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17 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Quite disappointing follow-up to "The Eye"., 27 December 2004
7/10
Author: HumanoidOfFlesh from Chyby, Poland

"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.

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14 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Great Sequel..., 19 June 2004
Author: suspiria10 from The Void

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.

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11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
More thoughtful than scary, 30 October 2005
7/10
Author: Gafke from United States

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.

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7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Far Better Than Expected, 22 August 2005
8/10
Author: BlackSox1919 from Plum Creek, VA

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.

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11 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Not a must-see movie, 21 November 2004
5/10
Author: Sam Lowry (amazon@bigar.co.uk) from United Kingdom

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.

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12 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
good story but it has nothing to do with the eye. This is clearly a Spin Off, 18 June 2004
Author: aznraverb0ii

I feel that this movie should not have really been called the eye 2 because it really does not have to do with anything about the eye. But also the director said in the making that he decided to call it the eye 2 because it consists some of the same ghosts. So all in all This is a Spin Off.

The story itself is a bit hard to understand for Westerners because this movies Chinese Religion and Sayings play an important role in this movie.

The drama is good but the movie Lost a lot of it's horrific impact near the end. At the beginning you'll see some interesting things going on and a twist in the middle but it doesn't last. The Drama is mostly the cause and effect for what is happening in the movie and they did a pretty good job in a way and it's a movie to watch if your girl wants to watch a horror movie.

I have mixed feelings about this movie and there are some things i did not understand therefore i need to watch it again.

This movie feels like a mix between 6th sense and Rosemary's baby. It's a very unusual story mixed in with drama

7/10 for now.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
wrong title, good film, 3 December 2006
6/10
Author: miclaroc from United States

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.

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
There is nothing worse then a life left unexamined - SPOILERS, 25 August 2004
7/10
Author: Kupotek from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The Eye 2 is a sort of spin-off of the original Eye, although this time it shows us another gift of vision... and not through transplant, but through self induced suicide attempts. Qi Shu plays a desperately struggling, and suicidal young lady, pregnant, and teetering on the brink of madness... She's the unwilling recipient of an influx of shadowy images that haunt her pervasively. In an attempt to quell this disturbing phenomenon, she hooks up with a msysterious caretaker, and her secretive ex-lover Sam (Tik Jesadaporn Pholdee), who may be able to shed some light upon the mysterious twilight world descending upon Joey.

The story is about taking responsibility, and is done in such a haunting and wonderful way, as we wind through the inner battle of Joey's detachment from her life, her lack of understanding, and her coming to terms with who she is, and what she has been a part of all this time.

Joey is in love with a married man, and when he discovers a conscience, and begins brushing her off, Joey attempts suicide, out of her own guilt, and sadness. Suicidal attempts develop into strange visions of the dead... but what is she really seeing, and what will it teach her?

Sam's wife commits suicide by jumping in front of a train, when she discovers her husband is having an affair, and Joey begins to see a woman following her around, a ghost, but does she know this woman is the ex-wife of her ex-lover, and why does she follow Joey in the afterlife?

Joey is pregnant, and the further along her pregnancy, the more we see this woman following her, and the more we see strange phenomena surrounding pregnant women. Joey at first thinks the ghosts are threatening the unborn children, but must accept that she is to be the mother of her ex-lover's suicided ex-wife, and that these ghosts merely await reincarnation. Joey evolves as a character, and as a human being, in this heartwrenching story of coming to terms, and self sacrifice, as Joey takes on the responsibility of not only parenthood, but raising the one person as her baby, she hurt more then anyone else in her life.

But, don't be fooled, this is not merely a touching story of responsibility, karma, and social illness, the ghost protects Joey, so that it may be reborn. When a man threatens to rape Joey, he is brutally disfigured, Joey is unconscious so who did it? I believe it was the ghost of this woman protecting Joey.

Alot of people did not like this film, but I found it very moving. Qi Shu shows us she is capable of alot more then simply looking cute, in this heart wrenching look at reality, and the repercussions of living a life without truth.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Joey Sees Dead People, 10 August 2006
Author: Crap_Connoisseur from Australia

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.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Inferior to the original...but still worth catching,, 9 October 2005
5/10
Author: willywants

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.

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