The Wailing (2016)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Wailing (2016) – H.-j. Na

Eclectic blend of genres, primarily police procedural and supernatural horror, from Korean director Hong-jin Na (whose The Chaser, 2008, a serial killer procedural, I also enjoyed).  This time, over the course of 156 minutes, Na takes us from a near-comic look at a bumbling police detective (Do-won Kwak) in a rural town who has to deal with a series of bizarre murders and some wild zombie-like suspects to a full-on nod to The Exorcist (when his daughter becomes possessed).  A shaman is brought in to battle the presumed demon (an elderly Japanese man played by Jun Kunimura) and things get pretty bizarre (shades of Sammo Hung’s Encounters of the Spooky Kind, 1980, though played straight(er)).  The tension and suspense remain pretty high throughout – you just don’t know where the plot is going – and Ning manages to throw in enough familiar elements to tickle any genre fan’s fancy.  Perhaps things do get rather confused toward the end – but that ending is more-or-less crystal clear!  Perhaps it is not quite right to use a Japanese character as the villain in a Korean film – this seems an easy way to exacerbate tensions between the uneasy rivals – but it’s possible that Na meant no political ill will (or that he cynically took the populist route). That said, The Wailing is pretty fun throughout (if sometimes gory and freaky).