Lament

A film as treacherous, captivating, cunning and unpredictable as the Devil himself. The Wailing is the perfect fulfilment of the basic horror principle that the most frightening thing is the loss of rational certainties, which is felt not only by the film’s characters, but primarily by its viewers. (08.01.2017)

A acclaimed Korean affair that has rocked festivals, cinemas and audiences from an acclaimed director who has made brutal thrillers like The Chaser and The Yellow Sea and strikes again. The Wailling is perhaps a mix of all genres from horror (there is exorcism, gore, contagion, virus) with elements of comedy, crime and thriller, and surprisingly it works. As a downside I see the running time of 156 minutes, which is considerably excessive, but thankfully boredom doesn't happen. There are fantastic scenes, strongly atmospheric and dense, the uncomfortable stuffiness is simply in the air, but I was expecting a bit more gore given the hype and the director's experience, and I didn't find the finale intense enough to chop me up and feel excited. But it's still a high quality film, solidly directed and imagined. If you like Korean filmmaking, don’t miss this one. Story 8/10, Atmosphere 8/10, Gore 5/10, Visuals 7/10, Action 4/10, Suspense 6/10, Humor 3/10. Entertainment 6/10, Scares 0/10. 75%. (25.07.2016)

The Wailing definitely had the makings of an excellent film. The atmosphere, the village, the cast, a few funny moments in the beginning, and the odd case that the viewer is actually looking forward to solving. But the more supernatural it started to get, the more my hope for a solid script diminished. Then the red eyes, the shamans start showing up, and it ends up being a bit of a nonsensical mishmash. At least they managed to keep the suspense up. 3 stars. (13.12.2016)

Clocking in at two and a half hours, The Wailing is, in a typical Korean fashion, an incongruous mix of comedy, family drama and especially horror, with demons, shamans, zombies, possessed little girls and lots of blood. A lot of the scenes are great on their own, but the movie as a whole cannot be taken seriously at all, if only because of the characters, who behave like idiots. That’s too bad, because the film has high production values and the plot twists in the last third speak of the ambition to innovate genre clichés. [Cannes] (19.05.2016)

A richer horror sub-genre blend than I expected. That naked old man with blazing red eyes will probably haunt my dreams for a few days, thanks a lot! Perhaps it is overstuffed, there are so many motifs and evil or potentially evil entities that I’m not entirely sure that I got everything, but the overall impression is very positive nonetheless. (24.07.2016)