There have been horror movies that have truly terrified us. Movies such as “Psycho,” “The Exorcist,” “Alien” and “The Shining” have terrified audiences long after they left the theater. “The Eye” is not one of them.

There have been actresses such as Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Cate Blanchett and Julia Roberts who are true professionals in the art of drama. They can deliver lines and perform convincingly and movingly. Jessica Alba is not one of them.

“The Eye” is a recent addition to the remakes of Asian horror movies. Alba plays a woman named Sydney, who was blind since the age of 5. Via cornea transplant, she receives new eyes from an anonymous donor. Everything seems to be going well until it becomes apparent to Sydney that her eyes are a gateway into the spiritual world. Images of people who have already passed away constantly haunt her until she finally sets out to find who her eye donor is and why she sees these frightening images.

Directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud settled for a movie that could have been much better. “The Eye” had the potential to become a fairly entertaining psychological thriller, as Sydney struggles with her sanity and tries to find out if she is actually seeing these things or if they are just imaginary. Instead, “The Eye” is a dreadful horror movie with only cheap “boo” scares, an uninteresting twist and ghosts who hover about and snarl like the velociraptors from “Jurassic Park.”

Alba certainly does not help the movie. She displays in this movie that she still has no acting ability whatsoever. Her simple one-liners and lack of serious emotion are painful to watch.

If you want to be scared, go see “The Orphanage” or “Untraceable,” or rent one of the movies previously mentioned. Do not waste your money or your time on this movie.

1 out of 5 stars