Country:
South Korea
Director:
Park Ki-hyeoung (Acacia)
Starring:
Kim Gyu-ri (Bunshinsaba, Nightmare) as Lim Ji-oh
Choi Se-yeon as Young Jai-yi
Yun Ji-hye as Kim Jung-sook
Lee Mi-yeon (Love Exposure) as Hur Eun-young
Hello, and welcome to another edition of asian horror reviews ^^. I figured, since I did a Japanese film last time, I'd do a Korean film next; and what better film to do, than the one that basically solidified how Korean horror films are today. So, without further a due, here is my review of the 1998 Korean psychological horror, Whispering Corridors.
Whispering Corridors starts out with tension as we follow the female teacher of an all girl's school who is at the school the night before the first day of a new school year. The teacher, Ms. Park (also known as the Old Fox due to her rotten behavior towards the students), seems to have made a connection about a long dead student named Jin-ju. Calling her fellow teacher, and her passed student, Hur Eun-young, all she has time to say is "Jin-ju is definitely dead...but she's still here!..." before the phone connection is lost. After the call ends, it becomes apparent that Ms. Park is not alone in the room; the scene ends with her being killed by someone (or something), and dragged off.
Pictured above: Ms. Park on the phone with Hur Eun-young.
The mood and the scene completely changes to the next day, where we become introduced to the two main characters; there is the very shy, but kind, outsider Young Jae-yi, then there is the very artistic Lim Ji-oh. As they are the two class clerks of their senior class, they're there much earlier than most of the other students. Now, I say most because, upon them walking into their classroom to get cleaning supplies, they see a fellow student, Kim Jung-sook, studying already.
Pictured above: Ji-oh (left) and Jae-yi (right).
Not saying a word to Jung-sook, Ji-oh and Jae-yi gather their supplies then leave. While going on their way to the outside to begin their duties, Jae-yi realizes she forgot a rag and runs inside. Ji-oh tells her to hurry and continues on her way outside to fill the bucket of water to mop. But, as she reaches the outside faucet, she sees something out of the corner of her eye. As she slowly turns, she realizes that there, hanging from the side of a balcony, is the bloody body of Ms. Park. Two more random students see it and scream, and as Jae-yi comes back, Ji-oh turns her away and covers her eyes so she doesn't see the scene. As the camera moves out, we see that Jung-sook is also staring at the body of Ms. Park from the classroom window; her face shows no emotion whatsoever.
A male teacher, named Mr. Oh (also known as Mad Dog because, as the movie progresses...you'll notice he's quite the psycho), has assembled all of Ms. Park's students. Since no one knows what's happened to her, the school has plainly just written it off as a suicide; Mr. Oh tells the students that it's up to them to not spread rumors or gossip. He says it's to protect the reputation of Ms. Park, but it seems to be more of a cover up type of thing so that authorites don't get involved (pretty much all forms of abuse are present at this school, there's even hinted sexual harassment).
However, since this is an all girl's high school, there is undoubtedly rumors circulating about Ms. Park's death. The teacher's do their best to silence them, but there's no avail. Also, a new female teacher, Ms. Hur (the same friend and student that Ms. Park called right before her death) has arrived at the school to take Ms. Park's place. Ms. Hur feels a little 'odd' being back in school and not being a student. As she continues going to work day by day, memories flood back into her mind of her time in high school with her best friend, Jin-ju, before Jin-ju killed herself. Remembering Ms. Park's last words to her on the phone, Ms. Hur can't shake the feeling of Jin-ju still being there, somewhere. Trying to get in touch with Jin-ju's family, Mr. Oh suggests that Ms. Hur goes to the locked up building near the school; the building used to be real classrooms, until Jin-ju died in one of the rooms. Mr. Oh goes on and tells Ms. Hur that Jin-ju's ghost supposedly haunts the place, so maybe she can her in person. (To me, it seems like Mr. Oh's attitude is joking, but it becomes apparent that Ms. Hur is actually taking it really seriously).
Pictured above: Ms. Hur, full name Hur Eun-young.
Things get worse in the school as Ji-oh, strangely inspired by the image of Ms. Park's hanging body, paints a picture of the teacher's dead expression. Jae-yi asks to see her painting, and after seeing it (as well as after Ji-oh elaborates on WHY she'd paint something so 'scary'), Jae-yi, also being a bit of an artist, agrees to teach Ji-oh more about painting (Ji-oh is more of a conservative artist, believing she has no talent for it). However, Mr. Oh ends up finding Ji-oh's painting, and abuses her before telling her she's banned from the art room. Jae-yi talks to Ji-oh about continuing art lessons possibly in the old abandoned classrooms (ironically, the same ones where Jin-ju committed suicide). They actually agree on it, sharing it with another classmate, who is the highest ranking student in their senior class (who's name escapes me >.>.)
Pictured above: Ji-oh's painting of Ms. Park's hanging corpse.
However, as Ji-oh continues to use the classrooms, and Ms. Hur dives deep into the mystery of what Ms. Park meant with her last words, more deaths start to arise from the school of teachers and students alike. The mystery becomes who was this Jin-ju? Why did she die? How is everything connected? AND how is the smartest girl in the senior class connected to the mysterious Jung-sook?
Pictured above: Jung-sook (her stare can look into your soul >.>.)
This movie had so many twists and turns I HAD to keep watching or else I'd get lost. That's not a bad thing though; it actually is a very, very enjoyable film to watch, and the plot twists will leave you stunned. The ending is very shocking, but the scene leading up to it may have you in tears.
Whispering Corridors is a very interesting part of Korean Cinema history; it was part of the explosions after the military dictatorship in South Korea ended, following the liberalization of censorship. This movie impacted the education system heavily by exposing just what kind of abuse can go on in these schools and how much pressure you underwent to conform at school.
The acting was pretty good, nothing really to complain about, but really the only acting job that ultimately stuck out to me was Yun Ji-hye (who played Jung-sook). I truly felt just how tormented this character was through her acting; that and her stare...it's just so...piercing. The other actors and actresses did a pretty good job at making their characters believable as well.
There aren't much in the way of special effects in this movie (I personally don't recall any at all), but this movie truly proves that you don't need special effects to make a very good piece of cinema. This movie also didn't contain much in they way of gore at all; there is a few scenes with some blood and stabbing going on, but nothing like some others I've seen.
Ultimately, what you need to remember, is that this is, like most Korean horror movies, is a PSYCHOLOGICAL horror film. Which means, you need to think about things before you just assume something. This is nowhere near as confusing as A Tale Of Two Sisters, mind you, but it still has it's moments where you'll be saying "Say what?" Also, since it's this type of horror, most will say it runs kind of slow. So if psychological horror/mystery really isn't your thing, then Korean horror may not be the kind for you.
Whispering Corridors has four direct sequels, making five in all. The sequels are: Memento Mori, Wishing Stairs, Voice (AKA Voice Letter or Ghost Voice), and A Blood Pledge: Broken Promise (AKA Suicide Pact). Though these are confirmed sequels, all the story lines, characters, and everything else are unrelated to each other; the only thing they have in common is that the stories take place in all-girls schools, and the hauntings usually have to do with the ghost of a student (whether it be previous or current students).
The other four movies in the series.
Now, as I said in the introduction, this movie was made in 1998, and it certainly shows. The production values really aren't the best, so if you're one of those people who really "need" good production values and all that, you may have something to complain about. Other than that, there isn't really much to complain about for me in this film.
The DVD release of Whispering Corridors was distributed by Tartan Asia Extreme, which is a really well known company for Asian DVD releases. The DVD doesn't have much in the way of extras; pretty much all it has is:
-Tartan Asia Extreme New Releases
-English and Spanish Subtitles
-Photo Gallery
So you special features lovers may be disappointed a little by this DVD, but at least it was brought over, right?
Over all, I'd give this movie an 7/10 probably. I know I may get yelled at for this, but this isn't my favorite in the Whispering Corridors series, but it's still pretty high up there. I highly suggest watching this if you're just barely getting into the Asian horror genre, and I'll be reviewing others that you should probably check out later on as well.
Thank you for reading yet another one of my Asian horror reviews. Please comment and suscribe, I'll be releasing more soon. If you have any requests just let me know!
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