User Reviews

"The Eye" was easily one of the creepiest Asian horror flicks I have ever seen,so I decided to check out its sequel.Qi Shu plays a young woman Joey Cheng who is in a fragile emotional state following her third relationship break-up.She tries to commit suicide,unfortunately her overdose seemingly triggers a series of visions of creepy spirits,a phenomenon that intensifies in Hong Kong when Joey discovers that she is pregnant."The Eye 2" lacks the suspense and chills of the original.Still there are some memorable set-pieces including a drowned corpse traversing a woman giving birth in the elevator.The acting is great with Qi Shu giving an excellent performance as a troubled woman,but "The Eye 2" is almost completely devoid of tension.However if you are a fan of Asian horror give it a look.7 out of 10.

Danny and Oxide Pang follow-up their 2002 horror movie with this non-related sequel. It's not as effective as the original, but still has a few scenes worth watching for.

Joey Cheng (Shu Qi, who you might recognize from her terrible performance from Transporter) is a young, pregnant woman who attempts suicide, and fails, only to obtain the ability to see ghosts. There's no plot though. Some of the ghosts seem cursory and are never fully explained. They're weird and visible just for the sake of it, with no explanation. There's a slight mystery involving the woman Joey sees lurking in the train station which leads to sweet ending, but it's not really enough to sustain a 95-minute running time.

It falls short of the Eye, though there are a couple of tense moments and it's not completely dissatisfying.

While not as intense and emotionally involving as the original Jian Gui, this sequel still provides some interesting ideas about life after death...and life before birth.

Mentally fragile Joey, suffering from a recent break up with her boyfriend, makes yet another suicide attempt. As consciousness fades away, she glimpses shadowy figures gathered around her bedside. Once her stomach is pumped and she makes a full recovery, Joey realizes she is pregnant. As the pregnancy progresses, Joey begins seeing ghosts. They're in taxi cabs, falling off of rooftops and hanging around elevators. They seem particularly interested in the pregnant women that now surround Joey in her everyday activities. One in particular, the ghost of a sorrowful young woman, seems determined to keep Joey from harm, preventing further suicide attempts and even viciously attacking a would-be rapist. Joey realizes that the ghost was once the wife of the man Joey was having an affair with, and who is now the father of her unborn baby. But is it revenge the ghost wants, or something else entirely?

This film lacks some of the scares that the first one provided quite well and moves along rather slowly, but it is by no means a bad movie at all. Its ideas about the dead and the unborn are quite intriguing and the film, much like the first one, proves to be an uplifting experience. The performances are all excellent and the story quite intelligent. A scary scene in a taxi cab with a Ringu- ish ghost is especially tense and worth the wait.

I much prefer the original Jian Gui, but this one is a worthy effort. Fans of the genre shouldn't miss it.

Ratjng: * * * *

Synopsis: Joey is unlucky in love. After her third relationship comes to an abrupt end she attempts suicide. But this brush with the other side has left with the ability to see things that a person isn't supposed to see. After she finds out she is pregnant she tries to put her life back in order she finds that she is being menaced by one of the various spirits she now sees. She must save her baby from the spirit at all costs.

Review: This sequel to the highly successful creepy 2002 original stars Shu Qi as the lead Joey. This time around the scares are lessened as the narrative of this sad woman takes center stage. Very good acting across the board lends emotion to the story and at times helps drop your guard long enough to nail you with a good jump. The scares are often creepy little set pieces that add to the overall somber atmosphere of the film. The script incorporates many different elements including suicide, broken hearts and a little reincarnation for good measure. Well written you feel for the Joey character as her life goes to pieces. The Pang Brothers turn out another outstanding chiller full of emotion and chills, two combinations hardly seen together. The look of the film is awesome with a colorful look at times and a drab menacing look when needed. What is this thing that the Pang Brothers have with elevators? The music is very good and frames most of the scares in a usual fashion. A very bassy and cello heavy sound mix run through out the film and lends itself to the atmosphere. Overall a very worth continuation but I had a minor complaint with the ending; it kind of got away but was made up by the cool final scene.

Although it explores some of the same themes (someone seeing ghosts and being 'stalked' by a specific one) it is anything but a sequel to The Eye. A woman has a near death experience and starts seeing ghosts. She seems to see one more than the others and as she discovers this one has a connection with her without her even knowing. The scares in this movie are not really there. There are no 'jump up' moments anywhere and it all becomes quite dull when our main character just keeps on screaming for every little thing she sees. Not really a must-see movie, although the concept of reincarnation as explored in this movie is an interesting one.

Joey Cheng (Qi Shu) attempts to suicide using an overdose of sleeping pills, when her boyfriend breaks up with her. However, she is saved by the staff of the hotel and from this moment on, she has visions of dead people. When she finds that she is pregnant, she decides to have the baby and protect him against the frightening ghosts.

"Jian gui" is one of my favorite horror movies, and "Jian gui 2" has also a very scary story, with one of the strongest scenes I have ever seen. Although having the same title, this movie is not a sequel of "Jian gui". Unfortunately, the deceptive end is completely related to the Buddhist beliefs of reincarnation and too much straight for my taste. I was expecting for some last scary surprising scene, but I was completely disappointed with the correctness of the conclusion. The beauty of Qi Shu, an actress unknown for us Westerns, with her thick lips is amazing and a great attraction. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Visões" ("Visions")

*Yawn*

After watching 'The Eye 2,' it's pretty clear that The Pang Brothers are overhyped one-hit wonders, who happened to make it big when the horror genre hit an all-time low.

Now the original film was far from great. It's actually one of the weaker films in the Asian Horror New Wave. But it at least had a few genuine scares, complemented by a killer ending. There's nothing remotely interesting in this phoned-in sequel. Not one good idea is present. Not a single frame is scary. Even hardcore fans will forget this as soon as the credits roll.

Avoid.

As has been said, this movie has virtually nothing to do with the original Eye, except for the blurry ghost effects and music video style direction/editing. Good thing too as I believe that movie was corny and hardly better than your average television show despite many other more favorable opinions of it on this site. My biggest complaint was the music-video style of this movie, too slick and cool to really make this movie scary or unnerving, Pang Brothers have good potential to make some effective horror but always resort to trendy camera-work, cheesy synthesizers and obvious "scary moment" sound and music that renders their work a bit shallow and more juvenile than it should be. Too bad because they have some good actors, high production values and some decent ideas that touch upon what could be really deeper themes and squander what could have been much more effective chills and thrills. I like the sad/angry/vengeful/pitiful ghost in this movie very much. What an interesting choice for an actress, scary and beautiful at the same time.

Another interesting point is the way in which Buddism has been overshadowed by Northen Chinese, Hindu and Tibetan style mysticism in so much of Asia now. Buddah;s original writings actually stressed that there is no soul that exists beyond the interconnected array of desires, fears and impulses that make up the living moment, there is no possibility of reincarnation as there is no essential soul or "self" to speak of. His teachings directly opposed the Hindu pantheon of gods and Tibetan shamanistic mythologies that were prevalent in his time and have become to intertwined with contemporary Asian-Buddist culture and national identity. His message of enlightenment was specifically to do away with the forms of belief that dealt with concepts like spirits and reincarnation and find the unburdened, unencumbered awareness of the present "now". This very major point has been lost in the Chinese dominated parts of most Asia at this point and Buddism has become a very superstitious belief system rather than an approach to a liberated psychology. Sri Lanka has become the modern heart of the faithful Buddist teaching, read " The Gods drink whiskey" if you are interested.

After a failed suicide attempt, a pregnant young woman, Joey, begins seeing some not-so-benign spirits. She learns that to find answers, she must dig into the past of her ex-boyfriend—and father of her unborn child. This sequel to the 2002 film "The Eye", plot-wise, is unrelated, though much of the original's crew has returned, including the Pang Bros. Directing and Jo Jo Yuet-chun Hui penning the script. The story line has little to do with the title (it may have been better marketed as an unrelated film) but the story itself offers enough twists, turns and red herrings—some of which I didn't see coming—to keep things interesting and often exciting. While the ghosts in the original were mostly creepy-looking, the ones here tended to lean more towards the gory end of the spectrum, the best scene involving a VERY realistic depiction of what happens to one's body after falling from the top of the building. Qi Shu makes a very strong lead, and all the other actors were fine as well, but for some reason the first quarter or so of the film is spoken primarily in English, perhaps to cash in on the overseas market (?). My biggest complaint is the fact that the film can often be laugh-out-loud cheesy. *SPOILER* for example, when Joey jumps from the top-story of a building, twice, are we really supposed to believe she's in good enough physical health afterwards to deliver an infant!?!?!? Come on, give me a break…

Still, it's worth checking out if you like Asian horror. It's inferior to the original, as sequels often are, but it's an interesting film nonetheless.

5.5/10.

I generally don't go into sequels expecting much. This movie isn't really a sequel, in the traditional sense, as it has nothing at all to do with the original. But it is a very effective little thriller, with some disturbingly good special effects and a decently conceived story. Better than a lot of the fashionable J-horror films currently being imported, and a worthwhile evening's entertainment. Hsu Qi is great as the lead character, a suicidal woman who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant by a former lover. If you fell in love with her in Jackie Chan's "Gorgeous," you will probably enjoy seeing a different depth of her talents here.

I couldn't resist watching a movie with Qi Shu after seeing her in The Transporter. Unfortunately, while she did a great job of acting, the movie itself left a lot to be desired.

It was really nothing more than an episode of Ghost Whisperer. She doesn't have "the gift" of seeing spirits until she attempts suicide subsequent to another failed relationship -- like anyone would believe that someone wouldn't want her! It is more than seeing spirits, it relates to Buddhist beliefs and reincarnation. The key is that the spirits want to be reborn and forget their past lives. They do this by possessing babies as they are born.

Of course, she is pregnant, too. She keeps seeing the same spirit and wants to find out why it is haunting her. That is an interesting part of the story and I won't spoil it for you.

The only real horror is the fact that she attempts suicide three more times and fails each time. You won't believe the last two attempts.

So, I got to see Qi Shu again, but I was hoping for better horror.

The Pang Brothers return with a very bizarre sequel to "The Eye". Bizarre, not only due to The Eye 2 not following on from the original film in any way, but also due to the fact that this film almost represents a change of genre. The Eye 2 is more of a supernatural thriller than a typical horror film; the tension arises from mysterious events rather than carnage or bloodshed. The result is an unusual and disturbing entry into one of the best Asian horror franchises.

The Eye 2 introduces us to a new heroine, Joey, who indulges in a shopping spree before swallowing a bottle of pills in a very weak suicide attempt (she asks hotel staff to check in on her before doing the deed). Joey is revived in hospital but her near death experience gives her the ability to see spirits. This new gift only becomes stronger when Joey discovers that she is unexpectedly pregnant. There should be something exploitative about a horror movie that chooses a suicidal, pregnant woman as its subject matter. And to a certain extent, there is a mean spirited edge to The Eye 2. However, this scenario also allows the Pang Brothers to create an intensely disturbing atmosphere and display much of the visual virtuosity that has found them an international following.

The film's sense of tension builds rapidly after a slow first half. Joey begins to see more dead people and after consulting with Buddhists, comes to believe that a spirit is intent on possessing her unborn child. The Pang Brothers explore this set up with a number of memorably set pieces. The image of the falling corpses in the bus-stop scene lingers, the ghost under the table at the restaurant is unnerving and the creepy, womb raiding ghosts would turn anyone off having children.

The Pang Brothers are such masters at creating tension and suspense through their eerie visuals and excellent use of sound that you almost forget that this is all window dressing for a paper thin plot. For example, one of the film's major failings is that Joey's suicidal behaviour is never explained. This makes Joey's incredibly self-destructive behaviour difficult to gage. It's hard to tell if Joey is suicidal or completely psychotic. The reasoning behind this may well have been that Joey's ambiguous mental state increases the sense of hysteria. And to a certain extent it does, but it also makes it difficult to connect with Joey and her plight. The re-incarnation sub-plot is also barely explained and Joey's relationship with her ex-boyfriend remains a mystery.

The film's flaws are more than compensated for by the impressive visual effects, creepy atmosphere and brutality. The Pang Brothers' unique sense of visual style, which could best be described as film noir on hallucinogenic drugs, remains intact. In many ways, this is the only real connection with the first film. The Eye 2 is more derivative than its predecessor. For example, imagery such as the floating ghosts, owe a debt to Japanese horror. However, there is more than enough originality on display here to demonstrate the huge potential of these filmmakers. The visual effects are polished and the Pang Brothers' direction is as hyper as ever.

The film also displays a mean streak that differentiates it from many other movies of its genre. Joey, played with great skill by Taiwanese star Qi Shu, is not your typical scream queen; she's not represented as a fighter or survivor but the victim of circumstance. Joey attempts to commit suicide, is rejected by her boyfriend, finds out she's unexpectedly pregnant, almost raped, asks for an abortion, tries to kill herself at home and then twice more for good measure, in an extended and admirably tasteless scene, in hospital. The imagery may be surreal but the canvas on which it is placed is relentlessly grim and gritty.

The Eye 2 is suspenseful and wonderfully atmospheric but there is little depth to the proceedings. However, this is unlikely to turn off too many genre fans. My only reservation is that the Pang Brothers are clearly capable of more.

Although, it's a good movie ,I would agree with the most of the guys here that "the eye 2" had nothing to do with the first movie, cause of their different themes.Ghosts who purchases a blind woman and ghosts who tries to be rebirth again through a pregnant woman of their choice, gives us other point and we entering another subject. Eye 2, gives us a lot of thinking about how the world works.At least through Chinese eyes and also ,the horror behind the movie, if these facts could be true. In a few words,its an excellent movie for searchers and a good movie for not believers.

The choice is yours:-)

An important observation regarding the title is that there is absolutely no relation between the movie & the title. I felt cheated because going by the title, I thought this movie has some connection with Gin gwai/The Eye which was one of my favourite movies. Since the first movie was a hit, just to cash on the success, the directors Pang Brothers named this movie as a sequel but the story is completely new one. Since the story isn't bad at all, they should have kept an independent tile. The second thing which I hated immensely was the background score in the 1st half. Random usage of heavy music was actually distracting although in the 2nd half the situation improved. As a whole I would say job not well done as far as background score was considered.

The movie stars Shu Qi (from The Transporter) as the depressed lover of a married man. Feeling that she is being rejected/neglected by him, she attempts suicide but is saved in time & finds that she is pregnant. She also begins to see dead people especially a dead woman who keeps on stalking her. She believes that this woman is after her unborn child. Who is this woman? Why is she after her baby? Does what she is seeing are really ghosts? Catch the movie to find the answers.

The movie initially seems to be a simple routine horror flick but as it goes towards the climax, it tries to go into the realms of psychology. In fact the movie scores with its intelligently woven structure. The good thing about original Asian horror including this movie is that they have very good stories. The movie belongs completely to Shu Qi. She is present in almost every frame of the movie & the movie is completely dependent on her. She does a very good job.

The main purpose of a horror thriller is giving some scares & Gin gwai 2 has a few chills packed neatly. All in all a decent attempt. I would have given slightly better rating had the makers not cheated me (I am still angry) by giving a false title to the movie.

If you like horror movies, go for this. You will get your money's worth.

I picked up this release together with the first part about three weeks ago, but I watched the Gin gwai 2 just yesterday and I was well frightened and entertained.

The good things about this movie are the original story (average quality of the story was the only flaw in the first part), qualities of cinematography and sound-tech guys and overall atmosphere and the prime sense of Asian horror, delivered by the filmmakers of this title.

But this film suffers from some fatal flaws in story line and the following depiction of this probably undeveloped or lazy developed story. I spotted about four or three of such flaws – but, if you are able to ignore these mistakes or acts of laziness, you can extract the rest of the beauty, lying in the storyline, sound and work of Pang brothers. I really enjoyed the way in which the horror was delivered in unpredictable (sometimes predictable, though) ways (horror can be experienced in daylight). I really enjoyed the work of actors and the rest of the crew.

But, the best enjoyment for me was the dripping of Asian Horror of this title. I experienced some WANTED and expected loads of pure creeps and fears. In this plane this movie just VERY seriously kicks my J-Horror-addicted butt! But I wish that they hadn’t included some American way of lightly complicated story telling near the end – this just tends to ruin the way of intellectual Asian Horror in general. But I put this in the following way - another passable flaw of this movie.

So, if you can get past these flaws and concentrate on the story (which managed to be intellectual too) and cinematography in general (nice work), you can experience lots of horror and drama from this good-done title.

Growing up in the United States in the 90's, I was never really exposed to foreign film as a child. Foreign films were more a niche market at that time... something you had to actively be aware of and seek out for yourself in cramped back-sections of video-stores or through special orders in magazines. It wasn't really until my mid-teens in the early 2000's that I became a fan, when a rash of Americanized remakes and reboots started to popularize foreign film- particularly Asian cinema- to increasing numbers of western audiences. Soon enough, by the time I was 16, I was ordering Region-Free imports of films and series online, scouring the shelves of the local Video King for the latest translated releases and borrowing whatever I could from friends and relatives.

One of my favorite finds around that time was the Pang Brother's wonderfully eerie and thrilling 2002 release "The Eye"- a fun but somewhat flawed ghost-story about a woman who goes through a cornea transplant and gains the ability to see spirits and ghouls. It was a very fun little tale of terror, and even to this day, I give it a watch now and then. However, I wasn't immediately aware that the film was only the first of a series, with several sequels of inconsistent quality having followed. So you could imagine my surprise a few years later when I stumbled onto "The Eye 2" on a store-shelf one Summer day.

"The Eye 2" is most certainly a peculiar follow-up. Not a direct sequel by any means, the film tells a unique tale regarding a depressed woman named Joey (Shu Qi) who tries to commit suicide after a failed relationship, but survives and learns that she is pregnant with the child of her former lover. Soon though, she begins to see vile spectral figures that follow her, and she learns that they are trying to take ahold of her unborn baby so that they may be reborn into the human world. And so, she goes on a journey to try and discover just what's happening and if there is any way to save her baby from being taken over by these seemingly vengeful spirits.

The film does falter quite a bit in the fear department which is why it loses some crucial points for me, and a big part of the issues at hand is the lack of fear and panic in comparison with the first film. While it does have a few select moments of genuine creeps and jumps, the film is far too focused on story and character to really get under your skin, and the genuine scares often come few and far in between. I also found that Joey, while a compelling enough protagonist, is saddled far too often in the first half into being little more than a sort-of sad-eyed puppy-dog of a woman. Yes, the film is about an emotionally damaged woman... but it can be a bit overbearing at times.

However, the film excels and is still a worthy watch due to the shockingly warm heart it contains beneath the surface. It really sets the film apart of not only the other entries in the series, but also the other contemporary horror films as a whole. The film is genuinely an emotional roller-coaster and many of its twists and turns are actually quite sweet and good-natured. It may seem counter-intuitive for a horror film to have a good moral center, but it actually works quite well here. The film's themes tend to center on ideas like seeking forgiveness from both oneself and the others around us, the concept of motherhood as a whole and just doing the right thing no matter what, and it gives the film a very fulfilling arc for not only Joey as a character, but everyone around her. Qi is quite good as our protagonist even if it takes some time to accept her depressive personality. And supporting roles by the likes of Eugenia Yuan and Jesdaporn Pholdee are exceptionally well-played and add a lot to the proceedings.

While it's never quite as startling as I'd have wished, I still find "The Eye 2" a very fun and engaging feature, and I'd definitely highly recommend it to fans of foreign horror. For me, it's a pretty solid 7 out of 10. If you liked the original, give it a shot. I'd just also recommend steering clear of the third film... Oh, boy.

The Eye was one the best horror movies to come in last 10 years or so, it one of favourite of horror movies of all time., it was really creepy and wheel made.

The Eye 2 is stand alone movies, it not connected to the first movie.

After a failed suicide attempt, a pregnant woman gains the ability to see ghosts.

This movie is not as good or as creepy as The Eye however this movie hold up by it self, there were some really good scenes this movie The scenes with baby scan, freaked me out little and I really liked the scenes at the bust stop as it made Jump twice in 60 seconds.

The acting in this movie was good but not great. This movie dose have moments so I going give 5 out of 10

A sequel in name only to the The Eye/Gin Gwai. In other words, this movie's link to the first one is merely that a character has the ability to see dead people (ghosts/spirits/souls). Therefore, if you haven't seen the original, don't fret. You will not feel lost. Just by the by, there was a Hollywood version based on the first in this series, starring Jessica Alba. Haven't seen that one. Did see the first and wasn't a huge fan...from memory, some adjectives which came to mind for that were: sentimental, silly (but, to be fair, sometimes creepy too).

Anyway, I prefer this sequel to the first. It concerns a pregnant woman in a troubled relationship with a man. She unsuccessfully 'attempts' suicide, and this seems to spark her 6th Sense type ability. As a result, there are many eerie/creepy scenes where we/she sees spirits getting a little too close for comfort.

Often sombre and leisurely paced, this is compensated for by being more intellectually rewarding than the first movie. However, you have been warned...don't watch this expecting to see a thrill a minute...this is more slow burn pacing.

In a way, I see this movie as being sort of an Asian "The Exorcist". I reviewed The Exorcist here a while back. In that movie, you are made to fear the devil and may run towards the Catholic Church to make you feel safer (not that the Church would have endorsed this movie...pretty sure that they condemned it at the time). Which is to say that in The Eye 2, Asian philosophy, of a metaphysical sort is explored. Specifically, the beliefs of Buddhism. Not really qualified to discuss the philosophy of Buddhism, but, to the extent that this movie draws on Buddhist philosophy (much? not so much?), it is really quite disconcerting to see how that world view would instantiate itself. If Buddhism is true, would this movie comfort you? Or scare you? On second thoughts, maybe this is the movie to scare you into becoming a good Buddhist!

At times, this movie does lack realism and tests your willingness to suspend disbelief, as far as 'real life' goes.

*Yawn*

After watching 'The Eye 2,' it's pretty clear that The Pang Brothers are overhyped one-hit wonders, who happened to make it big when the horror genre hit an all-time low.

Now the original film was far from great. It's actually one of the weaker films in the Asian Horror New Wave. But it at least had a few genuine scares, complemented by a killer ending. There's nothing remotely interesting in this phoned-in sequel. Not one good idea is present. Not a single frame is scary. Even hardcore fans will forget this as soon as the credits roll.

Avoid.