Once again, here we go with another big write-up on the site after out last post, and we're going to do this entry differently than the last regular post. Today, we're only going to be looking at one specific section of ghost hauntings that occur within the genre, namely haunted schools.
So, there's a bit of reasoning that must be explained here before we go on. Why am I doing a whole blog on this subject looking into ghost-cursed schools? Well, frankly the answer is quantity, in that there are so many entries out there that it's foolish on my end to do a version of this one placed under the previous entry which had a lot of content already. Looking below at the list of films to cover, it's understandable to continue this one on in a new edition.
So, this post is going to be a little different. Rather than go through the films like I had done previously where it's simply a look at the films in chronological order (that approach is not all that appealing in this sense as the majority of the films are relatively close to release order to each other where they all seem to be influenced by each other and it's all so jumbled and confusing) there's no real need to go through the films like that. Instead, since this whole experience is overwhelmingly Asian in execution that I figure it'd be easy to go through this in a slightly different manner. We're going to look at the films by specific countries just for this special post.
So, even though this one may skip a country or so, let's get this going. First, we're going to look at three in particular:
Japan:
It should come as no surprise that a country famous for its portrayals of mini-skirted school girls should be at the forefront of this movement, and in fact, they're the first ones to bring about the inclusion of the genre. To give an idea how much the culture utilizes the concept, the year 1995 kick-starts this in a grandiose manner unheard of with three major titles released relatively close to each other where they all attempt to introduce different elements in each film. High School Ghostbusters (Haisukûru gôsutobasutâzu), for example, introduces a level of adult-themed camp that features plenty going on beyond the supernatural antics in its tale of three women forced into action when a curse unleashes not only amorous ghosts that possess the remaining female student body but a horde of other creatures upon their local high school.
The other two films, though, are far more prominent and showcase different elements. Each of these, in fact, produced a series of films afterward showcasing even more in this style. The first film, School for Ghosts (Gakkô no kaidan), is aimed far more at a child audience with the setting being an elementary school and featuring family-friendly thrills in its tale of children investigating the legend of a haunted wing in their school finding it to be filled with ghosts. That film by itself is more responsible for the country's outpouring as a wave of films appeared in its wake, with three direct theatrical sequels appearing in 1996, 1997 and 1999. Moreover, the success of these films at the theaters inspired two television adaptations in between the gap releases in 1997 and 1998, the latter film being especially important being the official launch of the Ju-On franchise but which will be covered when we get to that franchise.
However, back in 1995, we need to mention one more film that appeared in this monumental year. This is the film School Mystery (Toire no Hanako-san), ironically also based on the same urban legend that inspired the original School for Ghosts mentioned in the paragraph above. That means it's mostly a kiddie film that goes for prepubescent adventure and thrills rather than more hardcore horror setups despite both adopting the Japanese urban legend featuring a student who committed suicide in the bathroom and in turn haunting the school. The popularity of this story in the Japanese public is so intense that there's a slew of knock-offs and rip-offs that explored the story further. Appearing the next year was Hanako-san in the Toilet Room: Terror Schoolhouse (Toire no Hanako-san: Kyoufu kousha) while 1997 saw Hanako-san in the Toilet Room: Mystery of the Missing Girl (Toire no Hanako-san: Kieta Shojou no Himistu) arrive. Now, 1998 brought out another straightforward adaptation with School Mystery: Rebirth of Hanako (Shinsei toire no Hanako-san; Rebirth of Hanako-san in the Toilet Room) that offers more of an adult take on the story with the action switching to a higher-grade level with the girls off investigating the curse at the center of the film. It would take until the middle part of the 2000's until another adaptation arrived with Urban Legend in the School: Hanako-san in the Toilet (Gakkou no toshi densetsu: Toilet no Hanako-san) also offering a more adult-level take on the story and it set the stage for a continuation of the original series of Hanako films. It was resurrected in 2011 with Beginning of Toire no Hanako-san which is set as a prequel of sorts recalling the fateful events that led to Hanako actually killing herself and getting the curse rolling. 2013 saw another continuation with Toire no Hanako-san: Shin Gekijôban and set the stage for the most recent effort Toire no Hanako-san: Hanako vs. Yôsuke in 2016. Even more impressive than all these titles are the endless list of TV show episodes, mangas, animes and novelizations of the story which would be enough for another blog post itself.
Now, it would seem likely that a plethora of similar titles would emerge following such success, and indeed a slew of cash-ins do emerge. Not only do we see an explosion of films based on the setting take place in other genres which has no place here as we're discussing ghost movies, we see that crop up in films like Psychic School Wars (Gakkou ga abundai!) which showed up shortly afterward in 1996, while the following year sees Ghost School: Teacher Mako’s Head (Reikai gakkô: Mako sensei no kubi) appear. 2001 features A Frightful School Horror (Kyôfu gakuen) while several years later in 2005 a double act appears in the form of the films Pray (Purei) and That Seat (Asoko no seki) that in turn shows the rebirth of the franchises that inspired those films since we see the Hanako series resurrected shortly after those were released. Now, the most recent effort is the 2014 effort Haunted School: The Curse of the Word Spirit (Gakkou no kaidan: Noroi no kotodama) which is the latest showing to take place here and finally closes the book temporarily on the country's genre exploits.
Thailand:
Perhaps the most surprising country here in terms of providing genre efforts is our next offering as we journey to Thailand for what is a surprisingly healthy offering of films. So obviously inspired by the success of a film we'll cover below in South Korea, our first look here is the 2006 effort Dorm (Dek hor), which continually showcases more foreign influences than what would come to be known from Thai efforts to come but still contains enough elements to be a noteworthy start.
However, it would be the next film that far more encapsulates the local tone and feel which is the massively successful 2007 effort Hor taew tak, known internationally as Haunting Me. Featuring lady-boys as the main heroes involved in trying to find the source of a series of ghostly incidents at a local boarding school that they're in charge of, the effort mixed the local Thai cultures' fascination with drag queens with their traditional over-the-top slapstick comedy to create a unique experience that could only come from the country. The film was an enormous success, launching several follow-up entries in the series starting with Hor taew tak 2 in 2009, retitled Oh, My Ghosts! for international distribution. Parts 3 and 4 arrived in 2011 and 2012 respectively which are mostly unrelated sequels that essentially replay the formula of the original in featuring drag-queens forced into action to determine why ghosts are haunting their local school or dormitory featuring plenty of slapstick humor and silly puns that constitute the majority of comedy in Thai cinemas. The most recent feature, Hor Taew Tak Hake Na Ka was released in 2015 and again signals more of the same for the franchise so it speaks to the popularity of the set-up in its home country.
Now, running concurrently to this franchise is more traditional and straightforward horror efforts that bring ghosts haunting a school to Thai screens. Released in 2009, Haunted Universities (Mahalai sayongkwan) arrived in the other big Thailand-based genre point in the anthology format this was originally part 3 based on the popular Bangkok Haunted series. That is another big part of the genre in the country where anthologies are extremely popular in the cinemas there, and this one follows in that footstep by taking the format into the school to tell it's interconnected tales. That format is seen in efforts like Last Summer (Ruedoo ron nan chan tai), Ghost is All Around (11-12-13 Rak Kan Ja Tai) and Midnight University (Mahalai Tiang Kuen) all appearing after 2011. Seeing as how the county by itself has produced four ghosts-haunting-a-school anthology films in less than ten years while some countries have struggled to even produced that many films in the setting in the first place, it speaks to the long-standing appeal of the format in Thailand when you realize there are other anthologies alongside these.
Alongside the anthologies mentioned above, other Thai school-hauntings appeared which capitalized on the formula. 2013 sees the release of Make Me Shudder (Mo 6/5 pak ma tha phi) which offers a variation of the Hanako-san myth discussed earlier featuring students investigating an urban legend about a haunted wing of their school and finding it to be true but spiced up with the usual Thai brand of slapstick humor that's predominate in their cinema. A box-office smash, it spawned two sequels in consecutive years which are mostly unrelated except for the returning characters in new adventures but don't carry on the storyline of the first. It also rejuvenated the genre with all the anthologies featured here as the country offered up the efforts Senior (Run Phee), Haunted School (Rong Rian Phee), School Tales and Siam Square showing up within the last two years, the latter two within months of each other in 2017 no less, speaking to the genres' popularity in the country.
The last prominent country worth talking about here is another obvious choice here considering the number of titles to take in here. Now, they may have been the second country to start up their inclusion of genre titles but it's not entirely as prolific as what appeared in the previous two countries so it comes in here at the bottom. However, the start of their films indeed comes to a great start with one of the biggest and most prominent series in the genre beginning with the 1998 classic Whispering Corridors (Yeogo goedam), surely a South Korean take on the Hanako and School of Ghosts films appearing in Japan during that same time. This is a hugely influential and impactful film in the Asian school-ghost type of films and in fact actually spawned such a massive following that the South Korean brand of films as it launched a loose franchise that will be explored later on but for the sake of completion here include the titles Memento Mori (Yeogo goedam II), Wishing Stairs (Yeogo goedam 3: Yeowoo gyedan), Voice (Yeogo goedam 4: Moskori) and finally A Blood Pledge: Broken Promise (Yeogo gaidam 5: Dongban jasal), which again I'll cover at a later point of the blog.
Now, it's the international success of the third film, Wishing Stairs, that is almost as important as the local success of the first film did in launching the series as that film brought about the next wave of films in the style both foreign and domestic. Appearing first is Ouija Board (Bunshinsaba) in 2004, which takes a great spin on the style of films here where it offers plenty of harder edged attacks than what came before, putting a brutality to the kills committed here. While not actually set at a school which is a big part of being included here yet since it's a film about schoolgirls so it does need to be brought up is a film released at the same time in Deadly Friend (Ryeong), which is important in the storyline sense but not actually set there as it plays more in-league with the crop of South Korean ghost efforts coming out around the same time.
Getting back to school, 2008 saw the return to form with the standout effort Death Bell (Gosa) which furthered the brutality featured in Bunshinsaba by going for a stylized sort of Torture Slasher approach to the kill-scenes inspired by the US success of the Saw franchise and other titles appearing at that time. It inspired a sequel two years later which was more of the same in terms of brutality. Several other films arrived in the interim that may have also been set at a school, but the only ones worth mentioning as pertaining to our discussion here include the efforts Be with Me (Gwi) in 2009 and Mourning Grave (Sonyeogoedam) in 2014, the most recent effort in our countdown.
Other Asian efforts:
Now while those three countries are all certainly deserving of being highlighted, several other countries did pop up with a few entries throughout the years. Inspired by the success of the Hanako-san and School for Ghosts series, Hong Kong tried its hand at the style with There’s a Ghost in the Boy’s Room (Gwai gam goh yan) in 1999 but bringing a slightly more adult tone to the material rather than the straightforward kiddie approach of the previous films. Being a box-office bomb, it stands to reason why the only other effort from the genre arrived nearly a decade later in 2007 with The Haunted School (Hau mo chu) which is a slightly better offering but is still highly troubling.
Shortly afterward, Indonesia jumped into the fray with The Ghost Oath at My School (Sumpah pocong di sekolah) in 2008, and while it's not nearly indicative of the style of work explored in the country does serve as a nice enough effort here to serve as a precursor to the later film Dilarang Masuk! which was released in 2016 and proved to be a much more popular effort. In between these efforts, the only other Asian film here was the Chinese effort Inside the Girls (Nu Sheng Su She) in 2014 which rounds out our look at these films in Asia.
Elsewhere Around the World:
And so, we come to our last write-up here, which finds us going for the remaining films out in the genre. Now, despite the fact that the first part of the blog dealt with the films found in Asia, the genre didn't actually start there although it does still revolve around a foreign market. We officially kick things off with the 1968 Mexican classic Even the Wind is Afraid (Hasta al viento tiene miedo), featuring a group of women staying at a boarding school find it's haunted by a ghost of a previous student who died there. One of the finest films of the classic age of Mexican cinema, this is a far classier and more respectful film than would be expected to come from that time-period which can't be said ironically for the 2007 remake that left a lot to be desired.
However, despite all the goodwill the original provided in launching the genre, it took a little over thirty years for another film in the style to arrive. One of the more overlooked films in his filmography, Guillermo del Toro also offered the next outing with The Devil's Backbone, another foreign outing featuring a similar storyline about young boys discovering a ghost haunts their dormitory but took a decidedly different approach by blending in a historical baseline during the Spanish Civil War. Not one of his mandatory efforts but still worthwhile regardless, it sets the stage for the film US film to come out in Hangman’s Curse, an adaptation of a Frank Peretti novel featuring a group of teens investigating a suicide case in their case which brings them into contact with a ghost potentially haunting the school. Somewhat more of a mystery/thriller than full-on horror given its Christian overtones, the fact that it still features a ghost in a school makes it a worthy mention.
Now, the following year in 2004, it took the foreign countries to once again produce more genre efforts as the interim between the Japanese and South Korean film-series is placated by efforts from unexpected places. The first one up is the Swedish effort Drowning Ghost (Strandvaskaren), about a student unearthing new facts about a famous haunting case in her college and suddenly finding herself and her friends under attack by a vicious ghost. Likewise, the Turkish effort School (Okül) also appeared in that year and brought somewhat of a comedic bent to the genre which was also touched upon by the Asian efforts.
It would take a few extra years for another US effort to appear, which was somewhat of a signal as to what the genre was going to be like for the next few years. Another double-team of efforts appeared in 2006, the first being Séance followed by The Woods, which does have its supporters but is still more of an underground effort. Likewise, the other underground films to appear shortly afterward resulted in Hellementary: A Lesson in Terror, Detention and The Awakening all coming together in just a few years time.
Now, ironically 2012 quite a banner year surprisingly which saw several releases. The SyFy Channel put out two entries that year alone with the films Ghostquake although it premiered as Haunted High on the channel and the effort Sorority Horror House which also got a different broadcast name premiering as American Horror House on the station. Not exactly priority viewing but still worth a look for those wanting more from SyFy than killer shark films or disaster efforts they usually air, and especially due to the fact that these two films are from the same channel output in the same year. As well, the film Saturday Morning Mystery or Saturday Morning Massacre also appears, which is perhaps far more of a Scooby-Doo rip-off than you would think it'd be.
Now, all this doesn't really change the fact that this setting isn't all that popular due to the sheer lack of familiarity with these titles nor the fact that the few chances to improve the settings' viewpoint results in efforts like The Gallows being released that also ends up being the most recent and ends us on our retrospective for the time being. Again not being all that impressive an effort and signaling the end of the genre here in America, it seems most likely that we'll have to look to Asia to provide the best work in this genre.
And that closes this part of the write-up, which we'll conclude next time. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you all then.
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