{"id":89372,"date":"2016-07-20T11:16:16","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T10:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=89372"},"modified":"2016-07-20T11:27:33","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T10:27:33","slug":"the-wailing-film-review-fantasia-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/reviews\/the-wailing-film-review-fantasia-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wailing film review – Fantasia 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Korean filmmaker Na Hong-jin follows his nail-biting thriller The Chaser<\/em><\/strong> and sprawling epic The Yellow Sea<\/em><\/strong> with this excellent supernatural horror, which sees the director approach this new territory with the same grit, realism and clumsy violence with tremendous results.<\/p>\n

A small town in the Korean mountains is rocked by a string of brutal murders, and the local police are at a loss. The shaky explanation given by the authorities is that the attackers are out of their minds on mushrooms, but the locals point the finger at a Japanese stranger (veteran character actor Jun Kunimura) who lives in the woods outside of town and may be a demon. When officer Jong-Goo\u2019s (Kwak Do-won) young daughter seems to fall under his spell, the cop will do whatever it takes to put a stop to the deepening insanity.<\/p>\n

Although The Chaser<\/em><\/strong> had strong horror elements, The Wailing<\/em><\/strong> definitely feels like something new for Na, although it clearly bears his authorial stamp. The two and a half hour running time may seem like a tall order for a horror movie, and it is a little overlong, but the film is less concerned with jump scares and more with whipping this small town into a hysterical frenzy.<\/p>\n

With its\u00a0mostly\u00a0well-intentioned but mostly ineffectual rural lawmen heroes, the film recalls Bong Joon-ho\u2019s Memories Of Murder<\/strong><\/em>, and Kwak is superb as the slightly heavy, boozy, back pain-ridden hero who is suddenly confronted with gore-drenched crime scenes, shamanic rituals and a daughter who may be possessed. There\u2019s great humour in the film but it comes from a recognisable humanity, watching these people react to things they cannot understand.<\/p>\n

The plotting does become increasingly convoluted and nonsensical, but the confusion for Jong-Goo and the viewer is clearly deliberate. With beautiful, epic cinematography of the mountain forests from Hong Kyung-pyo, some very effective sudden shocks, and a powerful blend of detective story, occult horror and Stephen King-esque small-town suspicion, this is another superb film from Na Hong-jin.<\/p>\n

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