A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (JANGHWA, HONGREON)

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (JANGHWA, HONGREON) is reminiscent in a number of ways of THE RING and THE GRUDGE, even though this latest look at bloody hauntings comes from Korea rather than Japan. What makes A TALE OF TWO SISTERS distinctive, however, is less its country of origin than its refreshingly intricate (albeit sometimes confusing) plot.

We are introduced to a woman it's not clear who being interviewed by a psychiatrist in a mental institution. Clearly something horrendous has happened, but what? Flash either back or forward to the arrival of two teenaged sisters, sullen but assertive Su-mi (Su-jeong Lim) and shy Su-yuen (Geun-young Mun), at the home of their distant father (Kan-su Kim) and somewhat manic, control-freak stepmother Eun-joo (Jung-ah Yum). One of the girls has spent time in a mental institution, but which one? Is she crazy, or is it her sister or is it Eun-joo or is everyone reacting to what seems to be at least one very creepy ghost on the premises?

There are a good many moments of real dread, with great use of space and sound. Su-yuen's nightmares are particularly potent and there's a fairly unforgettable flashback to something witnessed by a visitor to the house who understandably can't wait to get away. Lim and Yum are excellent in extremely complicated roles, helping writer/director Jee-woon Kim lead us this way and that while simultaneously thoroughly scaring us.

The puzzle created by Kim is so multi-layered that there are some moments of confusion there is a lot of intentional ambiguity, but at times, what appear to be clarifications remain opaque. Then again, the elliptical clues provide reasons to watch A TALE OF TWO SISTERS again, to see how it plays out once we know where we're going. Most films in the genre content themselves with delivering frightening jolts. TALE is one of those rare horror films where the explanation, rather than providing pat answers, renders what we're watching still more compelling and disturbing.