THE WAILING
You may wail with confusion
released 25 NOVeMBer 15 | 156 minutes | also VOd
Director Hong-jin Na Cast do Won Kwak, Jung-min Hwang, Jun Kunimura
If you’d happily never watch a Catholic exorcism ritual again, here’s some good news: this Korean possession horror provides a little variety by drawing on a different cultural tradition.
After a string of brutal family murders by village folk who’ve suddenly gone violently insane, suspicion falls upon a newcomer – a Japanese man. Could he be laying curses? When the daughter of nebbish cop Jong-Goo (Do Won Kwak) starts doing her best Linda Blair impression, he decides to set due process aside…
The comically ineffectual Jong-Goo makes for an unusual protagonist, displaying flashes of protective fury once his family comes under threat, but always remaining a bit pathetic. The sequences featuring the prancing shaman he calls in are fascinatingly colourful. And there’s an interesting subtext about xenophobia, possibly.
However, you may be left bewildered by the headscratching final reel, which after pulling the rug from under your feet then tries to slide it back under them again, before finally whipping you about the head with it, leaving it unclear exactly what message the film is trying to convey. See you on the IMDb discussion threads… Calvin Baxter