The Wailing (2016 film)

The Wailing is a 2016 South Korean horror film written and directed by Na Hong-jin and starring Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min and Chun Woo-hee. The film centers on a policeman who investigates a series of mysterious killings and illnesses in a remote Korean village in order to save his daughter. The film was both a commercial and critical success.

Plot
A mysterious Japanese man arrives in Gokseong, a small village in the mountains of South Korea. Soon after, a bizarre infection breaks out, causing villagers to become deranged and violently kill their families. Officer Jong-goo's daughter, Hyo-jin, becomes one of the possessed. Jong-goo then meets a mysterious young woman named Moo-myeong, who claims the Japanese man is an evil spirit. A local hunter reports seeing the Japanese stranger with glowing red eyes eating a deer carcass. After a series of disturbing events and violent deaths, Jong-goo enlists the help of a Japanese-speaking deacon, Yang I-sam. They investigate the stranger’s house, discovering a shrine with photos and belongings of the murdered villagers, including Hyo-jin’s shoe.

As Hyo-jin's condition worsens, Jong-goo confronts the stranger, ordering him to leave the village. Jong-goo’s family discovers a dead goat hanging at their gate, and Hyo-jin stabs their neighbor to death. A shaman named Il-gwang is consulted, who claims the Japanese stranger is a demon and performs a death-hex ritual. Jong-goo stops the ritual midway, taking Hyo-jin to the hospital. The next day, Jong-goo and his companions hunt down the stranger but are attacked by the reanimated corpse of another victim, giving the stranger time to flee. They eventually kill him, and Hyo-jin's health improves.

Il-gwang encounters Moo-myeong and vomits blood. After his ritual fails, he leaves town in terror but a swarm of flying insects stops him. He calls Jong-goo, warning that Moo-myeong is the real demon, and the stranger is a shaman who was trying to kill her. Meanwhile, Yang I-sam receives news that his uncle Oh Seong-bok has killed his family. Hyo-jin then disappears. Jong-goo meets Moo-myeong, who claims the stranger is still alive. She has set a trap for the demon, and Il-gwang is secretly cooperating with him. Jong-goo notices she is wearing items of the victims, including his daughter's hairpin. Believing this to be proof that she is responsible, he returns home, nullifying Moo-myeong's trap.

At the same time, Yang I-sam returns to the stranger's house and finds him, alive inside a cave. The stranger photographs Yang I-sam, then assumes his true appearance—that of the red-eyed demon, bearing stigmata. At home, Jong-goo discovers that Hyo-jin has murdered his wife and mother-in-law; she then attacks him. Il-gwang arrives and takes photographs of Jong-goo's dead family as Hyo-jin sits in a trance and Jong-goo lies dying.

Deleted ending
In a deleted scene at the end, the Japanese man is seen sitting on a bench by the roadside. He spots a family on the road and entices a child to him by offering her candy. The mom picks up the child before she reaches the stranger. Il-gwang arrives to pick up the Japanese man. Moo-myeong witnesses the car fading away on the horizon.

Cast

 * Kwak Do-won as Jong-goo, policeman and father of Hyo-Jin.
 * Hwang Jung-min as Il-gwang, a shaman hired to protect the village.
 * Chun Woo-hee as Moo-myung, the woman in white.
 * Jun Kunimura as a Japanese stranger.
 * Kim Hwan-hee as Hyo-jin, Jong-goo's daughter.
 * Her Jin as Jong-goo's mother-in-law.
 * Jang So-yeon as Jong-goo's wife.
 * Kim Do-yoon as Yang I-sam, a Japanese-speaking deacon.
 * Son Gang-guk as Oh Seong-bok, Jong-goo's police partner.
 * Park Sung-yeon as Kwon Myeong-joo.
 * Kil Chang-gyoo as Park Choon-bae
 * Jeon Bae-soo as Deok-gi.
 * Jeong Mi-nam as Heung-gook.
 * Choi Gwi-hwa as Byeong-gyoo.
 * Lee Seon-hee as Byeong-gyu's wife.
 * Jo Yeon-hee as Bar hostess.
 * Baek Seung-cheol as Friend.
 * Kwon Hyeok-joon as Friend.
 * Park Chae-ik as Friend.
 * Kim Gi-cheon as Dispatch captain.
 * Yoo Soon-woong as Chief of police.
 * Jo Han-cheol as Detective 1.
 * Kim Song-il as Police.
 * Bae Yong-geun as Police.
 * Im Jae-il as Police.
 * Lee In-cheol as Father.
 * Jo Seon-joo as Bar hostess.
 * Lee Chang-hoon as Doctor.
 * Kim Ji-won as Nurse.

Release
The Wailing was released in South Korea on 12 May 2016. The film was shown in the Out of Competition section at the Cannes Film Festival in France on 18 May and was released in the United States on 27 May.

Critical response
The Wailing received widespread critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 99% and an average rating of 8/10, based on 82 critical reviews. The site's critics consensus reads, "The Wailing delivers an atmospheric, cleverly constructed mystery whose supernatural thrills more than justify its imposing length." On review aggregator website Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Jada Yuan of Vulture.com described the film as "operating on a level that makes most American cinema seem clunky and unimaginative". Anton Bitel of Little White Lies commented "By turns funny and despairing, this village noir brings the horror of uncertainty." Leah Pickett of Chicago Reader stated "the film justifies its epic length, meshing ancient east Asian mythology and rituals (village gods, exorcisms by shamans) with more recognizable horror tropes (demonic possession, zombification, the devil represented by a black dog and rams' heads) in a way that feels novel and unpredictable. The actors are uniformly strong..." Phil Hoad of The Guardian wrote "The layers of dissembling and self-dissembling pile up so thickly that not only does Na evidently touch on something integral about the nature of evil, but actually seems to be in the process of summoning it before your eyes." Financial Times's Nigel Andrews wrote "Very crazy, very Korean, very long: 156 minutes of murder, diabolism, exorcism and things that go bump by day and night". Clark Collins of Entertainment Weekly gave the film B+ grade, stating "Despite its epic length, The Wailing never bores as Na slathers his tale with generous supplies of atmosphere and awfulness". Jason Bechervaise of Screen Daily noted "The Wailing is initially set up as a thriller and the supernatural setting also helps deliver moments akin to a horror feature, particularly when a strange woman (Chun Woo-hee) first appears. But the film's gradual progression into something more sinister puts a different spin on Na's masterful use of pacing". Jacob Hall of /Film commented "The Wailing as it exists would involve burning the very structure of a traditional western movie to the ground. It's why the movie is so great and it's also why a remake seems so strange".

Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter added "As dark and pessimistic as the rest of South Korean thrill-master Na Hong Jin's work, The Wailing (Goksung, a.k.a. The Strangers in France) is long and involving, permeated by a tense, sickening sense of foreboding, yet finally registers on a slightly lower key than the director's acclaimed genre films The Chaser (2008) and The Yellow Sea (2010), both of which also got their start in Cannes." Maggie Lee of Variety noted "There's nothing scarier than not knowing what you should be scared of. "The Wailing" erupts with a string of gruesome deaths in an insular village, but the investigation unleashes a greater terror — that of the paranoid imagination." David Ehrlich of IndieWire stated ""The Wailing" boasts all the tenets and tropes of a traditional horror movie, but it doesn't bend them to the same, stifling ends that define Hollywood's recent contributions to the genre. The film doesn't use sound to telegraph its frights a mile away (there are no jump scares, here... well, maybe one), nor does it build its scenes around a single cheap thrill. On the contrary, this is horror filmmaking that's designed to work on you like a virus, slowly incapacitating your defenses so it can build up and do some real damage. There's a looseness here that's missing from mainstream American horror, a sense that absolutely anything can happen next (and always does)." Aja Romano of Vox gave the film four points out of five, stating "The Wailing is the most unsettling Korean horror film in years, but it offers more chills than answers."

Lincoln Michel of GQ wrote "At just over two-and-a-half-hours long, The Wailing definitely takes its time, yet you could never describe it as a slow burn. This is a horror film that jumbles up ghosts, zombies, body horror, Eastern exorcism, Christian mythology, demonic curses, creepy children, and a lot more into one sustained narrative. This description may make it sound like the movie is a messy mash-up, but director Na Hong-jin ties it all together seamlessly. Instead of being a mess, the combination of tropes makes each individual one feel both fresh and terrifying." James Hadfield of The Japan Times gave the movie four stars out of five, writing ""The Wailing" veers from police drama to ghost story to zombie horror and back again, while tossing a generous helping of shamanism and Christian symbolism into the mix. At times, it resembles "The Exorcist" transplanted to the South Korean countryside; at others, it's closer in tone to "Memories of Murder," Bong Joon-ho's masterful, slow-burning serial-killer drama".