My Little Eye
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"Fear is not knowing. Terror is finding out." —The movie's tagline
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My Little Eye is a 2002 British horror film. It is described as Big Brother meets Friday the 13 th, which makes the concept of Dead Set, in a way (since that, too, is in the horror genre), older than they think.
The film starts with five young competitors--Emma, Matt, Danny, Charlie, and Rex--auditioning for an unnamed reality show. The rules state that they must live in a house for six months in order to win one million dollars. The catch? If anyone leaves, everyone loses. It continues at the last few weeks, where the people think about what they miss and what they plan to do with the million dollars.
However, the stakes are rising as their rations grow shorter, the heat is shut off, and Danny's grandfather dies. Rex thinks that it could be The Company (not to be confused with The Company from Heroes, mind), but no one else suspects a thing. Tensions rise, and another mysterious package that has a bottle of champagne and a shotgun appears. Later, a mysterious young man named Travis joins the group for a day, and he and Charlie have sex. Danny is accused of taking Emma's items and makes a gift for her, and that's where things start to go downhill...to say that it gets worse doesn't even cover it.
- The Bad Guy Wins
- Blond Guys Are Evil: At first, Matt seems to avert the trope, but then he suffocates Charlie after asking the audience/The Company, "Should I kill her now?"
- Creepy Monotone: Matt, when he speaks about a story of how a woman got raped, not to mention his Hannibal Lectures near the end.
- Cruel Twist Ending
- Death by Sex: Charlie.
- Downer Ending: In the end, all five housemates die, and the bad guys, including Matt before his own death, win.
- Driven to Suicide: After giving Emma her present and overhearing her and Charlie talking about it, Danny hangs himself.
- Enforced Method Acting: According to this interview with director Marc Evans, the temperature was intentionally left below zero, and Stephen O'Reilly's (Danny) grandfather really did die during filming.
- Fan Service: Charlie's shower scene, and her (very long) sex scene with Travis.
- Final Girl: Subverted. After the cop shoots her and places her in a meat locker, Emma dies from her wounds.
- Genre Savvy: Rex. He knows that the Company is calling the shots.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Pretty much makes up the whole cast. Not exactly an All-Star Cast, but...
- As mentioned above, Rex is portrayed by Kris Lemche. You may remember him as Sam, Cute Boy God, and/or Ian McKinley.
- Emma is portrayed by Laura Regan. Along with her previous role as Julia from They, she would later star as the ill-fated Lisa and Jennifer Crane.
- Charlie is portrayed by Jennifer Sky (now goes by Jennifer Band). Previously, she portrayed the Amazon Amarice and Cleo.
- Also mentioned above, Danny is portrayed by Stephen O'Reilly. While he does do some acting, he is most known as the lead singer for the band Tammany Hall NYC. (Yeah, you know the "Always On Sunday" song that plays on HBO and "Wait For You" from Sex and the City? That band played those songs.)
- Matt is portrayed by Sean Cw Johnson. His previous role? Carter Grayson, the Red Lightspeed Ranger.
- Travis is portrayed by Bradley Cooper, who has a great deal of roles, ranging from Will Tippin to Zachary Lodge.
- Finally, the cop is portrayed by Nick Mennell, who would later star in two horror film remakes: Halloween (as Bob Simms) and Friday the 13 th (as Mike).
- Jerkass: While it is debatable as to who the other jerks are, Rex is definitely one. Near the end of the film, he becomes a Jerk with a Heart of Gold when he figures out what is going on and helps the housemates.
- Kill'Em All
- The Killer Becomes the Killed: At the end of the film, after killing Charlie and Rex and attempting to murder Emma, Matt dies when the cop shoots him in the head.
- Murder.Com/Snuff Film
- Off with His Head: Matt beheads Rex before the latter plays an Evil Dead game.
- Playing Against Type: Two examples.
- First off, Bradley Cooper, at that point in time, played nice guy roles such as the aforementioned Will. Here, he portrays Travis. He ends up being one of the main people in The Company. To put it lightly, they certainly were the ones who did all the twists listed above.
- Secondly, Sean Cw Johnson, as mentioned above, plays nice guy/heroic characters like Carter. Here, he doesn't seem to portray against type at first, as Matt is a nice guy despite sharing a creepy story in the beginning of the film. That is, until he suffocates Charlie and beheads Rex. Oh, and he also attempts to kill Emma. Also, in a deleted scene, Matt drives Danny to commit suicide.
- The Quiet One: Danny.
- Serious Business: Rex's state of mind throughout the film. It's clear that he really wants to win the one million dollars.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog
- Wham! Line: "Should I kill her now?"
- The extra wham comes in Who says it.