Definitely a movie of quality, with emotionally riveting and realistic acting from all involved, along with a very intricate plot that suddenly unravels at the end so quickly that you might consider watching it a second time just to understand it all. The only problem is that, while there is definitely a "mystery" of sorts going on in the house, much of that mystery relies on a complete lack of communication between the characters, so you get little or no sense of what is real and what isn't until the very end because you are really locked into one character's perspective. This might have worked if she had more to actually perceive - so much of the time she spends with just one other character without any other input for contrast. There was also a lack of consistency throughout that makes the ending kind of a let down, because it just doesn't fully make sense. Honestly, while I found the characters compelling, there were just way too many loose ends even after the big reveal for me to really feel that I had a good grasp of what had happened and why.

I first saw this film two years ago in the cinema, and fell in love with this dark tale of two brooding teenage sisters coping at home in their large country house with their father and step-mother. Their relationship with their step-mother is strained to say the least, with the step-mother appearing to be increasingly becoming unstable in her battles with the younger girls. The film though slants with Oriental style ghost effects and horror, which adds a strange and unsettling aspect to the story that on first viewing is not clear, but is all the more intriguing.

The direction is incredibly good, and the acting is stunning, with the step-mother in particular incredibly good swinging from one mood style to another in the film. The large house adds eeriness, and there are enough points in the film where you will jump out of your seat. This film to me clearly shows why Korean cinema is possibly the best most original in the world at the moment. You simply don't get anything like this in the Western World, sadly,and really i can see it being influential on film makers around the world in the next decade.

Highly recommended viewing in my opinion, a real joy and scare...