Search - Eye 10 on DVD

Had its potential greatly overlooked...

Woopak | Where Dark Asian Knights Dwell | 05/09/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Having enjoyed THE EYE and THE EYE 2, of course I had to watch this 3rd installment of this Thai horror series. The film had great potential, unfortunately, the PANG BROTHERS decided to go a different route.

The film is about 4 thrillseekers in Thailand who wanted to experience the ultimate thrill of all, see GHOSTS. One of these 4 has a book full of 10 Thai rituals, hence, the title THE EYE 10. (potential spoiler alert)Spirit of the glass, banging on rice bowls in an intersection, playing Hide & Seek at midnight, stop and peek, rubbing dirt onto your eyes from a grave, opening an umbrella indoors, sleeping in clothes used for a funeral, brushing hair in front of the mirror at midnight and the last 2 rituals are the ones done in the first 2 films. All these are asian folklore three of which even exists in the Philippines.

Of course after playing with fire, the thrillseekers encounter something very sinister which puts their lives in danger. THE EYE dealt with Karma, THE EYE 2 dealt with reincarnation, this latest installment deals with Limbo or as Catholics may call it Purgatory.

The film had some very creepy scenes, however, it didn't have the same feel as the original and the 2nd sequel. The Pangs decided to have a more westernized approached by adding humor and too much hokey makeup and effects. In other words, it felt more like Hollywood. Perhaps Tom Cruise buying the re-make rights to the EYE had influenced them. I believe this is a mistake because I like Asian horror not just because I am asian, but because it has the creepy feel to the atmosphere, camera shots and story. I really wished the Pangs stuck to what they knew best, that is put people in crisis with terrific cinematic experience. Hollywood horror never creeped me out except for THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN, THE OTHERS and The SIXTH SENSE. Oxide Pang's AB-NORMAL BEAUTY was a lot better than this. This 2nd sequel felt more like a supernatural fantasy.

The film wasn't that bad, just a bit disappointing compared to the first 2 films. The dvd quality was great, the video quality wasn't DVD-9* but was good enough and it was mastered in 5.1 DTS.
Rent first if you can, I bought it for $ 12.99 in Chinatown just to complete my collection. (2.5 stars)

*DVD-9 is the highest quality video in imported asian dvds, high-definition quality. Somewhat similar to Dual layer, Superbit dvd in the U.S.
"

A few genuine gut-busting laughs...not much else.

Shaun | Minneapolis, MN USA | 05/13/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The Eye 10 is the third movie of The Eye series and stars a cast of relatively unknowns; which strangely reminds me of every other "I Know What You Did Last Summer"-like line-up ever employed and immortalized in one movie or another.

A group of Thai friends get together, most from Bangkok, travel to a rural Thai village to meet another friend who sort of leads them on a sight-seeing trip through the Thai countryside. On the return trip, they hop a bus that passes by an accident on the roadside. They witness, and one of them films, a dead body lying under a blanket, surrounded by police who are reconstructing the scene and directing traffic. Later that night, they gather in the living-room of their host, Tak, and begin telling ghost stories. No one is having any luck with their stories, so Tak introduces an ancient storybook called "10 Ways to See a Ghost". In it are 10 methods to conjure a ghost's presence. After some reluctance, they agree to begin exploring them one by one, to varying degrees of success.

The central theme of the movie takes off after they've tried a few, and move on to a game of hide-and-seek; played at midnight, while the 'seeker' hunts for the rest of the group while carrying a black cat. This method is the most effective so far and one of the group, namely Ko Fai, vanishes, without a trace. The police are brought in, but to no avail. They'll have to rely on the remaining methods in the book and Tak's mother's expertise as a kind of spiritual advisor to find Ko Fai.

The first thing that I will say, is that The Eye 10 isn't very good at all. What it is, is mildly entertaining. Well, there's no way to get around it. Somewhat because of the Pang Brother's cheesy brand of humor, but mainly because of the infusion of Thai folklore/mythology. In particular, a scene in a Bangkok apartment building where a possessed young man provokes a break-dancing showdown with two local punks in an upper hallway. I laughed so hard, but I've never felt so ashamed for doing so. Now for the bad. For starters, the story is barely believable, and the 10 methods from the book are a tad wacky and, in terms of the film's layout, they're told in a heavily disjointed and episodic manner. The folklore angle does puts a nice shine on them though. As far as the story-line, it was linear, but came across as jumbled or on-the-fly. No weight to it. So much so, that I wouldn't have been surprised to see a Carrot Top cameo or a 'Thriller-like' choreographed number. Not the way I like my horror.

Eye 10 isn't so much the second sequel to The Eye as it's a spin-off, in my opinion. I have a feeling it took some finessing to manage a germane link the audience would buy. Other than the title of course. In the end, there are some eerily effective scenes, (as short-lived as they are), and two or three genuine shocks. I wouldn't turn to The Eye 10 for a horror fix though. In that regard, it's wholly disappoints and comically underachieves.
"

A comedic horror from The Brothers Pang

Dancing Ganesha | Bangalore, India | 10/08/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Horror with humour! Yes, I know that some will hate this because they expect everything from the famous Pang Brothers to be serious and morbid, but I really enjoyed this film from start to finish. I would highly recommend this film only to those already familiar with the Pang Brothers or else are fans of Asian Horror and are willing to give most Asian Horror a chance."

(2.5 STARS) Horror / Comedy from Pang Brothers: Weakest "EYE

Tsuyoshi | Kyoto, Japan | 06/28/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

""EYE 10" ("aka EYE Infinity") is the third installment of the horror "EYE" series directed by Pang Brothers.' Regrettably, though the newest film gives us the Bothers' trademark, stylish photography and some chilling (and funny) moments, it is probably the weakest link of the three "EYE" films.

"EYE 10" starts like a Thai urban legend; four youths from Hong Kong -- Tak (Bo-lin Chen), his cousin May (Kate Yeung), Gofei (Yu Gu, credited as Chris Gu) and his girlfriend April (Isabella Leong) -- visit their friend Chongkwai (Ray MacDonald) in Thailand, who says he had recently bought a strange book written about ten ways to conjure up ghosts. In the woods at midnight they try one of them - "Hide and Seek with the Ghosts" - but you know they shouldn't as something goes terribly wrong and one of the participants is found missing next morning.

[TONGUE-IN-CHEEK] "EYE 10" is only loosely connected to the other two "EYE" films, so you can (and should) see it as stand-alone project. "EYE 10" is also unique in its slightly tongue-in-cheek tone. In the middle of the scary scenes (such as characters encountering with ghouls), you find silly jokes (of "Scary Movie" kind) that may or may not make you laugh. This is basically a ghost movie, which is trying to be different.

But what disappointed me is not those new comic aspect of the film (I liked that). "EYE 10" starts promisingly with atmospheric images, but its spooky atmosphere gradually disappears halfway through the story, which suddenly loses its thread and wraps up with a weak conclusion. I frankly don't know what made Pang Brothers choose this ending, which itself is not a bad idea, but needs more careful storytelling nonetheless.

The film introduces us some of the new faces in Asian film industry - Taiwanese Bo-lin Chen, Isabella Leong from Hong Kong, Chris Gu from China, for example - and all the cast is good, but Kate Yeung ("20, 30, 40") is the most impressive among them.

Don't expect something like the creepy story of original "EYE" or its first sequel. The third "EYE" film is trying to be different, though the difference may not be what you want."