| | |  | KOREA | Home » » Wishing Stairs | | | | | | | Description: | | Legend has it, if you climb the 28 stairs leading to the school dormitory and count each step aloud, a 29th step will appear and a spirit will grant you a wish. If your intentions are honorable, your wish can be a blessing of good fortune. But at this high school, where paranoia and jealousy reign supreme, malicious wishes are about to unleash an unspeakable evil. Be careful what you wish for; some wishes were never meant to be granted. | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Ji-hyo Song, Han-byeol Park, An Jo, Ji-Yeon Park, Su-a Hong | | Director:
| Jae-yeon Yun | | Format:
| AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| Korean | | Subtitle:
| English, Spanish | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Tartan Video | | Run Time:
| 97 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| July 19, 2005 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 21 reviews |
| | | | Used and New: | | | |
| All | |
| $2.66+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Acceptable | | | $2.66+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $2.71+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $3.10+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | | | $4.04+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $4.07+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $4.94+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $4.98+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $5.50+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $5.50+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $5.64+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Acceptable | | | $6.00+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $6.09+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $6.09+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $6.35+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $8.49+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $8.50+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | | | $10.00+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | | | $10.09+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | | | $11.14+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | | | $27.87+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Good | | | $55.00+ $4.49 *Shipping | Collectible
- Acceptable | |
| New | |
| $3.10+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | | | $6.09+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $6.09+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $6.35+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $8.50+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | | | $10.00+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | | | $10.09+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | | | $11.14+ $4.49 *Shipping | New | |
| Used | |
| $2.66+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Acceptable | | | $2.66+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $2.71+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $4.04+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $4.07+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $4.94+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $4.98+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $5.50+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $5.50+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $5.64+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Acceptable | | | $6.00+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $8.49+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $27.87+ $4.49 *Shipping | Used
- Good | |
| Collectible | |
| $55.00+ $4.49 *Shipping | Collectible
- Acceptable | |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 21 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 Fox, fox...please grant my wishFeb 13, 2006
By Daniel J. Hamlow
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.
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Changes...confusion...what's happening??Aug 07, 2005
By Mali
I rented this because I really liked the first in this unrelated "series", Whispering Corridors. This 3rd movie has come a long way visually and with budget. It scared the HELL out of me visually at times. Unfortunately it also confused me. I wasn't expecting flashbacks and sequences that you had no way to be sure if they were real or not, and the plot just wasn't strong.
Two friends at a girl's school in Seoul take ballet class in school. It came naturally for So-hee, but Jin-sung has to work very hard to be good and the teacher reminded her. So-hee had been sitting out injured w/ wraps to heal. As things move along, we see that So-hee is an adorable, vibrant personality that does things spontaneously, like sneaking out to a concert or into the school dorm to talk to Jin-sung late at night. One night she says she only does ballet because her mother forces her and she'd rather quit. Then she says that it makes her feel alive. Before she leaves she tells Jin-sung that in 10 years they'll be performing in London, her as Giselle (the lead) and Jin as some other character and leaves. So-hee is also pretty insensitive, clueless, and self-preoccupied. Around this time, the fat, crazy girl in the school with orange hair has been wandering around- being weird. The "wishing stairs" are mentioned and explained in the beginning, and her fascination. One day- she appears to have lost weight, but she still acts and walks awkwardly- she tells Jin-sung what happened. In the meantime, it has been announced that there will be an audition and the best goes to a competition where the winner goes to ballet school in Russia. No one is excited because So-hee takes off her wraps and dances like she was never injured- which inspires gossip. Jin-sung overhears So-hee getting pointers on her dance,etc. -So-hee is so self-centered you really want Jin-sung to win!!
Jin goes to the stais, makes a wish to go to the competition -totally innocent. The next day she breaks a glass in the locker room and switches toe shoes- she comes out ans as Soo-hee dances, her foot starts to bleed badly. Ignoring it, she finishes perfectly and no one mentions it. After that Jin doesn't even want to talk to So-hee who keeps bugging her. Things come to a head on a staircase where Jin tells her she hates her and So-hee, used to getting everything she wants, grabs her. Jin tries to get loose and Soo-hee falls down the stairs. Jin wins the competition in So-hee's place and we see her go to the hospital. So-hee looks fine and is wheeling around in a wheel-chair. Next day- news that she's dead(?!?!?) and everyone is mad at Jin. That's when the crazy girl mourns the loss of her secret idol by asking the stairs to bring her back to her. That's when the hauntings and possessions begin. The scene of So-hee as a dead girl in her costume following Jin and dancing was terrifying! 5 stars to that, but other things were just too confusing and not explained after that. At the beginning and that one point, it IS the movie described on the box, before it shatters into confusion again.
This is the third movie in the Whispering Corriders series.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Stairway to HellJul 30, 2007
By K. LeBlanc
"horror fanatic"
As you've no doubt already read, Wishing Stairs is the third entry in the popular 'Haunted School' series of Korean horror films, beginning with Whispering Corridors and followed by Memento Mori. Whispering Corridors was very well shot and well acted, but the real horror inflicted by the cruel, perverse, and overbearing teacher vastly overshadowed any of the supernatural horrors in it. Memento Mori functioned better as a heart-wrenching drama of the forbidden love between two school girls than as a horror film, which feels sort of tacked-on. Wishing Stairs, while not quite perfect, seems to have finally gotten the mix correct.
According to the film's legend, the 28 stairs to the dormitories are said to be enchanted by the Fox spirit, and if the 29th step appears, the Fox will grant your wish. Of course, the wish never turns out like any of the characters would hope. Enter So-Hee and Jin-Sung, two close friends who take ballet classes together (when they're not skipping school to go to concerts). So-Hee is the prettier of the two, and the more talented, however she is only taking ballet because of her mother's own life failings and doesn't really enjoy it. Jin-Sung is slightly more average-looking, and not as talented as her friend, but her passion for the art is genuine. Of course, this passion causes conflict when an audition comes up and Jin-Sung knows in her heart that she'll be passed over in favor of her more blase' friend, and this causes deep resentment in her.
So imagine her surprise when she sees the much-maligned Hye-Ju, once the school's chubby bulls-eye for cruel pranks, suddenly svelte as a result of the stairs, Jin-Sung implores the Fox to allow her to win the competition. Of course, she wins, but only as a result of So-Hee injuring her foot. After a tussle on an unrelated staircase, resulting in So-Hee's demise, Jin-Sung wins not only the audition but also the ire of her classmates.
Hye-Ju is quite distraught over So-Hee's death, as So-Hee was one of the only girls who was ever nice to her. Also, while the stairs granted her wish to be thin, she still was the same awkward and socially-stunted girl she always was, and as a result still eats to excess. Only now she ends up purging everything she eats as a result of her wish. Her life sucks now, and she begs the Fox to bring her only friend back to her, which obviously doesn't quite go as planned.
It's after this point where things go horribly wrong with the characters and the school, as it seems that the school has become haunted by So-Hee's vengeful spirit, as well as a now-possessed Hye-Ju. But are these hauntings of the supernatural variety, or are they the product of Jin-Sung's guilt and Hye-Ju's now psychotic obsession? The movie never quite explains this, and for this, I'm glad. Ultimately, this is a very tragic tale with believable characters, creepy imagery (loved the shots of the stairs), and an excellent soundtrack. However, some of the scare scenes appear lifted from other films, such as a spectral So-Hee crawling in from the window a la Sadako from Ringu (oddly, it still works, though). Other than its dips into far-too-familiar territory, Wishing Stairs remains an excellent addition to any Asian horror enthusiast's library, and my personal favorite of the series.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Starts off good, anyway.Apr 12, 2007
By Robert P. Beveridge
"xterminal"
Wishing Stairs (Jae-Yeon Yoon, 2003)
To call Wishing Stairs the third movie of the Ghost School trilogy (as many do; the three movies are marketed as a trilogy in most places) is a bit misleading. One doesn't need to see the first two films to make sense of this, and the three were written and directed by entirely different teams, with no commonality between them save that they're all about haunted schools. (Not the same haunted school, mind you.) Actually, it seems calling it a trilogy is no longer accurate either; a fourth film, Moksori, has been released. But that's beside the point.
I liked Wishing Stairs better than Whispering Corridors, but I seem to be in the minority on that. I should say that liking one better than the other is a relative thing; they're both mediocre movies, not scary except for a few jumps here and there, but Wishing Stairs seems to be aspiring less to horror than it is to drama, and that's not a bad thing.
The story concerns two friends, Yun Ji-seong (Ji-hyo Song, now making her name for herself in TV) and Kim So-hee (Han-byeol Park), two friends who attend a competitive dance academy together. The school is known for its long outside staircase; it has twenty-eight steps, but legend has it that a twenty-ninth appears at certain times, and that anyone who ascends the twenty-ninth step is granted a wish. Ji-seong, who's not the most studious person on the planet, finds herself on the twenty-ninth step one night, and wishes to win the competition for a scholarship to a prestigious Russian dance college, a competition in which So-hee is the favorite. If you've read fairy tales, you've got a good idea of what happens next.
When Yoon is examining the relationships between the girls at the school and the first stirrings of discord sowed by Ji-Seong's wish fracture the alliances among the students, she's got a good thing going here. It's a little simplistic, but not overly so for such a complex milieu. This is supposed to be a horror movie, however, and the final half-hour or so descend into your basic survival thriller, with a good deal of running around and screaming, but very little in the way of actual terror.
Not bad, but it's been done before, and better. I'd like to see Yoon tackle a straight drama, because that part of the movie showed great deal of promise. ** ½
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Or Yeogo Goedam 3: Yeowoo Gyedan if you willOct 11, 2006
By Meesha
"I'm A Lonely Angel Stuck On The Slow Path"
Wishing Stairs is definitely the weaker of the so called "trilogy" of movies, despite them having not very much in common, apart from they're all set in a high school. And have a recurring theme of schoolgirl relationships. Apart from that, there's nothing that memorable about Wishing Stairs.
I loved how it was called after a set of 28 stone steps, which if you counted, a 29th step would appear and you could make a wish. But what you don't know is that the wishes can ultimately turn out to be curses. The fat girl wishes to be skinny, so becomes bulimic. A ballerina wants to be better than her friend, so attempts to eliminate the competition. When an artist wishes her art was more lifelike, she becomes her art - when of the most horrific scenes you will see. Look closely. Is this what you get for wishing? Is it like when you do magic, it comes back to you ten-fold? Cos I'm never gonna wish again if this is the case!
But the rest of the storylines set around this seemed a bit of a mess. There were too many storylines thrown into one film. There were two girls who were obviously very close, and then there was a third, who was overweight (but pretty), and I think fancied one of the girls - but I wasn't sure which one. A fair part of the story (the often obsessive relationship between the two girls) is borrowed from Memento Mori, the previous film.
The only problem about Hae-Ju, the overweight girl, is she wears a fat suit in the film, but sometimes she goes from skinny to big again, and then she dyes her hair black which makes it hard to distinguish from the rest of the characters. She was the one memorable character, solely because you felt her anguish.
The thing about Japanese "horrors" (when do you think Hollywood will remake this trilogy?) is they're never really scary. They work on your mind, rather than make you jump out your skin and hide behind the couch. But they succeed that way.
I'd highly recommend each film as a stand alone film, but there was just something about Wishing Stairs - the muddle of storylines - that didn't work for me, and I preferred Memento Mori & Whispering Corridors.
Don't they have cool titles though? And the cover is so unique.
See all 21 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| | |
|
