Remake This!: The Eye (2008)

 Here's a rare case for you- I'm watching A SECOND Remake of the Film without seeing the original Film.

This is The Eye, the 2008 Remake of the Chinese Film of the same name (just in Chinese).  Many years ago, I stumbled across the Bollywood Remake and it sure...exists.

The Plot involves a young woman who gets a corneal transplant to restore her sight.  Yes, she gets new eyes (essentially), but it is still called The Eye.  I guess it is less relatable if she's a Pirate with an eye patch.

This leads to her seeing strange stuff and driving her a little bit crazy.  Is there more going on though?

To find out, read on...

A blind woman- Jessica Alba- is doing pretty well for herself.
She has a good relationship with her Sister (Parker Posey) and is a Concert Violinist.

She's also about to get a corneal transplant, restoring her eyesight that was lost when she was 5.

After surgery, she's greeted by a young girl deep in Chemotherapy.  Is that....Chloe-Grace Moretz?!?

Yes, it is and, according to reports, she actually shaved her head for this role.
A pretty bold thing to do for an 11-year-old Actress, no?

She gets her eyesight back, although it will take time for her body to adjust to the new sensations.

While in the Hospital, she sees dark shadows (not the vampire kind) walking with the old woman sharing her room.

The next morning, she learns that said woman died that night!

She goes home, but the strange sights don't stop there.

She sees a kid in a poncho who will only repeat the same phrase over and over again!

She's troubled the visions and has to leave her place.

She calls the Doctor who's been helping her adjust and he meets her at the Chinese Restaurant...only to find that it is a burned-out wreck.

The whole place burned up last week and... she just kind of walked in.
Alright then!

This is disrupting her life completely, from the visions she can't stop to the distractions this al is causing her.

She's a real mess.

She injures herself on some glass (been there!) and ends up back at the Hospital.  

She meets Moretz again...and then sees her spirit leave with the same black shadows!

Back home, she sees more strange things and realizes that the kid from earlier is the ghost of a neighbor woman.
Enjoy the only Asian Character of note in this Remake of a Chinese Film.

Oh and she finally realizes that the eyes' original owner is trying to make contact.

The Doctor finally relents and tells her who the donor was.

We find out that she could see death before it came for people (aka the Shadows) and tried to save people at a Factory from a fire.

When they died, she was labeled a Witch and driven to suicide.

She sees the shadows near the donor's Mother, but is too late to save her.

The duo are stopped at the Border Crossing and Alba realizes that what she saw wasn't a vision of the past- it was a warning of the future.

She scares enough people away in time before a big explosion would have killed them all.

In spite of the Final Destination reference they include here, Death doesn't come for her.

Instead, she gets re-blinded by flying glass and is happy.  The End.

A better Film than I was expecting.  That said, this is much less of a Horror Film than I think that people may be expecting.

For all of the flack she gets (earned or not), Alba put lots of work into this one behind-the-scenes.  She learned to play the violin (at least well enough to look legit) and spent time with people to train herself how to act blind.

Again- you may still not like her Acting, but you should at least respect the hustle.

The Film walks this odd line between being a Character Drama, a Horror Film and a Psychological Thriller.  Before the facts come out, she might just be crazy.  This could work, to be fair, if you're not familiar with the source material.

The freaky visuals do work nicely, and I do appreciate the effort made to flesh out all of the Characters- at least all of the ones who appear more than once.  Everyone feels real.

As far as Remakes go, it is fine.  Like I said, I appreciate the work put into it.  Ultimately, the 'Ooh, scary thing' kind of Films aren't really my thing (hence my feelings towards J and K-Horror in general).

Speaking of which, I can't decide on which Stinger to use.  Is it the overly long credit given to the original Film...

...or this bit they blatantly cribbed from Daredevil, where she stops a guy (not Stan Lee though) from walking in front of a bus.

Next up, I take a Facebook suggestion and look at a famous TV Mini-Series.  With it celebrating a 30th Anniversary this year, the time to take a stand is now.  See you then...