WHISPERING CORRIDORS

Nothing much really happens in this Korean horror flick about an all-girl school that is being terrorised by the ghost of a former pupil who had committed suicide there several years ago after being ostracized by both her peer group and the school's teachers.

Things kick off promisingly though with a teacher discovering some secret about said pupil. Of course she does this late at night at the deserted school during an electrical school. Needless to say she is soon killed off by a supernatural presence in the guise of one of the girl pupils. What breathless discovery did she make? All is revealed at the end of the movie, but the chances are that you'd have a hard time figuring out just what the heck it is since by then things have degenerated into such a series of subplots and flashbacks that, while you'll catch the overall gist of it all, you'll be hard-pressed to explain any specifics.

The marketing blurbs at the back of the DVD cover proclaim that Whispering Corridors kick-started the current Asian horror flick explosion we are seeing, but that is rather difficult to swallow even though the movie did inspire two sequels.

THE DISC: Not much in terms of extras: just a photo gallery and some trailers for other Asia Extreme releases by Tartan (such as A Snake of June, which was surprisingly good). Movie is in wide-screen. Image and sound is adequate, but not really fantastic.

WORTH IT? Asian horror movie fans would probably want to check out Whispering Corridors to see the movie which the South Korean authorities actually tried to ban because of its portrayal of the all-girl school as a cesspit of abuse, brutality and repression (which sounds pretty much like my own school education).

RECOMMENDATION: A rental if you're into this sort of thing.