I think the reveal took a little too long. Like perhaps they should've started the reveal a bit later. The first big reveal happened at the right moment I guess, but then it kinda took too long to get to the rest of it. Still - it was pretty damn effective. Obviously this will be compared to Sixth Sense - but you can't tell people that without spoiling it for people. Damn. I even kinda think her red sweater was a bit of a nod to that film. Anyway - I have a question - she was the stepmom in certain key scenes - so was the stepmom actually living with them or what? What was actually going on behind her hallucinations? I'm going to have to watch it again, but does anyone else kinda feel like they left some questions unanswered or that some of the scenarios don't work after the reveal?

Here's my theory. Keep in mind that this is after immediately skimming through the movie again the first night of watching it, then watching it again a few nights later with some friends.

The step-mom for most of the movie is not real, but rather part of Su-mi's pschyzophrenia. Su-mi is basically split in two, one side being the real Su-mi and the other being the step-mom. In Su-mi's mind she and the step-mom are equally responsible for Su-Yeon's death, and the incredible guilt results in her "becoming" both of them.

The step-mother's first true appearance in the movie is near the end, when she enters the house and confronts Su-mi in that cool camera-whirlwind-switcheroo. Up until then, Su-mi had been role-playing the step-mom. A split personality thing. When the step-mom talks, it's Su-mi. So when the two are arguing, it's just Su-mi yelling a one-sided conversation. This is why her father pauses while shaving, turns off the water, and listens with a concerned look on his face as Su-mi and the step-mom are having it out in the kitchen. Because he's hearing his daughter speaking both sides of the conversation. If you notice, at the first dinner Su-mi doesn't say anything until her father has left the table. It's the step-mom doing the talking. When he leaves, the step-mom turns to Su-mi and grills her. Seconds later the father returns, the step-mom nervously pauses the conversation, and he sets 2 pills on the table. These are actually for Su-mi, as again, he heard her talking to herself when he had left the room and the pills are presumably anti-psychosis medication. This is also why Su-mi (not to mention Su-yeon) is not at the dinner table when the Uncle and Aunt visit. Because she's role-playing the step-mom, so although it IS actually Su-mi, we the audience see the step-mom.

Su-yeon, on the other hand, is most likely a ghost. I mean, she IS THE ghost in the film, but not just the icky decaying one that the Aunt sees under the sink and the step-mom is confronted by at the end. She's Su-mi's companion while she's in the house. At first I assumed she was another of Su-mi's personalities, and she certainly could be, but I think a crucial point to make is that Su-yeon never speaks when the father around. Granted, she doesn't speak much at all anyway, but when she does it's when she's alone with Su-mi. Since Su-mi has no problem role-playing the step-mom around her father, I'd assume she wouldn't hold back from speaking as her sister as well. But she doesn't, so this leads me to believe that when Su-mi sees Su-yeon, she's a ghost. I ALSO think that Su-yeon doesn't realize she's a ghost, Sixth Sense-style. Which is why, when it's revealed she's dead, not only does she freak out, but the movie image itself starts to freak out, shaking, as if reality were snapping back into place. Su-mi then does not see Su-yeon again for the rest of the film because Su-yeon's denial of her incorporeal existence has been pulled away.

Orrrr, another possibility, Su-Mi simply hallucinates her sister as being there for most of the movie, which is not to say she's a seperate personality but just a non-existent character which Su-Mi's fragmented mind creates to help her cope. However, under the rules the movie seems to set up, I believe Su-Yeon wouldn't be as completely silent as she is around the father if she were just a hallucination. I mean, why would there be a need to? Since Su-Mi is imagining the sister, she'd probably imagine her interacting with the father as well. But as a ghost, she'd have no control over Su-Yeon and wouldn't necessarily notice that she wasn't interacting.

The flashbacks: The sisters' mother was sick, presumably mentally, and the step-mom was a live-in nurse. She took care of the mother and the daughters when the husband was away. She was also having an affair with the father. Whether this was before or after she moved in is unclear. So the daughters know this (evidenced by Su-mi's accusatory "If you're looking for my dad, he's not here" after the step-mom is caught in the hallway after witnessing Su-yeon's accident). The mother presumably knows about the infidelity going on right under her nose, which causes her to commit suicide. She goes to Su-yeon's room, who she probably had the greatest connection to, comforts Su-yeon, then when she falls asleep the mother overdoses on pills then hangs herself in Su-yeon's closet. Su-Yeon wakes up, senses something is wrong, opens the closet door, sees her dead mother, freaks out and attempts to pull her mother's corpse down, which brings the entire closet down on Su-Yeon. The step-mom hears something (while Su-mi does not, which is a crucial point), investigates, sees what happened, freaks out, runs out in a panic, stops halfway and apparently decides to go back and help, only to be stopped by Su-mi, who has come out of her room and immediately goes into attack mode with the step-mom. She hints at her and the father's indiscretions, which upsets the step-mom who tells her that she'd better stop or she'll regret it for the rest of her life. Su-mi keeps going with the venom, and as vengeance the step-mom decides to let Su-yeon die. This IS something Su-mi will regret for the rest of her life, and in fact it's the whole reason for her going insane.

After a stay in a mental institute, the father attempts to adapt her back into society and takes her back to their old summer home. This results in the manifestation of Su-yeon, whose ghost is still "trapped" in the house since her death was an unnatural one. This also results in Su-mi's roleplaying of the step-mom, since she blames herself just as much as she blames the step-mom for Su-yeon's death. This is the reason for the whole scene where the step-mom is shutting Su-yeon in the closet. I don't believe this ever actually happened. Rather, I believe this symbolizes Su-Yeon's death. The closet DID cause Su-Yeon's death, the step-mom refused to "let her out" of the closet (help get her free from underneath). Su-mi blames the step-mom on Su-Yeon's death since she didn't help her, which manifests itself as the step-mom shutting her in the closet. And just as Su-mi didn't hear Su-yeon's cries for help underneath the closet during "the incident", she also doesn't hear her cries during the recreation. I found it odd that Su-mi wouldn't hear such a ruckus, but that's the point. It's not really happening, it's a figment of her imagination, so it's a bit exaggerated to drive home the fact that Su-mi blames herself for not hearing Su-Yeon during The Incident and then blowing off the step-mom who could've prevented Su-Yeon's death.

There is still speculation over whether the mother was long dead when Su-Yeon died, that Su-Yeon saw her mother's ghost in the closet. But this doesn't make sense to me. First, why would the mother manifest herself in the closet and cause the death of her daughter? And why would Su-mi snidely inform the step-mom that her dad was not upstairs when she saw her walking by? The step-mom seemed stunned when Su-mi says this, like she's surprised Su-mi knows about her and the father, which wouldn't really make sense if the step-mom had already been living there.

As for the ghost of the mother which appears during Su-mi's waking nightmare....I believe this is just another of Su-mi's guilt-wracked imaginings, this time as a nightmare. The mother died in the house, so Su-mi's guilt takes on a new twist when she imagines the mother coming for her since (in her mind) she killed her younger daughter. Again, this is not the mother's ghost seeking vengeance. This is Su-mi's warped mind imagining her mother hating her for "killing" Su-Yeon and coming for her. Not that she realizes this at the time.

The phone calls the father makes throughout the movie are all to the actual step-mom, who is staying away from the house in the hopes that it won't complicate things for Su-mi. When he realizes Su-Mi thinks Su-Yeon is still alive, it's too much for him to handle alone. He finally asks for her to come and help take her back to the hospital.

The Uncle and Aunt visit. This one is pure speculation on my part (not that all of this isn't, but I'm reasonably sure of the previous statements....with this one, I'm winging it). The aunt starts to choke and falls to the ground, slapping her hands on the tile as she writhes. This is eerily similar to the way Su-yeon dies (especially the hands smacking the floor as she struggles). By being on the floor and straining her head back as she attempts to breathe, she's able to see Su-Yeon's ghost under the sink. I'm not sure Su-Yeon was causing this since she would have no reason to harm the Aunt, not to mention at this point in the movie (under my theory) she doesn't realize she's a ghost. So I'm chalking it up to simple supernatural occurence (the Aunt experiencing Su-Yeon's death).

The last 1/3 of the movie. After Su-Mi realizes Su-Yeon is dead, her already fragmented reality starts to spiral away from her. She stuffs some of Su-Yeon's dolls in a bag and beats on it, while imagining the step-mom doing the same to Su-Yeon. She imagines the step-mom and her having a big fight, ending in the step-mom dragging her bloodied body down the hallway leaving a trail of blood....but of course, it was her alone doing it all, and when she wakes up on the ground and sees the blood disappear from the floor, that's an indication it was imagined. Same with the statue....she herself lifted it up and smashed it to the ground and fell unconscious amidst the rubble. It didn't even touch her, which again is evidenced by the fact that when her father finds her she is mostly unharmed.


As for the ending...the step-mom's death is presented as a supernatural occurence. The ghost of Su-Yeon wreaks vengeance upon the step-mom. But I don't think this is the case. I believe this is another of Su-mi's imaginings, similar to the Su-Yeon and step-mom fight. Two reasons for this. One is that, if Su-Mi can be assigned any blame, then why wouldn't the ghost be after her too. But more importantly, this all occurs while Su-Mi is in the mental ward for the second time. In fact, right after the step-mom meets her end, the movie cuts to a tear running down Su-Mi's cheek as she lies asleep in bed. This leads me to believe it's Su-Mi coming to terms with the incident, the step-mom's imagined death at the hands of Su-Yeon symbolizing an inner peace Su-Mi has now acquired.

I'd argue that Su-Mi had no real relationship with her mother, that Su-Yeon was the favored sibling, which is why the mother barely plays a part in the movie's happenings. But then again, maybe it was the double loss of both the mother and Su-Yeon which really pushed her over the edge.

So yeahhhhh...that's what I think. A movie like this is obviously open to much interpretation, and I certainly don't claim to have all the answers. But after several views and much deliberation, this is what I've come up with. The only aspect's I'm not really 100% on are what Su-Yeon actually is, the reason for the Aunt's attack, and whether the step-mom is actually killed by Su-Yeon's ghost at the end. The rest I'm pretty confident on. I do wish I could understand the commentary, not to mention the deleted scenes. I'm sure that would shed some light on things.

I'd like to know what the note said that was slipped under the door. I watched it again tonight and came to more or less the same conclusions that you did... with a few exceptions... There was alot that I didn't catch on the first run - the signifigance of the phone calls the father was making for example. I'm all straight on the basics though.

I don't think there was ANY supernatural things going on at all. Su-Mi hallucinated 100% of it all because she was loco. If you'll notice, they show her getting out of the car with her sister in the beginning and in the end, they show the same scene, but the sister isn't there. That indicates the sister was just in her head. I also think that the sister wasn't just in her head - she also played the part of her sister when it suited her. All 3 of them together at dinner or the two sisters in bed or the stepmom and Su-Mi talking to each other - all of it was her playing all parts. That's why in the beginning there were things already done and she was going to do them again.

One thing I found interesting was that she had alot of contempt for the stepmom - so much so that she would even become the stepmother every single time the pills were offered to her, not to mention all the other awful things she did as her stepmother.

I don't think the stepmom died... I didn't see it happen - they just showed some creepy scene and that was that. I don't even know if it actually happened or if someone imagined it. Also strange is the Aunt/Uncle dinner visit. Funny how the stepmom's stories sounded so child-like and made-up... anyway - the dinner visit didn't make sense unless Su-Mi imagined the seizure to break the uncomfortable silence caused by her lame story. She was screaming too loud to be choking and why would she need pills in order to barf? It was just weird.

I'm still wavering about the Truth About Su-Yeon. But one of the things that clinched it for me, the proof that she is haunting the place, is the fact that the Aunt saw her under the sink. And not just during the dinner, but afterwards, on the ride home, she mentioned to her husband that she saw someone. It'd be a bit much too assume that this was also in Su-Mi's mind, considering that this was an omniscient view-point with Su-Mi nowhere around. But yeah, who knows for sure?

Plus, the fact that Su-Yeon stays quiet when the father is around seems more than just coincidence....if she were Su-Mi's imaginings, then there'd be no problem in Su-Mi roleplaying her too. But she never has to, because Su-Yeon's presence in the room is always in the background.

As for the note, I read on some message board that it said something simple like "I'll be back later. Stay inside. Father." So just a note explaining why the dad wasn't around I think.

Again, it's all open for interpretation. We need someone Korean to go through all the extras and clarify some stuff.

how many times are they gonna exploit the asian girl with long hair over her face crawling along the ground in a creepy way towards the camera and/or victim?