AThose who have seen both movies say that they are similar, with some things (like locations, certain characters, subplots) changed to make The Eye more American friendly. For example, Gin gwai is set in Hong Kong, and Mun travels to Bangkok to meet her donor's family, whereas the English version is set in Southern California, and Sydney travels to Mexico. Another difference is that Gin gwai focuses on the Chinese superstition about ghosts as the souls of people who are stuck in this world due to unresolved problems and that it is the living people's responsibility to help them by resolving what was left unsettled. In The Eye, however, the focus is on the pseudoscientific concept of 'cellular memory' as an explanation for Sydney's newfound ability to see ghosts. Another difference is in the ending. Although both movies end the same way (the big explosion), in Gin gwai, Mun's warning goes relatively unheeded and many people die whereas, in the remake, Sydney saves the people and is portrayed as a hero. Finally, many viewers think that Gin gwai is more 'bone-chilling' and scary than the American remake.
AThe Eye is an English-language remake of the 2002 Chinese film Gin gwai, which was based on a screenplay by Chinese twin-brother screenwriters and directors, Danny Pang Fat and Oxide Pang Chun. They say that they were inspired to write the screenplay for Gin gwai by a report they had seen in a Hong Kong newspaper about a 16-year-old girl who had received a corneal transplant and committed suicide a week later. Their script was adapted for this American remake by Venezuelan screenwriter Sebastian Gutierrez.
