I’m going to be real with you. Even though I love the horror genre and have seen a vast majority of the best horror movies of all time, there’s one horror movie that I started and never finished, and that’s the 2003 South Korean horror-drama, A Tale of Two Sisters.
I’ll never forget it. My friend and I were watching it in broad daylight, and there was this one scene that was so terrifying, and so unnerving that I asked my friend if we could turn it off, and he said we could, because he was scared, too! I still have no idea how that movie ends. But, I’ll tell you what. I had the exact same feeling of absolute dread when I watched yet another South Korean horror movie, that being 2016’s The Wailing, directed by Na Hong-jin.
Now, I did finish The Wailing (though it was very hard to do), and I just wanted to clue you all in to this super unique horror gem that’s currently on Netflix. Because I don’t care if it’s November. It’s always the spooky season in my household!
It Genuinely Gets Underneath Your Skin
Do you want to know my favorite Halloween (as in the slasher series) movie? It’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Because unlike the other Halloween movies, which are more about Michael Myers’ brutal kills, Halloween III is the only one that truly gets underneath my skin. It’s the tone and gradual pacing that does it for me.
And I got that very same feeling while watching The Wailing. The story is about a Japanese stranger who arrives in a Korean village, and strange things start to happen, like people getting infected and killing their families. Our hero, a police officer named Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won) gets a personal involvement in this case when strange occurrences start happening to his daughter, Hyo-Jin (Kim Hwan-hee).
The movie is a little over two and a half hours long, and while I do agree with director Alexander Payne that there are “too many damn long movies” these days, I have to say that the long run-time works in this movie’s favor, as it’s a genuine slow burn that keeps ratcheting up the tension all the way up to its startling conclusion, which genuinely made me sleep with the lights on like only the best horror movies can do.
It’s Also A Bit Of A Mystery
What really got me about The Wailing though is that it’s not only scary, but it’s also a bit of a mystery. You see, the local police gradually get convinced that the stranger who has recently arrived in town is secretly killing people, and throughout much of the movie’s runtime, you wonder if that is in fact the case. You also get a sense though that perhaps the police are possibly being racist against this foreigner, and that maybe he isn’t who they believe him to be.
But then, there are strange occurrences that don’t exactly line up with this whole theory. In fact, there’s even reason to believe that maybe there is something satanic possibly going on here, especially concerning a scene involving a shaman that really had me holding myself tightly beneath the covers.
And then, there’s our hero’s daughter, who has had a dramatic change in character after our protagonist has a haunting dream of a demonic man hunting him in a forest. All of this is to say that this is not your typical horror movie where you can see the jump scares coming a mile away.
No, I kind of liken The Wailing to a horror movie like Mulholland Drive, where a great deal of the fear comes from not really knowing what’s going on, or why it’s even happening. After a while, the mystery of why people are starting to kill their families gets more and more unsettling because you don’t know if you’re actually going to receive an answer, which honestly, terrified me throughout.
It Mixes Horror Genres Like No Other Film You’ll Ever See
Over the past few years, I’ve watched a number of Korean movies, and it’s been an interesting journey to say the very least. In the past, I’ve mostly focused my attention of Asian cinema on Japanese films, and on Bollywood/Tollywood cinema. But, the thing that I have noticed with the Korean cinema that I’ve recently watched is that it’s not afraid to just smash genres together to the point that you might even wonder, what genre am I even watching?
One of the most famous modern examples of this would of course be the Academy-Award winning movie, Parasite, which is a dark comedy, a drama, a thriller, and -- hell, why not -- even a bit of a horror movie for good measure.
While I’ve seen other Korean movies that seem to defy being categorized as any one genre, such as Decision to Leave, or I Saw the Devil, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a horror movie like The Wailing where I couldn’t even tell what kind of horror movie I was supposed to be watching.
Like, is it a zombie movie? Well, no, but there are definitely zombie elements to it. Is it a serial killer movie? Well, no, it’s not that, either, but there’s definitely a serial killer plotline. Is it a Satanic panic kind of movie? Well, maybe, but it’s not just that.
Honestly, it’s because The Wailing melds so many different horror genres together that it ultimately made me feel uncomfortable since I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what I was supposed to be terrified about in the first place, and that’s just creepy.
The Acting Is Impeccable
Another reason why I think The Wailing is so effective is the acting. It’s incredible! I already mentioned Kwak Do-won, who plays the lead, and Kim Hwan-hee, who plays his daughter, but I need to give a special shout out to Jun Kunimura, who plays the Japanese stranger. His character is both sympathetic, but also suspicious, to the extent that one minute I was on the fence about him, and the next, I was 100% on his side. It’s a tightrope act to walk, and he walks it deftly with this performance.
I also have to give it up to Jang So-yeon, who plays the protagonist’s wife. All throughout, I felt distressed thinking about her, since she doesn’t understand what’s going on, and it feels like she’s standing behind a window and watching all of the horrible events play out in front of her. Lastly, I really loved mega-star, Hwang Jung-min, who plays a shaman who is trying to rid the small town of demonic forces (or is he?).
All of this is to say that all of the acting is really, really good, and I don’t know if I would have fallen so deeply into this story if every performance wasn’t a winner.
That Ending!
Now, I’m not going to just up and spoil the ending for you, since I genuinely want you to see this movie, but let me just tell you… I was not prepared for it. As I mentioned earlier, the movie is a bit of a mystery, and there are indeed signs leading to the ending of this film, but by the time it reaches that climax and ultimate reveal, I leapt back into my couch and shivered all the way through the credits.
Now, I know revealing that the ending is scary is in itself a sort of a spoiler (I mean, I could have just kept quiet about the ending and let you get spooked out for yourself), but if I didn’t do a good enough job already telling you about how eerie this movie is, then I think I need to let you know that the long runtime is definitely worth it since the ending is so satisfying. As a complete package, The Wailing does not disappoint.
But, what do you think? Have you already seen this horror masterpiece? For more news on all things spooky (even after October!) be sure to swing by here often!
