Whispering Corridors 4: Voice

The image of a lone student, traveling the inescapable corridors of a school after dark is quite haunting, her silhouette visible through the windows of the campus, as an unidentifiable force toys with the school's lighting. Is the young lady to blame, or is there something more sinister at work? This is just one scene from Voice, the fourth film in the Whispering Corridors franchise, where a spooky and disturbing ambiance is accompanied by not only visual terror, but sound, that proves to be as equally fear provoking. Despite darkness often becoming clichéd and annoying in some horror films to halter the audience from seeing the lead antagonist, here, the tactic is effectively used, the childhood fear of the dark returning to haunt adult audiences and characters alike, the impressive use of effects adding to the terror, making Voice the most visually stunning of this particular horror franchise.

The cover art on the American release of Voice, depicts a hand violently tearing its way out from a woman's mouth. Although there are more than a couple scenes with blood, much like its predecessors, this stand alone horror film does not depend on graphic violence to shock its audience. Additionally, much like the previous features, themes concerning friendship, love and jealousy are prominent, and like Memento Mori and Wishing Stairs, the story is also equipped with lesbianism.

Characters are intellectually portrayed, with emotional connections between characters and the audience been effectively constructed to build a poignant storyline. This is heightened, again, in contrast with Memento Mori, where the viewer is provided with a beautiful scene, which is later revealed to be sad or gruesome once it's put in perspective. Initially it can be difficult to ascertain where these flashbacks fit within the story, originally feeling like a continuation of the central plot.

Seon-min's (Ji-hye Seo) best friend Young-eon (Ok-Bin Kim), is the most talented singer in an all girl's high school, her voice delightfully serenading viewer's ears. One night, she stays behind after dark inside the confine's of the music room to work on her vocal capabilities, only to be murdered by an unrecognizable assailant. Her body is no where to be found the following morning, many suspecting her to simply be absent, though Seon-min thinks otherwise, her thoughts eventually been confirmed.

Unlike other ghost stories where specters can be viewed physically, only Young-eon's auditory capabilities remain, and though the audience can clearly see her character standing beside her best friend, Seon-min is only capable of hearing her voice. This uniquely entertaining prospect is accompanied by the focus on the ghost, Young-eon's perspective after becoming an apparition been as equally focused upon as the other central characters. Unable to leave the grounds of the high school, we discover that she is as equally vulnerable to fear in her current state, as she was when alive, this vulnerability been transferred onto the audience.

As the story continues, the mystery behind Young-eon's death is unraveled, as Seon-min, alongside fellow student Cho-ah (Ye-ryeon Cha) investigate who killed her from the list of suspects, and why. By the end of the feature, some questions remain unanswered, but unlike other Whispering Corridors films, this doesn't always feel like a deliberate tactic, as much as it does an overlooked plot point. Sometimes shocking, sometimes surprising, and often unpredictable, Voice dares to ask its viewers, even in death, do we truly know who we are?

Thing that I can appreciate about this movie series is that it keeps reinventing itself with each movie. Even though the main premise always remains the same, they still manage to come up with new fresh takes on it.

This movie is perhaps the most original one of its series, when it comes down to its approach but at the same time I also really wouldn't want to call it the best one of the its series.

The thing that makes this movie original is its approach. Instead of being a typical ghost story, it tries to be a more emotionally involving one, by actually telling large part of the story from the viewpoint of an actual ghost. So people who are expecting an horror, with all of the thrills and scares that go along with this, will perhaps feel cheated and disappointed by this movie but those who want something 'different' for a change will surely be able to appreciate this.

But the movie itself is only half good really. So yes, it has an original approach to its genre but it is only able to do so much with it. The movie runs out of steam about halfway through and when the movie picks up pace again the story suddenly becomes needlessly complicated and hard to follow, which is also a bit in contrast with the rest of the movie.

Other than that this movie is one fine and originally done genre movie, that never becomes truly bad but in the end also never really stands out in any way, despite its original approach.

6/10

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I uses IMDb a lot to check on movies. But I've never bothered to register and leave any comments. This is my first time leaving a comment for a movie, because I think this movie is worth to recommend to those who is bored of lame Asian horror movies.

Although I'm not very old, but I've seen really a lot of horror movies from many countries. And this one is the best I've ever seen (only personal opinion though).

From the beginning till the end there isn't one disgusting scene or sudden appearing to just visually scare people. From my point of view, i think it's good really, as long as it can still scare me (and it did).

Although a few points in the movie is not very logical (maybe I'm a picky person, I do care logic a lot even when I watch entertaining horror movies), but still i think it's very success as a horror movie with class.

One more thing I still have to mention is the music. It's the best part of the movie, i think. I'm really looking forward to the release of its OST.

"Voice" tells the story of Young-uhn,who one day wakes up dead.Her ghost haunts her high-school ground.Only her best friend,a school DJ named Seon-min can hear her voice.Aided by the school's resident psychic girl,Seon-min attempts to uncover the terrifying mystery behind her friend's death.The fourth installment of "Whispering Corridors" series is an interesting horror film.The film seriously lacks scares,but it more than makes up for it with relying on suspense,mystery and drama.The acting is great,the piano score is absolutely brilliant and the cinematography is flawless."Voice" is basically just a sad and solemn story that attempts to show what a spirit might feel in the first days after its body has died.Give it a look.8 out of 10.

I've seen every Whispering Corridor series. Since I'm a middle school girl in Korea, films with school as its background have always appealed to me. And this is why people keep watching Whispering Corridor series and expecting something different to the other horror films from them, even though the series are going worse and worse(I don't think so but most people think that way).

Anyway, I've never seen a film like this which got such terrible scores from every single review web site. Yet I like this film(maybe I've got such a weird taste). This film is not scary, really. I didn't screamed at all watching this film though I'm kind of person who get easily surprised... Is there anyone watched the second Whispering Corridor? This fourth one resembles the second one. Not really scary, but emotionally touching, and a bit chilly.

If you watch this film as a horror film, you'll probably long to give it one point or less than that. However if you just watch this film without minding the genre, you'll give at least seven point to it. Acting is just 'okay' and this is why it doesn't seem as good as the second Whispering Corridor even though it has as great plot as the second one. In a film which contains many emotional parts like this acting is a really significant thing but this film is lacking of it. Also graphic is a bit clumsy. I don't know whether or not the director intended it to be clumsy, but it is disturbingly awkward.

It's like a drama/detective stuff rather than horror. If you want to enjoy feeling of being chilled and letting your stress fly away by screaming, I really don't want to recommend it. If you like detective things, I highly recommend it to you.