Korean Movie Review: The Wailing (곡성)

Korean Movies
the wailing

Stats

Year Released: 2016
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Main Cast: Kwak Do-Won, Hwang Jung-Min, Jun Kunimura, Chun Woo-Hee, Kim Hwan-Hee

I haven’t done a movie review in a little while so I decided to jump back on the horse with Director Na Hong Jin’s 2016 movie, The Wailing. And can I just say: WHAT THE HECK DID I JUST WATCH?!?! Let’s get Asianwiki’s summary out the way.

Within a seemingly peaceful village, a plague of mysterious & violent deaths suddenly take place. Police Officer Jung-Goo hears a rumor from a coworker about a mysterious Japanese man living nearby. The rumor fingers the Japanese man as the man causing these mysterious & violent deaths. Jong-Goo’s daughter Hyo-Jin then comes down with the crazed symptoms similar to what the other villagers had before their deaths. Jong-Goo becomes desperate.

Review

Let me start out by saying, The Wailing is a wild movie. I was suspecting any and everybody to be the reason why folks were getting sick. And this was not just oh, I have a cold. Not people were getting these weird boils, crazy eyes and Tourette’s Syndrome.  It was bad. The police officer that’s trying to handle everything is Jung Goo. He’s a family man and kind of dorky in my opinion. He sees what’s happening in his town and at first, he’s just convinced that the people are just, well, crazy.

The police officer that’s trying to handle everything is Jung Goo. He’s a family man and kind of dorky in my opinion. He sees what’s happening in his town and at first, he’s just convinced that the people are just, well, crazy.

the wailing

photo credit: screenanarchy

 

His coworker tells him a story about the Japanese man that lives near the area, how things were fine until he showed up. I felt a bit weird about that. What does he being Japanese have to do with anything? It felt racist, but I digress. Anyway, the Japanese guy supposedly rapes and pillage which causes everyone to be on edge whenever he comes around.  As soon as the coworker says this, the lights go out (in the movie) and a naked woman appears with boils on her body. Scares the crap out of me and I’m watching during the daytime.

 

Now, remember when I said that Jung Goo was a family man? Okay, he has a cute little girl named Hyo-jin. She’s sassy, snarky and loves her father. I liked the character instantly.

the wailing

photo credit: Hancinema

Unfortunately, the little girl starts showing signs of the disease. She starts off with a high fever, followed by the sights of boils on her body. Here’s where things get real interesting. When her dad starts questioning her about her whereabouts, she flips out on him. Cursing, spitting and trying to kill him. It’s crazy. She goes from being cute to psycho. Like I’m going to stare at you and play with knives psycho.

the wailing

photo credit: Hancinema

Daddy cop Jung Goo suspects the Japanese man for causing the strange sickness in his daughter because everyone else is blaming him. He spends the rest of the movie gathering his friends/thugs to intimidate the man and tell him to leave town if he knows what’s good for him. Naturally, the man doesn’t. This infuriates Jung Goo so he goes back to the man’s house and destroys it in a rage. He even kills the man’s dog which I thought was uncalled for. Yes, the dog was HUGE and trying to bite Jung Goo but still…

Jung Goo’s daughter is getting worse, he’s trying to save her by getting rid of the Japanese man and his mother in law decides to hire an exorcist. Makes perfect sense, right?

the wailing

photo credit: Indiewire

The exorcist does what he was hired to do but things don’t end the way Jung Goo wants. He ends up making a costly decision that affects his entire family. It had me sitting on the floor of my room for a good 5 minutes before being able to move.

I left out a lot because I don’t want to spoil The Wailing if you haven’t seen it yet. The movie is available on Youtube for a small fee. If you’re on the fence about it, check the trailer below.

Let me know if you liked The Wailing or whether or not you plan on watching it. Happy viewing!

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