Preteen girl looking at a cell phone with her parents

Personalized picks at your fingertips

Get the mobile app on iOS and Android

Get the app
Parents' Guide to

The Eye

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Jessica Alba sees dead people in blah horror film.

Movie PG-13 2008 97 minutes
The Eye Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

See all
age 13+

Based on 1 parent review

littleone522
littleone522 Parent of 12-year-old
March 28, 2011
age 13+

Proof watch if violence is your concern

If your kids enjoy scary movies then this is the one for them. There is no sex and as for nudity, you get to see the top of Jessica Alba's butt crack and thats it. For language, it has one use of the word "Sh*t" If violence is your concern, you might want to proof watch this one because there are many violent scenes. One of which has a girl hanging herself.
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

Blind since childhood, concert violinist Sydney (Jessica Alba) gets a cornea transplant and promptly begins seeing the same fearsome visions (warnings of deaths, visits from ghosts, etc.) that troubled the donor. Feeling abandoned by her loving but rarely available sister (Parker Posey) and increasingly unable to differentiate between her nightmarish visions and new glimpses of a daunting material world, Sydney seeks help from her therapist, Paul (Alessandro Nivola), and her conductor/mentor, Simon (Rade Serbedzija). Neither man is helpful, so Sydney sets off on her own, researching possible causes and then seeking the donor, who turns out to be a young Mexican woman named Ana (Fernanda Romero). Eventually, Sydney heads to Mexico with Paul; their efforts lead to a resolution, but not without costs.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (12 ):

Yet another remake of a popular Asian horror film (2002's Gin gwai), THE EYE is long on smart camerawork, short on intelligent dialogue, and undone by a finale that's more hectic than ironic. After the action moves to Mexico, the film lurches from a particular type of spooky flick (shadows and blurs, fear of the unknown) into something more banal: a cautionary tale about crossing the border. The self-involved, privileged Sydney pays scant attention to the violence and poverty that make up life in the pueblo, convinced that her salvation, her reclamation of her life, is the most important thing.

The film's visual tricks are plainly indebted to the Hong Kong original, full of effectively distorted figures and shadowed hallways. But once the line is clearly drawn between subjective and objective worlds, the film pretty much collapses.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the many U.S. remakes of Asian horror movies. How do these moody, strange films translate for American audiences? Why do you think their focus on spirits and hauntings is so popular? How do you think the remakes are similar to and different from the originals? Families can also discuss why Sydney might "miss" her blindness, even without the ghostly visitations?

Movie Details

Inclusion information powered by

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate