Tourist Joey Cheng’s Bangkok vacation turns black when she is engulfed by the agony of a sudden breakup with her boyfriend. In an anguished moment of weakness, she attempts suicide in a lonely hotel room. On the edge of death, she is discovered by staff and, through a grueling procedure, resuscitated at a hospital. From this moment onwards, Joey Chang’s days of loneliness are very much a thing of the past. Indeed, she will never be alone again! As Buddhist beliefs have it, there are two points in life that allow people to gain limited access to the ghostly otherworld that shares our physical space—the process of giving birth, and the moment of death. Joey has now lived through one of these periods. And she is about to discover that she is pregnant.

Let there be no misunderstanding: The Eye 2 bears no direct relation to the Pang Brothers’ breakout 2002 blockbuster. Instead, their follow-up tells an altogether different tale, expanding the occult and Buddhist philosophies of the original in an eerie work that is overall more concise in its construction and tone, with dark splashes of morbid wit thrown in for good measure. The Pangs were adamant in not repeating themselves with a sequel and every choice they made, from the against-type casting of actress Shu Qi (So Close, The Transporter) in the lead to the film’s unconventional and often experimental moments of paranormal horror, make The Eye 2 a wholly unique work, sequel status be damned. Further playing against expectations, the implications of the film’s pregnancy aspects unfold into a revelation far more unusual than any of the cliches you might be expecting. The Eye 2 provocatively plays on themes of bodily horror and distressed spirituality to form a dream-like whirlpool of corrupting terror that takes low-key supernatural surrealism to chilling extremes. Unexpected spectral apparitions will blast your heart through your ribcage and—let’s just say that after viewing this film, there’s a good likelihood that you will find yourself nervously looking up for a few days. It is a film perhaps best avoided by the pregnant…unless they have a craving for intense pre-partum edgeplay. The Eye 2 amply delivers on freakish shock value while being an altogether more adult experience. Watch out for a surprise appearance by veteran Shaw Brothers icon Phillip Kwok Tsui (Five Deadly Venoms, Shaolin Temple) as a knowledgeable monk.

—Mitch Davis

"Delves into some very interesting terror territory between Western urban legend and Eastern Buddhist undercurrents… this jolting philosophy lesson in genre disguise is a slick smash-and-grab chiller" - Alan Jones, LONDON FRIGHT FEST

http://www.eye2themovie.com/

Director: Oxide Pang Chun
Screenplay: Lawrence Cheng Tan-Shui, Jojo Hui
Cast: Shu Qi, Eugenia Yuan Lai-Kei, Jesdaporn Pholdee
Producers: Peter Chan Ho-Sun, Lawrence Cheng Tan-Shui, Jojo Hui
Distributor: Lions Gate - Maple Pictures