The Wailing (2016)

This movie, The Wailing (2016), a Korean horror film, has a confusing ending but is very interesting because of its supernatural plot and eerie displays. At one point, my mind had to travel far back to the mystical beliefs we had while growing up, where we were made to believe that an ordinary cane does not hurt a witch when flogged with it, but when a peeled stem from a plantain tree is used to flog a witch, it causes pain, just like using a knife to cut their flesh.

The Plot:

A small village is being terrorised by a strange disease, which people suspect to be the handiwork of a Japanese man who recently relocated to the village but lives deep in the forest. The disease manifests in a horrifying way—once a person is infected, the person goes on to kill and slaughter everyone around them.

A group of policemen investigating the case find the happenings very strange and confusing. Rumours about the Japanese man being a ghost in human form and a cannibal spread rapidly, but the police find it difficult to believe such claims.

Jong-goo, the leader of the police group, encounters a woman who tells him disturbing details about the occurrences and eyewitness accounts. She mentions the Japanese man in the forest as the one responsible, but before Jong-goo can fully grasp what she is saying, the woman mysteriously disappears. From that point, the story takes on a much stranger and darker tone.

The police later trace the Japanese man to the forest, where they find unsettling items—blood stains, personal belongings, and photographs of every dead and targeted victim. Unfortunately for Jong-goo, his little daughter’s shoe is found among these items. Before he gets home, his daughter begins to behave strangely, and that is when the movie reaches its peak tension. A shaman is hired to cure the little girl, but the ritual results in confusion and a tragic misconception.

Opinions and Ratings

As someone who has always been interested in supernatural themes and enjoys comparing them with cultural beliefs I am familiar with, I found the storyline about the terrorising disease—or rather, the evil spirit—very interesting. Many of the spirit’s actions are quite relatable to traditional beliefs, but later on, the ideas seem to drift off. A spirit is not supposed to have flesh and blood, or is it? The movie mixes these concepts, and by the end, no one is entirely sure who is a spirit and who is human. The ending is extremely confusing, making it hard to determine which of the characters involved is truly responsible for the terror caused by the evil spirit.

The movie also includes moments of comic relief, which I enjoyed. I love how the script was written and how excellently the characters delivered their roles.

The movie runs for 2 hours and 36 minutes, and although I enjoyed watching it, I must admit that at certain points, the length felt exhausting.

Overall, it is a 6/10 movie.

Thanks for reading.

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