Featured DVD Review: The Child's Eye

October 10, 2011

The Child's Eye - Buy from Amazon

The Child's Eye is a Hong Kong horror film made by Oxide and Danny Pang. It was the first film from Hong Kong shot entirely in 3D and entirely in high definition. However, it is coming out here direct-to-DVD, only in standard definition, and only in 2D. Will the film succeed without the two elements that made is stand out?

The Movie

The film takes place in Thailand where a group of six friends from Hong Kong are on vacation. For most of the group, this is a happy vacation (Rannie and her boyfriend Lok are having relationship troubles). However, political unrest in Bangkok escalates into riots and the six decide its time to end their vacation early and go home. By the time they head to the airport, the riots have spread and they are forced to stay the night at a seedy hotel. (Or "Antique" as one guy describes it.) While they are checking in, three kids with a dog stare at them. And the three kids do the same later when the six of them are at dinner.

When the riots spread to right outside their new hotel, Rannie decides she wants to check it out up close. That's when the cops start firing tear gas and a couple of their group see something strange. One of them sees a ghostly woman, while the other sees a ghostly hand coming right for her. Later at dinner, the three guys they are with disappear. And one of the creepy kids tell the three girls that the ghost woman got them. They begin to explore the hotel looking for their friends and while in the basement discover...

Not a lot, really. This is a slow moving film, and not in any way that can be described as good. The plot takes too long to get going and it's not like this time is used to develop interesting characters. Scenes go on forever and never build tension, despite what the musical cues try to tell us. There are precious few moments that even attempt horror, and those that do fall flat. There are some good special effects here and there, but that's not enough. It's a horror film that isn't scary, where we don't care enough about the characters, and it takes forever for even the smallest hint of a plot to develop. It's just plain dull.

The Extras

There is a 25-minute behind-the-scenes / interview featurette that includes interviews with the two directors and several of the cast members.

The Verdict

After watching The Child's Eye for about 30 minutes, I was thinking to myself, "This is taking a long time to get going." Sadly, it never really picked up the pace like it needed to. Attempts to build tension fall flat, the few scares that are here are not effective, and we don't even get to experience the film in 3D. (Although I suspect it would not have been worth it.) The DVD has a rather meaty making of featurette, but even so, unless you are a real fan of the genre, it's not worth renting.


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