Whispering Corridors (1998)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Lee ?

  
  Occassionally chilling but disappointingly slow-paced, which is a trend that continues in other entries into the series, this being the first of five to date. The opening sequence is awesome and the best moment of the film. It does create a spooky atmosphere but there just wasn't… More
  Occassionally chilling but disappointingly slow-paced, which is a trend that continues in other entries into the series, this being the first of five to date. The opening sequence is awesome and the best moment of the film. It does create a spooky atmosphere but there just wasn't enough scares, and things got a little confusing during the second half of the film. It's not a bad movie by any means, just not a very exciting one. There are better Korean horrors out there.

• Kylie B

  
  Somewhat more psychological than some Asian Horror films, the body count in this is low - though some of the effects are quite creepy. The plot is convuluted like A Tale of Two Sisters, though not as much, and clearly 'resolves' itself in the end.

• Drew S

  
  The movie is a strongly-plotted, suspenseful and intelligent mystery with a good thematic plot and a handful of intense scenes. It's slow, granted, but almost everything that comes out of Asia is. Good performances, a twist ending and some pretty rough abuse scenes make the movie… More
  The movie is a strongly-plotted, suspenseful and intelligent mystery with a good thematic plot and a handful of intense scenes. It's slow, granted, but almost everything that comes out of Asia is. Good performances, a twist ending and some pretty rough abuse scenes make the movie stand out from the crowd.

• Daniel P

  
  <I>Whispering Corridors</I>, the first of a series of ghost stories set in all-girl schools from Korea, is aptly enough, a haunting film that builds on atmosphere and emotion rather than any actual scares. Character driven and featuring excellent performances from the… More
  <I>Whispering Corridors</I>, the first of a series of ghost stories set in all-girl schools from Korea, is aptly enough, a haunting film that builds on atmosphere and emotion rather than any actual scares. Character driven and featuring excellent performances from the majority of the players, the potential from the tense prologue, which features some brilliant camera framing and sound editing, is mostly delivered throughout the remaining running time. Whilst the middle section gets bogged down with too many characters and mini sub-plots that don't conclude satisfactorily, the main storyline is gripping and emotive, and the themes of friendship, isolation, trying to fit in and the general pressures of high-school are just as resonant as say, the early days of <I>Buffy The Vampire Slayer</I>. There's a lot of exposition in the final act of the film, which thankfully doesn't get too confusing, and the ending is, refreshingly, heartfelt and moving, with an actually quite effective twist. The film also becomes clearer and benefits greatly from repeat viewings.

• alan j

  
  effective storytelling..decent acting..this movie holds your interest and keeps you thinking..I enjoyed

• Anthony V

  
  Some people love this. I thought it was a little slow. The "twist" was also a bit obvious.

• Eduardo C

  
  The weaker (and first) entry in the Whispering Corridors "series" is a very intelligent and sensitive film in its own right. The problem is that, for whatever reason, I never felt particularly engaged by it. Unlike in "Wishing Stairs" and (especially)… More
  The weaker (and first) entry in the Whispering Corridors "series" is a very intelligent and sensitive film in its own right. The problem is that, for whatever reason, I never felt particularly engaged by it. Unlike in "Wishing Stairs" and (especially) "Memento Mori" the characters never truly called to me. I watched the film unfold but was never exactly in the middle, and believe me I gave it many chances. At its core, the film is an exposé of the appalling ammount of physical and verbal violence inflicted upon students by their teachers in the South Korea educational system. With pressures to get into college and be "successful" while maintaining a docile, hardworking demeanor coming from everywhere, it is not uncommon for a student to commit suicide. It is very telling that the film goes out of its way to show the teachers as the bullies. There is conflict among the girls, arguments and even the occasional tussle, but they are all equally appalled and empathic when a teacher beats one of his students, be she the most or least popular in the school. The ending manages to generate the pathos that (to me) had been sorely lacking for the first hour and 20 minutes. Once we find out exactly what is going on, and why, it is as heartbreaking as anything in the other two entries. The final shot, a typical double-twist ending, oddly enough does not feel out of place. It was certainly not attached with the idea of a sequel in mind and is very much in tune with the themes the film has raised. I may not have missed it if it had been cut, but it makes perfect sense and does not feel cheap or out of place. The direction is rather flat a lot of the time. The photography is grainy and the film is not particularly well lit. The editing, on the other hand, is fantastic. There are sequences, large and small, that are given life sheerly by the way they are cut. One of the creepier sequences involves a series of jump-cuts of a person approaching another. The whole thing takes 2 seconds, the camera never moves, and the effect is jarring, almost like stop-motion. I also quite liked the way the discovery of the opening suicide was cut. The performances are, for the most part, quite good. Even the teachers, though their behavior may be over the top at times, never absolutely chew up the scenery. I will watch this one again, to see if I am more involved from frame-one this time. Even if my opinion remains the same, however, this is still a good, intelligent film very much worth watching. That this is the weaker "Whispering Corridors" film (despite being the first) is akin to saying "Return of the Jedi" is the weakest of the Holy Trilogy. It is only weaker by comparison.

Read all 7 featured audience ratings