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| A bravura gore scene from Hong-Jin Na's The Wailing (2016) |
Horror films are notoriously populated by not-so-bright characters who make bad decisions. Characters constantly go where they should not, trust people that are suspicious, and react in panic rather than rationally--and honestly, with all the blood, violence and mayhem suddenly surging into their lives, one can forgive horror protagonists for going a little nuts. That's why Hong-Jin Na's protagonist, Sgt. Jeon Jong-gu (Do Won Kwak), rather surprisingly takes "the protagonist who makes poor decisions" to a whole new level.
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| Family members are brutally slaughtering each other in the formerly boring rural town of Goksung |
For the most part, nothing seems to happen in rural Goksung, so when the Sgt. is called to investigate a brutal double homicide, his whole family excitedly chirrups that "someone has died." This violence is only the beginning as a series of horrible murders, burnings, and mutilated bodies are found in rapid order. To say Jeon Jong-gu is bumbling is a kindness. He and his partner stumble from crime scene to crime scene, shocked and inept, as rumors of red-eyed cannibalistic demons, and the influence of a Japanese stranger, start to circulate. The film does impress upon the spectator that these events are pretty dramatic, since not a lot happens in Goksung.
In the film's first 45 minutes,
The Wailing's tone is a little wonky, as we are introduced to the main players, and basically witness Jeon's cowardly performance in a comedic fashion--making me wonder if the "comedy" is supposed to counteract the horror that really starts to sweep through the film at an unrelenting pace. At one point, Jeon is called "A girly wimp with balls the size of peas," and this description is not unwarranted. He's the guy who hides under the bed when attacked.
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| These cops kind of deserve the rocks thrown at them by The Woman with No Name (Woo-hee Chun) |
For instance, a rather hilarious set-piece has Sgt. Jong-gu and his partner patiently guarding one crime scene while a woman (with no name) throws rocks at them. While Jeon eventually speaks to her and discovers some important information about the case, it takes him a really long time to put the puzzle together--although he's at least suspicious of the "poison mushroom" theory proffered by the local medical community.
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| Is this Japanese stranger (Jun Kunimura) responsible for the violence that befalls Goksung? |
This woman sets him on the path of a Japanese stranger who may be a catalyst for Goksung's current horrific decline, and when Jeon pays him a rather violent visit, the brutal violence that has spread like a curse through his town takes an extremely personal turn, as his daughter begins to exhibit symptoms of possession.
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| Jeon's poor daughter (Hwan-hee Kim) is possessed by vicious evil |
Once Jeon's daughter is taken over, the film becomes a little more genre familiar as Jeon does everything he can to save her, including hiring a pretty expensive shaman to perform some extremely loud rituals.
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| The Shaman (Jeong-min Hwang) goes full throttle in an attempt to exorcise the girl |
At this point in the film, I felt the most out of my depth, wondering if this kind of "shaman-for-hire" is actually still a part of contemporary Korean culture, or if it's limited to more rural pockets. As I live in a country that still has its share of snake charmers and Scientologists, I figure anything is possible, but this type of ritualized religious performance seemed very over the top--which might be quite deliberate. My cultural ignorance felt acute.
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| Hwan-hee Kim gives a harrowing performance as Jeon's possessed daughter |
As I mentioned before, the film's horrific grip is motivated by Jeon's dumb decisions, but things ratchet up when his family's life is at stake. The film's well-performed and orchestrated possession narrative takes center stage in the second half of the film, and propels the narrative into a series of bursting climaxes, as one rising tension is followed by another in rapid succession. At 2 hours and 36 minutes, this film is rather long, but really never feels that way once things get rolling. The film's downbeat ending is pretty much telegraphed from the start, but Hwan-hee Kim's tense performance feels like a fist closing around your heart. This ending has divided some viewers, but I thought it hit just the right note. See
The Wailing on a big screen and with an audience if you can, but be sure to see it!
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| In homophobic, present day Russia, Pyotr (Alex Ozerov) hides a powerful secret |
Special props to Blake Mawson for the simultaneously unsettling and timely
PYOTR495 (2016), which screened at Fantasia prior to
The Wailing. Beautifully shot and wickedly paced, this short feels especially poignant in the wake of the Orlando massacre at Pulse nightclub and Russia's LGBT propaganda law. Queer teen Pyotr meets up with a Grinder date for a hookup, but soon realizes that he's stepped into a horrific trap by homophobic Russian nationalists up for a little gay bashing "ultra violence."
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| This psycho Barbie is a super stylish Russian nightmare |
The styling of this short is sleek and masterful, with the lighting, costumes, sets, and makeup creating a visual feast that at the same time is damn hard to watch--at first. Not to give anything away, but Pyotr might not be so young, naive, and defenseless after all. As Mawson was kind enough to point out, the film's awesome soundtrack by the inimitable Konrad Black is available for a listen
here. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this talented young filmmaker.
