Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

"Sister, Sister" is a stylish and gothic-tinged tale of ghosts, lies, murder and revenge set on the bayou. The film was directed by Bill Condon ("Gods and Monsters") and marked an early writing credit for Joel Cohen.

The beautiful and genteel Bonnard sisters, Lucy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Charlotte (Judith Ivey), own 'The Willows,' one of those grand dame, antebellum mansions in Louisiana, which they have converted into a bed and breakfast inn after the passing of their parents. The sisters have an outwardly tranquil, if somewhat twisted, symbiotic relationship that has its roots deep in the events of the past.

With the arrival of a new guest, an attractive congressional aide named Matt Routledge (Eric Stoltz), there is an immediate and electric attraction between Matt and Lucy. Lucy is the younger and more emotionally fragile of the sisters--holding the key to the sisters' secretive past. Charlotte's overprotective attitude towards Lucy (which borders on the pathological) ensures Lucy's blunted emotional growth and dependency. As Charlotte tries to insert herself between the lovers, she causes a rift between the sisters that will soon destroy the calm of everyone's lives.

Traditional Zydeco music and a rich film score by Richard Einhorn provides an atmospheric underpinning for the candle lit rooms and beautifully manicured lawns and gazebos. The swamp surrounding the plantation is a fitting metaphor for the duplicity of nearly everyone--with its still black water full of unseen dangers lying just below the surface tension. Nothing in the film is ever quite what it seems to be.

Like the very best ghost stories told around a campfire, "Sister, Sister" relies heavily on atmosphere and mystery--which it has in abundance. The excessive and colorful characters reminded me of those in a Tennessee Williams' play and the talented actors fleshed out their various roles with interest. Everywhere you look in this film there is natural and man-made beauty, and the cinematography is nothing short of spectacular.

It has been many years since I visited the South, but this is the Louisiana of my memory: Beautiful, graceful, secretive and inexorably tied to its past--much like the Bonnard sisters.

He played the killer part well enough to keep me In suspense the whole time.