The gorgeous slow-moving cinematography by Lee Mogae is remarkable.
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
Fans of the genre will find much to savor with A Tale of Two Sisters.
A bit of cinematic showing-off that offers an intriguing puzzle but never really makes us care.
... one of the best and most haunting of the recent Asian horror films.
The film seems unnecessarily vague on a rational level, but it's spot-on as a psychological study of a twinlike sibling relationship, and the ways in which memory can suppress trauma and soothe a mourning soul.
Ji-woon Kim may be the Korean David Lynch and his juxtaposition of seemingly innocent and suddenly searing situations is marvelously unnerving, as are the constantly shifting personalities of most of his characters.
There's no denying the eye for hypnotic imagery employed by writer-director Ji-woon Kim and cinematographer Mo-gae Lee.
That feeling of laden Victoriana oozes not just from the opulent settings, but from the sexual leviathans coiling and uncoiling in the subtext.
We aren't meant to understand the story fully until the film's closing minutes, so the shocks and suggestions come in a muddled context.
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.
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.
With style to spare, this Korean import cranks up the creeps through atmospheric sound design, slick cinematography and crimson-drenched art direction.
The creepy visuals, the slow-burning tension, the meticulous pauses for effect, and the staggered trail of clues and revelations inexorably draw the viewer in.
The film succeeds again and again at pulling you to the edge of your seat and keeping you there.
Quite restrained for what's basically a horror movie, and very well acted.
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