A Tale of Two Sisters

Not many may know this (I didn't) but The Uninvited, a movie that came out in 2009, was based on the plot of a Korean horror film made in 2003 called A Tale of Two Sisters.
I have not seen The Uninvited, and I don't really intend to. Maybe eventually. I have watched A Tale of Two Sisters, and I guess I'll talk about that.

The plot? Well. I don't want to give any away, because the movie doesn't. The movie doesn't give away any major plot element until very, very late in the movie. Viewers will be guessing almost the entire time. While this does give an air of coolness to the final-final-final-final revalation (yes there are four, I'll put them at the bottom so that you can see if you got them all) it does leave the viewer a bit confused. I began to worry that perhaps there was some sort of cultural gap that made me incapable of getting what was going on.
Luckily, this is not so.
To be frank, I guess I wouldn't say the plot is "stellar". It is a pretty basic story. But at the same time, this basic story is what gives it its horrifying feel. A melodrama becomes a horror movie... it wasn't something I was expecting at all. To be honest, I was expecting something a bit grudge-esque as soon as I saw the two girls (and I'll be honest, it channeled The Grudge at times*) but instead what was provided was a disturbing, psychological horrorshow.

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(trying not to sound like a hipster) I've always found a psychological impact has always been the redeeming quality of horror movies. When a horror movie fails to make any sort of contact with human psychology, it fails. Zombie movies are the easy ones to pull off. I mean, what has a more obvious psychological message than an apocalypse brought about by us fighting ourselves?

A Tale of Two Sisters finishes with a chilling psychological take on denial and guilt. Better yet, its narration makes us fall prey to the denial... allowing for a shattering disillusionment and horrifying recognition of what exactly has happened.

And finally. The music. Great music. I loved the music. The music is good. The direction is good. The scenery in the opening and end is beautiful.

*note, I'm not saying The Grudge is a great movie, but when I think of certain kinds of methods of frightening the viewer, I think of The Grudge, simply due to the sheer volume of it that was in The Grudge

+++++++++++++++++SPOILERS+++++++++++++++++++++++
Alright! Well. As far as I can tell, the four revelations are...!
ONE. That the sister is dead
TWO. Su-mi turns out to be the one doing all this freaky shit
THREE. The explanation of the closet
FOUR. The meaning of the phrase "You'll regret this moment" (important because of the major part guilt plays in this movie)

And, as long as I'm in the spoiler zone... I'd just like to reiterate how well this movie was narrated. It begins with serenity, calm and sisterly love. You immediately become attached to the two girls, you want to take care of Su-yeon... you hate the stepmother, you really believe that she is to blame (even though you know nothing of why!)
Then, as the denial thickens, you hate her more. It's all obvious, she's doing this! Why can't anyone understand!
Then as everything begins to unravel you scramble to find the truth.
Then you are left with the reality and are able to look back at what Su-mi is thinking, you can even empathize because you fell for the denial too...

+++++++++++++++++++++SPOILERS END+++++++++++++++

anyway. I liked it.