The Wailing Review + Explaination: Horror-Thriller Movie

Have you watched any horror movie that made you think after it ended? If not, you need to watch The Wailing.

This Korean movie is a masterpiece that takes the horror & thriller genre to a whole new level. With 2 hr 36 min of runtime, you may think a horror film, this long? But, the movie is worth your time.

The suspense of this movie is like none other, it’s different & fresh. This movie has a cohesive ending that would make your mind think that what the hell happened. Let’s get to the review.

The Wailing Review

The movie is about a policeman (played by Kwak Do Won known for Steel Rain, The Yellow Sea, The Attorney, etc.) who is investigating a murder because lately the villagers have been struck with a strange disease that is causing people to turn violent.

The cop thinks that the sickness is spreading due to some wild mushroom poisoning but the people are saying that all of this started when a Japanese stranger arrived. Later, the policeman’s daughter starts showing signs of sickness.

You will totally get immersed in the movie from the beginning and the complex and detailed story actually deserves this long runtime. It also puts you in the shoes of the policeman because you are not really sure whom to trust and what to believe.

There are a few characters that are going to keep you guessing what their motives are and whose side they’re on, is the Japanese man really strange & is he responsible for the whole thing? A lot of questions will come into your mind.

To answer all your questions, here is a brief explanation of the movie that may be suitable. There are different explanations on various websites & YouTube videos. The best of them has been picked.

The Wailing Explanation

MAJOR SPOILER !! Don’t read if you haven’t watched the movie yet.

The whole story will not be explained, just some scenes of the movie that are confusing. You can make up the story with these small hints.

Talking about the Japanese man, he represents evil. He is possessed by the devil or is the devil himself.

The woman in white is a good deity who protects the village. She fights against evil. She also warns the policeman that the Japanese man is evil.

The shaman works for the Japanese man. They both work together & this can be verified using two scenes.

One – the shaman while changing his clothes can be seen wearing the same type of underwear as the Japanese man that can be seen at beginning of the movie.

Two – There is a deleted scene at the end of the film that shows the shaman picked up the Japanese man. This shows that they are a team. You can watch the deleted ending below.

During the ritual, the shaman is attacking the small girl (destroying her or the demon inside her) & not the Japanese man.

The Japanese man is shown performing a ritual at the same time. But, these two rituals occur at different times (the director said in an interview).

The Japanese man is performing the ritual in front of a photo of a man in a car. After the ritual, the man in the car breathes & protects the Japanese man (this can be seen when the policeman visits the house).

Shaman gets ill & vomits when he sees the woman in white. She attacked the shaman. This confirms that the shaman is evil & the woman is good.

In a scene, when the shaman tries to leave the village, birds attack his car’s windshield. This is a sign by the Japanese man who wishes him to stay in the village and complete the task.

Near to the end, the shaman tells the policeman to go to his house & also says that the Japanese man is a shaman too. While going to his house, the policeman comes across the woman who attempts to stop him from going home.

She tells the truth that if he goes to his house, he will not be able to stop his daughter from killing his family. But, the policeman thinks that she is stopping him from saving his family.

The policeman gets confused about whom to believe – shaman or woman. She tells him that the shaman is a demon & she has laid a trap at his door to kill him. The policeman doesn’t trust the woman & goes to his house. When he crosses the entrance, we can see that the trap the woman has set up dies.

The same trap is seen at the beginning of the movie. This means that other people also lost faith in the woman & got killed.

Coming to the end of this review, the movie is a good watch if you are a fan of thrillers & suspense. If you want to get your head to work & start making assumptions, this movie is a must-watch.

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