After a tragic accident, a young ballerina and her friends at an exclusive boarding school are tormented by a malicious spirit when one of the students discovers a legendary wish-granting staircase on campus.
When this one really wanted to, there was some good stuff here. One of the biggest points here is that the central premise to this is rather nice, and appears to go much deeper than it seems at first glance. It appears to be a set of events unleashed by a wish gone wrong, but the difference is the inclusion of the titular stairs acting as a catalyst rather than just having the ghost appear otherwise. It works in a nice explanatory back-story as well that gives it another distinctive flavor by mixing in the mythological with the rational and makes it effective. There's also some really nice haunting scenes mainly during the middle segments with the few short ghostly hauntings which are great at building suspense which include the one where real eyes appear in a clay model at art class or the ghost visits one in the bathroom by constantly changing which mirror they're shown in. That is thankfully made-up for with a longer, later sequence that starts off nicely with a creepy bloody shower scene before showing the dorm losing lights amidst a sea of ghostly flashes twirling around while performing a ballet routine in perhaps the best sequence in the film. The main sequence where it goes after the dance-class members in the dorm is quite well-done as well and rather creepy as the atmosphere during most of these scenes makes this quite enjoyable and highly entertaining. Along with being another entry in the Asian ghost genre where this features the utterly creepy fully- covered face and pale features and some rather impressive kills, these here are what make the film enjoyable although there was a couple points about this one that managed to hold it down. Frankly, the biggest problem with this one is the fact that there's so many different subplots going on that it really makes the film quite long and dull- feeling at times due to the excessive amount of time spent on the various different subplots that aren't all that great. It's really not all that exciting to showcase the lesbian vibe here between the two leads, as it's nothing more than a tease and the scenes featuring them aren't really all that interesting, and the film's numerous scenes of them in dance class or at competitions aren't even close to be interesting or exciting which just drags the beginning of this out to the point that it's irritating waiting for it to get going and actually do something during these times, as it doesn't really have much else going for it. Another big plot that doesn't do much is the storyline with the slightly overweight member, as this is the definition of a go- nowhere plot since it doesn't factor into the film's outcome at all, is so obvious where it's heading the shock doesn't register and eats up valuable time during the period of time that's supposedly building up to the finale which could've been much better. The last flaw to this one is that the ending here is a little confusing, as the encounter in the dance hall and resulting chase are built around one person while the revelation out at the stairs proves otherwise, making it a little confusing. These here are what hold it down.
Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language.
When this one really wanted to, there was some good stuff here. One of the biggest points here is that the central premise to this is rather nice, and appears to go much deeper than it seems at first glance. It appears to be a set of events unleashed by a wish gone wrong, but the difference is the inclusion of the titular stairs acting as a catalyst rather than just having the ghost appear otherwise. It works in a nice explanatory back-story as well that gives it another distinctive flavor by mixing in the mythological with the rational and makes it effective. There's also some really nice haunting scenes mainly during the middle segments with the few short ghostly hauntings which are great at building suspense which include the one where real eyes appear in a clay model at art class or the ghost visits one in the bathroom by constantly changing which mirror they're shown in. That is thankfully made-up for with a longer, later sequence that starts off nicely with a creepy bloody shower scene before showing the dorm losing lights amidst a sea of ghostly flashes twirling around while performing a ballet routine in perhaps the best sequence in the film. The main sequence where it goes after the dance-class members in the dorm is quite well-done as well and rather creepy as the atmosphere during most of these scenes makes this quite enjoyable and highly entertaining. Along with being another entry in the Asian ghost genre where this features the utterly creepy fully- covered face and pale features and some rather impressive kills, these here are what make the film enjoyable although there was a couple points about this one that managed to hold it down. Frankly, the biggest problem with this one is the fact that there's so many different subplots going on that it really makes the film quite long and dull- feeling at times due to the excessive amount of time spent on the various different subplots that aren't all that great. It's really not all that exciting to showcase the lesbian vibe here between the two leads, as it's nothing more than a tease and the scenes featuring them aren't really all that interesting, and the film's numerous scenes of them in dance class or at competitions aren't even close to be interesting or exciting which just drags the beginning of this out to the point that it's irritating waiting for it to get going and actually do something during these times, as it doesn't really have much else going for it. Another big plot that doesn't do much is the storyline with the slightly overweight member, as this is the definition of a go- nowhere plot since it doesn't factor into the film's outcome at all, is so obvious where it's heading the shock doesn't register and eats up valuable time during the period of time that's supposedly building up to the finale which could've been much better. The last flaw to this one is that the ending here is a little confusing, as the encounter in the dance hall and resulting chase are built around one person while the revelation out at the stairs proves otherwise, making it a little confusing. These here are what hold it down.
Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language.