We had high hopes for this film. After all, it is the Hollywood remake of the Pang Brothers record-smashing Hong Kong chiller The Eye which remains one of the best horror films ever made and also earned Angelica Lee the Best Actress trophy at the Golden Horse Awards and Hong Kong Film Awards.

But we're sad to report that this version of The Eye is disappointingly average. First of all, Jessica Alba is a poor replacement for Angelica Lee, giving a vacant and unaffecting performance as a blind woman who goes for a cornea transplant and starts to see things she is not supposed to see — such as ghosts and spirits. Whereas Angelica's fears were always writ large on her face, Jessica's reaction barely registers.

Secondly, the shifting of the story's events from Hong Kong to New York is at best awkward, and at worst stupid. Some scenes — such as the boy spirit looking for his record book and the old man haunting the elevator — simply fail to work when placed in the more secular American context.

Thirdly, the story's clumsy climax which barely worked in the original film looks even more simplistic in a Hollywood film. Asian horror and Western horror have always worked differently, and simply transplanting a story from one culture to another was bound to be tricky. Directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud prove they didn't know how.

The Eye is not quite an eye-sore, but it's still not worth seeing.