THE WAILING

The critics got this one dead wrong. A near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score should point audiences toward a masterpiece. HOPE, Na Hong-jin’s latest, was my gateway to watching his breakout and understanding his style. I really wanted to love THE WAILING, but the 156-minute runtime had me ‘wailing’ for it to end.

I’ll start with the good, because there is some. Kwak Do-won plays Jong-goo, a slow-footed country cop who spends half the movie with his mouth full. The man eats in nearly every scene, and Kwak turns that running gag into both the comedy and the character: a bumbling father in way over his head, then a terrified one when the case turns to his family.

THE WAILING is a spin on horror that crams in what feels like every genre at once. If I named them, I’d spoil the twists, so I won’t. The blend is why the critics loved it, and when it lands, it unsettles you in ways most horror never bothers to try.

The trouble is the clock. Na withholds, then withholds again, betting the payoff will earn the wait. By the time the big swings arrive, I was too worn down to feel them. Grotesque works when it means something, but the supposed twist ending isn’t enough of a twist to have audiences care about what came before it.

Final Thought: Skip this exhausting atmospheric thriller and hop on the Na bandwagon by seeing HOPE in theaters now instead.

THE WAILING is streaming on Fandor.