The Wailing
The Wailing
In the small village Goksung in South Korea, police officer Jong-Goo investigates bizarre murders caused by a mysterious disease. His partner relays gossip that a Japanese stranger, who lives in a secluded house in the mountains, would be an evil spirit responsible for the illness. Jong-Goo decides to visit the stranger along with his partner and a young priest who speaks Japanese. They find an altar with a goat head, pictures on the walls of the infected people that died, and an attacking guard dog that prevents their departure until the stranger arrives. Jong-Goo finds one shoe of his beloved daughter, Hyo-jin, in the house of the stranger, and soon she becomes sick. His mother-in-law summons the shaman Il-gwang to save her granddaughter while a mysterious woman tells Jong-Goo that the stranger is responsible. Who might be the demon that is bringing sickness to Goksung?
rg9400 reviewedNovember 1, 2024
The Wailing is a movie that fails to come together in my opinion. At its core, I think it flirts with interesting ideas related to xenophobia and utilizing "othering" as a scapegoat for a community and family's problems. This is a very compelling theme; unfortunately, the movie completely ditches this commentary in favor of shock. And that is truly what this movie is focused on, eliciting reactions. Whether it be the titular screeching wailing or the gore or the messed up crimes that make up this movie, everything seems meant to make you uncomfortable. I think these elements are done decently well, but they start to drag as the movie at 2 hours and 30 minutes is fairly long. But as things escalate and the movie starts to ask why things are happening and how to stop them, it starts to fall apart. Subversion becomes the main focus, and the late movie attempts to create confusion felt frustrating to me. If this movie had been much more tightly edited and cognizant of the interesting themes that lay within this premise, it could have been extremely good. Instead, by focusing on trying to just be extreme, it loses sight of its strengths.