After thoroughly enjoying The Eye, I was looking forward to seeing The Eye 2, especially as this was also directed by the Pang Brothers, the two directors of the first film. Unfortunately, after viewing it, I was let down quite a bit and didn't enjoy it as much as the first, with this one being somewhat slower-paced and less creepy too.This isn't really a sequel to the first movie either as it doesn't have any of the characters from The Eye, and it has it's own separate storyline. I guess it can be classed more of a spin-off from the first.Also, this one had a completely different feel to it. The first movie WAS a supernatural horror, pure and simple, but this one, while still having the supernatural element to it, felt more like a sort of drama than a horror. It had more of an emotional attachment to it with the different aspects of the storyline. Not that that's a bad thing...as long as I am actually expecting a drama, but I was expecting a film that was similar to the first.As I said above as well, there are much less creepier moments in this film than what there was in the first, but some of the creepy scenes here are pretty well done. I'm not sure, but it's as if the Pang Brothers were trying to make a film that dealt more in delivering suspense rather than pure "scare the s**t out of you" as it was more subdued this time around. I'm not saying that The Eye didn't have any suspense in it because it did...and plenty of it, but here it seems to deal more in suspense and less in creepy.The story is a pretty interesting one as it deals with the Buddhist version of reincarnation and their belief on what happens to the spirits of the dead. As long as you keep an open mind and don't instantly think "ach, what a pile of nonsense" then you'll be fine (and that's coming from an atheist).As mentioned, The Eye 2 is nowhere near the same level as The Eye, but it's still a decent watch, especially if you enjoy Asian horrors/thrillers.

In the Pang Brothers 'sequel-in-name-only' to their 2002 hit The Eye, Shu Qi plays Joey Cheng, a young woman who, after a failed suicide attempt, realises that she can see the spirits of dead people, including those who are waiting to be reincarnated. This proves to be quite unsettling for Joey since she is pregnant, and the spirit of her ex-boyfriend's dead wife wants to become her child.Ghost in a taxi; ghost in a lift; ghost under a table; ghosts falling from the sky: The Eye 2 has plenty of spook action, and yet it still remains remarkably scare-free, the pale-faced spirits in this film being far from malevolent, doing very little apart from turning up unexpectedly in the strangest of places. Joey looks rather upset by the whole affair, which I guess is understandable—it's not unreasonable to want to visit the loo or have a shower without being disturbed by restless dead people—but all things considered, there are far worse ghosts out there to be haunted by.In the end, Joey's personal supernatural stalker, who only wishes to be reborn so that she can forget all about her previous unhappy life, turns out to be a sort of guardian angel, preventing any harm from coming to her 'mother-to-be'. This reincarnation aspect of the plot is kinda interesting, I suppose, but it doesn't exactly make for a very frightening experience, which is what I imagine most viewers will be after.4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

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.

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.