Wishing Stairs

Two girls find their friendship ruined by envy and insecurity. When one of them is seriously injured and later dies, the WISHING STAIRS come into play. The story quickly becomes an all-out, supernatural horror fest, complete with a psycho killer, a ghost, and bizarre murders. This final installment in the GHOST SCHOOL TRILOGY is my personal favorite...

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.

Even fans of horror movies are sometimes in the mood for something a little lighter & this fits the bill. It's not gory or intense. The story is good, as is the acting. I've read a lot of comments about the lesbian tone to it, but it's just barely. I didn't see the first two before this one but I might check them out one night when I want something easy to watch. This movie would be perfect for something like a 13 year old girls slumber party or something like that. If there is a lesson to be learned from this movie, more so than be careful what you wish for, it's use conditioner. The main characters have such gorgeous hair it will make you sick!!

The third part of the loosely bound "Yeogo goedam" series is a mixture of the first and the second movie. It takes some suspense and horror elements from the first and best part of the series and the dramatic and romantic fragments of the much weaker second movie. What eventually comes out is a mostly dark, well played and entertaining movie that still lacks of something to ultimately convince. I would say that I missed some really haunting, frightening or intense scenes. I would also say that the third part adds nothing new to the series. Another negative point is that the end is not much surprising and I was expecting something deeper or darker on both an emotional and a suspenseful level.

The main idea of this third strike is quite great. A legend goes that if you climb the twenty eight steps leading up to the women's art school dormitory where this movie takes place, counting each step aloud, and find a twenty ninth, a spirit will appear and grant you a wish. Now, you can imagine how school girls might abuse of this legend and you have a big scenario of jealousy, mobbing, treachery, broken friendships and love stories in mind. Sadly, the movie only scratches the surface of it and basically focuses on three or four personalities. The dynamics between these characters are only of a slight interest as there is only a strong connection between the two main actresses, the one that created evil and the one that lived the evil. This relation is not enough to carry this movie on and make it be more than just an enjoyable and entertaining movie.

It's a good movie to be watched once but I wouldn't give it another try as it didn't really impress, touch or inspire me. I really feel that this movie should have gone further with its intriguing initial idea. This movie could have been more complex, more human and more creepy and should have hit harder. The director and producers really missed a good occasion to push this movie on the same level as the popular first flick but the ultimately failed. The third strike is allover still slightly better than the second one that had gone nowhere. But the third part is even less memorable in its uniqueness as the previous one at some points and overall of an average quality. This movie is entertaining and has a couple of enjoyable drama, suspense and romance moments but the part don't glue and fit together like a puzzle and you can feel many ups and downs of quality throughout the whole movie.

I would only suggest watching this movie to the collectors and true fans of the series, anybody else might be alright just watching the first flick. Nevertheless, I am heading out for the fourth part that got some good critics very soon in the hope that this one equals the first part.

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