Review by
Ren Zelen
Directed by: Hong-jin Na
Starring: Kwak Do-won, Jung-min Hwang, Jun Kunimura, Woo-hee
Chun, Han-Cheol Jo, So-yeon Jang
Things can get strange in Korean movies, but this is no bad thing, as
recently the Koreans have displayed the knack of breathing new life into old
genre tropes, particularly in action and horror movies (such as the
excellent zombie flick
Train to Busan).
South Korean director Na Hong-jin's The Wailing
offers images that appear in many a horror film: disembowelled livestock;
creepy candlelit shrines plastered with odd photographs; curtains of
blindingly heavy rain; a foul-mouthed, possessed child; blackened, rabid
zombies lunging at stunned victims and, being partly a police procedural, it
also offers some comprehensively blood-splattered murder scenes.
It’s unlikely however, that any horror aficionado has seen all these tropes
thrown with such bravado into the same melting pot, producing such a rich
and unsettling brew.
Set in Goksung, a sleepy and remote South Korean village,
The Wailing runs a leisurely 156 minutes, stirring in its
various ingredients and leaving them plenty of time to simmer into something
rather unusual.
The movie opens with a police sergeant, Jong-gu (Kwak Do-won),
investigating a double murder in his usually peaceful, rural village. The
crime is grisly and the police are clearly not used to dealing with anything
quite so violent. Jong-gu is an amiable, bumbling fellow, rather out of his
depth in this kind of situation. This inept but endearing character gives
the first quarter of the film an almost comedic tone.
In the wake of inexplicable acts of violent crime, the appearance of a
reclusive foreigner (Jun Kunimura) causes suspicion among the
villagers. Lurid rashes and boils appear on the townspeople as the random
murders begin to plague the village - husbands kill wives, family members
slaughter their kin and burn down houses and the perpetrators are led away
babbling or catatonic, but invariably blood-soaked. Fuelled by ignorance and
superstition, their mistrust quickly turns to hysteria as brutal killings in
their community increase for no apparent reason.
This is initially chalked up to the ingestion of some wild mushrooms but
when Jong-gu's young beloved little daughter Hyo-jin (Kim) begins to
exhibit the same symptoms, a desperate Jong-gu agrees to consult a shaman
(Jung-min Hwang) and becomes involved in ancient ritual and magic -
unknowingly escalating the situation into something even more disturbing and
dangerous.
Opening and closing with solemn invocations from the biblical book of Luke,
and marked by moments of bizarre humour, The Wailing is a
unique Asian concoction, blending various genre tropes to create a mixture
that includes a disturbing yet comedic police procedural, a demonic
possession, allowing interludes involving exorcisms, death-curse rituals and
even the hint of a theme regarding occupation and colonialism.
It’s a film you watch in a state of gathering dread - it will scare you,
but because of its variety of moods the viewer is never quite on a sure
footing, never confident in guessing what might happen next. In a modern
horror movie, that is an increasingly rare quality.
The result is both an original horror movie, an occasionally funny zombie
flick but also a heart-breaking elegy for thwarted love and broken family
bonds. The Wailing becomes a unique creation of its own,
setting its terrible events against the gorgeous landscapes and mountains of
South Korea.
Na Hong-jin's two previous features – 2008's The Chaser (a
serial-killer thriller inspired by true events), and 2010's
The Yellow Sea (an ultraviolent exercise in desolation) –
reveal him as one of the most assured sensibilities currently working in
genre film; his action scenes alone can put some established Hollywood
directors to shame. The Wailing confirms his reputation as a
director to be reckoned with on the international stage.
The Wailing is on Amazon Prime Video
UK now.