Second sight takes on a creepy new meaning in The Eye, which sees a blind violinist (Jessica Alba) plagued by spooky apparitions after a double cornea transplant. Is she seeing dead people? Or could these shadowy spectres be warning of some disaster in the making? You'll be hard pressed to care in this remake of the Pang brothers' 2002 original which, despite having another duo behind the camera (Them's David Moreau and Xavier Palud), struggles to generate half its chills.
"I've never been so scared in my entire life!" says Sydney Wells (Alba) on the eve of her surgery. It is what happens afterwards, though, that really gives her the willies, as her donated peepers begin to make out enough grisly ghouls and shrieking demons to keep Haley Joel Osment busy for months. Is she losing her marbles? Neural specialist Paul Faulkner (Alessandro Nivola) certainly thinks so, though he is obliged to change his tune as Sydney's visions increase in number and unpleasantness. Might they have something to do with her pupils' previous owner (Fernanda Romero), a Mexican Cassandra who went loopy after bearing witness to an unspeakable tragedy she was powerless to prevent?
"DREARILY DERIVATIVE"
With every twist of the second-hand plot telegraphed far in advance, you don't need to be clairvoyant to see where this is going. Throw in Alba's bland performance (is there any other kind?) and a damp squib of a finale and you're left with a drearily derivative thriller that will have most punters eyeing their watches.
The Eye is out in the UK on 24th April 2008.