A Tale of Two Sisters

Obviously fired up by his episode for Three, Kim plays the psycho-horror card in earnest in this modern-dress variation on the folktale about the wicked stepmother persecuting her husband's daughters. Sumi (Im) comes home from hospital to resume hostilities with her stepmother Eunjoo (Yeom, icily excellent); she leads the attack on behalf of her cowed sister Suyeon (Moon). Dad (Kim Gap-Su) seems oblivious to what's going on until the day Eunjoo drags the screaming Suyeon to a bedroom closet and locks her in. But not all is as it seems; there are two Caligari-esque twists, hard to guess, but perfectly consonant with the set-up. The atmosphere of mounting dread is matched by just-right performances, design and camerawork.