Whispering Corridors Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After a teacher seemingly commits suicide, the students and staff at an all-girls school realize a vengeful spirit has been awakened.

Review: The best way to sum up this franchise: one, giant missed opportunity. Each entry focuses on an all-girls school, along with the ghostly shenanigans that ensue, yet they don't bother with any form of continuity, reuse of characters, or make any kind of references whatsoever. It's a shame too, because the groundwork for something amazing was laid out in this first "Whispering Corridors." In fact, this first installment is probably the best with all things considered (though, I do like part 4). You get a solid mystery, interesting characters, and a, mostly, satisfying payoff...plus, the main girls are all really good looking. You can't go wrong there! Unfortunately, like most of the entries in this series, the pacing is excruciatingly slow. And it's not a deliberate buildup of tension or anything--the directors just like dicking around with unnecessary drama in each installment. Now, before I start rattling on too much about the sequels, let's focus on the original.

What I like about this entry is that they get the ball rolling out the gate. We get an appearance by the ghost as she kills a teacher and makes it look like suicide. The last thing the teacher was doing was trying to make a connection with yearbooks which, in turn, makes the audience intrigued by where this is all going. Accentuating the mystery further is a plethora of red herring characters. Are they family members wanting revenge? Possessed? Or are things not as we believe them to be at all? Hmm! Though, these characters are not entirely handled in the best way--with numerous plot tangents amounting to nothing--I can appreciate the mystery unraveling in such a way that you are even questioning the main girl's involvement in all of this; that's impressive. Of course, the final twist is painfully predictable for a horror vet, but I still commend the buildup to the reveal. I want to further point out that the characters are well acted by our cast of beauties, however, surprisingly, a guy steals the show here. That one douche teacher was so over the top of an asshole that he became amusing; definitely a love to hate situation. Apparently teachers can just freely berate and beat the shit out of their students in Korea. Probably could use a lot of that in the USA to be honest.

While I appreciate the characters, the mystery, and the general premise, I can't deny that many of the negatives associated with this franchise began right here. Obviously you have the pacing issues I mentioned, but then there is the melodrama surrounding the girls. Take things down a notch, and put focus on your horror elements. I'm all for building up strong, believable characters, however, I don't want there to be only two moments that could be classified as horror before the climax rolls around; that is shenanigans I can't support. As for the final reveal...it's utterly preposterous from a logistics perspective. You're telling me no one--neither staff nor student--noticed the same dead girl enrolling at school for almost a decade?! Besides, how does she get her paperwork through, and why would she even bother showing up for the yearbook photo knowing someone might put the pieces together? Believe me, the more you think about this ghost's scheme the more ludicrous it sounds. And don't get me started on the zinger since it makes even less sense and is clearly never continued with in any sequel. These kind of zany antics and questionable decisions will come back to haunt (hehe) each subsequent entry.

I have always wanted to like this series due to each entry's intriguing and original premise, but the filmmakers usually squander those great ideas. For the original "Whispering Corridors," I felt they mostly succeeded and kept things straightforward which is atypical for Korean horror. There may be some holes in the ghost's plan--and by some I mean a shit ton--but the mystery is considerably strong leading up to the final revelation. More so, the mystery is executed quite well with the assistance of many lovely ladies who do add some heart to their performances. The lull between each horror scene is, admittedly, too long, yet, the story is engaging enough to keep you entertained nonetheless. With some fine-tuning this could have been phenomenal and quite scary, but, instead we must settle for pretty good. "Whispering Corridors" is certainly worth a watch but, keep in mind, that it's the kind of scary you could easily watch alone, in the dark, at midnight in a haunted house with a crazed killer on the loose.

Notable Moment: When the classroom appears to rain blood out of nowhere. I suppose this is to signify that the ghost is gone, but then why was Ji-oh seeing a stain on the ceiling throughout the film?

Final Rating: 6/10