How the Pang Brothers’ The Eye movies led Hong Kong cinema’s horror genre in the 2000s
Oxide and Danny Pang’s supernatural thriller The Eye established their reputation as horror directors; two equally good sequels followed
Directors Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang Fat, known professionally as the Pang Brothers, have had interesting careers even by the standards of Hong Kong’s perpetually fascinating film industry.
This led to successful careers in Hong Kong – where they became known for directing horror films like The Eye – and even stints in Hollywood, where, unusually, they directed an American remake of Bangkok Dangerous.
At the start of their careers, Oxide Pang worked for television production company Robert Chua Production House, while Danny Pang joined Hong Kong broadcaster TVB and then became a film editor. Oxide Pang took up an offer to work at a visual effects house in Thailand – the brothers are half-Thai – and this led to their first film as co-directors.
“The pace of filmmaking in Thailand is more conducive to creativity. There is much more time to develop your ideas,” Oxide Pang told this journalist in 2002.
The brothers, who said they had been close friends since childhood, did look identical. “They have the same hairstyle and the same offhand speaking manner – it would be near impossible to tell them apart if it weren’t for their clothes,” Winnie Chung wrote in the Post in 2004.
