Yeogo goedam 3: Yeowoo gyedan

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!!

This film was a little frustrating in that it's very, very well done in terms of writing, acting, production design and cinematography, but is paced far too slow to manage any real "fright factor" as a horror/ghost story.

I'm well aware that Asian horror films tend to run at a much slower pace than American horror as a general rule, but in this case that "like watching paint dry" pace leaves what could have been a good, maybe even classic film as just "a well-done suspense drama with some light supernatural overtones." With an acceleration in pacing at roughly midway through the film, and the addition - there was a multitude of opportunities for it - of significantly more supernatural content, this would have been a rip-snorter of a horror film that could have made some real tracks in the American market both financially and critically.

Even though as a guy it takes an effort to warm up to the setting of a girls' ballet school, the story is very strong - even excellent - and makes the film worthwhile independently of the horror/supernatural factor, as a study of jealousy vs. self-confidence, subterfuge vs. honest effort, and irrationality vs. reason.

The one weakness I had a little trouble with was the mentally-handicapped student, Hae-Ju, who plays a pivotal role in the story - the fact that she could be present at the school at all. The idea of of a mentally handicapped student being enrolled in an elite and highly-competitive ballet school isn't plausible, unless academic admissions customs in Korea are significantly different than in America. Add to that the fact that she's quite overweight for a ballet student, to the point where, again, it's not plausible that she'd be accepted into such a school.

Those implausibility factors are puzzling in that they're unnecessary. Hae-Ju would have been more believable and a stronger character if she had been not mentally handicapped but simply unpopular, "nerdy," neurotic, or a combination of these, then had become progressively messed-up mentally as the tragic events and malicious treatment by her peers began to weigh on her. (There's some additional confusion that comes into play in the fact that Hae-Ju's character sheds, then regains weight fairly rapidly a couple of times as well as changes her hair color - again as intentional parts of the story - which when combined with scenes in dim lighting make it a little confusing at times to distinguish her from other students.)

Anyway, implausibilities aside, Hae-Ju makes the innocent wish for the dead girl she admired, So-Hee, to be returned to her, and the way the writers make that role play out is masterful: You're not really sure - and the film leaves it intentionally ambiguous - whether Hae-Ju has just completely flipped out and *thinks* she's So-Hee, or whether the spirit of So-Hee has actually merged with Hae-Ju, using her as her malevolent tool. In the hands of a lesser director that ambiguity would have introduced a mess of confusion to the plot, but in this case it not only avoids that trap but adds a nice depth of complexity both to the two characters and to the story as a whole.

It's perhaps unfair or apples-and-oranges illogical to compare "Wishing Stairs" to an American-style supernatural thriller like "Sixth Sense," "Stir of Echoes" or "The Shining," but you can't escape the feeling while watching it that it would have vastly benefited from a marked intensification of pacing and supernatural content as the film progressed. There are some very well-done scenes, like where Jin-Sung finally is confronted by So-Hee's ghost in her dorm room, then in her dorm room closet, that nevertheless fall a little flat - they play out so slowly that the audience has ample time not only to guess what's likely to happen next, but to run through memories of similar scenes from other films and guess at a number of possible outcomes. If the idea is to scare the wits out of people, the scares should be paced rapidly (and artfully) enough to where the audience has no time to anticipate them, much less to mull over other possibilities. Because nearly all of the horror aspect of the film is so muted by the pacing, "Wishing Stairs" could be more accurately classified as "a suspense drama with supernatural overtones," rather than an out-and-out horror film.

Bottom Line: On balance "Wishing Stairs" is a well-made movie that's definitely worth the trip, but disappointing for fans of solid, squirm-in-your-seat fright fests.

Yeogo goedam 3 (Wishing Stairs) is a sequel in name only. Other than the setting of the film (an all-girl's school in Korea), it has very little to do with the other films in the series. In this one, there is a staircase on the school grounds that the students believe is magical. The staircase has 28 steps. When you reach the top, if a 29th step appears, it will grant your wish. When one of the girls is killed in a fall, another of the girls uses the magical staircase to wish her friend back to life. But she gets more than she bargained for.

As with the other films in the series, Wishing Stairs is very well made. The directors of this film are able to get some very nice performances out of the mostly unknown and unexperienced cast. Technically the film is very sound with some nice cinematography as the highlight. The special effects are well done and help create some very creepy moments. Overall, it's a nice installment to the series.

But, I haven't rated Wishing Stairs as high as I did the previous two films. Why? It's a little too formalistic and unoriginal. One of the elements that made Wishing Corridors and Memento Mori memorable is the subtle use of horror. In contrast, the horror is more obvious in Wishing Stairs. At times it seems like one set piece after the next with nothing of substance pushing the plot along. As for unoriginal, if you've seen Ringu, you've seen one of the big moments in this movie. Wishing Stairs has a very pale girl with long black hair crawling in jerky motions through a window. Sound familiar?

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.

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...