A Tale of Two Sisters Movie Review:


A Tale of Two Sisters is a perfect example of a film that understands the meaning of slow build. Beginning with a strange and quiet interview of a
young girl in what looks to be some sort of a mental institution, the film continues on, never feeling the need to explain fully what is going on.

The film is about sisters Su-mi (Im Soo-jung) and Su-yeon (Moon Geun-young) returning to their family home after an unspecified illness. Their father is extremely distant and unresponsive, while their step-mother is worse than any fairy tale ever imagined a step-mother could be.

The sisters share a special bond and while Su-yeon seems to be going through a difficult time, Su-mi is always there beside her to stand up for her. They
look out for each other even as strange occurrences begin happening in the home.

In many horror movies there seems to be a rush to get to the graphic images, especially lately. This does a huge disservice though, because it is not in
the ghost that we are frightened, but rather the moment leading up to seeing it. While the moments we see anything are few and far between in Two
Sisters, there is intensity in waiting for them to come, and when they do, they don’t disappoint.

One extremely frightening sequence follows what seems to be a trend in Asian horror cinema lately. The movement of the human body is shown in a jarring way that doesn’t quite seem real. Whether they just had the actress walk backwards and then reversed the film, or used another technique, it is
always effective and extremely so in the one sequence it is used in Two Sisters.

Another great horror method instilled in Two Sisters is the sound effects. They are always eerie, even when just every day tasks. Often at night the
horror only comes from the sound effects rather than the music as horror movies can tend to lean on too heavily. The sound of a doorknob slowly
twisting and then the door creaking open, all the while a young girl’s breathing increases makes my blood turn cold just to think about it.

While there are a few fantastic techniques used in this strange psychological horror movie, I found myself somewhat unsatisfied at the end
of the film. Not much can be said without giving away any of the plot twists, but the twists were where the problem arose for me. A simple story
turned into something much more complicated and the horror increased, but at the same time my interest was lost.

Ryan Izay

 

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