Whispering Corridors IV – Review

Young-eon is hearing a strange voice. When she follows a creepy silhouette, which is walking the school’s corridors, she suddenly gets attacked by it. The next day Young-eon has to find out that she has become a ghost and can’t leave the school building. The only person, who at least can hear Young-eon’s voice is Sun-min. Her best friend doesn’t want to believe that Young-eon is dead, at first, and moreover is very scared by the voice of her friend. However, as time goes on, she tries to cope with the new situation and wants to help her dead friend to find her murderer. Whispering Corridors IV: The Voice has the most lavish budget in the series and delivers a stylish, bloody ghost story.

The 4 films are linked by similar themes rather than by ongoing characters. Each film is set in a girls’s high school ‘with a history’, with a story that involves suicide, lesbian relationships, and schoolgirls haunted by their dead friends. This film is getting reviewed particularly because I haven’t seen parts II & III and part I didn’t really do much for me. Granted, I’m not big on horror films because honestly, I don’t get scared…ever. The only time I ever jump in a horror movie is when there is a long stream of silence and then the person jumps out of nowhere and the music is blazing trumpets and startles everyone.  Thats a cheap trick and doesn’t give any genuine scare tactics.  Finding your grandmother’s underwear in your soup would probably freak the hell out of you a lot more than this.

There are some startling death scenes and some extensive FX to depict the various complications of being dead, for instance, the ghost girl being confined to the school. These are ambitious and imaginatively done, but look more scientific than spiritual, as if the afterlife were a natural phenomenon. It feels as though this was quite a rush job, with even the special effects being inconsistent and lacking finesse. Let’s take for example that the character is a ghost, why then do we see gaffs in the form of reflections, shadows and the like when at the very beginning she notices she doesn’t have either?

All in all, the horror factor is only decent as the rest of the film proves. Nevertheless, the wrapping of the film is just right. The lighting of certain scenes is very good and the music with its various choral pieces reminds us of the great soundtrack and is therefore a well done sequel of this very drama-like horror series. It all helps the story take some startling turns and makes for a very different and eventful modern ghost story. The film falters a little towards the end, as the climax is a little drawn out. But if you’re after horror, Japan Cinema recommends this as the main film in the series to watch.