Learn more about The Eye's eye-catching effects. All images © Lionsgate Ent.

Visual effects are, at their core, a trick played on the eyes of moviegoers that are not dissimilar from the tricks Jessica Alba's character thinks her new corneal transplants are playing on her in The Eye (opening Feb. 1 from Lionsgate).

This most recent adaptation of a hit Asian horror film may not have contained innovative vfx shots, but Asylum's work nonetheless added something important to the final product, according to VFX Supervisor Marc Varisco.

"I think visual effects lends itself to adding that extra element of realism to a horror film, which some of these in-camera approaches don't quite capture," he says.

Varisco adds that Asylum Chief Nathan McGuinness pursued the project because it offered the chance to work with Lionsgate, Paramount and producer Paula Wagner, who is Tom Cruise's partner in C/W Prods. and United Artists. The shop landed the job thanks to work on previous horror movies The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror, as well as some preliminary tests.

"We did some preliminary tests for them, for the Shadowman character that seemed to be moving in the right direction and we were brought on board," Varisco explains.

Actress Jessica Alba's character doesn't like what she sees in the mirror. 

He says directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud, best known for directing the French horror film Ils (Them) wanted to inject a freshness to their take on the film and wanted to do as much of the work in camera as possible.

Shooting took place mostly in Albuquerque, with an old semi-conductor facility standing in for many locations, including the hospital sets. "It was sort of the less-is-more approach," continues Varisco, adding that it ties in very well into the concept of the film. "They were trying to play off the idea she's either paranoid and it's all going on in her head, the visions she has, or was it real."

Several sequences involved mirrors, and mirrored sets were built and shot in order to avoid having to paint out camera reflections later. Most of the vfx in the film were created with simple compositing tools, mostly Inferno and Flame with some use of Shake.

The latter was used on a key shot at the start of the film that began with a tight shot on Alba's eyes as she looked out her apartment window and pulled out to show a full vista of downtown Los Angeles.