Entity Horror Movie Rec List: The Eye
After re-listening to The Magnus Archives, I’ve become fascinated with the 15 Entities and digging into how they might reflect in other horror media. That led me to creating short rec lists for every Entity, starting with The Eye!
A lot of these movie recommendations deal with cameras, photography, witnessing terrible events, and unraveling tragic or horrific mysteries.
Rear Window (1954)
In deadly danger...because they saw too much!
Rear Window’s premise is simple enough: A famous photographer suffers an accident after a shoot and is confined to his apartment to recover. To drive away the boredom, he constantly studies his eccentric neighbors. He’s then led to believe that the neighbor right across from him has murdered his wife.
To be honest, I almost didn’t want to add this to the list because the main character Jeff is a sexist asshole, but you can treat him more as a focal point than someone to root for. We see his neighbors through his lens and this voyeurism is what allows us to get invested in the mystery and the lives of his neighbors (through literal open windows into their day-to-day).
Even before he was confined to his apartment, he never really knew his neighbors. All he does is watch them and give them demeaning nicknames based on their attributes (i.e., Mrs. Lonelyheart for a lonely older woman on the ground floor, Ms. Torso for a dancer who entertains small parties in her apartment, etc.). Initially, he doesn’t even have much to go off of for the initial murder other than speculation.
A bit outdated as it might be, I still think this fits The Eye quite well.
It Follows (2015)
It doesn't think. It doesn't feel. It doesn't give up.
It Follows is a more recent movie that I dismissed for a long time based on the premise: “After carefree teenager Jay (Maika Monroe) sleeps with her new boyfriend, Hugh (Jake Weary), for the first time, she learns that she is the latest recipient of a fatal curse that is passed from victim to victim via sexual intercourse. Death, Jay learns, will creep inexorably toward her as either a friend or a stranger. Jay's friends don't believe her seemingly paranoid ravings, until they too begin to see the phantom assassins and band together to help her flee or defend herself.”
It seemed like a blatant message against STDs or premarital sex just from that alone. After actually watching it, I can say that that’s not necessarily the case. One can argue for that, sure, but the characters are never shamed for having sex on-screen and I don’t feel it’s implied, either.
I also severely underestimated just how creepy and tense the movie actually is.
The unknown entity can look like anyone and will follow you until it destroys you. It pursues you relentlessly, not at a run, but an inevitable shamble because it knows it will get you in the end.
It sounds like the perfect entry for The Hunt at first glance, but what I think differentiates it from a Hunt story is that It doesn’t seem to take any joy from the hunt itself. It goes through its victims like its ticking off a list.
Rather, I think the entity revels more in watching its victims’ fear as it follows after them wherever they are. The main characters try multiple ways to escape it or kill it, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. It always knows where its victims are. It’s always watching.
Shutter (2004)
The most terrifying images are the ones that are real.
TW: Rape; sexual assault
Shutter (2004) is a Thai horror movie about a photographer who begins to see weird things showing up in his photos after he and his girlfriend accidentally hit a woman with their car. It’s an interesting and well-crafted mystery with a great twist. By the end, you’ll find yourself seeing back and neck aches in a new light lol.
Just a head’s up, there is a rape scene in this movie in the latter half. Unfortunately, it is vital to the plot. I want to be upfront about that since some people might be bothered by it.
Everyone knows about J-horror’s famous long-haired, vengeful ghosts (The Grudge, Ringu, etc.) or K-horror’s zombies and demons (Train to Busan, Peninsula, The Wailing, etc.), but not too many people know about Thai’s horror scene, so I wanted to showcase it a bit. The Promise (2017) is another great Thai horror movie that I first saw on Netflix.
There is an American remake of Shutter, but I haven’t seen it nor do I ever plan to.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary...A year later their footage was found.
Found footage movies feel ripe for The Eye. Most of the time, you don’t quite know who found and edited this footage in the first place (particularly if everyone involved is dead by the end). Depending on how you look at it, found footage can also strip away the boundary between real life and fiction to the point where you feel complicit in watching terrible events unfold. Much like The Eye and its Avatars.
Not the first found footage movie ever (The McPherson Tape came out earlier), but The Blair Witch Project was definitely one of the most popular (if not the most popular) horror found footage movies ever. Its success catapulted this entire genre into the mainstream, which is why we get movies like [REC], Paranormal Activity, Lake Mungo, The Taking of Deborah Logan, and many others that build upon this movie’s legacy.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this movie is the alarmingly large number of people who believed this movie depicted real events both directly after and long after its initial release. In fact, the actors were once listed as actually being dead on IMDB at one point.
The gif of Heather’s monologue in the dark is one of the most iconic parts of the movie. It’s heartbreaking and feels like the last confession of a person who knows they’re going to die.
It can be a lot of yelling and shaky cam, which some people might not like. That’s understandable, but if you can stomach that, then I do think it’s worth a watch. The mythology behind the Blair Witch (itself a fake entity made up for this movie) almost feels real and the way the forest seems to shift and trap Heather, Josh, and Mike can feel claustrophobic and genuinely eerie.
Noroi: The Curse (2005)
“I want the truth. No matter how terrifying, I want the truth.”
Noroi: The Curse is a Japanese found footage movie that deserves more love. What at first feels like three different television broadcasts all come together to weave a haunting tale of what happens when you’re driven to learn the truth of a terrible event no matter the cost.
It’s unsettling and feels very genuine in its presentation of all these different broadcasts. It almost feels like unsettling lost media someone cobbled together into a documentary for the public.
You can find this movie on Shudder! They always have a wide collection of classics, new and indie horror movies, and tons of foreign horror movies to check out.
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I hope this list at least peaked someone’s interest in these movies! Horror is such a huge genre that I love exploring.
I’ll definitely make more rec lists featuring movies that reflect the other Entities, but if you like this list and want more The Eye recs, I can make a second part, too!
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