The Wailing (2016)

Yet another Korean movie that's more than you expected ... Not necessarily in the good sense. From what was I remembering the last time when I checked the IMDb title (in original "Goksung") it didn't have "horror" among the genres and the rating was higher. But this was in May ...

The movie is not bad. Somewhere in a Korean village people start to die. The local cop, a guy who seems the perfect character for any law enforcement joke, gets to the conclusion that the guilty person would be a Japanese man residing in the nearby woods and dealing with spells and other strange rituals as his daily hobby. For a while the movie keeps up a comic scent that 1) you can't figure if it's intentional or not but 2) it draws a lot from the pressure that builds up as the movie advances. However, this ends ... and at some point what seem laughable gets serious. This variation is probably the most interesting aspect in what we have here, towards the final the tension growing far from what we had during the first half. I don't know if I've seen anything similar in terms of contrast. However ...

Too much horror. And that's not the problem (even though with the age I tend to prefer movies that are more relaxed) but the way it comes is sometimes free, doesn't make sense and leaves too many open questions in the end ... There's a sort of climax in tha last part, where the main character has to choose who to trust, and the moment is built so well that you can feel the indecision. It's also frustrating in the end though, since you won't get a clear answer on which decision would've been actually better and why, and if it would've been possible to reach the end in a different way dealing with so many threads that you don't know if they're white or dark ...

Rating: 3 out of 5