Wishing Stairs
Jul. 27th, 2006 12:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sailorhathorFull title of this movie: Whispering Corridors 3: Wishing Stairs. Oooh, Whispering Corridors, cool freakin phrase.
First off, yeah, the movie is very slow, and takes a long time to get to anything scary. I think that this is because the movie isn't exactly a horror movie, but more of a supernatural drama.
"Wishing Stairs" is about a girls' school for artistic studies, like art, dance, and music. There's a set of stairs outside the girls' dormitory that has 28 steps. The legend says that if you climb the stairs, counting each step out loud, and then close your eyes and step up, counting "twenty-nine," a 29th step will appear. Then you're supposed to make a wish to an enchanted fox (Asian thing; foxes are all magic and sacred in Japan too). The fox will grant your wish.
That sets the stage for a few different girls who are focused on in the movie. So-hie is the star ballerina who has been pressured into her perfection by her mother, Ji-seong is her best friend who is secretly REALLY jealous of her, and Hye-ju is an overweight girl really good at art who hero worships So-hie. Basics are that Ji-seong makes a wish to go to the ballerina competition over So-hie, and she gets her wish, but by semi-accidentally throwing So-hie down a flight of stairs. So-hie can no longer compete because of her injuries. Ji-seong also does some really bitchy things to sabotage her friend's audition, like put glass in her toe shoe! Man, I was aching for this childish bitch to get what was coming to her. I mean, what kind of friend is that?
So-hie disappoints her stage mother horribly by getting hurt, so she eventually kills herself. That's when the ghost stuff starts. Hye-ju was crushed when her idol died. When So-hie starts visiting her in an attempt to get her to help her carry out her revenge on Ji-seong, the girl seems happy to help, although the visitations drive her insane at some point, and she starts killing people.
So-hie's ghost eventually hugs Ji-seong to death (literally) after dancing around the school in her ballerina outfit, which is smeared with blood and dirt. Those images made the whole movie worthwhile for me because they were just that cool.
Okay, individual stuff I liked:
I am not a ballet person. Usually, it bores me to tears. But there was just something so awesome about So-hie's performances. All I could do was watch and go, "WOW. How does she do that?" Also, I usually dislike ballet outfits because tutus are so ridiculous, but the costumes used in the ballet sequences in this were really different while still being ballet outfits. They were just gorgeous. My jaw just dropped open at how beautiful they were. Totally tapped into the child in me that loves beautiful dolls in gorgeous outfits.
Which of course leads to the ghost ballerina scenes. I feel like I should explain the fact that I sort of had a dark imagination when I was a kid. My play was very melodramatic. I look back and laugh at some of the stuff I pretended. Good example is how when it rained, I would make paper boats, put them in the stream running along the curb, and follow them to the gutter while doing the voices of the people on the boats screaming for help. XD My sister and I used to play act earthquakes and car crashes with our Barbies. We'd set all the dolls up in the Barbie house, then shake the hell out of it to imitate an earthquake, and take a "death toll" at the end. XD XD It's funny to me now, but back then, I was very serious about it. I was really attracted to darkness while also being terrified of it (I'm still like that). Always loved ghost stories and was fascinated by death and loss. So it doesn't surprise me that the kid in me would be, well, enchanted with the ghost ballerina. She was still so beautiful, even covered with dirt and blood and being all horrific and menacing. That just makes her cooler!
If they made a doll of ghost So-hie in the ballerina outfit, I'd snap that thing up so fast... It was really neat how she haunted Ji-seong by doing ballerina dance moves around her, staying just out of her eyesight, talking to her the whole time. Just spinning and spinning with that one bloody toe shoe, acting like it didn't hurt at all. I was all over that. They could have eliminated all the unimportant small talk scenes and replaced them with more Ghost So-hie and I would have been perfectly happy.
In ways, I identified with Hye-ju, being a "fat chick" myself. I was disappointed, though, with how bizarrely she was played. I stopped identifying with her because it was just such a bizarre characterization. People don't act like that. I mean, she was nuts before So-hie drove her crazy. Why did Hye-ju talk the way she did through half the movie, all muffled and almost sounding like she was imitating a man? Didn't make any sense. The scene with the birthday cake drove me nuts. Sure, fat chicks may eat lots of cake on their birthdays. But they don't get it on their lips and then sit there with icing all over their faces and not wipe it off. WTF was that? The character was really spoiled for me by how strangely she was played.
I was also hoping for a "real friendship" between Hye-ju and the Smoking Girl. Real friendship meaning we would actually see them hang out in the secret attic room instead of more boring small talk scenes. Smoking Girl's betrayal of Hye-ju would have meant more if we'd seen them hanging out and being friends. I had girls do this shit to me in school, pretend to be my friend so they could make a fool of me. Hye-ju finally stabbing the girl to death and making her into a statue would have meant a lot more to me if I'd seen the full gravity of Smoking Girl's betrayal. (No, I can't remember Smoking Girl's name.)
The scene where we found out that Hye-ju had stolen a pair of So-hie's toe shoes and had a whole case full of pictures of her, and then Hye-ju broke down crying over So-hie's death, was very touching. I never worshipped any of my fellow students quite that much, but I did admire cheerleaders a lot because they could do athletic, cool-looking things that I could never do. The scene just made me feel sorry for her, and that she was justified in taking a stand for herself in the next scene.
I googled around a little. There don't seem to be any good websites of pictures from this movie. :( I thought there might be a fan somewhere who had obsessively screencapped it, but no. Just means I'll have to do it myself when I get time. I want PICTURES! Ghost So-hie!
And so help me, but lately I can't stop thinking about some of the scenes in One Missed Call. Overall, it was sucky, but there were some really good scenes and some well-acted ones too. The twist ending was fairly decent also. I may just have to pick up the DVD. (Netflix didn't seem to have a single copy that wasn't scratched all to hell.) The basic premise has a lot of promise, they just chose to execute it in a sort of dumb way.
In other news, I get cravings from time to time where I want a particular food ALL the time until I get sick of it. Lately it's been hamburgers and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (not together). Oh THANK YOU body; those are both loaded with fat. :P
First off, yeah, the movie is very slow, and takes a long time to get to anything scary. I think that this is because the movie isn't exactly a horror movie, but more of a supernatural drama.
"Wishing Stairs" is about a girls' school for artistic studies, like art, dance, and music. There's a set of stairs outside the girls' dormitory that has 28 steps. The legend says that if you climb the stairs, counting each step out loud, and then close your eyes and step up, counting "twenty-nine," a 29th step will appear. Then you're supposed to make a wish to an enchanted fox (Asian thing; foxes are all magic and sacred in Japan too). The fox will grant your wish.
That sets the stage for a few different girls who are focused on in the movie. So-hie is the star ballerina who has been pressured into her perfection by her mother, Ji-seong is her best friend who is secretly REALLY jealous of her, and Hye-ju is an overweight girl really good at art who hero worships So-hie. Basics are that Ji-seong makes a wish to go to the ballerina competition over So-hie, and she gets her wish, but by semi-accidentally throwing So-hie down a flight of stairs. So-hie can no longer compete because of her injuries. Ji-seong also does some really bitchy things to sabotage her friend's audition, like put glass in her toe shoe! Man, I was aching for this childish bitch to get what was coming to her. I mean, what kind of friend is that?
So-hie disappoints her stage mother horribly by getting hurt, so she eventually kills herself. That's when the ghost stuff starts. Hye-ju was crushed when her idol died. When So-hie starts visiting her in an attempt to get her to help her carry out her revenge on Ji-seong, the girl seems happy to help, although the visitations drive her insane at some point, and she starts killing people.
So-hie's ghost eventually hugs Ji-seong to death (literally) after dancing around the school in her ballerina outfit, which is smeared with blood and dirt. Those images made the whole movie worthwhile for me because they were just that cool.
Okay, individual stuff I liked:
I am not a ballet person. Usually, it bores me to tears. But there was just something so awesome about So-hie's performances. All I could do was watch and go, "WOW. How does she do that?" Also, I usually dislike ballet outfits because tutus are so ridiculous, but the costumes used in the ballet sequences in this were really different while still being ballet outfits. They were just gorgeous. My jaw just dropped open at how beautiful they were. Totally tapped into the child in me that loves beautiful dolls in gorgeous outfits.
Which of course leads to the ghost ballerina scenes. I feel like I should explain the fact that I sort of had a dark imagination when I was a kid. My play was very melodramatic. I look back and laugh at some of the stuff I pretended. Good example is how when it rained, I would make paper boats, put them in the stream running along the curb, and follow them to the gutter while doing the voices of the people on the boats screaming for help. XD My sister and I used to play act earthquakes and car crashes with our Barbies. We'd set all the dolls up in the Barbie house, then shake the hell out of it to imitate an earthquake, and take a "death toll" at the end. XD XD It's funny to me now, but back then, I was very serious about it. I was really attracted to darkness while also being terrified of it (I'm still like that). Always loved ghost stories and was fascinated by death and loss. So it doesn't surprise me that the kid in me would be, well, enchanted with the ghost ballerina. She was still so beautiful, even covered with dirt and blood and being all horrific and menacing. That just makes her cooler!
If they made a doll of ghost So-hie in the ballerina outfit, I'd snap that thing up so fast... It was really neat how she haunted Ji-seong by doing ballerina dance moves around her, staying just out of her eyesight, talking to her the whole time. Just spinning and spinning with that one bloody toe shoe, acting like it didn't hurt at all. I was all over that. They could have eliminated all the unimportant small talk scenes and replaced them with more Ghost So-hie and I would have been perfectly happy.
In ways, I identified with Hye-ju, being a "fat chick" myself. I was disappointed, though, with how bizarrely she was played. I stopped identifying with her because it was just such a bizarre characterization. People don't act like that. I mean, she was nuts before So-hie drove her crazy. Why did Hye-ju talk the way she did through half the movie, all muffled and almost sounding like she was imitating a man? Didn't make any sense. The scene with the birthday cake drove me nuts. Sure, fat chicks may eat lots of cake on their birthdays. But they don't get it on their lips and then sit there with icing all over their faces and not wipe it off. WTF was that? The character was really spoiled for me by how strangely she was played.
I was also hoping for a "real friendship" between Hye-ju and the Smoking Girl. Real friendship meaning we would actually see them hang out in the secret attic room instead of more boring small talk scenes. Smoking Girl's betrayal of Hye-ju would have meant more if we'd seen them hanging out and being friends. I had girls do this shit to me in school, pretend to be my friend so they could make a fool of me. Hye-ju finally stabbing the girl to death and making her into a statue would have meant a lot more to me if I'd seen the full gravity of Smoking Girl's betrayal. (No, I can't remember Smoking Girl's name.)
The scene where we found out that Hye-ju had stolen a pair of So-hie's toe shoes and had a whole case full of pictures of her, and then Hye-ju broke down crying over So-hie's death, was very touching. I never worshipped any of my fellow students quite that much, but I did admire cheerleaders a lot because they could do athletic, cool-looking things that I could never do. The scene just made me feel sorry for her, and that she was justified in taking a stand for herself in the next scene.
I googled around a little. There don't seem to be any good websites of pictures from this movie. :( I thought there might be a fan somewhere who had obsessively screencapped it, but no. Just means I'll have to do it myself when I get time. I want PICTURES! Ghost So-hie!
And so help me, but lately I can't stop thinking about some of the scenes in One Missed Call. Overall, it was sucky, but there were some really good scenes and some well-acted ones too. The twist ending was fairly decent also. I may just have to pick up the DVD. (Netflix didn't seem to have a single copy that wasn't scratched all to hell.) The basic premise has a lot of promise, they just chose to execute it in a sort of dumb way.
In other news, I get cravings from time to time where I want a particular food ALL the time until I get sick of it. Lately it's been hamburgers and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (not together). Oh THANK YOU body; those are both loaded with fat. :P
