THE EYE (2002)

4 stars

Arrow Video. Limited Edition UHD. 20th April

Wong Kar-mun (Angelica Lee), who plays the violin in an orchestra of other blind musicians in Hong Kong, has been blind since she was two years old. Now an adult, she has an eye cornea transplant which should, all being well, restore her sight.

Whilst in the hospital she befriends a young girl Ying Ying.

Initially her sight isn’t very clear, presenting only blurry images. The night before she is to be discharged she sees through her hazy vision someone visit the old lady in one of the other beds. Next morning she is told that that patient had passed away – and they don’t have visitors at night.

She is put under the auspices of good looking Dr Wah Lo (Lawrence Chou), a psychotherapist, as she effectively needs to learn how to see again.

But she is soon plagued by strange visions. Sees people that aren’t there. Dead people… Outside her flat she sees a young boy who says he can’t find his report card. Her grandma overhears her and see she is talking to no one — that he had actually committed suicide.

In an effort to find out what is going on she travels with Wah, who has developed feelings for her, to a hospital in Thailand to find out about the eye donor. Whilst there Mun realises she has seen this place before in her visions.

This a highly effective and creepy supernatural terror from the Pang Brothers (Danny and Oxide)working from a script by them and Yuet-Jan Hui. Lee is convincing in the central role, with her expressive face showing both emotion and fear. There is a powerful music score by Orange Music.

Steve Kirkham

EXTRAS

Reflections on The Eye, a brand new interview with producer Peter Ho-Sun Chan

To See and to Feel: Vision, Empathy and the Feminine Ghost Story in The Eye, a brand new visual essay on the film by critic and horror specialist Heather Wixson

An archival making-of featurette with interviews with producers Peter Ho-Sun Chan and Lawrence Cheng and actors Angelica Lee and Lawrence Chou

An archival featurette on directors Danny and Oxide Pang

Original theatrical trailers and Image gallery

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket and collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by film critic and Asian cinema specialist Hayley Scanlon