Part of Hoop-Tober

“I’ll always be with you.”

In close-up, a man washes his hands carefully and repeatedly. His hands do not appear dirty. He has not, so far as we can tell, just used the toilet, nor is he preparing to eat or to engage in some practice necessitating sterility. He is merely awaiting a conversation. Nonetheless, he is fastidious about his washing. It is a curious image with which to begin Kim Jee-Woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters, but one that, eventually, makes a great deal of sense. For hand-washing, in the grand tradition of Pontius Pilate, is commonly associated with the cleansing of guilt, and guilt hangs over Kim’s picture like a deathly shroud.

Of course, hand-washing…

Hoop-Tober, Film 17 of 31:

A complex film that utilizes the concept of non-linear filmmaking quite well, but is so intricately crafted that it might confuse some viewers. You'd be hard-pressed to find a horror film with a better combination of cinematography, editing and performances... but even calling this a horror film feels wrong. The ever-mobile camera juxtaposed with the gorgeous set design makes for a fantastic visual experience, and the sound design is just as well put together. There were at least a half dozen points during the film where a certain sound effect or scream or something sent a shiver down my spine and made my body tense up.

A Tale of Two Sisters has an impressive atmosphere…

A Tale of Two Sisters is another Asian horror that was unable to avoid the inevitable catastrophe; the American re-make. Thankfully those lucky enough to be aware of the original can still discover the horrifying delights of this film, in one of the best to come from the genre in the past decade or so. The film isn't without its problems however but the skilfully crafted atmosphere more than compensates for those issues.

There is no hurry to get to the heart of the story which is what makes this so effective. The idea is to play between the lines of the real and imaginary, while still managing to scare the pants off you. Monsters are shown early enough although…

Very difficult to fully grasp on the first viewing, A Tale of Two Sisters is a psychological horror from South Korea that generates a creepy ambiance right from its opening moments & is one of those features that get better after multiple viewings. The plot requires the attention of its viewers from start to finish & presents many symbolic references & visual motifs throughout its runtime that can easily go unnoticed.

The film opens by introducing us to Su-Mi; a teenaged girl at a mental hospital. That scene is followed by Su-Mi coming back home with her father & sister where her overbearing stepmother is waiting. Soon we find out that something isn't right with the house and from then on, the film throws…