A Tale of Two Sisters (2004)

User Review

• 

  TheMovieDiorama

  10 / 10

  A Tale of Two Sisters, ladies and gentlemen, is now my favourite horror film. I took some time to reflect (after an hour of calming down) and without a doubt I can honestly say this is a masterpiece. Yes yes yes yes YES! Words cannot describe how flipping perfect this film is. I'm not even going to detail the plot, just take my advice and watch it immediately. As I was entranced I kept thinking "...this all seems too familiar...", then it clicked. Hollywood remade this with a film called The Uninvited (underrated but inferior nonetheless). Interestingly that film only used one plot twist and is not half as creepy. I've never felt so terrified in all my life. Something about Asian ghost girls just...gives me nightmares. Two scenes in particular: one involves one of the sisters dreaming where a woman is clawing at the floor beside her bed and the other is towards the end and is set in a freezing room. Holy sweet mother of...*ahem* it physically made me hide behind a cushion. That's never happened to me before. Asian horror films are miles ahead of Hollywood. Kim Jee-Woon was stylish and made the tale extremely visual as opposed to masses of dialogue. The slow camera movements when scenes start to edge towards the horror direction and having every character move slower than paint drying, incredibly effective and unnerving. Not one, not two, but three "Oh My God!" moments where I literally flipped out in awe and excitement. Carefully constructed characters and a palpable sisterly bond between Su-Mi and Su-Yeon. Acting was incredible all round. The musical score was appropriately used, upbeat in the more cheerful moments and muted in the tense scenes. You think your step-mother was scary and/or evil? You've seen nothing yet. This woman is the definition of ominous, mental and most definitely haunting. In fact the whole experience was haunting and I cannot wait to watch it again. Easily, without a doubt, A Tale of Two Sisters gets the perfect rating. Definitely experience this, then give The Uninvited a watch and compare.

  Like?

  1 member likes this review.