Despite its third-act problems, A Tale of Two Sisters easily passes the scare test.
A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:52
Fresh:45
Rotten:7
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: Restrained but disturbing, A Tale of Two Sisters is a creepily effective, if at times confusing, horror movie.
Theatrical Release:Dec 3, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: Something strange is happening when Su-mi and her younger sister Su-yeon come home to their father's large, but dark and somewhat foreboding house after a stay in the hospital. Their dad is... Something strange is happening when Su-mi and her younger sister Su-yeon come home to their father's large, but dark and somewhat foreboding house after a stay in the hospital. Their dad is taciturn and burdened and their step-mother, Eun-joo greets them with forced enthusiasm and more than a little sense of irritation. But that's nothing compared to what happens when bedtime rolls around. Su-mi unpacks her bags in her old room only to find her desk and closet full of someone else’s stuff. Su-yeong hears step foots outside her bedroom door and then sees a creepy, ghost-white hand opening the door – but there's no one there. Meanwhile, Eun-joo goes from pre-hysterical to cruel. Then things get really weird: A ghostly young woman is hiding under a kitchen cabinet; a terrifying ghoul visits So-mu's bedroom. Then dad tells a disbelieving Su-mi that Su-yeon has been dead for months. If that's true, what's in that big bag Eun-joo is beating with a poker, that thing that's leaving a blood trail? -- © Tartan Films [More]
Starring: Su-jeong Lim, Geun-yeong Mun, Jung-ah Yum, Kap-su Kim
Starring: Su-jeong Lim, Geun-yeong Mun, Jung-ah Yum, Kap-su Kim
Director: Ji-woon Kim
Director: Ji-woon Kim
Screenwriter: Ji-woon Kim
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Reviews for A Tale Of Two Sisters
As a ripe, almost Victorian-tinged contemplation of desperate sisterly devotion, it can be harrowing.
... one of the best and most haunting of the recent Asian horror films.
Kim Jee-Woon's serious approach has its merits, but it also creates some problems that mar, without ruining, the film's effectiveness.
Plays like a gorgeous painting hanging in a gloomy gallery -- you stand in front of one corner, mesmerized by turquoise wallpaper or a burgundy rug, then a fleeting movement in another corner draws you over.
A bit of cinematic showing-off that offers an intriguing puzzle but never really makes us care.
That feeling of laden Victoriana oozes not just from the opulent settings, but from the sexual leviathans coiling and uncoiling in the subtext.
I like what it's trying to do -- use a ghost story surface to tell a tale of guilt, blame, and madness -- but was disappointed in the conventional tactics it used.
Writer/director Ji-woon Kim leaps to the forefront of Asian horror with this brilliantly executed psychological nightmare.
Haunting presences, inexplicable cutaways, overwhelming suspense, deeply disturbing sub-themes and a general willingness to leave things unanswered. Fantastic!
Kim's artful Tale may be stronger on atmosphere and mood than on story, but it contains hidden charges that chip away at the borders of certainty -- and that can be scary.
Fans of the genre will find much to savor with A Tale of Two Sisters.
Classic horror in the vein of Hitchcock, Argento and Miike...the scariest film in years!
Precise direction that goes more for slow chills than quick frights, and a script with some startling twists, makes A Tale of Two Sisters a classy entry in the East Asian psycho-horror stakes.
When all is finally revealed, it becomes clear that the stylish spookiness was its own slim reward.
Like a fairy tale set in a haunted house, this terrifying psychological horror yarn from Korea preys upon deep-rooted fears of adolescence, insanity and evil stepparents while scaring the bejabbers out of us.
Unnervingly conflates fairytale lore with the angst of adolescent sexual development.
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