The Wailing
WARNING ! ! ! The observe clause contains despoiler for The Wailing!!!!The Korean repugnance filmThe Wailingexplained a few elements of the plague , living dead , witchery , possession , ghosts , and demons , present throughout , though it never really reveals what ’s actually going on until the last few moments . Director Na Hong - jin ’s 2016 horror movieThe Wailingis a two - and - a - half - hour rollercoaster through several dissimilar horror sub - genres . The Wailing ’s twist link the thriller and revulsion sub - genre together , making re - watch more rewarding . For the way everything connects and unfolds , Na Hong - jin’sThe Wailinghas been called one of the mostintricate repugnance moving-picture show of the last X .
The Wailingwon over 30 major film industry accolades , conferred by the KOFRA Film Awards , Asian Film Awards , Florence Korea Film Fest , Blue Dragon Awards , Bucheon International Film Festival , and others . The Wailing’stwists , as designate by one of thebest South Korean directorsin forward-looking repugnance , help oneself the film accomplish its award - gain status . However , many elements in the story — from who the Stranger is to the signification behind the woman in blanched — were surrounded in enigma . However , withThe Wailingexplained , their thematic importance becomes clear .
The Finale Reveals The Wailing Isn’t A Zombie Movie
The Wailing Is Actually A Demonic Possession Story
As the featured horror hoagie - genres carry on to stretch , twist , and change throughoutThe Wailing , it retain to subvert what the next shot will impart . Deceptively , The Wailingstarts by appear to be just another zombi or infection picture show . Select people in a town go ferine and savagely murder their families while distort their bodies with weal and harm . However , by the destruction , The Wailingprogressesinto a demonic possession narrative , which is the picture ’s core musical genre .
This twisting do the entire motion-picture show to turn on its promontory , almost forcing a rewatch .
This tactics of shift between genres is the most impactful ofThe Wailing’stwists . The master character ’s girl drive possessed , but it ’s ill-defined if this is the case until the very ending , when it is affirm . This twist caused the total film to rick on its header , almost forcing a rewatch to see how the possession plot line spiel out despite ab initio seeming like a zombie flick .
Who Is The Woman In White In The Wailing?
The Woman In White Turns Out To Be A Ghost
InThe Wailing , the Woman in White is name Moo - Myung ( which translates literally to " no name " in Korean ) . It turns out that she is a spectre . viewing audience see her several prison term throughout the film , always as if she is chasing the Stranger . This is plug into to anotherThe Wailingtwist in the termination , during which the movie once again subverts expectations . Il - Gwang , the priest-doctor who had been " avail " the home , tell the main theatrical role that the Woman in White is an evil spirit .
Spooky touch and malevolent heart are the lucre and butter of repulsion . And these 10 specters might be the most terrific in horror moving picture history .
This twist give Jong - Goo , who just want to save his girl , extremely conflicted . play with Korean ghost film convention , the fashion Moo - Myung appears in this scene corroborate she is a ghost . Moo - Myung said all along that the Stranger presented the actual danger , but because she is a wraith and that fetch certain doubt , it throws off Jong - Goo in the ending .
Is The Stranger The Real Villain?
The Stranger Remains A Sympathetic Character In The Wailing
ThroughoutThe Wailing , the Japanese Stranger is know to be the antagonist , though his character is implausibly complex by the ending . Viewers learn that he has possessed several masses free-base on the issue of items and photos he had in his house and that Jong - Goo ’s daughter is now one of them . But in a strange sense , this character make the viewers feel shame for him .
Though the grounds is right in front of them , his facial reflection and care make audiences empathize in specific scenes — such as when he is being chased by Jong - Goo and his friends — which only serve to makeThe Wailingtwists that follow more shameful . However , because the Stranger is fundamentally the Devil , and the Devil has a deceive nature , it make it easy to see how he can squeeze sympathy on people who should jazz better .
The Stranger Is Actually A Demon
The Demon Arrives In His True Form At The End Of The Wailing
After in short confusing the consultation , the moving picture give away thatthe Japanese Stranger was actually a demon the full clip , and this is the biggest ofThe Wailing ’s bend . His goal was to possess people for no ground other than to seed bedlam and discord , taking pleasure in causing havoc in the belittled Korean Ithiel Town . The Stranger pull round his fall off the batch and the car accident , only to come back and finish the process of his possession .
" It ’s bad to see the devil , but it ’s much defective when the devil get wind you . "
In the concluding moments of the film , viewers ultimately see the true boldness of iniquity . When the Deacon walk into the cave and sees the Stranger , that is when he reveals his true grimace , and the verity is divulge . The daemon is a sept repulsion villain whom viewers are unlikely to forget . In his review forIndieWire , photographic film critic David Ehrlich writes , " It ’s bad to see the daimon , but it ’s much tough when the devil meet you . "
Was The Shaman In The Wailing A Villain?
The Shaman Was Working With The Demon
It is also revealed towards the end ofThe Wailingthatthe Shaman was cultivate with the demon rather of against himlike he claim , perhaps the most shameful ofThe Wailing’stwists . Aware of the Shaman ’s dependable allegiances , Moo - Myung beshrew him and strikes fear into his core . Many fans were shy if he had been working with the Stranger the full clock time , during the exorcism , or only in the last here and now .
The Wailing is intense and unsettling , and if you ’re looking for a similar deep thriller , here ’s your next watch .
Either way , it is light to watcher that he is the one to " make clean up " and take all the photo the Stranger keeps of his victims . The alternate ending ofThe Wailingshows this to be unequivocally genuine . In this ending , the Stranger is sitting on a terrace and offers a little girl candy . When the daughter ’s female parent notices and puts an end to it , she saves their life story . Then , the Shaman pick up the Stranger , and they force off together to bump another dupe .
Why Was The Family Targeted?
The Wailing Shows It Was Just A Matter Of Chance
The Wailingdoesn’t make it clear why Jung - Goo ’s family is involve or why the Stranger is targeting them . The simple solution to this question is that it was nothing but a matter of chance . Jung - Goo did n’t disturb the Stranger until after the self-will had already begin , and after he had already met up with Hyo - Jin . The Stranger terrorizes several people in the village , and Jung - Goo ’s family just happen to be next in line .
The alternative ending also demo why this might have happened to Jung - Goo . In the end , the Stranger tries to offer confect to the little young woman , but the kid ’s mother is there to stop it . The mother is paying attention to her child ’s safe . Jung - Goo is always so occupy with his law work that he never even notices his girl falls dupe until it is much too former .
Why Hyo-Jin’s Exorcism In The Wailing Didn’t Work
Hyo-Jin Was Never Saved
Before the climax of the motion picture , The Wailingmakes audience penis consider that Hyo - Jin ’s possession has been cure . She is normal , loving , and happy once again … until the mo when she is n’t . Just like the other killings , Hyo - Jin bust . When Jong - Goo head word to his mansion , he see that Hyo - Jin had already killed her female parent and grandmother . She then stabs him , and he lies on the floor , choke , remember the glad fourth dimension he expend with his daughter .
It is in this moment thatThe Wailingreally drives thing home . Jong - goo went to the wrong mass for help , and just when he thought the horrors had ended , things only got worse , and his own beloved girl ended it . Hyo - Jin kill every member of her family without hesitation . By the clip the self-possession fully take handgrip , the young and loving girl was completely fall back to the fiend , the most shuddery ofThe Wailing ’s twists .
Jung-Goo Made His Choice
Jung-Goo Could Have Survived If He Had Listened
The consequence that decided the fate of Jung - Goo and his family inThe Wailingwas when Moo - Myung gave him a choice . All he had to do was to hold back for three rooster calls . This was the sign that Moo - Myung had ward the business firm from the demon , wholly blocking the Stranger ’s ability to hybridize the doorway of the Jung - Goo mansion house . He would n’t have been able to enter to vote out . She continued to warn him,“If you go now , your entire family will die,”foreshadowing the most tragic ofThe Wailing ’s twists .
He deflect Moo - Myung and put his trust in the incorrect multitude
Jung - Goo tried to expect , but the more prison term that go by , the more he became raring . He distracted Moo - Myung and put his religion in the wrong multitude . He chose to break the ward as he entered the family . As he did so , the low flower Moo - Myung place on the doorway shrink up and died . Evil was able to enter .
The Illness In The Wailing Was Not A Zombie Plague
The Town Was Under Demonic Possession
While they look and do almost like zombies , the citizenry who are " septic " inThe Wailingaren’t sick with an genuine disease at all , as the constabulary think . Instead , the illness is but a symptom of the demonic transmission blight the town . HowThe Wailingtwists these writing style together also makes it one of the estimable South Korean zombie movies , even without zombi .
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The " snake god " seen throughoutThe Wailingare the Stranger ’s old victims . The defenseless charwoman at the police station was give away the next day to have murdered her entire familyin the same way as the premature murders . While this at first seems like a zombie outbreak , it soon emerges that it was a mass unholy possession . By the end , when Hyo - Jin killed her parents and gran , she was clearly not a zombie but was in the enchantment of the Stranger .
What Happens At The Ending Of The Wailing?
The Wailing Ends Where It Began
The Wailingends the same room the movie begin — the lamentable ofThe Wailing ’s twists . One family phallus is leave alive , while the rest have been savagely murder . The murderer always looks catatonic , with a dangerous peel rash . Hyo - Jin complete this cycle as Jung - Goo reminisces about the unspoiled times with his daughter . The Stranger will just continue to have new victims .
It ’s never made clean-cut how long the unholy pair have done this , and how long it will stay on
There is also a chance that Hyo - Jin will end up observe and need in by the next town that the Stranger goes to , and the entire oscillation will take over itself . A deleted scene record Moo - Myung watching a railroad car with the Stranger and Il - Gwang driving off , forth from the town , to their next self-possession . It ’s never made clean how long the diabolic duet have done this , and how long it will continue .
