by LORRAINE CARPENTER

Following the success of Japan’s Ringu, its sequels and its remakes, Asia has sprung a series of classy films teeming with chills, tension and psychological terror. The Eye is the latest of these to hit North America, and the latest film by former "superstar editors" and action directors, Thailand’s Pang Brothers.

Allegedly based on a true story, the film follows a twentysomething blind girl named Mun - brilliantly played by Angelica Lee Sin-Je - whose cornea transplant restores the sight she lost at the age of two. Vulnerable, but never a helpless horror damsel, Mun struggles to comprehend the world around her, including the sinister shadow figures and shifting realities that no one else seems to see. With help from her therapist/love interest Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou), she traces her haunted corneas from Hong Kong to their donor in small-town Thailand.

The story is simple enough, with its ghost story conventions and shades of The Sixth Sense and Ringu, but what makes The Eye worthwhile is the creeping mood and torturous suspense created through expert camerawork and editing by the Pangs, stark, haunting cinematography by Decha Srimantra, and a subtle score by Orange Music - far from the overwhelming swells we’ll certainly hear in the impending American remake. David Lynch’s parallel worlds and music video master Chris Cunningham’s fast-paced modern surrealism are apt comparisons, but this isn’t flashy, breakneck horror. The film also deals with Mun’s relationship with her young hospital neighbour Ying-Ying (Yut Lai So) and the negative impact of her newfound vision.

At one point, Mun’s fear inspires her to retreat into the blind world, locking herself away with her violin and attempting to re-join the all-blind orchestra she was ousted from after the operation. These sad forays and the (mercifully understated) romance don’t detract from the terror, but they do calm proceedings enough to weaken the film’s final twist and make the grand finale seem a tad over-the-top (and a major bummer to boot). Regardless of its minor flaws, this is a thoughtful and thoroughly frightening film, such stuff as nightmares are made of.

THE EYE PLAYS TUESDAY, JULY 22, 9:55PM, IN CONCORDIA’S HALL THEATRE (1455 DE MAISONNEUVE W.) AS PART OF FANTASIA

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