Korean Period Horror - The Evil Twin

A young woman awakes from a ten year long coma. Her last memory was of drowning with her sister in the nearby river. Her reawakening provokes rumor and fear among her friends and the villagers, as strange things begin to occur. Finally, one by one, people once close to her start to die.....

The Evil Twin is an anomaly in the contemporary horror scene -- a historical period piece that relies on suspense and the terror that is imagined, not necessarily seen. Thanks to a stronger than average storyline, which falls under a classic film noir suspense tale of lost identity, Evil Twin fuses that with the doppleganger twin that is so common in asian horror, to create something different. Park Shin-Hye plays So-Yeon, the heroine who reawakens to a world much older and different than she last remembered. Her displacement becomes an effective way to show the unfolding of events that follow, as layers for truth are revealed, about her friends, her family, and finally, herself. Hyo-Jin is her twin sister in the tale, and while at first she seems like another long haired demon girl a la the Ring, she is mostly in the background until the end, and when she does appear, she is genuinely creepy. No shock music or backward motion special effects, just atmosphere and silence, which deliver a real onimous feel to her presence. Yang Geum-Seok plays So-Yeon's mother, a woman with a guilt in her heart about a choice she had to make in the past. So-Yeon and Hyo-Jin were the classic good girl/bad girl, not necessarily good/evil, but one gaining more favor than the other - So-Yeon is promised to be married, a favor not gained by Hyo-Jin (this being at a very young age, as was the custom). That conflict affects how her friends treat her, because, and this is a key point, everyone thinks So-Yeon is her sister, because of the bracelet belonging to her sister was found on her wrist when she was rescued. The visuals are excellent, although the dvd transfer I saw the blacks came out as deep blues in certain key moments, and I don't know if that was when they added some special effects or if it was just a bad transfer. The entire film has an old-school feel, and reading other reviews of this film, I see that it is indeed a throwback to the ghost story films of the 60's in South Korea. It also reminds be of the Val Lewton films of the 40's, though there are a couple of brief grisly moments. The ending too reminds me of another film, the Japanese version of Dark Water, with the mother having to make the decision that she thought she should have made years ago, a choice as to which daughter she should save from drowning. The moment is touching and powerful, as is this above average horror film, which once again proves that a good story is more effective than cheap shocks to thrill the viewer. Recommended.