The Wailing

It was my second time watching this movie and it definitely worked better on me this time around. The first time I watched this I was frustrated at how difficult it was to pin the film down; the schlubby incompetent cop protagonist was hard to get behind, and it was a bit bloody long.

I think I was expecting a police procedural horror and didn't realize there would be supernatural elements. Once it establishes itself as a film about possessions and exorcisms, it still squirms about refusing to properly fit the genre with a zombie thrown in here and a bit of dog murder thrown in there. The tone of the film also wavers: sometimes a hapless farce with policemen hiding beneath their desks in a lightning storm, sometimes a heart-wrenching relentless trial of misery. It goes from an exploration of abuses of power and prejudice among the police, to a nasty ghostly gorefest that embraces limitless spewing vomit and practical prosthetic effects. I kind of thought it was a mess with no focus the first time I watched it. But this time, the result of all those mismatched tones and bonkers plot points is something truly vivid and rich. It's really impressive how there's so much going on and it mostly all pretty much comes together.

One of the most impressive tricks this movie plays is how it toys with the viewers sense of doubt... And here be spoilers... It shows you from very early on the Japanese stranger in the woods with red eyes eating dead animals and generally behaving like a demon. But by the end, even the second time watching, after following the journey of our pathetic, portly policeman protagonist, I was truly doubting whether the Japanese guy was the culprit or if it was in fact the woman in white. There are occasions I think when the Japanese guy isn't acting under the possession of this demon and that further threw me off the scent, but his transformation into the devil at the end of the film shouldn't have been a surprise this time around, and the effects aren't even that great, but it still kinda gave me chills.

I also very much enjoyed the ultra-suave, turtleneck-suit wearing Exorcist and his very full-on, loud exorcism dances complete with sacrificial poultry. It's largely because his character is so cool and the audience is impressed with him that he is then so convincing when lies to us that the woman white is the evil spirit. The deleted ending scene helps to really spell that out he was in fact in league with the devil.

https://youtu.be/8Dwu-e1K78c

There's a whole voodoo vibe going on and a real sense that the Spirits in the movie come from some Korean myth or legend that gives a real folktale feel to the movie. I appreciate that in a horror movie - it's an atmosphere that's also present in the original Wicker Man and some of Ben Wheatley's films and often gives a sense that the main character's fate is beyond his control. Even if that does mean it all ends up a bit grim.

3.5 sacrificial chickens out of 5