| Author | Message | ||
     Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.147.50.90 |
Just saw this today after reading almost endless reviews saying it was sucky. Well, it's not remotely sucky, though I don't know if I can really recommend it; it doesn't feel like the sort of horror we guys like. It's smooth, professionally made, free of the stylistic, slightly pretentious flourishes that the Pang bros brought to the (so-so, I thought) original. I liked the music, I liked Alba, and I liked a lot of the atmosphere. Thing is, it really felt like it could have been a Lewton piece, and if the makers had of realised this and gotten into more of that kind of vibe it might have been a lot better. It's not indifferently made, it just feels...ever so slightly tired of itself. Lots of good scary moments, though, I hasten to add, and for me I sort of preferred it to the original. | ||
| John_l_probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
That's interesting Tony - I was definitely going to give this one a miss but I may pop along to see it now. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.147.50.90 |
I think it's worth a look as a lesson in how to make things work; it works several times, and there are a few good shocks in it, but something big doesn't work, and it was interesting for me trying to pinpoint it as really I quite liked it. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.249.146 |
I thought the original was fantastic until the slightly misjudged Hollywood-style ending. IUt contains one of the creepiest scenes ever put on film: the sidewalk cafe, the female ghost...licking that hanging meat. Brrr... I'll probably see the remake, Tony, on your half-recommendation. :-) | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.110.197 |
I've seen the original but don't really remember much about it. Not sure if that's a reflection of the film or the scattershot nature of my memory. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
Swa it the other day. Not bad at all. But too glossy - needed a bit of muddiness in it. Such is Hollywood. They kept the thing in the lift, tho. | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
Cheers, Tony, I was in two minds about this one - I quite liked the original, especially the bits in the hospital corridor - and like Zed, I'll go on your half-recommendation. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.216 |
Actually, the corridor bits were quite poor. CGI-ed to death. As it were. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.129.211 |
"Well, it's not remotely sucky..." Great story idea. Thanks Tony! | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.244.67 |
THE SUCKING EYE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Starring Jessica Albie. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.147.50.90 |
Yeah, Gary, a bit glossy. It was better than the Dark Water remake but then lost the only good thing about that film; the location. And it needed to be sadder. Melancholy suits the ghost story; that precipice just above tragedy is where it should teeter. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.147.50.90 |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Water_(book) You see I love the sound of this but am put off by the fact I didn't like The Ring book at all. It felt sub-James Herbert, written in that sort of atmosphere-free supermarket-book style. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.186.151 |
Just saw this, and thought it was a plodding, by-the-numbers remake that just doesn't come close to matching the original. It follows that film slavishly for the most part, and yet there isn't a single scene that is half as well-realised. It lacks the atmosphere and sense of tragedy and desperation of the superior (though itself flawed, admittedly) Hong Kong/Thai original, and, as usual the makers of this remake have seen fit to replace the nebulous, shadowy harbingers of death featured in the Pang's film with stupid-looking, shrieking, snarling, bald creatures, the kind of caricatures that turn up in every other Hollywood horror film nowadays. Story strands that were both moving and creepy in the original are allowed to just peter out inexplicably, losing any impact they might otherwise have had. It's not badly made, really. It's just... average, and bland. The original film made me feel something, while this remake comes over as more than a little watered-down and half-hearted. As remakes go, it's not as egregious and inept as the awful PULSE (KAIRO) remake, but its not even half as good as its source material. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.186.151 |
Forgot to mention in my post above: Jessica Alba displays her usual brand of "acting" in this - she doesn't compare favourably with the original's Angelica Lee, who can actually act. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.110 |
But does she display her special abilty of being able to non-act in the skimpiest of underwear? | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.194.171 |
No, she doesn't even do that this time! She spends the whole film displaying her unique acting range: pout/frown/smile/stare-into-mid-distance-for-a-while. Real method stuff... Come to think of it, I do seem to recall a scene in which she is seen showering behind glass... | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
Apparently Del Toro is behind the orphanage remake so there might be a glimmer of hope there... | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.227.148 |
I started to watch THE EYE. I got about 30 minutes in. It was late, I went to bed. The next day, I realized it was overdue at the rental place, so I dropped it off. I never saw the rest of it. And I still haven't re-rented it to do so. That's my film review. And now it's done. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
which version? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.160.23.143 |
If they remake THE EYE, will it be even cornea? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.253.242 |
which version? Um... the one I just told? Based on the utterly unmemorable American remake? The original, if I remember correctly, was equally unmemorable. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
The original, if I remember correctly, was equally unmemorable. You know, I was about to defend the original but you're right Craig - I can't remember a thing about it | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.13.51 |
 | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 77.86.104.231 |
I must have seen that one too. Because I've never heard of it. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
I thought the original had some nice creepy moments in it. the ghosts were never highlighted or emphasised, there were a few scenes where I had to rewind to see if I really had spotted a ghastly face reflected in the window she just passed etc. BTW, if you read your post you just said the EYE. You didn't mention original or remake. Both had been referenced so I was merely seeking verification. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
Nice pun Joel. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.160.23.143 |
Thank you. (Stops crying and plotting revenge against RCMB.) | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 77.86.104.231 |
Such a sense of aqueous humour. | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 77.86.104.231 |
http://bp2.blogger.com/_pNYMelm0KKM/SBEoMKpT7VI/AAAAAAAAAN8/_T5NcI_V-Sw/s400/Fra nkenfoods+are+fun.jpg | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.16.76.93 |
BTW, if you read your post you just said the EYE.... [etc.] Sorry Weber, bad attempt at humor on my part. I'm an ocular guy, but Joe's funnier, so here - [THWAP!] - I lash myself. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.192.138 |
The original had several memorable scenes, none of which were equaled in the remake. Some of the more subtle touches were overlooked altogether (the face in the window, for example, which reminded me of a scene from Ramsey's INCARNATE). The remake, while not a bad movie, was merely a perfunctory retelling of the original, with the best scenes watered down. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
The original is great - memorable if only for the meat-licking scene. Is it only me who was creeped out by that? | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.192.138 |
That's one of my favourite scenes too, Zed. There's a restaurant down the road from me just like that, with the Cantonese-style meat hanging off hooks - I'm going to see if I can get my sister-in-law and niece to pose as the licking ghosts and then put the picture up here for you... | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Is it the one with the haunted bus stop? I liked that idea | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 77.86.104.231 |
http://www.mysterymag.com/hauntedbritain/?page=article&subID=78&artID=274 GHOST BUS!!!!! | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
cool |