My Little Eye
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| My Little Eye | |
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 DVD Cover for the "My Little Eye". |
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| Directed by | Marc Evans |
| Produced by | Jon Finn Jane Villiers David Hilton |
| Written by | David Hilton James Watkins |
| Starring | Sean Cw Johnson Kris Lemche Stephen O'Reilly Laura Regan Jennifer Sky |
| Distributed by | MCA/Universal Home Video |
| Release date(s) | April 27, 2004 (USA) (DVD premiere) |
| Running time | 95 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
My Little Eye is a 2002 British horror film directed by Marc Evans about five adults who agree to spend six months together in an isolated mansion while being filmed at all times. The idea for the film came from reality television shows such as Big Brother. The title refers to the guessing game I spy.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
My Little Eye opens with cast auditions for a reality show and the audience is introduced to the contestants: Matt, Rex, Danny, Emma, and Charlie. The rules state that they must spend six months together in an isolated house and they will win one million dollars each. If someone leaves everyone loses. The film then cuts to the near end of their stay at the house and the stress of living with each other is all too apparent. The stakes are raised when it appears that someone is playing nasty tricks on them in an effort to turn them against each other and force someone out of the house. Danny (Stephen O'Reilly) receives a letter that his grandfather has died and Emma (Laura Regan) finds a bloody hammer on her pillow when she wakes up.
Soon after, a mysterious visitor Travis Patterson (Bradley Cooper) arrives at the house. Travis seems completely oblivious to the cameras in the house, and doesn't seem disturbed at the houseguests revelation that they're being filmed for an internet program. After a night of drinking and drug use, Travis is invited by Charlie (Jennifer Sky) to accompany her back to her room where the two have sex. Later when everyone is apparently asleep, with the use of a Nightvision camera Travis is seen standing over Charlie. He exits her room and approaches one of the many cameras throughout the house and smiles directly into it saying "I told you I could fuck her". The next morning Travis informs the other houseguests he's leaving.
Later while taking a walk outside, Matt (Sean Cw Johnson) discovers Travis' backpack on the ground covered in blood and shred to pieces. He takes the backpack back to the house and shows the other houseguests. They all assume Travis was probably attacked by a bear or other animal but Rex (Kris Lemche) thinks otherwise. Rex is the only one who believes Travis works for the people running their "show". He says it's just a trick to make the houseguests panic and force them to leave, which by the rules would mean a forfeit of prize money. After this is taken into consideration, the houseguests instead plea to the cameras and viewers of their webcast to call for help.
The group tries to put the incident out of their minds and continue with their daily routines until later when they find Danny dead apparently from suicide with a rope around his neck hanging from a balcony. At this point the houseguests no longer care about their prize money and decide to use the emergency radio to call for help. After receiving no answer or being able to contact someone via the radio they decide to wait it out until the next morning when a helicopter is scheduled to retrieve them for staying in the house for the required amount of time to win.
Rex uses a GPS unit found in Travis' bag and his laptop computer to gain access to the internet in an attempt to find out more about the show they're participating on. His findings are more than unsettling. He gathers the remaining houseguests and they all retreat to a room in the house, where the games cameras and microphones are supposedly not allowed to give the contestants 15 minutes of private time per day. Rex reveals to his other roommates that he hasn't been able to find a single thing about their "show". No advertisement or even mention of it appears anywhere on the internet. The houseguests all feel something is wrong now. Rex says the only thing he could find regarding their "show" was a web page heavily encrypted. Rex explains that he's tried every hacking trick and back door program he knows and he still cannot gain access. Rex then makes a startling statement "Am I the only one thinking this? Haven't you guys ever heard of snuff? Snuff films?"
Unexpectedly the encrypted site gives the houseguests access to what appears to be a page displaying their pictures and odds. Odds of what, they're unsure of but they all finally conclude it must be the odds of who's going to die next. Then pictures and sound come up on the computer screen of the houseguests, in real time sitting in the booth they had all thought was off limits to the "show". Rex finds one of these hidden cameras and rips it from the room ceiling. The four remaining houseguests Rex, Matt, Emma and Charlie gather weapons to assure each others safety including a gun Matt has. Rex searches through Travis' backpack again and finds a flare. Rex wants to set it off on the roof in the hopes that someone near by will see it and come to help. Rex doesn't want to go to the roof alone, so Emma volunteers to join him and the two head up to the roof. After setting off the flare Emma and Rex head to her bedroom where Emma sleeps while Rex struggles to keep watch until eventually falling asleep himself.
Downstairs in the living room Matt begins to give Charlie a back massage. Charlie says the reason for her appearing on the "show" has to do with her pursuit of breaking into the entertainment industry. Matt reveals his reason to Charlie for participating "Fear. To see your fear" then looks into one of the cameras and says "Should I kill her now?" followed by Matt putting a plastic bag around Charlie's head and suffocating her. Next Matt kills Rex by chopping his head off with an axe after Rex comes downstairs to get a drink of water. Matt then fires a single shot from his gun while running upstairs which awakens Emma who instantly grabs a pocket knife from her nightstand. Matt runs into Emma's room pretending to be chased by someone and tells Emma they need to move quickly. The two run upstairs together and hide in the attic. Matt attempts to kiss Emma after telling her that they're the only suvivors left. Emma refuses this advance and can't understand Matt's motives. Matt attacks Emma but is subsequently stabbed by the pocket knife Emma grabbed before heading up to the attic with him. Emma gets Matt's gun and shoots him once while Matt flees. Emma heads downstairs and sees approaching car lights flooding the entire house. Matt attempts to attack Emma again, this time with an axe but again is shot and falls to the floor bleeding profusely.
Emma gets out of the house to find a cop (Nick Mennell) waiting outside. The officer asks Emma if she was the one who set off the flare. Emma is terror stricken, pleading to the officer to not go into the house and for the two of them to just leave. The cop places Emma into his car and handcuffs her hands behind her back, retrieves a rifle and heads into the house. While in the car Emma is seen screaming and crying in fear. It becomes clear that there are also cameras in the officers car filming Emma's terror and that the cop is a part of this scheme. With Matt crawling out of the house bleeding screaming at the cop that he can still finish his "job" and kill Emma, the officer remotely unlocks his car allowing Emma to escape. The cop then takes aim with his rifle and shoots Emma in the back.
Later Matt, still bleeding badly, and the cop are seen sitting at a table enjoying champagne. Matt comments that he should get a promotion for all his good "work". The cop reveals that this set up has no company only himself, Travis Patterson and what he calls "Very rich clients" that pay a high fee to watch the murders. Emma is then seen alive, and trapped in a small room with a single small opening for observation. While Matt peers into the opening and looks at Emma the cop says "Once we get five new suckers the next show will start". Matt corrects the cop saying "You mean four" assuming that he'll be involved in the next broadcast. The cop then shoots Matt in the head blowing his brains all over the observation window. Emma is seen screaming in complete terror eventually falling to the ground. Still being watched by hidden cameras.
[edit] Cast
- Sean Cw Johnson - Matt
- Kris Lemche - Rex
- Stephen O'Reilly - Danny
- Laura Regan - Emma
- Jennifer Sky - Charlie
- Bradley Cooper - Travis Patterson
- Nick Mennell - The Cop
[edit] DVD
My Little Eye is available on DVD from MCA/Universal Home Video with most of the special features available on the Region 2 Special Edition including a filmmakers' commentary and deleted scenes. A UK release contains a 'Special Mode' where viewers see the film from the perspective of an internet subscriber, and more extra features become unlocked as the film goes on. You can watch other things going on in 'the house' in real time to what's happening in the film.
