Wishing Stairs is the third in the South Korean high school horror trilogy, and my personal favourite, with Whispering Corridors and Memento Mori coming 2nd and 3rd. The movie revolves around 28 steps leading up to a high school girl's dormitory. But there's also a legend. "If the 29th step appears, it'll grant your wish. ... If you wish really hard, the fox will listen out of pity." So says Kim Soh-wee to her friend Yoon Jin-Sung. Both are high school students at the Yonghwa Art Institute, a specialized art school. True, the fox may grant a wish, but a backlash in the form of tragedy and terror occur as a result, with the wishing student meeting death. All that's due to the competition and jealousy that flare up at a specialized art school.
Soh-Wee is pretty, friendly, lively, and a kind of leader that other students look up to. She's also generous, as she buys concert tickets for herself and Jin-Sung, ditching school, and also the only one to be nice to Uhm Hae-Ju, a rather porky girl whom everyone else teases. However, Soh-wee is also the prima ballerina at school, and when the 26th Seoul Ballet contest arrives, with only one student allowed to nominate the school, despite the teacher Ms. Muhn's assurances of a fair audition, it's basically an audition in name only. But as Ms. Muhn says, the role of Giselle (in Adolf Adamson's Giselle and Albrecht) requires one to convey a lot of emotion, which is no problem for Soh-Hee.
As for Jin-Sung, she's a bit shy, sort of uptight, isn't that good at ballet, and is clearly overshadowed by her prettier friend. She wants to win just once, and she falls prey to jealousy. She climbs the stairs and guess what she wishes for? For her, the backlash occurs when Soh-Hee, whom she was in a tussle with, commits suicide. Despite winning the competition, Jin-Sung is hated by her peers.
The fat and unpopular Uhm Hae-Ju aspires to be a sculptor, as she even made a replica of the wishing stairs. But her disconnect with the real world prevents her from making friends, and in her loneliness and boredom, she eats. Her trip up the stairs results in dramatic weight loss, but being distraught over Soh-Hee's death reverses her condition. And she's also prey to the nasty Han Yoon-Ji, who's determined to win an art competition with her sculpture.
Comparing the warm friendship Soh-Wee and Jin-Sung had at the beginning to the destruction of that warmth is shattering, as Soh-Wee feels hurt and betrayed by her friend's jealousy, especially when Jin-Sung says she hates her and that she makes her feel miserable. It's almost as if they were a couple, with more feminine Soh-Wee being the romantic and loving wife. She even expresses the wish when they turn 20, to live together in an apartment. What was her wish on the stairs? That she and Jin-Sung would always be together. But alas...
There are particular chapters in this film, beginning when a student goes up the stairs, and ending with the aftermath. Scary moments? There are the brief flashes of Soh-Hee dancing around, but what about when the shower water suddenly turns to blood? And there is a Ringu-inspired scene of a white-robed girl climbing through a window.
As the prettiest Korean actress I've ever seen, Park Han-Byul is the glittering jewel of Wishing Stairs as Soh-Wee. Jo An steals the movie, where she gives a comical touches as Hae-Ju, from the funny sounds she makes to the way she runs or waddles off. But she gets Soh-Hee's facial expressions and footwork down when Hae-Ju is possessed by Soh-Hee.
I note similarities between Wishing Stairs and W.W. Jacobs' short story "The Monkey's Paw," where fate is a theme. In the latter, a father is given a monkey's paw that'll give him three wishes. He wishes for 1) a large sum of money, 2) the return to life of his young son-whose death resulted in the company giving the money-and 3) that everything would be back to normal again. Well, the second and third wishes also are present in Wishing Stairs.
A brilliant cast, tight acting, and superior production values make Wishing Stairs a great, scary, but ultimately tragic story.
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D. Cinderey
One of my favourites.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 3, 2012
JoanneCallaghan.Art
wishing stairs
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 27, 2011
