It was a regular day in January when we watched on Netflix THE EYE (2008), that is the American remake, not the original from Hong Kong. I knew of the original version, and I also knew of the remake but had not watched either of them, so that particular day in January seemed like a good day as any to fix that.

I am not going to lie, I was immediately engrossed in the story thanks to—oh god, I can’t believe I am going to say this—thanks to Jessica Alba. That woman was so beautiful to watch. I am sorry feminists everywhere, I have failed you… anywhohow, Jessica Alba aka Sydney’s looks is what made the movie for me.

Yeah yeah, the whole cornea transplant/ability to see Death sounded cool on its own, but when you add to the mix a very cute Sydney, who happens to have an enviable life (hello fancy job, fancy apartment, fancy neighborhood), who is going thru some pretty amazing experiences (hello creepy black shadows, creepy mutating rooms, creepy visions of fire), well, that is how you make a goddamn good gripping story.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

The scene with the photograph when Sydney realizes—thus us at the same time with her, AH!—that the reflection she sees on the mirror is not her own, that’s when she 1) completely loses it (she was already messed up at this point), and 2) gets the validation she was looking for (no one believed her she was “seeing things”, not even her Doctor friend). This photograph vs. mirror incident is what finally triggered sympathy from the Doctor friend who, thanks to his very questionable ethics, gives the cornea donor info to her so they can go visit the family and can get some answers. The donor was a Mexican woman who, Ay Dios Mio, was believed to be a Bruja!

This is when things got a bit cheesy for me and I was serving major eye rolls, I mean…

Well, after the whole Bruja situation gets resolved and we move towards the end of the film, that’s when the story started to pick up steam again because (surprise!) there is going to be a big (huge!) tragedy where dozens of people are going to die in an accident but (oh yes!) beautiful Sydney is going to save all of them thanks to her ability to see the black creepy shadows. So yeah, this last scene was cool but would have been cooler had it not ended the way it did; you guessed it, no one died, that was in total contrast to the original version, but hey, I am not going to talk about the original version just yet ;)

And this is how the movie ends, Sydney loses her sight yet again due to the before mentioned accident where no one died but where some exploding glass got into her eyes. But worry not, Sydney is not only beautiful but also resilient and bounces right back into her old normal. Yep, Sydney and everyone around her had a happy ending, including myself double wink ;) ew I’m gross.

See you very soon,

- Marath