Absolutely the worst movie.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Yun Jae-yeon, the first woman to direct a movie of the Yeogo Goedam series, faced a big challenge when making Wishing Stairs. It was Yun's debut, and the two leading actresses, Song Ji-hyo and Park Han-byeol, were newcomers at that time as well. Also, Yun had to meet high expectations because Wishing Stair's predecessors, Whispering Corridors and Memento Mori, had been very successful.Just like all of the Yeogo Goedam movies, Wishing Stairs has a closed story of its own but plays with the same themes. Again, it takes place at a girls' school, this time a school of arts. There, the main characters, Yun Jin-seong (Song) and Kim Sohee (Park), are studying ballet. They are close friends, but their friendship gets challenged when they both enter a contest for a place to study at a Russian ballet faculty. Yun Jin-seong envies her more talented friend. She works hard but just gets scolded by the teacher, whereas Kim Sohee impresses everybody with her effortless skill; she looks like the sure winner of the contest. Yun's jealousy grows till the point that she even seeks supernatural help: Campus legend has it that there is a stair case on the campus which grants a wish when you reach its last step. But as Yun climbs the stairs, the viewer already knows that this is a bad idea. For folklore tells that wishes granted by a supernatural force often come with undesirable side effects, and Wishing Stairs confirms this.Like the previous Yeogo Goedam films, Wishing Stairs isn't a real horror movie. The supernatural serves as a vehicle to accelerate a worldly tragedy. So the movie is less about horror and more about people feeling trapped because they are unable to become the persons they want to be. This idea is stressed by the third main character, Eom. Eom is an overweight outsider, and if the other students notice her at all, it's usually just to make fun of her. She tries to escape her misery by idolizing Kim Sohee, dreaming of being her friend or perhaps even being her.However, it is also Eom (Jo An) where direction wasn't flawless. Unlike her character, Jo happens to be pretty and slim, so she was put in a fat-suit. The problem with that approach is that viewers always notice fat-suits, no matter how well they are made. This might not be a problem in comedies, but in this drama it is a distraction. Also, Jo's performance is sometimes at the border of slapstick, which doesn't do her tragic character justice.Another distraction was the use of an incoherent flashback. It seems an obligation for Yeogo Goedam movies to employ flashbacks to reveal dark secrets of the past, so Wishing Stairs has one flashback as well. Without spoiling too much, it's about an act of sabotage. However, that small part of the plot doesn't roll out plausibly. It causes more confusion than insight and should have been deleted entirely.But the strengths of Wishing Stairs outweigh its flaws. The acting of Song and Park is great. The movie has a high production value. And like its predecessors, it has a certain charm and unique mix of drama and horror to it. It is a tragedy of universal nature, so viewers can relate to it even if they don't happen to be Korean teenage girls (as is the case with this old bloke). Wishing Stairs is a worthy entry in the series, which makes director Yun's debut a real accomplishment.

Wishing Stair is the 3rd movie of the "Whispering Corridor" series which has 5 movies (Whispering Corridor, Memento Mori, Wishing Stair, Voice and A Blood Pledge). I have now seen the 5 movies and I must say this one is my favourite. The worst being "A Blood Pledge" and by far.Plot : Wishing Stair is the story of three young women confronted by the twisted power of the fox stair. Fox spirits are well known in Asian cultures for being either way good or evil in their actions. Those 3 women will cross the easy path of wishing stair, realizing finnally that whatever your wish, it won't go as you expected.Soo-Hee is a kind, intelligent and skilled person who seems have success in whatever she does. But behind her shiny appearance, she's unsecure and rely almost obssesivly on her friend Jin-Sung. Beside her love for ballet, the thing she loves the most is her friend Jin-Sung. She wants to be forever with her.Jin-Sung is the contrary, she must work hard in anything she does. She loves ballet, but she's jealous of her friend Soo-Hee that is too kind with her. Jin-Sung is jealous because her friend is close to her parents, has a lot of money and is a shame that Soo-Hee is always on the giving side. Her own words "Kim Soo-Hee, I really hate you. You make me feel miserable.". Ji-SUng love her friend, but she wants to win at least once.Hae-Ju is an outcast, being constantly bullied for being fat. The only person who seems to be nice with her is Soo-Hee. For that reason she idolize her. The only thing she wants is to have a friend. All those secret desire will turn into a nightmare for each of them.My commentary : This movie has really a great script that is base of the life of Asian students where people are pushed to confrontation by the society. You must be the best in anything, always. Soo-Hee is pushed by her parents to succeed in anything. She must take Ballet class because of her mother. She likes it, but it wasn't really her choice. Did you notice two huge posters with Soo-Hee's pictures? That meant she was the #1 student in school for at least 2 semester. Soo-Hee was somewhat popular at school, but only on the shallow side. Her only true friend was Jin-Sung and it was her own choice. Her love for Jin-Sung was too strong, too obsessive. Being with her friend forever makes me think that she felt more then just friendship. She was a little bossy with Jin-Sung, making her do things she don't necessary wants to do. But she showered her with gifts expecting nothing more then to be with her.I totally understand how Jin-Sung felt. Jin-Sung really saw Soo-Hee as her best friend. But Soo-Hee was too kind with her and that bothered her. She hates to be always the one to received and the rivalry as a ballerina didn't help. She didn't meant to hurt Soo-Hee, but I see it as the work from the fox spirit. It makes do thing you didn't wanted. The only way for Jin-Sung to go legitly to the competition was to remove Soo-Hee from the competition, But her wish was granted later when she *spoiler* pushed Soo-Hee down the stair. I'm not really sure what happens to Soo-Hee. Did she commit suicide believe she had lost the only thing she cared about ? Was she killed by the fox spirit so he could grant her wish ? Anyway, I'm sure that Jin-Sung met Soo-Hee's ghost after her death in her room because of the strong emotions.Then the poor Hae-Ju wished that Soo-Hee came back to her. But Soo-Hee's ghost is not thinking rationally as humans do. Led by the strong feelings to Jin-Sung, she takes possession of Hae-Ju's body. But Jin-Sung do not believe her. And that leaded her to her death. I don't know if Soo-Hee's plan has always been to kill Jin-Sung to be forever with her.I liked the acting the three main actresses where great. Just unlucky that the movie was the same year as "A tale of two sisters" with the awesome acting from Lim Soo-Jung. Pak Han-Byeol was believable in her character. Song Ji-Hyo too. And Jo An did a nice performance as mimicking Han-Byeol's Soo-Hee. Excep the part where she really seems crazy. But that remind me of the scene in The Shining where Jack Nickleson break the door with an axe. It was that kind of crazyness that Jo An showed in her eyes. It might be exaggerated, but it's one of my favorite scene in the movie. Oh and Pak Han-Byeol is really, really pretty :)

"If you give your heart, the 29th step will appear and grant your wish."It's one of those "Be Careful What You Wish For" type horror flicks with an invisible 29th step taking the place of the genie's lamp. Overweight Hae-ju climbs the 28 stairs nearby her boarding school hoping to lose the excess fat that has made her quite a fixture for chuckles and ridicule. When she takes that one extra step, it seems her wish has come true when Hae-ju notices such rapid weight-loss in such a short period of time. Kim so-hee is quite a success in her ballerina class and an apparent shoo-in for the special part of Gisele in a major Russian play. She's in love with a class-mate, Jin-sung(the film doesn't just come right out and say it loudly, but you can see her adoration for Jin-sung in nearly every moment they are together)who desperately covets the same part so-hee seems destined to portray. Jealous and obsessed, Jin-sung scales the 28 stairs, eyes closed in concentration, hoping to make that one extra step desiring the role of Gisele over so-hee. When, like Hae-ju, she feels that 29th step under her feet, Jin-sung gains hope that it'll all work out for her behalf. It does, but there are consequences for making such a request..in a tragic set of events, Jin-sung will accidentally push so-hee down a stairway. Kim so-hee's leg is damaged in the process and subsequent grief leads to the young girl to the point of taking a leap out her hospital window. Blamed and hated by the students in her class, Jin-sung gets what she asked for, but it costs her much more than she receives. But, Jin-sung's nightmare merely begins..secretly Hae-ju had a fixated hero-worship for Kim so-hee and takes to the 29 steps in request that the one she deeply cared for would return. In true "monkey's paw" fashion, it's quite possible Kim so-hee just might answer that request, with both Jin-sung and Hae-ju becoming haunted by her spirit.

This movie is simply bad. The plot drags on. The chick in the fat suit overacts more than Jim Carey doing a comic bit. I already knew the ending 10 minutes into the film, and waiting to get there was torture. This film stands on it's own having nothing to do with the preceding films in this 'series'. All 3 are set in all girl schools where bad things happen. This film seems to take elements from the first two mediocre films, but the result is nonsense. There are a few interesting scenes (a painful to watch dance sequence that was great), but most are scenes you have seen a million times before - and some are blatant ripoffs (of The Ring, The Shining, Bucket of Blood, Showgirls (lol)... just to name a few). Unless you have a penchant for catty jealous girls, obsessive girls in 'like', or both - IGNORE this film.*steps on the 29th step* "I wish I didn't waste my time watching this movie."I guess not every wish comes true