Thoroughly confusing, but definitely worth your time.
"A Tale of Two Sisters" starts off as a fairly conventional horror flick. There is an eerie old house in the woods, an evil stepmother and a creepy pair of sisters who have an intense, mysterious bond. So far, so normal.
However, things quickly...
- 08.October.2010
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- by: afx237vi
- afx237vi rated this movie
 8/10Great
Thoroughly confusing, but definitely worth your time.
"A Tale of Two Sisters" starts off as a fairly conventional horror flick. There is an eerie old house in the woods, an evil stepmother and a creepy pair of sisters who have an intense, mysterious bond. So far, so normal.
However, things quickly progress and by the final third, it has turned into a total mindbender. Twists and turns are thrown so quickly that by the time you think you have one thing figured out, there are another 5 questions you need to wrestle with. Is this a bad thing? Yes and no. By the end of the film, you'll certainly be confused and probably be frustrated. I know I was. But on the upside, you'll have a lot to think about and the film will stick in your mind for days afterwards. I have only seen this film once so far, but will almost certainly watch it again in the near future.
Furthermore, the film is exceptionally good at creating an unsettling atmosphere. It is not an all-out horror, and there are only one or two traditional frights that are intended to make you jump. Instead, the eeriness is created by the setting, the music, the colours and the fine performances by the actresses who play the two sisters. It is creepy, not scary, and I liked it a lot.
- 08.October.2010
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- by: afx237vi
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This movie had no substantial plot or setting for the first hour and thirty minutes. It was incredibly boring to watch and I found myself only angered by its disappointing ending.
- 16.November.2009
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- by: sameold
- sameold rated this movie0/10
This movie had no substantial plot or setting for the first hour and thirty minutes. It was incredibly boring to watch and I found myself only angered by its disappointing ending.
- 16.November.2009
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- by: sameold
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A slow yet intense horror/psychological story involving two sisters, an evil step mother, scary dead people and a creepy old house.
If you were to compare A Tale Of Two Sisters and The Uninvited, which is the remake, A Tale of Two Sisters is a...
- 09.August.2009
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- by: jeaston101
- jeaston101 rated this movie8/10Great
A slow yet intense horror/psychological story involving two sisters, an evil step mother, scary dead people and a creepy old house.
If you were to compare A Tale Of Two Sisters and The Uninvited, which is the remake, A Tale of Two Sisters is a slow moving film that requires a lot of build up for the audience to understand what is actually happening to each character; while The Uninvited is from the main characters point of view in which she tries to figure out if their new step mother is a psychotic killer. Both are excellent psychological horror films, but I would recommend watching A Tale of Two Sisters because it is the original and should be seen.
- 09.August.2009
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- by: jeaston101
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I like to go into movies cold, so it wasn't immediately that I figured out that it was a psycho-thriller that I was watching. It began in a stark, white room where a doctor is preparing to talk to one of the Sisters. A nurse leads her to a table,...
- 04.June.2009
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- by: a k'wala
- a k'wala rated this movie6/10Okay
I like to go into movies cold, so it wasn't immediately that I figured out that it was a psycho-thriller that I was watching. It began in a stark, white room where a doctor is preparing to talk to one of the Sisters. A nurse leads her to a table, seating her across it from the doctor. The doctor speaks empathetically, trying to engage her in talk therapy. She does not answer. She looks down, with her hair obscuring her face. Then she raises her head towards the window, face still covered by her hair. What follows tell us how Su-mi (Su-jeong Lim) ended up where she is today.
Su-yeon (Guen-yeong Mun) is Su-mi's younger sister, and the more traumatized one after their mother's death. Their father (Kap-su Kim) drives them to a house in the country after Su-mi's prior hospitalisation due to a mental breakdown. There they must live by the rules of their proverbial wicked stepmother (Jung-ah Yum). Su-mi must protect her sister from the stepmother's cruelty.
The tension builds ever so slowly. The house is large and immaculate, yet cosy, quite the opposite of the opening image of the movie. As we first enter the house with the two sisters, we don't notice the ominous aura, but it's not long before it bleeds into the apparent reality. The distinction between what's real and what's not remains ambiguous even after we learn what is really going on.
Ji-woon relies on the movie watcher's imagination in many ways. The visualisation of horror, even when we see the apparitions, stops short of unfolding in front of our eyes. The production and sound design are superb, as is the editing.
Wonder what Dreamworks will do with it when they remake it, they've apparently bought the rights.
- 04.June.2009
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- by: a k'wala
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Beautifully shot, solidly acted and with a good deal of genuine chill, it unfortunately gets bogged down at the end in layer upon layer of somewhat contrived complexity. As good as it is in many ways, I found it disappointing that I had to read...
- 05.May.2009
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- by: w00f
- w00f rated this movie6/10Okay
Beautifully shot, solidly acted and with a good deal of genuine chill, it unfortunately gets bogged down at the end in layer upon layer of somewhat contrived complexity. As good as it is in many ways, I found it disappointing that I had to read someone else's analysis that ran to almost four pages long in order to figure out the ending. At the very least, this movie might become clearer if someone were willing to go back and watch it several times, but most first time viewers (myself included) will most likely be wondering what the heck just happened. The thing about it is, the ending didn't have to get nearly so convoluted, and after an initial viewing, at least, I come away feeling that it's a bit much to lay on top of a simple "it was all a dream" type of climax. I might feel differently about it if I watched it again, but having seen it just the one time I find myself rather let down by that.
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