Derek Childs (totalovrdose) So-hee (Han-byeol Park) is a beautiful and naturally gifted prima ballerina at a South Korean all girls high school, dedicated to the arts, who isn't only sociable and popular, but the envy of many other students, including the chubby and pathetic Eom Hye-ju (An Jo). So-hee's closest friend Jin-seong (Ji-hyo Song) however, is unable to return her compassion. Lacking the same degree of talent, Jin-seong's jealousy and competitive attitude lead her to the wishing stairs, which, as legend has it, will grant those who ascend them, while simultaneously counting, the opportunity to ask for their most heartfelt desire, an unidentifiable spirit known as the Fox providing them their wish if their dedication proves satisfactory.Dire ramifications await those who use the wishing stairs, with even the best intentioned dreams, once realized, having nightmarish results. Much like the previous installments, Wishing Stairs, the third film in the Whispering Corridors franchise, is a standalone feature, concerning friendship, loyalty, betrayal, jealousy, love, and implied homosexuality. The feature evokes emotions found in the film's predecessor's, including a deep sadness, and despite having a number of good jump scares, the horror exhibited in the feature is often efficaciously conveyed through images, tone and sound.Similar sounds and scores occur over the duration of the film which prepare audiences for an impending fright, the use of these cinematic tactics been less of a warning, and rather incites dread as the film progresses. The sight of ghosts in this film is far more disturbing than in previous installments, as the once beautiful atmosphere, represented through both the characters and the environment, becomes nefariously dark.The acting in this film is especially fantastic, and director Jae-yeon Yun's vision for the project accentuates the ambiance of a once neutral location, into a place of unnerving fear. Unlike its predecessors, the characters of Wishing Stairs are not always likable, and can in fact be unsympathetic and repulsive as their actions lead them farther from the audience's appreciation. This is, in part, exaggerated by the violence, which becomes more pronounced as the feature progresses, although never does the film fall into the trap of relying too heavily on this particular content.Where the last films left the viewer thinking long after the credits were over, Wishing Stairs does not require the same level of attention, exchanging the intellectual conversations that might have occurred after the original features with a sense of ongoing despair. Hardly a nice film, Wishing Stairs reveals how some things are not supposed to be, while some sacrifices are just too great.If you wish, you can procure this film, Whispering Corridors and Memento Mori in the Ghost School Trilogy, a collection that will prove to be a worthwhile investment.

refresh daemon This film is the third in the girl's high school ghost stories film series from Corea, following Whispering Corridors and Memento Mori. All the films share two common traits: the setting is an all girl's school and there is some sort of supernatural terror visiting the girls, but as far as I can tell, the stories each tries to tell are different.Wishing Stairs is built around the concept of a set of stairs leading to a dormitory that can grant a student's wishes, should they desire it enough. Of course, since this is a horror movie, the stairs do grant the wish, but not exactly in the way that the wishing students expect. I do like the themes of competition and friendship present in this film, but I think the whole breaks down, especially in the weak third act.I suppose I should start with some of the problems--although the actress does a decent job with the role, the "fat girl" in the story is drawn a little too off-kilter for my taste. I would've rather had her be either a little kooky or just fat and have to deal with just one of the problems, but when compounded, the character comes across as an exaggeration, a caricature, rather than a well developed character and the fat suit being so obvious doesn't help. The themes of competition and how it affects friendship are actually really strong and the story had a lot of potential, but again, the third act blows it all away.As the competition between two close friends boils to a head, one of them makes a wish that they will soon regret. Some of the best points of this film show how much backstabbing can go on in such an environment and how breakout stars are often hated. It's actually a tragic story that hits a real high point in the middle of the film. Unfortunately, guilt isn't given enough time to be explored from then on and the drama between the students starts to take a back seat to the spooky goings-on. And the fat kid gets crazier.Towards the end of the film, humongous leaps in logic take place and the story seems to progress arbitrarily, without much sense or reason. I think what frustrated me most though was that the story had real potential to become an interesting exploration of delusion and the lengths we would go to get everything we want (via the main character) and even closer to the end, I was still hoping that all the spooky goings-on were the result of a guilty conscience. You could still read it that way, but I feel like this film is just way too attached to generic conventions to really break out like that.First-time director and leads do a decent enough job, given the material. The film has high technical proficiency, so it won't be ugly to look at. It's just that the story was such a let down from the potential that it had. Ultimately, the film is had a lot of potential and the first two-thirds of the film are pretty decent. The weak third act breaks down the potential, making this just another ghost story. It's okay--if you love the sub-genre, you might enjoy this for what it is, but it's sort of a let down, considering the other films in the series. 6/10.

Claudio Carvalho In a Korean boarding school, there is a legend about its twenty-eight steps stairway: when the twentieth-ninth step appears, the fox will grant a wish to the climber. The lesbian ballet student Kim So-hee (Han-byeol Park) is in deep love with her passive girlfriend and also ballet student Yoon Jin-sung (Ji-hyo Song). When there is a competition for a single spot in a famous ballet school in Russia, the envious Jin-sung finds the twentieth-ninth step and asks to beat the favorite So-hee. However, there is a price to pay for the wish unknown to Jin-sung and the consequence is the accidental death of So-hee. Meanwhile, the fat student Eon Hae-ju (An jo), who is despised and tormented by her classmate Han Yoon-ji (Ji-Yeon Park), misses So-hee. When she also finds the mysterious step, she wishes the return of So-hee with tragic consequences."Wishing Stairs" is a creepy low-paced ghost story, where the climax with scary sequences is only reached in the end. The story builds the mystery developing four characters and there is a subtle insinuation, at least in the Western mind, that So-hee is lesbian, Jin-sung is her passive love and the complex Hae-ju worships So-hee, forming a never clear triangle of love. In the end, I liked this refreshing horror movie, that slightly recalls the concepts of "Wishmaster" (make a wish but to the stairs), "Carrie" (with the bad treatment spent by the schoolmates) and "Pet Sematary" (with the return of So-hee from the world of the dead), but in a totally different environment and situation. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): Not Available

Zaphod B. Goode This film was a little frustrating in that it's very, very well done in terms of writing, acting, production design and cinematography, but is paced far too slow to manage any real "fright factor" as a horror/ghost story.I'm well aware that Asian horror films tend to run at a much slower pace than American horror as a general rule, but in this case that "like watching paint dry" pace leaves what could have been a good, maybe even classic film as just "a well-done suspense drama with some light supernatural overtones." With an acceleration in pacing at roughly midway through the film, and the addition - there was a multitude of opportunities for it - of significantly more supernatural content, this would have been a rip-snorter of a horror film that could have made some real tracks in the American market both financially and critically.Even though as a guy it takes an effort to warm up to the setting of a girls' ballet school, the story is very strong - even excellent - and makes the film worthwhile independently of the horror/supernatural factor, as a study of jealousy vs. self-confidence, subterfuge vs. honest effort, and irrationality vs. reason.The one weakness I had a little trouble with was the mentally-handicapped student, Hae-Ju, who plays a pivotal role in the story - the fact that she could be present at the school at all. The idea of of a mentally handicapped student being enrolled in an elite and highly-competitive ballet school isn't plausible, unless academic admissions customs in Korea are significantly different than in America. Add to that the fact that she's quite overweight for a ballet student, to the point where, again, it's not plausible that she'd be accepted into such a school. Those implausibility factors are puzzling in that they're unnecessary. Hae-Ju would have been more believable and a stronger character if she had been not mentally handicapped but simply unpopular, "nerdy," neurotic, or a combination of these, then had become progressively messed-up mentally as the tragic events and malicious treatment by her peers began to weigh on her. (There's some additional confusion that comes into play in the fact that Hae-Ju's character sheds, then regains weight fairly rapidly a couple of times as well as changes her hair color - again as intentional parts of the story - which when combined with scenes in dim lighting make it a little confusing at times to distinguish her from other students.)Anyway, implausibilities aside, Hae-Ju makes the innocent wish for the dead girl she admired, So-Hee, to be returned to her, and the way the writers make that role play out is masterful: You're not really sure - and the film leaves it intentionally ambiguous - whether Hae-Ju has just completely flipped out and *thinks* she's So-Hee, or whether the spirit of So-Hee has actually merged with Hae-Ju, using her as her malevolent tool. In the hands of a lesser director that ambiguity would have introduced a mess of confusion to the plot, but in this case it not only avoids that trap but adds a nice depth of complexity both to the two characters and to the story as a whole.It's perhaps unfair or apples-and-oranges illogical to compare "Wishing Stairs" to an American-style supernatural thriller like "Sixth Sense," "Stir of Echoes" or "The Shining," but you can't escape the feeling while watching it that it would have vastly benefited from a marked intensification of pacing and supernatural content as the film progressed. There are some very well-done scenes, like where Jin-Sung finally is confronted by So-Hee's ghost in her dorm room, then in her dorm room closet, that nevertheless fall a little flat - they play out so slowly that the audience has ample time not only to guess what's likely to happen next, but to run through memories of similar scenes from other films and guess at a number of possible outcomes. If the idea is to scare the wits out of people, the scares should be paced rapidly (and artfully) enough to where the audience has no time to anticipate them, much less to mull over other possibilities. Because nearly all of the horror aspect of the film is so muted by the pacing, "Wishing Stairs" could be more accurately classified as "a suspense drama with supernatural overtones," rather than an out-and-out horror film.Bottom Line: On balance "Wishing Stairs" is a well-made movie that's definitely worth the trip, but disappointing for fans of solid, squirm-in-your-seat fright fests.