Arriving from South Korea, via our friends at Fantasia Fest, we had the chance to see “The Wailing” (“Goksung” the original title) the third feature film from director Hong-jin Na (“The Chaser”, “The Yellow sea”). This film has been know for its long running time and for nicely presenting in its plot a clash between different religious/spiritual traditions, however, the thing that has been most talked about in the audiences and internet forums is the ending. Is it really that buzz worthy?

Let’s start with the plot: When a series of bizarre murders start occurring in a little village called Goksung, the policeman Jong-Goo, starts hearing weird rumors about a Japanese man that recently moved into a shack in the forest, and how he could be the cause of the incidents. Partly due his ineptitude and also disinterest in his work, Jong-Goo dismisses the rumors and rather go with the explanation given by the doctors that the strange behavior of the people in the village (and the murders) were caused by the ingestion of some bad hallucinogenic mushrooms.

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