Ten More Trailers to Keep You Awake- #2/10 – The Wishing Stairs (South Korea), 2003

Do you dare do climb the 29th step? HELL NO!

…South Korean boarding schools for girls (especially those that focus on the arts) seem like wretched enough places already without having to deal with ghosts suddenly swooping down at you from the ceiling when you’re trying to sleep in a dark, spooky room, or pale hands slipping out of nowhere to grasp your wrist or ankle in the middle of the night…

More skin-crawling Asian Horror- this time from South Korea.

I first saw this movie in Fall 2009, when it scared me so bad it actually kept me awake until I purposely watched the DVD extras to see interviews with the actresses to try to put things in perspective (just a movie…just a movie… ), got up and grabbed both our cats to sleep on the bed with me, and scooted as far over to my husband’s side of the bed as I could without danger of injury. I’m pretty sure that was probably the last time I watched anything from the South Korean Whispering Corridors series (this is #3, and probably the second-most frightening) after dark for quite some time. As I was writing this article, I realized to myself that the last time I watched any J-horror by myself after dark was around 2005 (and it may have been earlier than that). The last J-horror movie I remember watching after dark, period, was Uzakami (2000, AKA Spiral) in Summer 2008. I have a piece written up on the movie and the equally nightmarish manga written up, but I want to flesh it out some first, and there’s no goddamned way I’m touching on the most frightening elements, including getting out my copies of the paperback to refresh my memory, and posting it at 3AM!

Here’s the unnerving trailer for The Wishing Stairs:

Do you dare to climb the 29th step? No, as a matter of fact, I fucking don’t! What do you think I am, crazy?

I do highly recommend the movie, and as soon as I can find a HD version of the trailer I’ll post it. South Korean boarding schools for girls (especially those that focus on the arts) look like wretched enough places already without having to deal with ghosts suddenly swooping down at you from the ceiling when you’re trying to sleep in a dark, spooky room, or pale hands slipping out of nowhere to grasp your wrist or ankle in the middle of the night. I recall reading reports that yes, bullying is as bad as it is in this series. That’s abuse from the students and some of the teachers. I don’t know if things have improved in the last ten years, but when I did research, I’m genuinely sorry to report that I was assured the attempted suicide, and suicide rates were significant (and that’s without supernatural elements).