Sister, Sister

(Bill Condon, USA, 1987)

Director Bill Condon's film is a middling attempt to upgrade the slasher formula done to death in the wake of Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980) by crossing it with elements of American Gothic – Southern swamps, a decrepit old mansion, hot-house sexual repression, and a dominance-submission relationship between two sisters (Judith Ivey and Jennifer Jason Leigh).

Cinephiles and horror buffs will recall a previous era of the genre, especially Clint Eastwood's The Beguiled (1971).

Its mildly stylised camera angles, disquietingly dreamy music and eccentric characters anticipate David Lynch's TV series Twin Peaks.

MORE Condon: Gods and Monsters

© Adrian Martin December 1992