|
Close to a residency girls' school are some ancient steps.
Local legend has it that once you have counted your way up
the 28 steps a 29th one may occasionally appear, and if it
does you can ask the steps to grant you a wish. Jin-sung and
So-hee are close friends at the school, but the former evolves
the relationship into something approaching possession. She
even wishes from the stairs that they would always be together.
Both attend ballet lessons and So-hee sees a competition (the
winner of which will be sent to a Russian ballet school) as
the means for a clean break. During an argument Jin-sung is
shrugged off by her former friend and falls down the school
staircase to her death. So-hee wins the ballet competition
but is shunned by the other students, who see her as being
responsible for the other girl's death. Most upset is Hae-
Ju, an overweight girl ridiculed by everyone except Jin-sung,
who had treated her sympathetically. Hae-Ju is transformed
by the stairs when she wishes for a loss of weight. Now Jin-sung
is back from the dead and Hae-Ju is her tool of malice. Perhaps
there is a way for Jin-sung and So-hee to be together forever
after all...
This
supernatural tale of revenge from Korea shares certain plot
points with Whispering
Corridors, while being infinitely more entertaining.
That's because like every good story it concentrates on the
characters. We learn what makes the main players tick; how
they think, and how others react to them. The
ghost story and the urban legend are merely means to an end.
Although
Wishing Stairs works very well it does lose control a
couple of times and fall into the trap of what it thinks people
are expecting to see. The floating ghost of Jin-sung, for
example, and more specifically when she crawls through a window
space in an almost exact copy of Ring,
in which Sadako crawls out of the TV. There's a fine line
between paying tribute and outright plagiarism; whatever the
case, there's simply no need for it in a film which quite
comfortably sustains itself as it is. Okay, so there's no
outright shocks, but it is entertaining and it is a people-story
well told.
Again we have another fine release from Tartan Asia Extreme,
and again some confusion over the extras. The packaging describes
Director's Sketchbook and Notes, Original Theatrical Trailers,
a Photo Gallery and Justin Bower Film Notes - none of which
are on the disc. And instead of one featurette we get four
(First Position - Ballet lessons and acting as an instructor;
Sketching Stairs - Animation and creating Hae-Ju's
cartoon book; Fitting In - Applying fat make-up and
prosthetics; and Unique Music - Creating mood pieces
with originally constructed instruments).
Ty
Power
Buy
this item online
We
compare prices online so you get the cheapest
deal!
Click on the logo of the desired store below
to purchase this item.
|
|
|
£14.99
(Amazon.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£14.99
(Blahdvd.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£15.95
(Foxy.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£15.89
(Thehut.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£14.99
(Moviemail-online.co.uk) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
|
|
