That Asia is making great horror films should be obvious to everyone now, especially after Hollywood have begun remaking them by the numbers. The wave began with Nakata’s “The Ring” in 1998 and even though I’m not a particular fan of it, it’s influence and impact is so strong, that most horror films today are weighted by it, as “A Tale of Two Sisters”, which on its cover says, “The most frightening film since RING”. Personally I find “A Tale of Two Sisters” a far better horror film, and judging from the films we’ve seen over the recent years, Asian horror is still developing and we can expect many more great horror films in the years to come.

Following the death of their mother, the two sisters Su-mi and Su-yeon have spend some time recovering at a mental hospital, and are now returning home to their father, and their new “mother”. Already on their first night at home, strange things start to happening: footsteps, doors opening by themselves, and it soon is obvious, that the sisters isn’t what their stepmother had hoped for and she isn’t what the sisters want. Is it ghosts? Is it the stepmother who is playing tricks on them? Or is it something else?

What may appear as a modern retelling of an old folktale is nothing short of one of the most intelligent horror film yet to come from Asia, and the best Korean horror film to date. Kim knows his horror and plays the audience with all tricks in the book. For me personally, great horror should never attempt to outsmart the audience, nor should the explanation. While it is suspension of disbelief, if the explanation completely disarms the value of the horror, the horror will stand by itself, either empty or illogic. Kim never disarms the horror. We, the audience, is never sure of what really goes on, and even if we believe we have figured it all out, Kim plays us by using imagery which makes us become uncertain, thus believing in the horror. When the final revelation then arrives and we realise what really goes on, the horror is not disarmed, but only intensified.

But its not enough to just being able to tell a great horror story. This is where Lee Mo-gae, the DoP, and Oh Seung-chul, the lighting director, comes in. We all know that something is lurking in the shadows, that someone is standing behind the person we see, but we still want to be surprised, and thanks to some amazing mise-en-scene and lighting, those shadows are just a tiny bit more obscure and that someone who stands behind someone else is just revealed a bit more frightening. Also score and sound is top notch in “A Tale of Two Sisters”. One really have to bless the inventor of surround sound, as it really allows sounds to attack you from any direction, only adding to your confusion.

Finally let me say a few praising comments for the actors, especially Im Soo-jung and Yeom Jung-ah, who plays the stepmother to perfection, ranging from overly ecstatic happy happy joy joy to cold and calculating. This again all reflects back onto Kim’s character direction. Solid.

Good horror is rare these days, great horror is next to nowhere to be found, so when a film like “A Tale of Two Sisters” comes along, horror fans really have to bless themselves. It is not perfect, it may be a bit confusing at times, and some may feel some scenes are a bit too long, but who am I kidding? Its all about getting chills, and “A Tale of Two Sisters” delivers.