REVIEW:
The Eye. Undoubtedly one of the best horror movies ever has received the Hollywood treatment starring none other than Jessica "don't call me latina" Alba herself. This is basically the sixth movie in the never-ending The Eye saga and naturally the concept is getting worn out by now. The original Hong Kong movie received two sequels with a third one planned and it also received a Bollywood remake as well as a direct-to-TV rip-off under the title "Deadly Visions". Anyway, enough about the history of The Eye, I know you're all curious to find out whether or not this is a worthy sequel. Well first of all let me make one thing clear; I don't think that The Eye is a movie that needed a remake. It killed at the box-office charts all over the world and even did decent money at the US box-office. But you know, most remakes are really unnecessary so let's not focus on that. The Eye is actually one of the better remakes that I've seen and truly captures the essence of the original. It's suspenseful, it's got some great scares that will make jump high out of your seat and in some departments it even improves upon the original movie.

Naturally it doesn't come close to being as brilliant as the original though but I did appreciate the more cohesive plot in this one - the red line was much thicker (if you can say that) than in the original. A part of me also liked the faster pace of the movie and I really loved that they kept the same scares as the ones that can be found in the original, but what I loved even more was that they had altered them and tweaked them enough to scare the living daylights out of people who had seen the original as well. They really stayed true to the original and I commend them for that. The negative thing about the faster pacing is that we don't connect quite as well with the main character (played by Jessica "don't call me latina" Alba in this case). Jessica isn't that believable in the movie either and that also adds to the fact that we never really feel that connected with her character.

Honestly, I don't think that this would have turned out to be such a great remake had it not been directed by Xavier Palud and David Moreau (the dynamic duo behind the French horror flick Ils). They really know how to create a good atmosphere and surprise the audience. In the end, The Eye is probably as good as it could have been. It lived up to the original and it wasn't as Americanized as most recent remakes of Asian horror flicks. Some of you may find this generic due to the extreme inflation of ghost stories in Hollywood these days but you have to keep in mind that the original was made in 2002 and ever since then I've held that movie close to heart. I refuse to connect this remake with other Asian horror remakes such as Dark Water and One Missed Call because there was actually an effort put into this one. If you're going to see a horror remake of an Asian ghost story, this is probably the one you need to check out. I was very pleasantly surprised by it and it's potentially the best ghost story of 2008 - but only the future will tell.

GORE:
Nothing here.

SOUNDTRACK:
Not quite as dynamic as the original but still very impressive. Created a great atmosphere.

BOTTOM LINE:
No matter how much I loved the original, I have to say that this is the best ghost story that I've seen in a long time. After all these years, the story still works and this remake really is an outstanding horror flick which could teach other studios out there churning out awful remakes a thing or two about how to really make a remake. Terrific movie. Don't miss it.