I'll preface that I'm not familiar with every Korean horror movie of the past 10-15 years, but I will say two things from the ones I have seen of the past 10+ years: 1) they are interesting, and 2) they are not afraid to go to dark places.
The Wailing is another great entry along those two lines. With beautiful cinematography (and some gorgeous shots), the film starts practically as a comedy before steadily progressing into darker and darker territories, raising new questions and doubts on the path towards a beautiful crescendo of an ending. It's a type of horror I don't often see in American horror films, which, in my experience, are typically either shock scares or a steady sense of dread.
The movie does a great job of blending the practical with the supernatural/religious, providing enough treats and morsels of hints that fully roped me in, anxious to see what would happen next and how everything would be resolved. Maybe one of the greatest parts of the film is how this is pretty much all unveiled through the knowledge/perspective of the lead character, which is why the film is able to take such great twists and turns. There is also some very interesting race commentary, though that's all I'll say on that.
It may not have had the ending I wanted, but it had the ending I needed, overall earning a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED status from me. One of the nicest compliments I can say about The Wailing is that, for 2.5 hours, it flew by and left me wanting more.
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