Whispering Corridors

The highest grossing Korean film of its year, a gory supernatural thriller set in a high school for girls. Teachers who have maltreated pupils meet grisly deaths one by one; eventually pupil-turned-teacher Eun-Young (Lee Mi-Yeon, from Motel Cactus) consults the old yearbooks and realises that the vengeful ghost of a suicide is regularly re-manifesting herself. Carrie-like menstruation metaphors count for less than the underlying critique of the Korean education system, which is what made the film such a hot item on domestic release. As Park's debut feature (after the excellent short Great Pretenders), it's a little disappointing that so much of it is so generic. But it has enough flair to suggest interesting work ahead.