast of the main 18-floor-high central building (the same bldg. used for the television soap-opera General Hospital
). Fictionally, the burned-out Chinese restaurant is supposed to be located just three-blocks from where Sydney lives; the exterior scene, in which Sydney is about to get into a taxicab and travel to Mexico, was filmed on 7th Street, just east of Figueroa
, in the downtown area. Shots of Dr. Faulkner's office building are of the Forestry building at the University of British Columbia
(UBC). Several other scenes, including outdoor shots, were shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jessica Alba was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress.
(as single- and two-disc editions) and Blu-ray Disc
on June 3, 2008. The two-disc DVD and the Blu-ray Disc versions contain four featurettes – "Shadow World: The Paranormal Past", "Becoming Sydney", "Birth of the Shadowman" and "Dissecting a Disaster" –, deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer and a digital copy
of the film for use on Windows and Mac computers.
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
. It is a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the Pang Brothers' 2002 film of the same name
The Eye (2002 film)
The Eye, also known as Seeing Ghosts, is a 2002 horror film directed by the Pang brothers. The film spawned two sequels by the Pang brothers, The Eye 2 and The Eye 10...
.
Plot
Sydney Wells is a successful classical violinViolin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist who has been blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
since the age of five. Fifteen years later, Sydney undergoes a cornea transplant, which causes her eyesight to return, a bit blurry at first. As time goes on, Sydney's vision begins to clear; however, she also begins experiencing terrifying visions, mostly of fire and of people dying. The bulk of the rest of the film concerns Sydney unravelling the mystery of the visions, and trying to convince others, primarily her visual therapist, Paul Faulkner, who becomes a helpmate in her quest. She knows that she is not going insane.
She finds herself in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, where the donated cornea
Cornea
The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. Together with the lens, the cornea refracts light, with the cornea accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical power. In humans, the refractive power of the cornea is...
s were originally from. The fire and people dying are the result of an industrial accident that the former donor foretold and shortly after that hanged herself because she could not stop the accident from occurring. Sydney puts the spirit to rest, and began her trek home. As Sydney and Paul wait in a queue of vehicles to cross the border, a high speed police chase ends with the fugitive crashing through the border barriers and into a tanker full of gasoline.
Sydney, able to still see the death silhouettes, begins to try to get everyone she can off the highway. The tanker explodes from a spark in the getaway car's engine, and Sydney is blinded by flying glass. After recovering at a hospital, she returns to her life as a blind violinist, though with a more optimistic view of her condition.
Cast
- Jessica AlbaJessica AlbaJessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
as Sydney Wells - Alessandro NivolaAlessandro NivolaAlessandro Antine Nivola is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles in the films Best Laid Plans, Jurassic Park III, Face/Off, and the first two films of the Goal! trilogy.-Personal life:...
as Dr. Paul Faulkner - Parker PoseyParker PoseyParker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
as Helen Wells - Rade SerbedzijaRade ŠerbedžijaRade Šerbedžija , occasionally credited as Rade Sherbedgia in some English-language productions, is a Croatian actor, director and musician of Serb origin. He was one of the most popular Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s. He is now internationally known mainly for his supporting roles in...
as Simon McCullough - Fernanda RomeroFernanda RomeroFernanda Romero is a Mexican actress, model and singer.-Biography:Fernanda Romero was born in 1985 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. She began her singing career when she joined BMG's recording ensemble group, Frizzby...
as Ana Cristina Martinez - Rachel TicotinRachel TicotinRachel Ticotin is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Ticotin was born in Bronx, New York, the daughter of Iris Torres, a Puerto Rican educator, and Abe Ticotin, a Russian Jewish used car salesman. Her brother, Sahaj, is a musician and the lead singer for his rock group, Ra...
as Rosa Martinez - Chloe MoretzChloe MoretzChloë Grace Moretz is an American actress, known for her role as Hit-Girl in the 2010 superhero film Kick-Ass. She also appeared in The Amityville Horror, Days of Summer, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hugo, and portrayed Abby, the child vampire, in Let Me In.-Personal life:Moretz was born in Atlanta,...
as Alicia Milstone - Tamlyn TomitaTamlyn TomitaTamlyn Naomi Tomita is an actress, who has appeared in many Hollywood films and television series.-Early life:Tomita was born in Okinawa, the daughter of Shiro and Asako Tomita. Her father then later became a Los Angeles Police Officer, rising to the rank of sergeant. He succumbed to cancer in...
as Mrs. Cheung - Landall Goolsby as Alex
- Brett A. Haworth as Shadowman
Themes
Using the pretext of a psychological thriller and paranormal experiences, the film explores mental illnesses such as the monothematic delusionMonothematic delusion
A monothematic delusion is a delusional state that only concerns one particular topic. This is contrasted by what is sometimes called multi-thematic or polythematic delusions where the person has a range of delusions...
known as mirrored self-misidentification
Mirrored self-misidentification
Mirrored-self misidentification is the delusional belief that one's reflection in a mirror is some other person . Often people who suffer from this delusion are not delusional about anything else. It is considered a monothematic delusion; it is sometimes labeled a delusional misidentification...
.
Other themes include the concept of precognition
Precognition
In parapsychology, precognition , also called future sight, and second sight, is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics...
, or premonition, perhaps becoming a popular cultural crossover from Asian beliefs about the unknown – since this film was a remake of a Hong Kong horror flick, and still retains Asian themes in the 2008 version.
Production
Remake rights to the Pang brothers' original 2002 Hong Kong film, The EyeThe Eye (2002 film)
The Eye, also known as Seeing Ghosts, is a 2002 horror film directed by the Pang brothers. The film spawned two sequels by the Pang brothers, The Eye 2 and The Eye 10...
, were purchased by Cruise/Wagner Productions
Cruise/Wagner Productions
Cruise/Wagner Productions is an American independent film production company. The company was founded by actor Tom Cruise and former casting agent Paula Wagner....
.
The band Blaqk Audio
Blaqk Audio
Blaqk Audio is an American electronic music duo formed by current AFI members Davey Havok and Jade Puget under Interscope Records. Their debut album CexCells was released on August 14, 2007 and reached number eighteen on the Billboard 200.-Origins:...
provided instrumental versions of the songs, "Between Breaths" and "The Love Letter" that were used in trailers and on the official website for the 2008 film. In response to the buzz it created, Jade Puget
Jade Puget
Jade Errol Puget is the guitarist for the alternative rock band AFI , and the keyboardist/synthesizer operator for the electronic duo Blaqk Audio. Puget is vegetarian and straight edge....
of the electronic duo suggested a possible public release of all the CexCells songs in instrumental form.
Alba spent much time with the blind soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Jessica Bachicha to learn about how blind people lived, used the white cane
White cane
A white cane is used by many people who are blind or visually impaired, both as a mobility tool and as a courtesy to others. Not all modern white canes are designed to fulfill the same primary function, however: There are at least five varieties of this tool, each serving a slightly different...
, read Braille
Braille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
, etc.
A similar movie was planned by Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
many years ago, as referenced in Patrick McGilligan's Biography, Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (as well as others). The movie was about a blind pianist and Alfred Hitchcock had hoped to get James Stewart
James Stewart
James Stewart was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart may also refer to:-Noblemen:*James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland*James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn James Stewart (1908–1997) was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart...
to play the part. The pianist undergoes a breakthrough eye transplant surgery and sees images and things that the donor once saw, including a murder.
This American remake follows Naina
Naina
Naina is a Hindi horror film released in India in 2005. It stars Urmila Matondkar. It is an uncredited remake of the Hong Kong film The Eye, meaning the original writers received no compensation as opposed to that provided by the American remake The Eye.Its release caused controversy in India...
, a Hindi movie released in 2005, that is also based on the Pang Brothers' film.
Filming
Exteriors were shot primarily in the Downtown Los AngelesDowntown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
area. The establishing hospital shots – wherein Sydney is supposed to have had her sight-restoring surgery – are of LAC/USC Medical Center
Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center
Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, also known as County/USC, by the abbreviation LAC+USC, or by the name Los Angeles County General, is a 600-bed public teaching hospital located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California...
in the Boyle Heights district; 3/4 shots looking north- and southeast of the main 18-floor-high central building (the same bldg. used for the television soap-opera General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
). Fictionally, the burned-out Chinese restaurant is supposed to be located just three-blocks from where Sydney lives; the exterior scene, in which Sydney is about to get into a taxicab and travel to Mexico, was filmed on 7th Street, just east of Figueroa
Figueroa Street
Figueroa Street is a street in Los Angeles County, California named for General José Figueroa , governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835, who oversaw the secularization of the missions of California...
, in the downtown area. Shots of Dr. Faulkner's office building are of the Forestry building at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
(UBC). Several other scenes, including outdoor shots, were shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Critical reception
The film received generally negative reviews from critics, many considering it inferior to the original. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 22% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 75 reviews.Jessica Alba was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress.
Box office
The film opened in second place at the U.S box office with $12.4 million. As of August 10, 2011, the film has a domestic gross of $31,418,697 with a foreign gross of $25,545,945 totaling an international gross of $56,964,642. In the United Kingdom, it grossed $1,398,958 in its opening weekend at #2.Home media
The film was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(as single- and two-disc editions) and Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on June 3, 2008. The two-disc DVD and the Blu-ray Disc versions contain four featurettes – "Shadow World: The Paranormal Past", "Becoming Sydney", "Birth of the Shadowman" and "Dissecting a Disaster" –, deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer and a digital copy
Digital copy
Digital Copy provides consumers who purchase a film on DVD or Blu-ray Disc with an additional, digital copy of the movie for devices capable of operating with a file in contrast to a DVD.-Features:...
of the film for use on Windows and Mac computers.