A group of sexy young Asians, up to monkeyshines, decide it might be fun if they try out their friend's supernatural handbook to find out if it can make them see ghosts. And then... they see ghosts! AHHHH!
The Pang Brothers' Eye series is, at first appearance, something I should completely hate. It's almost as if they had a check list of everything I despise about bad horror movies: too much needless exposition/plot; ghosts with arbitrary, god-like superpowers; tons of abrupt "boo!" scares achieved by startling the audience with loud, clanging noises on the soundtrack, rather than earning the scares through carefully crafted suspense sequences with clever payoffs. And yet, I found the two previous Eye movies to be, if not particularly noteworthy, than at least mildly entertaining. The Pang Bros have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but that's kind of what makes the movies fun. Their hyperkinetic, show-offy, continuity-be-damned pastiche evokes Wong Kar-Wai, if Wong Kar-wai was a shallow moron and made 90 minute music videos masquerading as horror movies.
I was delighted to find during the opening scene of The Eye 3 (amusingly known overseas as The Eye 10, but not because there were 10 movies), when a possessed young woman slaps a bunch of monks in the face with her giant tongue, that this time the Pangs decided to make a goofy, over-the-top comedy. The previous movies already veered dangerously close to becoming self-parody; this one embraces it. It's no Evil Dead 2, but it was a pleasant enough diversion for 80 minutes. Apparently the Pangs have made another sequel, The Child's Eye. Consider me on board.
Grade: B-
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