Whispering Corridors 3: Wishing Stairs Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: Rumor has it that if you climb a certain staircase, counting the 28 steps aloud, then a 29th step will appear and your wish will be granted.

Review: Okay, I take it back, this was better than part 1; I must have been snorting coke and imagining parts from "Memento Mori" mixing with "Wishing Stairs." More or less, every aspect has been improved upon over part 1, and, it goes without saying, "Wishing Stairs" is leaps and bounds beyond part 2. Funnily enough, I noticed "Memento Mori" has the highest rating on IMDb of the five films. Pssshh...it would. Anyway, "Wishing Stairs" brings us an original and creative premise combined with excellent cinematography and a dreary tone. The story can slip into bouts of incoherence, however, it never ceases to engage the audience. Keeping the characters limited, and the plot heavily focused, also helped elevate it over the nonsense with part 2. Likewise, the ending this time around is fitting--though, I would have liked a bigger payoff after an intense climax. I want to add that they still blew a chance to connect this to part 1. I mean, there is even a scene in the first entry where we see a stairwell similar to the one featured in this installment. Ugh.

This time around we have two best friends training to be ballerinas, So-hee and Jin-sung. When So-hee appears to be a shoo-in for a prestigious position at a Russian school, unspoken jealousy and rivalry emerges to pull the girls apart. I have read countless reviews ponder whether or not these two characters were also lesbians similarly to part 2, but I just don't see it. Look, I've seen my fair share of questionable Korean girls in films, but these two simply appear as good friends with absolutely no scenes of romantic tension or any ambiguous looks, dialogue, or interactions. If you want to see them as potential lesbians that's fine, but I think that's just a viewer seeing what they want to see. Moving along...while we see the jealousy growing with Jin-sung, a third character, Hye-ju, serves to introduce the audience to the wishing stairs urban legend: if you climb a particular stairwell, counting each of the 28 steps aloud, then a 29th step will appear and you will be able to have any wish granted. Apparently, as the only fat chick in the school, Hye-ju, tests the stairs and wishes to be thin. I love how no one is shocked that she lost the weight practically overnight! Realizing she stands no chance of beating So-hee, and seeing the power of the wishing stairs firsthand, Jin-sung climbs the stairs and wishes to win. The wish is granted by making So-hee become crippled during an accident involving Jin-sung, however, later, So-hee is driven to suicide as well. With So-hee now completely out of the picture, Jin-sung ends up winning that position with the Russian school.

Taking up the scares a notch, Hye-ju, obsessed with So-hee, wishes her back. Now as a vengeful ghost, So-hee semi-possesses Hye-ju and appears as a phantom to haunt Jin-sung. What works so well is that both So-hee and Jin-sung are likable in their own way. So-hee is an all around sweetheart--really cute too--and Jin-sung's envy is understandable. Jin-sung didn't realize the consequences of her wish, did not intentionally want harm to come to So-hee, and was genuinely regretful for the rest of the film. By the end, when Jin-sung tries to wish So-hee back to being dead and So-hee has her revenge, you feel bad for both of them. Enhancing this resolution were some impressive aspects to the cinematography. The entire picture has this dark and damp coating, establishing a moody tone that matches the characters' emotions. On top of that, there were basic set choices that looked good and added a layer of detail that is appreciated. Finally, I loved the idea behind the ghost's general concept despite the lack of usage. A ghostly ballerina is great, and something such as the shot of her bloody foot dancing through the hall with a piece of glass stuck in it--that works! It's just a shame they didn't further capitalize on everything they had going on here--like they were in a rush to get through the story or something. On the plus side, the pacing is slick for a story that is essentially building up to the ghost's appearance and revenge.

 Actually...she might be one of the cutest ghosts we've seen over the years.

The only major drawbacks tend to surround the Hye-ju character since it felt like the filmmakers weren't fully certain on how to make her relevant to the action. Furthermore, the story does go off the rails a few times as if momentarily dipping into psychological horror rather than the clear depiction of supernatural horror we are dealing with. Nevertheless, and in spite of the shortcomings, this was way better than I remembered; in fact, it was pretty damn good at times. Sure, this isn't exactly going to keep anyone up at night, but the scares were decent enough to get the job done and the ghost's design was somewhat original. The heart of the story is where the fun is at since you have a combination of rivalry, jealousy, and friendship colliding. Throw in an unsettling urban legend, a dab of wish-granting, and you've got a recipe for a solid sequel that easily stands by itself.

Notable Moment: When So-hee appears in that ghostly, ballerina form. A respectable makeup effect coupled with a creepy concept, and, yet, they only used this form for a couple of shots...? Huh? What a waste.

Final Rating: 6.5/10