The Eye... Infinity

Japanese horror masters the Pang brothers unleash the third instalment of their popular Eye trilogy - a frequently silly teen shocker that pales in comparison to its predecessors.

The movie follows four teenagers - Teddy, his cousin May and their pals April and Kofai - who leave Hong Kong for a holiday in Thailand, staying with their friend Chongkwai. After witnessing a road crash, they decide to tell ghost stories. Chongkwai (Ray MacDonald) then reveals he owns a mysterious book that details 10 ways to see spirits.

The first two are to adopt the sight of the dead and through suicide during pregnancy, the subjects of the first two films. Being the typically dumb kids all horror movie teens are, they try the rest - such as ouija board, hide and seek with a black cat - but are far from prepared for the consequences of dabbling in the supernatural. One mysteriously vanishes, another has a breakdown - and it soon becomes clear the spirits are not going to leave the remaining teens alone either.

It's not a bad premise and the tale moves at a good pace, keeping you hooked throughout. Sadly, first you have to endure a scene about an exorcism that is more cheese than chilling - Linda Blair certainly won't lose sleep - and awful opening credits that would be more suited to Hollyoaks.

Eye Infinity is a sequel but you don't have to have seen the first two films for it to make sense. But while Eye 1 and 2 were atmospheric, tense chillers, Eye Infinity's irritating use of Frat-boy style humour means this foreboding sense of dread cannot be maintained.

Comedy in horror can provide much-needed light relief but here it is often stupid and not in the slightest bit funny. I mean, at one point the characters scare ghosts away by farting. Even the Farrelly brothers wouldn't sink that low.

But there are genuinely creepy moments, such as when the ghosts descend on the kids from dark alleys as they tempt them with food. A Blair Witch-esque trip to the woods at midnight will also have you on the edge of your seat. And the Pang brothers successfully make ordinary objects seem terrifying. Some of the scariest scenes involve, bizarrely, a brolly and a basketball.

The young cast do a decent enough job but their characters have little depth and you struggle to identify or empathise with them. But then, you don't really want to know them, you just want to share their fear... and more often than not you do.