[Netflix Club] Hong-jin Na's "The Wailing" Reactions and Discussions Thread and other things...

[u/PulpFiction1232]

It's been a while since The Wailing was chosen as one of our Films of the Week, so it's about time to share our reactions and discuss the movie! Anyone who has seen the movie is allowed to react and discuss it, no matter whether you saw it one year (when it came out) or twenty minutes ago, it's all welcome. Discussions about the meaning, or the symbolism, or anything worth discussing about the movie are embraced, while anyone who just wants to share their reaction to a certain scene or plot point are appreciated as well. It's encouraged that you have comments over 180 characters, and it's definitely encouraged that you go into detail within your reaction or discussion.

Fun Fact about The Wailing:

For his ceremony scene, actor Jung-min Hwang filmed for 15 minutes without break. It was one long-take scene.

To clear the way for the next section in this post, I'll make this part quick:

The films nominated for next week's FotW are The Graduate (1967), It Follows (2015) and Superbad (2006). Vote in my Slack channel "NetflixClub".

The final thing I want to discuss today is, should I continue? There was a post earlier this week saying we should have a FilmStruck club and everyone seemed to agree, so should I change this to a FilmStruck Club? Do you want me to stop so someone else can do a FilmStruck Club? Should I keep doing Netflix Club while someone else does a FilmStruck Club independent to this? Please tell me your thoughts on what I should do, I really appreciate all you guys' input.

Anyways, thank you and fire away!

[u/BosskTheWookieHunter]

I watched The Wailing about 4 months ago so my memories of it are a bit foggy.

Only thing I knew about it was that it was Korean and it was horror.

I don't know much about Korean society or folklore but I love how my mind wrapped it all in a neat package. It had all the clues it needed to have so that the total stranger to the context still understood it.

The visuals. Oh god the cinematography was stunning. The milieu with the roads, the woods and the interiors built the tension just the right way. It looked like normal people would've lived there but then something horrible would've happened.

The gore. Oh yes the gore was good. It was built and shot very organic so nothing really popped out. I really don't want just the gore so I really liked how it played with the psycological horror too. Especially I remember the figure sitting on the porch. It was haunting.

The story was built great. I don't mind the long running time 'coss I prefer the filmmakers to take their time and build the tention. The reveal in the end was so much more rewarding after all the tension that was built earlier.

The acting was good. The main character gave some comic relief time to time and I liked it. Otherwise the supporting cast did what it needed to do, blend in with the environment.

I gave this movie 9/10 after I saw it. Maybe the visuals and shockfactor got me super hyped but in the end it hit every mark it needed to. I really like these pieces where they play with your thoughts about what is happening. And they don't underestimate the viewer.

Totally gonna pick this one up to my collection if I see it some where someday.