My Little Eye (2002)
Released in 2002, My Little Eye is a psychological horror by Welsh director Marc Evans. It follows a group of adults who are led to believe they’re taking part in a reality web experience, watched by the world as they spend half a year within the same walls - though something much more sinister lies beneath this façade. It was generally received with positivity, winning ‘Best Direct-to-Video Film’ at the Gérardmer Film Festival in 2004.
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Everything about My Little Eye is meticulously thought out, even before we jump into the action - the title sequence introducing us to the production companies is overlayed with a filter of binary code, as a dial tone can be heard. We’re shown the interface for a website, with an advertisement for a social experiment where five people are invited to live in a house for six months; the catch being that the whole experience is livestreamed, and the prize is conditional on whether anyone chooses to leave.
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We first get to know our group of contestants through their audition tapes, as they share their reasons for wanting to be a part of the project. Self exploration, fame and money are offered as motivational factors, and we learn that there’s a nightly curfew for the participants, which they seem happy to oblige by. A collage of camera angles appear in quick succession, capturing the remote location that Matt, Rex, Danny, Emma and Charlie will be calling home for a while. We see them all settling into a new environment, and the authenticity of the film really comes to light. It mimics a reality TV experience perfectly, akin to that of shows like Big Brother. This isn’t an easy thing to get right, but it truly feels like the audience is an outside purveyor looking in. Lesser-known actors were intentionally cast to add to the sincerity of the piece.
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Time skips forward to the week before the housemates are free to leave, as they think of the things they’ve missed while being inside. Night vision cameras watch while they’re sleeping, demonstrating that the house is under 24/7 surveillance; in this respect I think the movie was way ahead of its time, now that we live in an age where so much of what we do is visible to the world. This makes watching it over 20 years later hit harder than ever, because that easily taps into the fear our generation has that nothing we do is private. The two resident girls stay up late, talking about the air of sexual frustration as they don’t wish to be the subjects of voyeurism.
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We see the seasons change as a flurry of snow arrives, and the heating system breaks down. Rex is suspicious that the misfortunes upon them are actually devised by the game makers, to push the contestants to their limits so they’ll quit and forfeit the cash prize. The character is played by Kris Lemche, known for his role as ‘Ian’ in Final Destination 3, and he has a talent for embodying the archetypal agitator of the group. While the lads break up old wooden furniture to use as kindling, Rex messes about with some dolls he found, pretending to be Matt and Emma furiously having sex. The night vision camera picks him up hiding contraband under a floorboard in his room, which comes to light later on.
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The group gather in the lounge late at night, and discuss the danger of stalkers. I think there’s some great dialogue here, as Matt delves into the psychology behind obsessive relationships and reminds us that it isn’t usually strangers that are the danger, but often people we know instead. Emma starts to recall about a kid at her school who killed his parents, but is interrupted by loud noises. These continue into the night, and everyone heads up to the loft where they’re startled by a crow who’s become trapped in the dark. A variety of camera angles are used, including a first-person view which adds alot of unease, alongside plenty of jarring static and white noise on the movie’s soundtrack. The crow breaks its wing in an attempt to escape, and Danny snaps its neck in an act of vulgar kindness.
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A food parcel arrives in the snow, though when it’s brought inside the contents are revealed to be bricks, with a letter for Danny. It informs him that his Grandfather has passed and the funeral service will be in Florida, too far away for him to travel and return before the nightly curfew. This poses a dilemma as Danny’s departure would make the game void, and there are doubts the news is nothing more than a ploy to encourage failure when the group are so close to the finish line. After ‘Sick Bitch’ is written on the window while Emma is in the bathroom, she takes Charlie to a more secluded location, confiding in her that the murderous schoolmate she spoke of was also a neighbour. As kids they’d try to scare each other, until one day she took it too far and the dynamic between them changed. Her worst fear is that he’s involved in the project, wanting to get revenge.
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Matt brings another parcel in from the cold, Charlie thrilled to find a bottle of Champagne inside; but buried deep within is also a gun, with five bullets in the barrel. The group surmise this is another temptation to turn on each other, but Rex takes it personally because of his Dad killing himself. Emma stands on the porch late at night and is disturbed when the security lights are triggered, sure there’s a figure at the edge of the forest, but Matt arrives to calm her down. She’s horrified to wake up the next morning with a bloodied hammer next to her pillow, as it seems the stakes have been raised, but Rex takes accountability to stop Emma from jeopardising his claim on the prize by leaving. Charlie confronts him about this and learns he wasn’t the true culprit, but also finds out about his secret stash of cigarettes, alerting the group.
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Tensions come to a head at dinner, and Rex continues to goad his housemates, shouting into the wilderness outdoors as if there’s someone lurking in the woods - until he realises there actually is a person in the distance. After much panic, Danny lets the intruder in, who turns out to be Bradley Cooper in one of his first screen roles as Travis Patterson. He claims to have been skiing and got lost, and is unaware of the webcast they’re a part of, which places skepticism among the group that the cameras truly are streaming to the world. They get blazed while music blares through the house, Emma rejecting Danny’s invitation to dance. Things do heat up between Charlie and the newcomer, as they head back to her room and get freaky in the sheets. “Fuck The Pain Away” by Peaches plays overhead, which feels like the perfect early 2000s electronic hit to capture the moment, while Charlie’s moans can be heard through the walls. Patterson smiles at the camera while he thrusts inside her, suggesting he’s a little too comfortable with the setup.
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Night scope cameras catch him stealing Emma’s underwear, and he smugly remarks to a camera in the bathroom ‘I told you I could fuck her’, clueing the audience in to the fact that he’s working with the company behind the reality project. Travis leaves the next morning, sneaking out before Charlie can say goodbye, but Rex gets the chance to inform him that he knows he’s more than an innocent bystander that was caught in the snow. Emma finds her panties on Danny’s bed, and struggles to believe him when he tells her he didn’t take them; Patterson’s plan to created division among them a success. While outside later on, Danny finds Trevor’s backpack abandoned beneath a tree, the group fearing his demise. The bag is covered in blood, proposing he was attacked, but Rex continues to be unconvinced it isn’t a ruse.
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Danny attempts to apologise with a carved wooden cat, despite not being the culprit stealing Emma’s stuff. I think Jennifer Sky as Charlie is really funny in this scene, as she mocks what she dearly names ‘Emma’s pussy’. I’ll always remember her from a cameo appearance in the Buffy episode ‘The Pack’, and I think her performance in My Little Eye is very consistent. However, the girls cruelty comes back to bite them, when Danny is found hanging from the bannister the next morning. Charlie and Emma try to radio for help, while the guys move the body outside. Rex is able to use an old phone to access the internet, and enlightens the group that there’s no advertising for the project online, and the website is nothing more than an encrypted façade with a steep paywall to jump over. Suddenly access is granted, revealing that people have been able to bet on each contestant - lending credibility to the theory it’s a snuff site, generating revenue through real homicide.
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Matt loads the gun they were given, declaring he’ll stand guard and protect everyone, while Rex and Emma head up to the roof and raise a flare, hoping someone will come to their rescue. On their last night Rex watches over Emma as she sleeps, while Matt offers Charlie a massage in the lounge to help her relax. He looks straight into the camera as he pulls a plastic bag over her head, asking the game makers if this is what they wanted, as if the weight of the situation has pushed him past sanity. Rex goes in search of his inhaler, and is enticed by the soundtrack of a video game beckoning from the living room. It creates an uncomfortable atmosphere in the dark, and as Rex sits down to play, Matt appears from the shadows, decapitating him with an axe. This leaves Emma as the final girl, oblivious to the carnage happening below her.
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Matt wakes her with a gunshot, making it appear there’s a dangerous intruder in the house, and runs with her to a spare room on the top floor. He tells her he saw Charlie get killed, and tries to twist the situation to get closer to Emma, though she rejects his advances. He shuts the door and switches on the light, trapping her in the corner and revealing himself to be the real John Riley, who’s murderous urges had nothing to do with their childhood game all those years ago. He pins her on the bed and tries to finish off his last victim, but Emma manages to stab him and grab the gun, scaring him off for a moment. A quick succession of camera angles in the dark capture her fear as she hesitantly navigates the house. Laura Regan is brilliant in the role, capturing the anxious nature of the character. It won her ‘Outstanding Performance by an Actor’ at the Atlantic Film Festival.
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Matt grapples with her on the stairs but she’s able to get away, stumbling into the pool of blood next to Rex’s decapitated remains. Her attacker comes after her with the axe but she shoots him in the leg and runs down to the basement, where she finds Charlie’s lifeless body. Frantically banging at the cellar door, she bursts out into the night, into the arms of a police officer who claims to have seen the distress signal. He leaves a terrified Emma in his car and ventures inside, pretending to be in pursuit of the assailant. However, it quickly becomes apparent he’s part of the operation too, as Matt crawls up the steps beside him pleading to be the one to snuff the girl he’s spent the last six months faking friends with. The officer unlocks the car and Emma runs for her life, before he shoots her down. Matt and Officer Pete regroup in the kitchen, the remaining contestant hoping he’ll be promoted for his efforts. Emma is shown to still be alive and locked in a tiled room, and the last thing we see is Matt peering through a porthole window at her, before his splattered blood obscures the view; it seems no one ever wins the game, apart from Pete, Travis and the rich clientele who fund it.
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I didn’t know what to expect when I picked this film out of a bargain box in a charity shop, but I was intrigued by the concept and I loved the cover art. I’ve never watched anything by Marc Evans, but looking at the construction of the movie I think it’s a masterpiece of its time. I really liked the use of cinematography and sound to build this world between four walls that the contestants were living in, full of tension and unease. The casting was very strong too, and the pacing allowed enough time for the viewer to become invested in the characters and the narrative. My favourite kind of horror isn’t literal, instead delving deep into the human condition to prey on our fears, and My Little Eye does this expertly. It’s a tale that still holds such relevance today, and one that shouldn’t be forgotten.
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This copy is the two-disc Special Edition, which includes an audio commentary by director Marc Evans and producer Jon Finn, and an Interactive Mode that can only be accessed by inputting a code found on the DVD box. I love this attention to detail that makes the whole experience immersive, as if you’re logging on to the website yourself. This mode allows you to watch the film through an online interface as if you’re a subscriber, with bonus footage to be unlocked along the way. This footage can also be found in the ‘Deleted Scenes’ section on Disc 2, alongside a brilliant ‘Making Of’ featurette that demonstrates the challenges Marc had in gaining support for the film, which went from teetering on failure to becoming one of the scariest movies of 2002. There’s also trailers and TV spots, and the case itself contains an accompanying booklet inside. I’m so glad I found My Little Eye, and I’m excited to experience more work by Evans in the future.