by Thomas Ferguson

Zzzzzzz…. I’m so terribly sorry, but I just woke up from the most mundane dream. I was sitting in a dark theater watching one of the most uninteresting horror movies in quite some time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a dream. It was reality…it was The Eye.

Sydney Wells(Jessica Alba), an accomplished violinist, has been blind since childhood. A new cornea procedure gives her the opportunity to finally have sight for the first time in years.

After a long period of rehabilitation, Sydney starts seeing visions that make absolutely no sense to her. These confusing images eventually become frightening images that slowly begin to drive her crazy. No one can understand what is happening to Sydney. Not her caring sister Helen (Parker Posey) or her cynical doctor Paul (Alessandro Nivola).

The mystery begins to slowly unravel as Sydney takes it upon herself to locate the donor of her new eyes.— hoping she can shed some light on Sydney’s new misfortune.

Based on the Hong Kong horror film Jian Gui, The Eye is yet another lame American filmmaker’s attempt to translate Asian horror for American audiences. Both The Ring and The Grudge were valiant attempts, but neither quite hit the mark for me. The Eye never even came close to hitting the target.

It takes an hour before this movie gets even remotely interesting. With its running time coming in just over ninety minutes, that’s not good. It’s only when Sydney begins to track down her donor that things start to cook. By then, most of the audience, including myself, had pretty much already given up.

Alba just keeps proving that she is one of the most overrated young actresses out there. She is a stunning beauty, but I never quite believe her in any role she plays.

This movie is nothing to rush out to see. This type of story has been done numerous times using different body parts. I remember Idle Hands from the late nineties. This was the story of a young man whose right hand gets possessed by a homicidal maniac. Coincidentally, guess who co starred in that cinematic gem…Ms. Alba herself.

What’s next?…The Liver.