There’s something exciting about recent East-Asian horror cinema. Original stories well told with excellent acting and stylish cinematography delivered some modern classics like Ringu, Battle Royale, Ju-On: The Grudge, A Tale Of Two Sisters and Shikoku. Korean, Thai and Japanese movies share many trademarks that makes them uniquely identifiable. Pacing, setting, storytelling and cinematography may be vaguely reminiscent of American horror cinema in the late 70ies. But these very same trademarks set it far apart from all modern, pace-driven, whooshy and flashy Hollywood movie stock. Extensive steady cam shots, few set changes and elaborated narrative subtexts seem to have grown out of fashion but are effectively and refreshingly revived by modern Asian moviemakers.

The Eye is a thriller from Thaland, directed by Oxide and Danny Pang (Bangkok Dangerous), and my expectations were way up. Thai reviews were unanimously raving and some reviewers even claimed it is Thailand’s answer to Ringu.

The movie revolves around Mun (Angelica Lee), a blind woman who regains her sight, with the unexpected side effect of becoming psychic. She's successfully undergoing a corneal transplant, but her eyes need time to properly focus on distant objects while her brain has to learn how to interpret the visual signals that it receives. But soon, it becomes clear that something is wrong. Mun begins to see strange and menacing shadows in her blurry field of vision that turn out to be the spirits of the recently departed.

The first half of the movie ranks among the best the thriller-genre could offer. The film takes full advantage of Mun's post-operative near-sightedness to create a genuinely creepy and claustrophobic atmosphere. With the frequent use of shots that convey her point of view, blurry shadows and shapes are seen lurking in the background. As she needs to develop her 'visual vocabulary' after having spent almost her entire life in the dark, some of these visual aberrations may merely be the result of her brain's inability to properly interpret everyday events - thus Mun (and the viewer) can't trust what her eyes tell her. As her vision slowly comes into focus, the ghostly apparitions become even more intense and invasive, and it seems that in a city of seven million people, there's a restless spirit around almost every corner.

The film doesn't entirely keep its momentum and high level up as it moves into the second half, when the reason behind Mun's telepathic visions is revealed. It's a bit disappointing to see how conventional the film becomes as Mun takes a trip to Thailand to track down her donor's identity, where she comes up with a somewhat contrived resolution to her troubles. The movie really doesn’t fall flat, it just drops to a more ordinary -- but still pretty good –- level. But, coming from a phenomenal first half, it’s a bit of a jolt and a let-down. Be expecting a great finale however.

Angelica Lee delivers a sympathetic acting performance as a woman whose initial elation over regaining her sight quickly turns to fear and dread. One of the reasons why The Eye works so well is because of her strong and convincing screen presence, holding the story together and making it easier for the viewer to suspend all disbelief. On the other hand, the supporting roles come up a bit short, with perfunctory performances that are quickly forgotten. But that doesn’t really hurt the movie with its abundance of qualities to compensate for that.

Cinematography is brilliant and very ‘Asian’ as it were, in a Ringu kind of way. Every detail seems expanded on and nothing is left unnoticed, the direction is, more than anything else, considerate. No wild screen changes, odd angles and deafening soundbursts here, but meticulous filming and careful imagery, creating more impact headroom for all those nice scary moments.

Despite its minor flaws, The Eye stands triumphantly as a truly scary movie, one that lives up to its promise, especially in the utterly enjoyable and spine-chilling first half and in the big finale.