Feaure Length Review: 'My Little Eye' (2002)

‘Reality TV’, for me, is the home entertainment equivalent of being sober at a buck’s party. Why the majority of the world’s viewing population finds such a compulsive interest to follow the lives of (often) painfully irritating people as they bunk together in beach houses, compete for money in phony competitions – even force each other to confront cheating husbands and wives for the sake of public humiliation is beyond me. Many of these shows started out being fairly mundane and naïve in concept and it wasn’t until later years that the envelope was pushed into more exploitive territory, namely the ‘extreme make-over’ category and others. At what point does passive observation cross over into sheer voyeurism? This and other interesting issues are explored in Marc Evan’s highly underrated chiller My Little Eye, an effectively creepy number that somehow escaped a decent theatrical release in 2002, thus never quite reaching its intended audience. A shame, believe me.



THE LOWDOWN: Five strangers are brought together to live for 6 months in an isolated house in the woods as part of a web cast television show. The rules – if anyone leaves, everyone loses. The prize: $1 million. Greedy, guarded and dysfunctional they each possess a dark, personal secret and their own reasons for being there. As the cameras role tensions rise between the group as they are each sent ominous messages from the outside world, poking dangerously at their fears and bringing them to the brink of total paranoia. But are pranks the only thing on the minds of the macabre webcasters? Or is there an even more sinister game being orchestrated for the viewer’s entertainment?



THE TERROR TALE & ITS TIMING: My Little Eye presents the typical ‘Big Brother’ scenario with all the creature comforts removed. Unlike the very slick, cushy production values and commercially-driven mentality of that show the competition environment depicted in the film is quite bare-bones by comparison, never alluding too much attention to itself through use of phony gimmicks or superficial marketing tools. Right from the get-go the webcam verite’ style of multiple mounted cameras prying into the everyday menial lives of young housemates presents an almost painfully ordinary portrait of things to come. Interestingly enough, however, this works in the film’s favor. Through its meticulous re-creation of reality TV conventions fused with a familiar horror formula, an interesting mise en’ scene is created: unnervingly static yet intensely frightening set pieces. Minimalism is the order of the day and this overall mentality greatly heightens the simplicity of David Hilton and James Watkins’ screenplay as a result, one that plays on primal human fears of isolation and being watched by the unknown.



The inevitably introspective and voyeuristic nature of My Little Eye’s subject matter is without doubt its strongest attribute in crafting the tension and paranoia it so deftly masters – particularly when the real secrets are unveiled come the final reel. The level of anxiety and dread manifested as the stakes are raised is almost unbearable, feelings for the poor and helpless youths entrapped within the mansion’s walls made all the more poignant through their impending doom. In the hands of an otherwise less thoughtful filmmaker, the resulting movie could have been a very shallow exercise in gimmicky horror but thankfully Marc Evans takes full advantage of the lock-down scenario and exploits it to the point of being downright nihilistic and nasty – something I wholly appreciate. The concept at the heart of the story is so disturbing that it would be doing the film a disservice if it were treated with the short sighted cliché’s of Hollywood horror, which is perhaps why the said British production benefits from its foreign interpretation. I personally love going into a cinema and feeling like I’m at the mercy of a filmmaker, never completely protected by my comfort zones and thus vulnerable to emotional disruption. And through the deliberate surveillance and psychological pinpricking of its characters, My Little Eye fucks with your mental reassurances in the best possible way, however manipulative a two-way mirror it may be.



DOOMED CHARACTERS: Much like the personalities you would normally see on your average cookie-cutter reality show, those exhibited in My Little Eye are fashioned after predictable stereotypes we all know and can relate to in real life, as well as being serviceable to the needs of a conventional horror movie (eg, the slut, the jock, the loner, the conservative princess, etc). The opening of the film features a brief ‘casting call’ line-up of each contestant as they partake in candid confessionals with an off-screen interviewer prior to entering the house. This paints a relatively naïve view of each character, unawares of the events that await them until they are forced to come to terms with their corporate captors’ real agenda. This innocence is used to great effect throughout as each character is given an interesting skeleton to bring out of the closet, forcing them to confront not only their own secrets but also the potential invasion of privacy by their fellow housemates that could damage their chances of winning…and surviving. The performances are all very solid and surprisingly impressive across the board, especially those from talented genre regulars Laura Regan (They, Dead Silence) and Kris Lemche (eXistenZ, Ginger Snaps, Final Destination 3) who deliver wholly realized portrayals of the anxiety fueling the group’s every move. Not to give too much away but when all is said and done there is an inherent sadness genuine to these characters that makes the horror all the more disturbing when you realize they were all doomed from the very first frame.



THE LOOK OF FEAR: More so than most other movies, the simplicity of circumstances at hand also informs My Little Eye’s visual approach (the multiple stationary cameras, degraded picture quality, heavy shadows and night-vision, etc). While necessary in order to effectively sell the authenticity of a working webcast for story purposes, Evans and cinematographer Hurbert Taczanowski dig themselves a mighty big hole with regards to being able to generate traditional cinematic suspense, at least from a visual standpoint. The inability to use the camera as a fluid means of creating character point of views, craning exteriors – even the employment of the now-routine Steadicam for smooth action results in an extremely limiting visual toy box for both filmmaker and viewer to appreciate. However, it is precisely these detriments that surprisingly help craft the mounting trepidation beset upon the characters and, luckily, assist in diverting attention away from the film’s otherwise slightly contrived nature. As a viewer of the film you have no choice but to be a virtual spy, peering and leering blatantly at the activities of the housemates in a way that reflects the almost hopeless disinterest of today’s idiot box generation, only here the activity on display takes a slightly more malicious turn. And while aesthetically My Little Eye is interesting in its own right, the initial tingling of anticipation brought on by the sparseness of the location does wear off after a while, even when the red stuff begins to flow.



THE SOUND OF FRIGHT: Equally important to it’s visual palette is My Little Eye’s subtle yet immensely effective sound design, a contributor of which cannot be overlooked when assessing the film’s merits. Virtually absent of a customary musical score (bar a couple of cues toward the finale), the feverishly creepy sounds that inhabit the interior/exterior of the old house, the strange noises in the basement, the creaky wooden architecture, even the whirring of the cameras as they zoom in on their targets are decidedly creepy and apparent. And while effective in eliciting sudden jolts of surprise, the occasional jarring auditory stings that accompany some moments of terror are a little undermining in their execution of intended suspense, thus making the viewer feel as if they’re being told to feel frightened rather than have it happen as a result of clever filmmaking. Still, this is a minor setback in an otherwise spine-chilling audio tapestry.



FINAL THOUGHTS: Whether you choose to take the film as a pseudo-political satire on the supposed ‘corrupting’ effects of reality television on today’s youth or simply as a creepy horror thriller with an intriguing mode of delivery is entirely up to you. Either way, the intentions behind My Little Eye are genuine and well worth engaging with if you have the chance. The film’s disturbing undercurrents may cause some casual viewers to squirm in their seats a little more than usual, but what exactly do you expect from a film that places YOU behind the camera?

Dir: Marc Evans
Writer: David Hilton
Cast: Sean Cw Johnson, Kis Lemche, Stephen O'Reilly, Laura Regan, Jennifer Sky
Country: UK
Run Time: 95min
Rated: MA+