At the shop even though things have been slow I have very little work to do lately as everything is working fine so its just regular maintenance, I had time to kill today and decided to watch The Wailing (2016), this came as a recommendation after watching Train To Busan (2016), both South Korean horror movies that blew my mind now that I'm just getting my feet wet with Asian Horror movies. The Wiling made me wonder about a lot of things which is the best way a movie can blow your mind. The story takes place in a remote country village in Goksung and develops the story of a Japanese man who recently settles in this area, the movie slowly evolve into something that is not quite horror, not quite drama, not quite a crime drama, but a mix of all three that keeps you hooked.
Rottentomatoes Rating
Before I start jumping into the characters and actors I got to say I know there is a lot of names that I might get wrong, I'm sorry. The story line presents Jong goo, a clumsy and not too bright local police officer whose task is to solve mysterious murders, during which people get a rash, and then kill everybody, sounds crazy and more like a poison or virus, the movie is not about Zombies rather about demonic possessions but at first did look like a zombie outbreak. It becomes more dramatic and sensitive when he himself finds his daughter named Hyo jin having the same symptoms and this forces Jong goo to figure out why is this happening and to find out the real truth. It has this Jap prof from the mountains maybe he is the chief culprit, a woman with a riddle who can appear and disappear anytime, and there is a shaman who does one of the most I would say extreme exorcism I’ have seen in demonic possession horror movies.
The cast in the Wailing did an excellent job, especially Do won Kwak as Jong goo, he begins this almost as a comedic character, a cop who is so inept that he is unable to do anything right but as the movie goes on and his daughter becomes infected, his performance becomes so real and genuinely sorrowful, not to compare but this reminds me of Godzilla Minus One on how the character starts to evolve into the hero of the movie. On The Wailing who really steals the show though is Kim Hwan hee in the role of Hyo jin; this child is probably one of the top 10 realistic possessed child actor I have seen on movies, she does it in a way that the change from being an innocent daughter to a terrifying presence is very close to perfect.
Before watching the movie I wanted to get more info about it and figure out there is great feedback about it from reviews online, some of it because the movie does a great job of not scaring you to death and even laugh from time to time while there is the main character running against time through his investigation to figure out whats going on so he could save his daughter, keeping high levels of suspense in combination to horror and dark comedy, but the truth is that the plot is a bit complex, its almost like they had this great idea that became too big to handle and start to rush out and cut corners so they could get it back into shape.
What really got me about The Wailing is how it fools you into thinking that it’s one type of movie before throwing curve ball after curve ball and unveiling what it is really about, each time you think that you have got it right something unexpected happens in the movie. The attention to detail and the landscape, the surroundings are awesome with the Korean mountains, specially when there is fog everywhere and rain which adds to the suspense and oppressive feeling. When ever I watch a movie that takes place on other continents it always amaze me, I guess its the opposite feeling from someone from Korea watch a movie that takes place in America without ever visited. I wont say its only about the place but also about the combination of sounds that the movie keeps adding through out, specially on the exorcism scene that obviously gives you this discomfort feeling because its an exorcism but the sound of the drums and bells, nothing like the exorcisms we are use to watch on Hollywood movies.
The ending of The Wailing is one of the most dramatic ones I have seen in a movie based on how the faith of everything goes to the toilet because of one single decision. Once Jong goo chooses to no believe the woman who was trying to help him, who in fact was not a women but a ghost, a protective spirit but because he failed to follow her instructions everything turn into an absolute madness. The last scenes shows Jong goo getting back home and that's when he finds his daughter who is already possessed, killing her mother and grand mother, eventually stabbing him, all this because he couldn't wait to get back home as he was told to wait for three roosters calls, kinda biblical if we think about it, like when Peter who denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed, Jong goo failed the same test of faith. Eventually breaking the protection spell created by Moo myung leaving the demon free and finish his ritual.
To a certain extend after watching the movie Jong goo had a single chance and everything else against him, I kept thinking how in a moment of desperation when most of us have zero patience, Jong goo tried to protect his daughter and in fact, he doomed her. The genius of this conclusion is that it makes you reevaluate everything that was shown from every conversation, every warning, every friendly face might have been motivated by something very different from what you thought. This movie is the case of when evil does his best job behind scenes, like the shaman who Jong goo's mother in law contact to help with Hyo jin condition and the "Japanese Man" who lived in the forest but in fact where working together, Japanese Man or Stranger who was actually a demon trying to possess people and create chaos within the village. It is the kind of ending that has a deep meaning on how life some times play tricks on you but you have to stay firm in your goal and believes, its better to fail with a plan than without one.
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