Whispering Corridors is a 1998South Koreansupernatural horror film. It was part of the explosion in Korean cinema following the liberalization of censorship in the aftermath of the end of the country's military dictatorship, and makes a strong social commentary on authoritarianism and conformity in the harsh South Korean education system. This film is the first installment of the Whispering Corridorsfilm series, and was followed by four sequels, though none of the sequels share a continuing plot or characters with each other.
Plot
In an all-female high school in South Korea, the Jookran High School for Girls, a homeroom teacher Mrs. Park, nicknamed "Old Fox" due to her sadistic method of teaching, circles several points in the students' yearbooks and calls her new fellow teacher, Hur Eun-young, who was her former student, that "Jin-ju, is definitely dead, but still attending school". Moments later, she is strangled with a noose by an unknown figure, her body discovered by three new senior students: the talented, superstitious artist Lim Ji-oh; the timid outsider, Yoon Jae-yi; and the sullen, unpopular Kim Jung-sook. Their now-replacement teacher is the cruel, abusive Mr. Oh, nicknamed "Mad Dog", who likes to give corporal punishments to his students, as well as harassing the class' top scorer, Park So-young. The discovery of Mrs. Park's body deeply impacts Ji-oh and 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, agrees to teach her painting at the storage room, which is rumored to be haunted. Ji-oh sees that So-young goes there to hide her smoking habit. 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 her, though Ji-oh tells her that they were given Jae-yi. One night, Mr. Oh is terrorized by Jin-ju and killed by stabbing. The next night, Ji-oh finds Jung-sook and So-young bickering, ending with So-young storming out. Jung-sook commits suicide in a manner similar to Mrs. Park's: hanging herself by a noose. So-young tearfully reveals to Eun-young that she used to be close to Jung-sook, but the teachers started comparing them and they drifted apart, with Jung-sook growing bitter and withdrawn. While painting, Ji-oh discovers a statue created by Eun-young for Jin-ju, as well as Mr. Oh's body. Jin-ju died in the storeroom while trying to save the statue; as it fell, she tripped, and everything came down, including the sculpting knives, which ultimately killed her. Eun-young learns from the yearbooks that since then, Jin-ju has entered the school year after year, posing as false students. She is currently posing as Jae-yi. Eun-young is confronted by an enraged Jae-yi/Jin-ju. Before Jin-ju can kill her, Ji-oh arrives and asks her to rest in peace. Jin-ju says that all she wanted was to live a normal high school life and have someone who could love her fearlessly as Eun-young couldn't. Jin-ju disappears after Ji-oh and Eun-young promise that they will correct the misgivings and that they will never forget her. The blood pouring down and smeared out of the walls while Eun-young and Ji-oh, tired, sit in the room, with Ji-oh resting her head in Eun-young's lap. 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 as she turns around, it is revealed that she is Jung-sook's ghost.
With the rise of Korean film industry, a demand for commercially oriented films was made. Horror films were generally absent from South Korea throughout the 1980s and due to the genres low production costs, it led to independent companies such as Cine 2000 to work in the genre. Whispering Corridors cost US $600,000 to make and was completed with only 28 set-ups.
Release
Whispering Corridors was released in May 30, 1998 in South Korea. It was a surprise hit in South Korea, where it ranked third in the highest grossing domestically produced films of the year. The film was only beaten by A Promise and The Letter. The film was followed by four sequels: Memento Mori, Wishing Stairs, Voice, and A Blood Pledge. In October 2015, it was announced that a Chinese-language remake of Whispering Corridors was in development and to be directed by Zhen Qin. Production is set to be handled by Beijing-based Beautiful Creative Force Culture Media, October Pictures’ Seoul branch, and the original franchise’s production house Cine2000. The film was set for a 2016 release. In 2020, The Guardian ranked it number 10 among the classics of modern South Korean Cinema.
