The Wailing: A K-Horror Masterpiece

K-Horror has been on the rise lately. With the major success of Train to Busan, it seems like South Korea has been producing hit after hit in the horror genre.

Around the same time as the release of Train to Busan, another major Korean horror movie launched into theaters. Though not meeting the same worldwide success as Train to Busan, Na Hong-jin's The Wailing is a treasure.

I first watched The Wailing for my writing horror class last semester. Luckily it was on Netflix, so my roommate and I sat down one night for some much needed spooks. The movie threw my roommate and I right into the mystery, a ride that was very hard to get off. The movie glued our eyes to the screen because so much happens so fast. The Wailing focuses on the mystery behind a mysterious disease that is spreading through a South Korean village, and who is responsible for causing it.

What I loved about The Wailing was that it was a religious horror movie from different views. When we think religious horror we think crucifixes and holy water, nuns and priests fighting demons, and exorcisms. The Wailing challenges that by showing horror from both a Catholic and Spiritualist Korean point of view. It gives viewers who may not be familiar with one or the other a glimpse into a whole new world.

The Wailing threw my roommate and me for a trip that made us watch the movie again and again. We were left guessing who was responsible for the disease the whole movie. One minute you think it's one person, then another, and then another, and every assumption you have is supported by logic from the movie. The mystery is revealed in the last few minutes, but even after the credits rolled my roommate and I were left to wonder what the ending really meant.

The film plays with the concept of god and the devil being neither good or bad beings without outright saying this is what it's about. This is similar to how J-Horror shows nature having its own nature, reflecting how people do both good and bad things. This was pushed by the back and forth "whodunnit" question of the movie which played on the audience trying to find who is the "good" guy and who is the "bad" guy. The good vs. evil trope is so common in movies, that the movie tricks viewers into thinking this is going to be the same as any other typical light vs. dark film.

So give The Wailing a watch if you have two hours and a lot of thinking space to spare, it's still on Netflix.