Ghost School / Whispering Corridor's overview

I have recently watched and review the 5 films that make up the Whispering Corridors/ghost School series of films  and thought that i might also look at the series as a whole.

The series consists of 5 films (at the time or writing), these are:

1 Whispering Corridors

2 memento Mori

3 Wishing Stairs

4 Voice

5 A Blood Pledge

The 5 films come from Korea are separate stories with different characters and can be watched in any order but, they are connected by certain themes and plots;

All the films are are set in an all girls school, it is never said whether it is meant to be the same school but it does look like the same buildings are used in some of the films.  The girls in Whispering Corridors walk past the steps that are used in Wishing Stairs.

There is always at least one ghost but the reason for the hauntings and how the ghost appears differs.

The main protagonist are a group of two or three girls normally with one other who wants to join the group or be friends with one of the other girls.

The narrative of the films focus more on the relationships of the living girls than the ghost.  Even ‘Voice’ which starts by having one of the main characters killed off and trying to work with her friend to find out what happened ends up focusing on the living lead and a new friend.  As part of the focus on the character's relationships  we see that there is always two of the girls who have a close relationship some of whom can been seen to lovers.  These relationships often play a  big part in the focus of the narrative and, even though i can’t think of a part in any of the films where it is shown/stated that any of girls are lovers there are often rumours going around the classes and it is often these rumours that act as a catalyst in the films.  Most of the time the effects of the rumours are bad, they either drive a wedge between the girls or lead to one of them being ostracised from the class or group.  In ‘A Blood Pact’ the rumour is spread about one of the girls being pregnant and even though the rumour turns out not to be true (or at least about the wrong girl) it is still shown to cause grief and problems for the girl.

One thing that stood out to me about the handling of the relationships is that they were done well.  Some of the girls have very close relationships and it would have been very easy to show this with some kind of physical device like kissing or even sex.  Unlike some movie's I don’t think the inclusion of a sex scene would have done these films any damage but the fact that the relationships are shown to be so strong with one is a good thing and even when a relationship does get physical it is always as part of the story and, again nothing is ever shown and only referenced when needed.

The films don’t shy away from things like bullying and abuse and the different films it can take and the feel of these seems to change as the films go one.  In the first two films there are abusive male teachers one of whom has a relationship with one of the girls but the later films have less of this.  I’m not sure if this was something that used to happen and has been phased out as attitudes changed in the real world but it does seem to be something that may have influenced the earlier films.   The abuse of the girls is not solely down to the male teachers.  In ‘A Blood Pledge’ we have one of the girls beaten by her dad because he thinks she is worthless. In ‘Wishing stairs’ one of the things shown is a mother pushing her daughter into something she doesn’t want to do (Ballet) because she never had the chance to do it when she was younger and in ‘Memento Mori’ a friendship is broken up by a teacher because one girl could do better but is being held back because her friend is different.

The films also show bullying, normally caused by the main characters classmates when they see that one of the main cast is different.  normally because of how close two of the girls are but also if one of the girls is seen to be different like in Memento Mori.  In ‘A Blood Pledge’ we also see one girl picking on the others in the group because she is weaker and how the whole pledge is set up just to get rid of one rival.

The ghosts are more than just a your normal horror villains.  They are rounded characters who, in some cases were members of the main group when they were alive.  They differ from ghosts in other movies because they are not just revenge driven.  It’s true that some of them are out for revenge but there are other motivations as well.  The films do not necessarily go for the big scares although the ghosts can be scarey.  The films play on some of the tropes for instance there is a scene in ‘Wishing Stair’ where one of the girls climbs through a window, she is on all fours with her hair over her face, the scene is reminiscent of Sadako coming through the T.V. in ‘The Ring’.  The ghosts intentions are not always evil but their presents causes problems and their methods are not always the normal way.  Some of the behavior of ghosts is explained in ‘Voice’.

The interesting thing about the ghost, especially in the first 3 films is that they are not always necessary as a lot of the ghosts  action  is phycological.  I did read (but not verified) that the ghost in ‘Memento Mori) was never meant to be seen and was only put in because it was felt that people would not like a ghost film with no ghost in it.

The Ghost School films are good but I did have a problem with them and that is that they are not linea.  This is especially true of Memento Mori and Voice.  Memento mori is told via a lot of flashbacks but i found that it was hard to tell when the flashbacks were happening.  The voice is split into 4 days but the days are not shown in order and are also separated by the credits running.

The Whispering Corridor / Ghost school films are a good set of films that tell emotional tales and also feature ghosts.  The stories are well thought out even if a couple of them seem to come across a bit jumbled due to their non linear nature.  The are not played just for scares but, in the context of the film it’s not necessary.  The films don’t go over the top on the gore but again this is not necessary, if there is a need for blood than there is blood.  For the most part the ghost are not monsters they are like a lot of J & K-horror ghost that people (in the west) will have seen, that is pale people with black eyes  like Sadako.

If you are looking for gory, slasher films then the whispering corridor / Ghost school films probably aren't for you although it may be worth giving ‘A Blood Pledge’ a watch. If you are looking for something different with a good story then give them a watch.

Wishing Stairs

Title - Wishing Stairs (Ghost School 3, Whispering Corridors 3)
Language - Korean
Genre - Ghost, horror

Wishing Stairs is the third film in the ghost school.  This time around it focuses on the pupils of a ballet class. The film follows 3 students:

So-Hee, who is the top dancer but who has been pushed into dancing by her mother who is, it is hinted, living through her.  

Jin-Sung is So-Hee’s close friend, possibly her girlfriend, her dancing is not seen as being as good as So-Hee’s but she is more driven.  

Hae-Ju is the class misfit, she is overweight  and clumsy which leads to her being mocked by most of the class, she spends most of her time in the old art room.

The film really starts with So-hee going to the art room where she finds Hae-Ju. The two girls talk and So-Hee is kind to Hae-Ju, this is something Hae-ju is not used to  and she starts to develop a crush on So-Hee.  Hae-Ju starts to become fed up with the insults and wants So-Hee to pay her more attention, desperate she decides to see if the urban legend is true.  The legend states that, if you climb the  old stairs that lead up to the dormitories and you have a strong enough desire in your heart a new step will appear, if you stand on the step it will grant your wish.

After standing on the 29th step Hae-Ju wishes to be thin and, over the next few days she begins to lose weight although her appetite seems to increase.  Whilst this is going on as a side story the main part of the film concentrates on So-Hee and Jin-Sung.  During the class it is announced that there is to be a dance contest where each school can enter students and the winner will be granted a place at a high ranking Russian Ballet school.  The school can only afford to enter one student and so has it’s own competition to see who will be sent altho all the teachers and students know that it will be So-Hee.  So-Hee is not interested in the competition but she is being pushed into it  by the teachers and her mom.

jin-Sung on the other hand wants to win but she is also of the assumption that So-Hee is going to get the prize, this assumption is made worse when she overhears one of the teachers talking to So-Hee and telling her that shes all but won.

After seeing that the Wishing step had worked for Hae-Ju, Jin-Sung use’s it, wishing that she will be the one to go to Russia.  The day of the school competition Jin-Sung puts glass in So-Hee’s shoes but So-Hee still wins the competition.  Jin-Sung and So-Hee get into an argument which ends when So-Hee accidentally gets knocked down a  flight of stairs, injuring her and opening up her pace in the  main competition for Jin-Sung.  Soo-Hee dies in hospital but Jin-Sung is interested in winning the competition to pay much attention, this turns the rest of the class against her as they blame her for So-Hee’s death.

By this time Hae-Ju’s infatuation with So-Hee has reached a high level due to the students still mocking her about the amount she eats. Hae-Ju returns to the   wishing step and asks for So-Hee to be returned to her.  So-Hee’s spirit returns and uses Hae-Ju to help her get back at Jin-Sung.

The main focus of ‘Wishing Step’ is ambition and the effect it has on the people around you.  although it’s only mentioned So-Hee’s life is being pushed in a direction she really doesn’t want to go firstly by her mother who is trying to achieve her life's goals by living through So-hee’s success and then by her teachers who are pushing her towards the competition and the Russian school when So-Hee is not really that interested a point that is pushed forward when she tells Jin-Sung that the thing she wants more than anything is just to be with her.

Jin-Sung is the one with all the ambition, her skill in the dancing may not be quite as good as So-Hee’s but she has the drive.  Her drive is further pushed by the treatment So-Hee gets by the teachers who seem to giver her special treatment and this blinds Jin-Sung to So-Hee’s true feelings both towards the dancing ad to Jin-Sung.  The blindness leads to jealousy which leads to Jin-Sung not only try to cheat by putting glass in So-Hee’s shoes but to also make the wish which resulted in So-Hee’s death.

Hae-Ju’s ambition is  not academic.  She wants to be accepted even if it is only by one person and this is why she becomes fixated on So-Hee once she has been kind to her once.  It is not that there was any fixation or attraction to So-Hee before any of this started  but the one act of kindness played on Hae-Ju’s mind and developed into something a lot stronger.  When everyone believed that Jin-Sung had killed So-Hee to get her place in the competition Hae-Ju saw it as even more of a problem, So-Hee had shown Jin-Sung the attention that Hae-Ju had wanted and had rejected it which had then pushed Hae-Ju over the edge.

It is also not obvious if the step has any actual power.  Hae-Ju does lose wait but we see that she is carrying pills around with her  and her attempts to hide them show that they may be diet pills and it may be these coupled with Hae-Ju being sick after eating that may have led to the weight loss.

Jin-Sung only gets through to the main competition because So-Hee fell down the stairs and she got the place in Russia because she is a good dancer, So-Hee fell down the stairs as an accident brought on by Jin-Sung’s jealousy and all of this would probably have happened even if Jin-Sung had not made the wish.

this leaves the ghost, So-Hee’s ghost was around before Hae-Ju made the wish, we know this because she visited Jin-Sung the night she died.  For most of the ghost’s interaction with Hae-Ju we don’t see So-Hee and when we do only Hae-Ju sees it.  what we do see is the ghost in the mirror talking Hae-Ju into making herself look more like So-Hee (a process that may already have started when Hae-Ju had started to lose weight) and then we see Hae-Ju switch between being Hae-Ju and So-Hee.  This could be down to either So-Hee possessing Hae-Ju which is what Hae-Ju believes or it could be that Hae-Ju is having a break down.  Whatever the case it is evident that So-Hee is still not interested in Hae-Ju as her actions are all directed at getting Jin-Sung to stay with her.

Out of the three ‘ghost School’ films that gone so far Wishing Stairs is the one that most (western) people would recognize as a ghost film, whispering corridor has more of a slasher feel to it and Memento Mori is more of a psychological film. the film plays on this fact most people who see it will know it’s a ghost film and may be waiting for the jumps.  In one scene So-Hee climbs in through Jin-Sungs window unexpectedly and the set shows her as many J-Horror ghosts are shown, only to see that So-Hee is alive and well.  This scene is mimicked later in the film when So- Hee is dead.

Wishing Stairs, like the other films in the series takes it’s time into building up to the ghost and the horror, spending a lot of time on  developing the characters and, like the previous two films it’s worth staying with as it seems to be the best so far.  It does not have the confusion of Memento Mori and is more of a ghost film than whispering corridor.