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.

"If you give your heart, the 29th step will appear and grant your wish."It's one of those "Be Careful What You Wish For" type horror flicks with an invisible 29th step taking the place of the genie's lamp. Overweight Hae-ju climbs the 28 stairs nearby her boarding school hoping to lose the excess fat that has made her quite a fixture for chuckles and ridicule. When she takes that one extra step, it seems her wish has come true when Hae-ju notices such rapid weight-loss in such a short period of time. Kim so-hee is quite a success in her ballerina class and an apparent shoo-in for the special part of Gisele in a major Russian play. She's in love with a class-mate, Jin-sung(the film doesn't just come right out and say it loudly, but you can see her adoration for Jin-sung in nearly every moment they are together)who desperately covets the same part so-hee seems destined to portray. Jealous and obsessed, Jin-sung scales the 28 stairs, eyes closed in concentration, hoping to make that one extra step desiring the role of Gisele over so-hee. When, like Hae-ju, she feels that 29th step under her feet, Jin-sung gains hope that it'll all work out for her behalf. It does, but there are consequences for making such a request..in a tragic set of events, Jin-sung will accidentally push so-hee down a stairway. Kim so-hee's leg is damaged in the process and subsequent grief leads to the young girl to the point of taking a leap out her hospital window. Blamed and hated by the students in her class, Jin-sung gets what she asked for, but it costs her much more than she receives. But, Jin-sung's nightmare merely begins..secretly Hae-ju had a fixated hero-worship for Kim so-hee and takes to the 29 steps in request that the one she deeply cared for would return. In true "monkey's paw" fashion, it's quite possible Kim so-hee just might answer that request, with both Jin-sung and Hae-ju becoming haunted by her spirit.

Wishing Stairs is the least scary of the Yeogo Goedam films so far (I've still to see the fourth however). It's just the same old clichés of 'be careful what you wish for' done in a South Korean girls school. It's like Wishmaster gone Asian with a bit of Grange Hill thrown in for abstract measure.The windy atmosphere is don again, the lesbian love thing is done AGAIN and the old, dusty secret room is done again too. In fact, when I think about it, this movie is nothing more than some rehashed scenes from the first two. It's not boring in any way, but is certainly not scary and not a film I could sit through again.

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.