The social context is once again played in the class rooms of South Korean horror, Wishing Stairs bases itself on the concept of human misunderstands, fretted relationships and troubled times, if not minds. Human ecology is the main teachings, concerning these young ladies here, that intertwines love, jealousy, rivalry, hate and of course, wishful thinking.
Jae-yeon Yun's, this being her first movie, and containing a smattering of horrors past, work here is highly commendable. It delivers a purposely-built crescendo in a pace that honours this Asian genre well, not in a rush to over excite but to keep us near to the truth of the matter. That as life beats its perpetual heart the coming to terms with its perplexities and dealings are never going to be a free ride and at some point the inevitable human spirit shall once again torment itself beyond its capabilities of sanity.
To counteract this movies pace, we are dealt with what seems a horror noir, albeit in the visual sense, dark and menacing, though not threatening, Wishing Stairs still has the power and charisma to startle and disturb. With imaginative cinematography from Seo Jeong-min, his use of contrasting both light and dark is compelling viewing, set against the score of one Gong Myeong-ah this combination of both sight and sound can at times have the nerve endings jumping and twitching.
The social consequence of the complexities of human interaction are shown to us in a manner that has our actions, in this case negative actions, producing negative results, when one wishes for ones own personnel gain, then one will expect to personally pay the price. Wishing Stairs pays homage to this principle of emotional turmoil, via a beautiful and strong development of its characters long before we see retribution and mayhem that plummets deep into the abyss of madness.
Jae-yeon Yun's, this being her first movie, and containing a smattering of horrors past, work here is highly commendable. It delivers a purposely-built crescendo in a pace that honours this Asian genre well, not in a rush to over excite but to keep us near to the truth of the matter. That as life beats its perpetual heart the coming to terms with its perplexities and dealings are never going to be a free ride and at some point the inevitable human spirit shall once again torment itself beyond its capabilities of sanity.
To counteract this movies pace, we are dealt with what seems a horror noir, albeit in the visual sense, dark and menacing, though not threatening, Wishing Stairs still has the power and charisma to startle and disturb. With imaginative cinematography from Seo Jeong-min, his use of contrasting both light and dark is compelling viewing, set against the score of one Gong Myeong-ah this combination of both sight and sound can at times have the nerve endings jumping and twitching.
The social consequence of the complexities of human interaction are shown to us in a manner that has our actions, in this case negative actions, producing negative results, when one wishes for ones own personnel gain, then one will expect to personally pay the price. Wishing Stairs pays homage to this principle of emotional turmoil, via a beautiful and strong development of its characters long before we see retribution and mayhem that plummets deep into the abyss of madness.