Gin gwai 2002

Critics score:
64 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: An atmospheric and cleverly executed nail-biter. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ... very effectively done, very scary! Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Quite effective at scaring the daylights out of an audience. Read more

Loren King, Chicago Tribune: A feast to behold, but it lacks substance and will leave most viewers wholly unsatisfied. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Ms. Lee, much more than a standard horror-movie shrieker, looks convincingly haunted by what she sees, and the Pangs' pictorial instinct is as sure as their shock-producing sense of timing. Read more

AV Club: Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Like the horror-flick hacks who infest Hollywood like termites, the Pangs don't build suspense, they assault the senses with twitchy photography and Danny's editing. Read more

Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times: [The Pangs'] sense of pacing is nicely arrhythmic, which makes the 'boo' moments all the more heart-thudding, but what's even more pleasurable are the pockets of quiet, those lacuna of low-frequency dread when nothing much happens. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: To put all the pieces in place, the Pangs have to cut a few corners in logic, but the story is generally effective if not exactly original. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Seeing dead people? A jarring journey from darkness into light? Granted, it's been done. But there are sweet, difficult pleasures here just the same. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: In their fluid, deliciously eerie imagery, the Pangs can make the sight of even a dish of sliced duck in a busy noodle shop seem as ominous as the chilling, blurry specters that only Mun can see. Read more

Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News: It is occasionally unnerving, but slack pacing keeps the tension from mounting too high. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Genuinely scary, especially when it strays from its lame plot to orchestrate some beautifully chilling set pieces. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: The usual hokum, jazzed up with more flash than it deserves. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Accomplished and genuinely eerie. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: It's unabashedly derivative and spooky enough to keep you up at night. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is the kind of movie you happen across on TV, and linger to watch out of curiosity, but its inspired moments serve only to point out how routine, and occasionally how slow and wordy, the rest of it is. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Although I have mixed feelings about The Eye, there's no question the Pangs have a natural talent for cinema. Read more

C.W. Nevius, San Francisco Chronicle: It is hard to believe this plodding, predictable snoozer will raise anyone's pulse rate. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: As chilling as an ice cube drawn across the back of your neck. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Though perhaps not the greatest thing since sliced eyeballs, The Eye is definitely worth a look, or even a double-take. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: With its spooky first-person rendering of Mun's experience -- blurred, tentative, disoriented -- The Eye creates a world of constant and imminent upheaval. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: Given that The Eye plays out without so much as a single new idea or real surprise, it's a testament to the Pangs' knack for composition and editing ... that the movie goes boo as effectively as it does. Read more