El Ojo del Mieldo

I usually like the Pang Brothers so gave this a shot. It was better than a lot of works that get over here, but not exceptional. The story was not that convoluted that it could not be followed. It was a straight-forward ghost story with some redemption - nothing surprising for fans of The Eye.

Originally this was done in 3-D and you can tell some of the scenes were designed to take advantage of that, but it was not too over-the-top about it. It works quite well in 2D.

Some of the acting feels a little weak, but it is not bad enough to be distracting. A few tense moments where they don't go for an obvious scare, even after a large build-up. Refreshing that not everything is predictable.

The most beautiful part about horror movies, the very essence is whether you've experienced that eerie feeling on a brink of "I just can't see it any further" and of course shivers. To summarize, this one delivers both. Couple of scenes are real, real creepy.

New words to the genre? Yes - I'm following horrors quite closely and still have found new tricks. Visual candy - yes, I've liked a lot the way camera played about dimensions, 3D-oriented scenes were also likable. Derivative to The Eye, Insidious and Re-cycle - also yes, quite unfortunately. But! I'd l-love to see more derivatives to Insidious.

Well, one can complain also about full-straightforward story, which is not so to say. So-so direction - here I can agree, but did you ever see stronger performance from teens in Asian horrors? (Pals, this is not a J-horror, it is from Thailand/Hong Kong) Not likely, so why complain too much?

I can mumble a while around longish scenes, but I can also cease it on the fact that this is quite typical for pan-Asian movie school and well, this is not a Transformers franchise anyway.

All in all this is a solid, quite creative 6/10 effort well worth watching for those who seek for new tricks on the horror arena. Give it a shot - at least to your exploratory agenda.

"If she's locked up there how could she show up in the restaurant." A group of friends on vacation in Thailand are ready for a relaxing time. When word gets out that rebels are attempting to over through the Prime Minister. On their way to the airport the get the news that it's closed. Being able to only find rooms in a motel that is utterly rundown they decide to wait it out. They soon realize that there is more to the hotel then thought. Having not seen a whole lot of Japanese horror movies (I have seen the re-makes) I wasn't 100% sure what to expect. While this movie did tend to drag a little, it was very creepy and did make me jump a few times. The quality of this is very good, not only is it creepy but there is also a story that keeps you intrigued the entire time. That is not something you can say about most American horror movies. Overall, a very interesting and creepy horror that will creep you out. I give it a B-.

Would I watch again? - I don't think so.

*Also try - Grudge & Rec 2

Given My penchant for Asian horror films, I watched this film with high expectations. I was left disappointed, perplexed and a little angry. There are many shortcomings in the quality and production of this movie that were perpetually disagreeable.

Supposedly this film was released in 3D and I can see how that would be effective in entertaining audiences given a handful of scenes that seem to jump out at you. Yet, there's no point behind it if the plot fails and the acting isn't up to par. The overall quality of the scenes, story and acting made Me think that this for a low-budget made-for-TV mini-series in Asia.

Like many Asian Show-It-To-Americans movies, it has been completely dubbed in English, and it is some of the most horrendous dubbing vocals imaginable! For an example, imagine a scene where a speeding truck is careening towards your unsuspecting friend in the street...so you belt out "QUICK! LOOK BEHIND YOU!". Later it's dubbed and then sounds like you lazily asking for a chai latte at the cafe instead. I wonder if the dubbing vocalists even looking at the movie. The voices don't even match the appearances of the actors they dub, and there's not the slightest hint of an accent for these young Chinese vacationers either...really? Yes, really. They sound like they're from L.A.

The setting is creepy enough. It's frequently mentioned that the hotel is very big yet there's no indication of such from the outside nor inside of the hotel set, in fact it seems small and uncomfortably cramped.

Pretty much every sign posted and every person speaking in Thailand (in which the movie is set and filmed) is in English. I'm no jet-setting international traveler but this seems really fictitious to Me.

The acting is largely sub-par, even if I'd seen it in it's original language it's clear that the acting isn't believable. I blame poor dubbing first of course, followed closely by inexperienced amateur actors, and inappropriate directing equally.

An initially promising storyline quickly stumbles into the type of absurdity that leaves the viewer confused and dismissive. There's no character development, nor a clear picture of who these people are and why we should be interested in them. There's an interesting plot of riots, civil unrest, and demonstrations where they are vacationing which leads them to take shelter at the hotel (and which they stupidly wander outside to witness firsthand) but that's as far as this idea plays into the film.

There's a rude yet mysterious staff at this creepy hotel, a group of strange children roaming about the hotel who are referred to as orphans, and hints that a ghost is stalking their party. All that is good and understood. Then the audience is sent for an insensible loop for the rest of the film, becoming more detached to the story as the events become more unintelligible.

I enjoy being sent for a loop in a film, but I like to come out of it feeling like I know what I just witnessed and understand it. That's not to be found here, so frustrating.

The film does manage a few successful creep-out moments, and initially a promising storyline. Yet it fails miserably a so many other points there's no point in discussing all the REST of them.

I'd suggest to skip this one (I rarely say that!). It's more bothersome than it's worth.

This film I was turned on to when I was watching all of the films that are connected with the original film The Eye. Some of these foreign ghostly type films intrigued me, so I decided to check this one out. The official synopsis is a group of friends find themselves stranded in an old hotel. As they uncover the history beneath the walls, they're slowly drawn into its sinister past making it harder to get out alive.

We start off with a couple sitting on a pier and watching the water around them. It established that this a couple that isn't doing too well and we feel the tension. They are Rainie (Rainie Yang) and Lok (Shawn Yue). They are on vacation in Thailand.

The two are there with a group of other couples. Back at the hotel they learn that there is unrest in the country and riots are happening. It is decided that they are going to try to make it to the airport, before it is shutdown by what is happening. They don't make it though. Their driver takes them to a new hotel so they can wait out what is happening. It should be pointed out that Rainie likes to read ghost books and this bothers Lok.

They check into this older hotel and there is a group of kids with a dog that draw Rainie's attention. The dog barks at them and it should be pointed out that according to lore, dogs can see ghosts all the time. It tries to explain when they are barking for seemingly no reason; this is actually what they are barking at. I will admit, this part kind made me a little uneasy.

Things take quite the turn when all of the male friends start to disappear. Rainie along with her friends seeks out the children to learn that their first meal in the hotel, there was a ghost that was sitting at the table with them. They are told to just leave, but Rainie won't leave Lok behind. The hotel has a dark past that involves the man who owns it, Chuen (Ka Tung Lam) and his wife (Jo Kuk), who is missing. There is also this weird boy that has the head of the dog. How is all of this connected and why did their friends disappear?

I should probably lead off here stating that this film doesn't really have any thing to do with the other films in the series. If anything, it would really have to do more with the last one that came out, as it is focusing more on ghosts and the lore that come from Hong Kong. I do have to say though; this film does have some interesting aspects to it. The first thing is that I like that they are on vacation. Making it where they are stranded in a different place is something that does raise some tension. I would actually like to know what the unrest that is happening there is about, because I will admit, I have no clue. I do know many countries like this are subject to unrest and it can happen really quickly.

Something else that I do feel I should do some more research is the lore of ghosts and some of the beliefs that come from this country and others near by. I bring this up, because I have started to get more into Asian cinema and I'm one that usually research things that I get into. I feel that lack of background knowledge does hurt my views on fully understanding what happens in these films.

I did have some issues with this film though. I do think that it has a good setting and premise, but the problem becomes I almost feel that it is geared more toward a younger fan. It is interesting to see that this film is rated R, because I'm not entirely sure why. The film has a lot of things that just happen and I was lost as to why. I think it might have worked better to have characters disappear one at a time instead of all at once. It is shame, because the back-story for this film I really liked. The story just wasn't as fleshed out as I wanted and I thought the ending was fine. I wasn't the biggest fan though of the final image.

The acting for the film I thought was average as well. I thought that Yang was solid as the lead. She was pretty cute and I liked her determination to find out what happened to Lok as well as the rest of her friends. Lam is someone else that I thought was good. His character takes time to be fleshed out, but once he finally does, there are some interesting aspects to his character. I thought that Kuk looked good as the ghost, but we don't really get much development though. There is an interesting dynamic at the reveal though. I thought Rainie's friends were all were fitting for what they needed as was the rest of the cast.

Something that I did have issues with would be the effects. They decided to go with CGI and it looked bad. You could clearly see that it wasn't real and it took me out of the film every time. Now I will say that the dog headed child looked good. That seemed to be done practical for the most part. That was creepy. I also thought the look of the ghost was also good. Aside from that, I do think the film was shot fine and didn't have any issues there.

The score of the film really didn't stand out either. There were a few things that were done with cues to make it creepier. There is also some good establishing of Rainie's ring tone that plays out later in the film. I thought both of these were interesting uses of sound for a rather unremarkable aspect of the film.

Now with that said, this film wasn't very good. I think that this is a film that might have been better suited to be marketed on its own, not as part of The Eye series, as it has very little to do with the previous films. I do think that this film did have some good aspects to it. I personally think that the film needed to flesh some of these out more. On top of that, I thought the film needed to do more to build the tension as I didn't really feel the stakes were raised enough. There just are a lot of things that were unexplained, even though it had a good back-story. I do think that the acting was fine and the practical effects used were good, but the CGI was bad. There were also some good aspects to the sound design, but it wasn't great. Now I will tell you that I watched this film, I had to watch it with subtitles on as it is from Hong Kong. Keep that in mind if you decide to watch this one. I would recommend it though as it really had some issues with it and find this to be below average.