Yeogo goedam

Plot synopsis:
In an all-female high school in South Korea, the Jookran High School for Girls, teacher Mrs. Park, nicknamed "Old Fox" due to her sadistic method of teaching, circles several points in the students' yearbooks and calls her former student turned new fellow teacher, Hur Eun-young, that "Jin-ju, is definitely dead, but still attending school". Moments later, she is strangled with a noose by an unknown figure, her body later discovered the next day by three new senior students: the talented artist but superstitious Lim Ji-oh; the timid outsider, Yoon Jae-yi; and the weird, sullen, and deeply unpopular Kim Jung-sook. Ji-Oh and Jae-yi arrive early as they are the new class monitors, while Jung-sook has always been a die-hard studious student. Their form teacher position is now held by Mr. Oh, nicknamed "Mad Dog", who likes to give corporal punishments to his students, in particular Ji-oh due to her superstitions, as well as harassing and overly praising the class' top scorer, Park So-young.
The discovery of Mrs. Park's body deeply impacts Ji-oh that she creates a painting of her body, which earns her a horrible punishment by Mr. Oh. Seeing Ji-oh dispirited, Jae-yi, a former artist before she decided to abandon her goals, agrees to teach her painting at the storage room, which used to be an art room before being abandoned and is rumored to be haunted. Ji-oh sees that So-young has been inhabiting the room for quite a while to hide her smoking habit. So-young, in the meantime, befriends Eun-young at the library.
Eun-young suspects that Ji-oh may have been Jin-ju's ghost since she carries bells that Jin-ju, her friend from high school, gave for her, though Ji-oh tells her that they were given by Jae-yi. This is puzzling as Ji-oh occupies Jin-ju's former seat in Form 3-3 and is interested in arts, like Jin-ju. One night, Mr. Oh, while patrolling the school, is terrorized by Jin-ju and killed by stabbing while wrapped in curtain. His post is replaced by a more manageable teacher. The next night, Ji-oh visits the storage room to paint but finds Jung-sook and So-young bickering, ending with So-young storming out after criticizing Jung-sook and calling her jaded. Jung-sook commits suicide in a manner similar to Mrs. Park's: hanging herself by a noose from a bridge.
So-young is tearful and reveals to Eun-young that she is involved in a situation similar to Eun-young and Jin-ju once were: she used to be close to Jung-sook, but the teachers started comparing them and they drifted apart, with Jung-sook growing bitter as time went on and becoming withdrawn. While Ji-oh is painting she notices a floorboard that is broken and coming apart. Ji-oh discovers a statue created by Eun-young for Jin-ju beneath the plank and also discovers Mr. Oh's body when she shifts something in the dirt and finds a hand with a ring which he wears. Jin-ju died in the storeroom while trying to save the statue as it fell she tripped and with it everything came down, including the sculpting knives which ultimately killed her. Eun-young meanwhile learns from the yearbooks that Jin-ju had entered the school from year after year posing as false students and is currently posing as Jae-yi. Eun-young is confronted by Jae-yi/Jin-ju, the latter angry and accusing Eun-young that she is becoming more like Mrs. Park. Eun-young escapes with a cut to her arm as Jin-ju is distracted by Jioh screaming. Eun-young is chased by Jin-ju but is cornered into room 3-3, their homeroom and Jae-yi/Jin-ju's current homeroom.
Before Jin-ju can kill her, Ji-oh comes into the homeroom and asks her to stop her terror and to rest in peace since she is not even human. Jin-ju says that all she wanted was to live a normal high school life and she wanted someone who would love her fearlessly as Eun-young couldn't. Jin-ju disappears after Ji-oh and Eun-young plead with her that they will correct the misgivings that happened to them at a teacher and student level and that they will never forget her. After Jin-ju disappears, the walls and the school all bleed blood while Eun-young and Ji-oh, tired by the ordeals, sit in the room resting. Ji-oh rests her head in Eun-young's lap as she gently strokes her hair.
Eun-young and Ji-oh are still in the classroom when they are visited by a student the next day. The student leaves upon seeing the two and walks down the corridor, and as the student turns around, it is revealed that she is Jung-sook's ghost.

Tags: cruelty, murder, violence, haunting, atmospheric, romantic, sadist

Review:
'Whispering Corridors' is set in a South Korean all-girls high school, focusing on a senior class and four of its students.
Along with that, we also explore the extremely competitive and harsh South Korean education system, identity and reputation, and the relationships between the four students and one teacher.After the suicide of Mrs Park (or 'Old Fox' as she's known amongst the pupils), rumours begin circulating around the school about what caused her death.
Girls fall out, and come together; there's a ghost who apparently haunts the old, disused art room, and people aren't who they first appear to be...A thinking man's film indeed, this will have you scratching your head in some parts.
People know in secret that these types of extra-ordinary and super-natural happenings do really occur in real life.The story takes place on a country-side all-girl private school in South Korea, the year 1998.
The total commitment and self-belief of the production crew carries its importance to the highest standards; there we are taught how important the pre-production phase of a raw production material which was based on a very widely known and so told school rumour.If producers who are only looking for gaining box-office receipts with a horror movie and they hesitate to scratch and scrabble the concept of the fear; then they cannot reflect the reality or it just remains unreasonable as a work of imagination.
In the haunting opening sequence, we witness the mysterious death of a teacher at a South Korean all girls school.
She finds that the ultra-competitive students are not what they seem on the surface.In its trailer, "Whispering Corridors" is credited as being the film that started the "Asian Horror Explosion." I'm not so sure about that, as Ringu is far better known and appears to have been released first.
Whispering Corridors is a classic Asian Horror Film.
Whispering Corridors is a totally scary, and entertaining horror flick from Korea.
It's easy to see why this was the first of an explosion of Asian Horror films like the Ring and the Grudge, because the director, Park Ki-Hyung is definitely well versed in American horror and uses his understanding of the genre to make the movie really appealing to any American horror fan.
It's bright red, and creeps the viewer out in a way that CG children running around (like in the Grudge) could never fully achieve.The whole film takes place around an all girls school-- and with girls in uniforms and mysterious murders, you've got the makings of a great horror narrative.
In the movie, the Korean school system is depicted as an evil force that represses the girls, abuses them, and ultimately is the motivating force that makes the one girl commit suicide and become the ghost who murders her enemies throughout the film.
I think I'd been burned by too many mediocre horror movies featuring ghosties in the past, so to watch one of the grandmamas of the modern Asian ghost girl genre had me bracing for every trite conceit that could be thrown my way.
Rather than really being a flashy story about hauntings and killings, it turns out more to be an exploration of the impact of the brutal South Corean high school system on the youth that attend it, using the horror genre as the medium.First of all, I have to say that I wasn't frightened during this film.
The interesting intertwined story lines and the use of horror to explore societal and personal burdens (and with some measure of tact) left me pleasantly surprised with Whispering Corridors.
There are moments when you will see why this movie is classified as a horror film, but like most ghost stories, the power of this movie is demonstrated by what the filmmakers chose not to show us.
Most students in the movie are depressed and having difficulties of their own; those qualities are what make Yeogo goedam better than most of horror teen-flicks made in other countries.
Set in an all girls school(thought that might have got your attention)its the story of a class being haunted by the ghost of a classmate who dies in mysterious circumstances and seems to return every 3 years.It seems to be heading in obvious directions - Carrie one moment ,endless teen slasher movies the next but it neatly sidesteps these cliches and becomes something more interesting.Yes there are creepy corridor moments and a couple of spectacular deaths (that owe more than a nod in the direction of Suspria - as does the soundtrack)but it is fairly gripping throughout and there are some schocking scenes of male teachers beating the pupils - The Korean educaution Minisrty tried to get it banned.The ending is unexepected and quite enigmatic- so much so that I watched it 3 times (the ending that is) and am still not too sure.Well worth a look.
New teacher Eun-young Hur (Mi-yeon Lee) investigates, eventually discovering the shocking truth behind one pupil's mysterious past.Spooky Korean ghost story Whispering Corridors was released the same year as Hideo Nakata's Ringu, but unlike its Japanese counterpart, it failed to become an international hit and never received the dubious honour of a Hollywood remake.
To be honest, I find it easy to understand why: it's extremely slow moving and not very scary.That's not to say that there is nothing to like about the film: there's loads of lovely cinematography, quality acting, a haunting soundtrack, a nice array of easy-on-the-eye Korean cuties, and the story explores several interesting themes, including loss of friendship, coping with loneliness, and abuse of power.
Although the stories of the Whispering Corridor movies are independent of another, they all take place in girl schools where the students suffer from high pressure, competition - and from hauntings.
Whispering Corridors is a slow moving, but engrossing, ghost story set in an all-girl's school in Korea.
I wish I could point out one or two of the performances that really stand out, but I don't speak Korean and all the names look alike to me.Whispering Corridors probably wouldn't work for those not patient enough to allow the film to slowly unfold.
It has been remade in other countries, and it is the first installment of Whispering Corridors series which only related by its title and same settings in all-girls high school (which I remember I had seen some of the movies in the series, but none were amazing enough for me).The movie follows two MC, the student who aspires to be a painter and the new teacher that was a student there, both encounters mystery and terror as suddenly, people starts to disappears and died.For me, rather than crazily looking for new innovation in the genre, what's important is stick to the formula and plays it well.
The way the ghost terrorizing the school, the tone of the movie, the script, all's resemble what has been missing from current horror when they strive to be something innovative and cool.I recognized many scenes in the film is quite slow in dialogue (the dynamic between characters' speaking scenes are too slow to me), and that's what you usually encounter in similar (Asian) horror film.
If you have never witnessed a horror movie before, then Whispering Corridors will more than likely scare you.
Although Whispering Corridors contains elements that are quintessential to the horror genre, it works best as a character drama, shrouded by mystery and suspense, revealing to us the hardships of education, especially in South Korean culture, and the importance of friendship.Though released in 1998, Whispering Corridors has lost none of its poignancy, and though I was late to jump on board the Whispering Corridors franchise (none of the films were ever released in my country), the movie is surely one that should not be missed.
At the same time however, Whispering Corridors is able to grab your attention right from the opening scene, and refuses to let go, even after you've ejected the disc from your player.Eun-young (Mi-yeon Lee) is a teacher, only recently employed at the same all girls high school she attended as a student nine years earlier.
Her time there is far from normal after receiving an ominous phone call from her former home room teacher Mrs. Park, concerning her best childhood friend Jin-ju, who tragically died on campus, but is suspected of haunting school property.
By returning to her high school, Eun-young is able to witness how nothing has changed since her time as an adolescent, as she remembers past events, while taking Mrs. Park's final words to heart.
Asian horror movies love to set ghost stories in all-girl schools, since that gives the movie lots of eye candy for gore junkies who also like to ogle hot teens in school uniforms.
Like I said, it does really not a whole lot wrong and I think it actually was a very deliberate choice to not make this movie a standard, formulaic horror flick.
This however means that you first have to endure watching this movie for 90 minutes, or so, without getting an awful lot out of it.I just wasn't too impressed with the entire way the story before that point progressed.
It progressed in a very uninteresting way, without any well build up tension and mystery to it.And I for one would had preferred it if this movie would had taken a bit of a more standard horror approach at times.
I'm not too sure about it that the movie now will make lots of horror-fans happy.Still it seems like the movie is popular and also was a success at the time, at least in South Korea, since the movie has so far already 4 sequels.
The first part of the very loosely bound "Yeogo goedam" series that tell stories about supernatural events happening in Korean girl schools is the best one I have seen so far and easily beats the second and third part.This movie mixes everything a good psychological suspense movie needs.
After that, the film lets you on a mysterious and dark note and finishes the dark flick in a creepy way.The tension and atmosphere is always quite high in this movie.
The great acting and a few interesting revelations keep the tension high and develop the different characters.The only negative thing might be that the idea of such a movie is not quite new and that the final revelations could have been even more developed and surprising and I was expecting something more spectacular.
The movie is really entertaining and far better than the American high school horror movies.
You don't have to watch the sequels that are less impressive, but this first movie should be on your list if you like Asian cinema or high school suspense movies..
I found this to be a pretty boring ghost/horror movie overall, but it was a good start for it's time.
This really wasn't a scary movie, in fact the teachers in this were more frightening than the ghost, they act more scary than drill sergeants and the girl students seemed like they were in military school.
The movie was made in 1998, so I don't know how the school system was like back then, but I sure hope they toned it down a bit.
I have no doubt that this film is more intelligible to those who speak Korean but I was a bit lost at times and couldn't keep up with all the characters.The story is about the angry ghost of a dead student at an all-girl school who periodically turns up in the guise of someone new...or something.
I picked up "Whispering Corridors" hoping it would be as impressive as the other top notch South Korean horror movie that have come out over the past five years or so but have to say I was disappointed.
This movie takes the average Asian horror film plot and does nothing with it.
But it's long been rumored that the school has a ghost, and after a young replacement teacher, Eun-young, arrives, both rumors and strange occurrences gradually increase until more lives are threatened and a mystery is revealed.Whispering corridors is a typical Asian horror film in that it's relatively slow-paced much of the time and wide open to interpretation.
Most of the teachers are dealing with complicated relationships, as well, between each other and between themselves and students.Whispering Corridors is a complex, sometimes difficult (not negatively so) film that would surely reward multiple viewings.
Whispering Corridors is your typical ghost thriller/drama, and real blood thirsty, for some of the sicker members of society you'll enjoy the ear scene, you'll see.Anyways on with the plot, the film opens on a dark, rainy night in an all girls boarding school, a figure is seen standing in the rain, take a guess at who it could be, anyways the scene cuts to Mrs Park, AKA Old Fox, who also has a bad reputation amongst the school girls, shes speaking on the phone to Hur, Eun-Young, a new colleague and former student at the school, also Jin-Ju's best friend,She starts by saying "Jin-ju is definitely dead but she's still attending school!" Yet before she can explain what she means, she is attacked and killed, left hung in the school.The next day, two girls, a quiet, shy girl by the names of Youn, Jae-yi (Choi, Se-yeon) and a talented artist Lim, Ji-oh (Kim, Gyu-ri), attending their senior year and the new class monitors who have to be in early and make sure everything is clean before school starts, on their routine they meet Kim, Jung-sook (Yun, Ji-hye), a strange girl who is rumored to be possessed by the spirit of Jin-Ju, and the prime suspect for the murder, being the first one in the whole school.After discovering Mrs Park, the girls are told to keep the cause of death quiet, so inspectors and press don't bother the school, Ji-oh however is really disturbed by this and feels the need to paint a picture of Mrs Parks death, to get the image out of her head, but the painting is seen and she becomes banned from the art block.Rumors begin around the school that during the course of Jin-Ju's like she was abused and beaten by Mrs Park, and therefore her ghost had returned to get revenge on her, Mrs Park had been abusing her, on account of Jin-Ju's mother being a Psychic and a Shamen.In every school their a few who like to play around with oui-ji boards and a girl by the name of Park, So-young (Park, Jin-hie), persuades Ji-oh to hold a séance, to find out if Jin-ju is still around.The séance is broken up by a teacher, Mr Oh (Park, Young-Soo) who has the nickname, 'Mad Dog', as he is abusive, both physically and sexually, towards the female students, and no, their is no scenes of sex in the movie in case that put you off.Meanwhile, Jae-yi and Ji-oh have become good friends, and Jae-yi offers to help Ji-oh's painting skills grow, but as Ji-oh is banned form the art block, she suggests using the old shutdown art block of the school to paint, which are supposedly haunted,Wil Jin-Ju's spirit take revenge on the abusive 'Mad Dog', and why is Eun-young having visions of her old best friend Jin-Ju?
and whats with the sound of bells ringing around the school?, will these 3 be able to solve the mystery before Jin-Ju strikes again?Though if your looking for a film that has "s**t yourself silly" moments around every corner like 'Ju-On - The Grudge' or 'Ringu', then you wont find it here, although the scenes with Jin-Ju are very affective, theirs just not enough of this young ghost to keep you scared for very long.Yet this film manages to hold its own and was one of Koreas biggest box office hits of '98', with chills, not so much around every corner, but enough to keep you interested and lots of blood, this film IMO is one of the better Asian films to delight my eyes.
Having seen so many Asian horror films in recent months, I expected Whispering Corridors to be a lot scarier than it was, but I was still impressed with the consistently creepy mood that permeated the film.
The movie borrows a lot from the horror films that have been pouring out of Japan and doesn't necessarily cover much new ground but is still a pretty entertaining thriller.
At the end when we learn that the ghost's job was to fill the empty seats, it seemed to me that the movie was making a crack about Asian people looking so similar.
She's pressing hard enough to draw blood and she says something like, "The bloodshed must stop!" Overall there are not a lot of memorably scary moments, but it is an interesting film that gives some insight into some of the surprising teaching methods practiced in Korea as well as a fairly interesting story.
**Some spoilers in this comment**South Korean movie "Whispering Corridors" is a horror movie which is not scary enough.
At the climax an average-looking school girl apparition, who was in no way scary, appeared and explained the motivation behind the haunting.
How can the average-looking female ghost in "Whispering Corridors" measure up to Jin-hee of "Phone?" The only matter of note in this movie was the incredible brutality of the Korean teachers.
Creepy Korean high school ghost story avoids most clichés.
WHISPERING CORRIDORS is a pretty interesting South Korean ghost story, set in a girl's school haunted by the spirit of a dead student.
There's no long-haired, white-faced girl ghost here, just a melancholy spirit with a knack for bumping off brutal teachers in increasingly violent ways.The film is full of atmosphere.
At least there was one scary scene showing Jin-Ju attacking Mad Dog. This movie really shows the school system in Korea very well.
The social aspect of Korean schools in this film is interesting and done well, and it is creepy, but I watched it alone and it didn't really scare me at all.