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The Eye (2002) Review

Weak

Of all the horror films that spring to mind while watching the Pang brothers' stylish if only sporadically frightening The Eye, none is more amusing than Body Parts. That moronic vehicle for B-movie heartthrob Jeff Fahey concerned a man whose decapitated arm is replaced by the appendage of a serial killer on death row, and which eventually turns out to still be controlled by said killer, who wants his arm back! It was one of the 1990s' most inane "it's so awful that it's come back around to being good again" guilty pleasures, and features a truly inspired performance by Fahey's arm, which flails about wildly under the possessed guidance of its original owner. Even in some quarters today, unexpectedly smacking someone next to you can easily be explained by the simple phrase, "Sorry, it was my serial killer arm."

But I digress. Like Fahey's insipidly entertaining film, The Eye is about transplanted body parts that can't seem to shake the influence of their former hosts. Mun (Angelica Lee) has been blind since the age of two, but a recent cornea transplant has miraculously given her the gift of sight. The only problem is that, along with sight, Mun seems to have gained a "second sight" as well: She can see sinewy, indistinct figures (apparently death's bureaucratic minions) taking people away right before they die, and even sees a mysterious stranger's face when she looks in the mirror. This prescience is confounding and terrifying for Mun, and she seeks the counsel of a psychotherapist named Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou) to help her escape this terrible curse. In typical ghost story fashion, what both learn is that these spirits are hanging around their former haunts because they have unfinished business in the real world, and that it's up to Mun to help them complete their last earthly tasks and send them safely on their way to happy dead-person land.

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The Eye Review

By Nicholas Schager

Weak

Of all the horror films that spring to mind while watching the Pang brothers' stylish if only sporadically frightening The Eye, none is more amusing than Body Parts. That moronic vehicle for B-movie heartthrob Jeff Fahey concerned a man whose decapitated arm is replaced by the appendage of a serial killer on death row, and which eventually turns out to still be controlled by said killer, who wants his arm back! It was one of the 1990s' most inane "it's so awful that it's come back around to being good again" guilty pleasures, and features a truly inspired performance by Fahey's arm, which flails about wildly under the possessed guidance of its original owner. Even in some quarters today, unexpectedly smacking someone next to you can easily be explained by the simple phrase, "Sorry, it was my serial killer arm."

But I digress. Like Fahey's insipidly entertaining film, The Eye is about transplanted body parts that can't seem to shake the influence of their former hosts. Mun (Angelica Lee) has been blind since the age of two, but a recent cornea transplant has miraculously given her the gift of sight. The only problem is that, along with sight, Mun seems to have gained a "second sight" as well: She can see sinewy, indistinct figures (apparently death's bureaucratic minions) taking people away right before they die, and even sees a mysterious stranger's face when she looks in the mirror. This prescience is confounding and terrifying for Mun, and she seeks the counsel of a psychotherapist named Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou) to help her escape this terrible curse. In typical ghost story fashion, what both learn is that these spirits are hanging around their former haunts because they have unfinished business in the real world, and that it's up to Mun to help them complete their last earthly tasks and send them safely on their way to happy dead-person land.

Continue reading: The Eye Review

Jan Dara Review

By Don Willmott

OK

Jan Dara, a Thai import adapted from a well-known Thai novel by the feverish mind of writer/director Nonzee Nimibutr, is a thoughtful tone poem about the bonds between father and son and the importance of family loyalty in a troubled...

Wait. Let me start again. Jan Dara is about sex. Lots of sex. Lots of hot sex of every imaginable kind. Any other thematic concern -- and there are a few -- is hopelessly lost in the wake of all that sweaty, mosquito-net-shrouded sex.The title character (Suwinit Panjamawat) is born into a well-to-do Bangkok household, but his mother dies in childbirth, and his father Khun Kaew (Patharawarin Timkul) hates him for causing her death. (He also hints that Jan Dara may not be his flesh and blood.) As Dad surrounds himself with an ever-changing retinue of hot girlfriends, maids, and nannies, Jan Dara grows up like Cinderella, forced to do chores and endure severe beatings, even as he watches his younger half-sister enjoy her status as Daddy's little princess. It's all humiliating and impossible to bear. No matter where Jan Dara walks in the house, Dad is screwing someone on a chaise lounge.

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