The Wailing (2016): Every Twist Explained

The Korean horror film The Wailing explained a few elements of the plague, zombies, witchcraft, possession, ghosts, and demons, present throughout, though never really reveals what’s actually going on until the last few moments. Director Na Hong-jin’s 2016 horror movie The Wailing is a two-and-a-half-hour rollercoaster through several different horror sub-genres. The Wailing‘s twists link the thriller and horror sub-genres together, making re-watching it more rewarding. For the way everything connects and unfolds, Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing has been called one of the most intricate horror movies of the last decade.

The Wailing won 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’s twists, as intended by one of the best South Korean directors in modern horror, helped the film achieve its award-winning status. However, many elements in the story — from who The Stranger is to the significance behind the woman in white — were surrounded in mystery. However, with The Wailing explained, 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 sub-genres continue to unfold, twist, and change throughout The Wailing, it continues to subvert what the next scene will bring. Deceptively, The Wailing starts by appearing to be just another zombie or infection movie. Select people in a town go feral and savagely murder their families while distorting their bodies with welts and injuries. However, by the end, The Wailing progresses into a demonic possession story, which is the film’s core genre.

This tactic of shifting between genres is the most impactful of The Wailing’s twists. The main character’s daughter gets possessed, but it’s unclear if this is the case until the very end, when it is confirmed. This twist caused the entire film to turn on its head, almost forcing a rewatch to see how the possession storyline played out despite initially seeming like a zombie flick.

Who Is The Woman In White In The Wailing?

The Woman In White Turns Out To Be A Ghost

In The Wailing, The Woman in White is named Moo-Myung (which translates literally to “no name” in Korean). It turns out that she is a ghost. Viewers see her several times throughout the film, always as if she is chasing the Stranger. This is connected to another The Wailing twist in the ending, during which the film once again subverts expectations. Il-Gwang, the shaman who had been “helping” the family, tells the main character that the Woman in White is an evil spirit.

This twist leaves Jong-Goo, who just wants to save his daughter, extremely conflicted. Playing with Korean ghost movie conventions, the way Moo-Myung appears in this scene confirms she is a ghost. Moo-Myung said all along that the Stranger presented the actual danger, but because she is a ghost and that brings certain doubts, it throws off Jong-Goo in the end.

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Is The Stranger The Real Villain?

The Stranger Remains A Sympathetic Character In The Wailing

Throughout The Wailing, the Japanese Stranger is known to be the antagonist, though his character is incredibly complex by the ending. Viewers learn that he has possessed several people based on the number 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 makes the viewers feel pity for him.

Though the evidence is right in front of them, his facial expressions and fear make audiences sympathize in specific scenes — such as when he is being chased by Jong-Goo and his friends — which only serve to make The Wailing twists that follow more shocking. However, because the Stranger is basically the Devil, and the Devil has a deceiving nature, it makes it easy to see how he can force sympathy in people who should know better.

The Stranger Is Actually A Demon

The Demon Arrives In His True Form At The End Of The Wailing

After briefly confusing the audience, the film reveals that the Japanese Stranger was actually a demon the entire time, and this is the biggest of The Wailing‘s twists. His goal was to possess people for no reason other than to sow chaos and discord, taking pleasure in causing havoc in the small Korean town. The Stranger survives his fall off the mountain and the car accident, only to come back and finish the process of his possession.

In the final moments of the film, viewers finally see the true face of evil. When the Deacon walks into the cave and sees the Stranger, that is when he reveals his true face and the truth is revealed. The demon is a folk horror villain whom viewers are unlikely to forget. In his review for IndieWire, film critic David Ehrlich writes, “It’s bad to see the devil, but it’s much worse when the devil sees you.”

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Was The Shaman In The Wailing A Villain?

The Shaman Was Working With The Demon

It is also revealed towards the ending of The Wailing that the Shaman was working with the demon instead of against him like he claimed, perhaps the most shocking of The Wailing’s twists. Aware of the Shaman’s true allegiances, Moo-Myung curses him and strikes fear into his heart. Many fans were unsure if he had been working with the Stranger the entire time, during the exorcism, or only in the last moments.

Either way, it is clear to viewers that he is the one to “clean up” and take all the photos the Stranger keeps of his victims. The alternate ending of The Wailing shows this to be unequivocally true. In this ending, the Stranger is sitting on a bench and offers a little girl candy. When the girl’s mother notices and puts an end to it, she saves their lives. Then, the Shaman picks up the Stranger, and they drive off together to find another victim.

Why Was The Family Targeted?

The Wailing Shows It Was Just A Matter Of Chance

The Wailing doesn’t make it clear why Jung-Goo’s family is involved or why the Stranger is targeting them. The simple answer to this question is that it was nothing but a matter of chance. Jung-Goo didn’t disturb the Stranger until after the possession had already begun and after he had already met up with Hyo-Jin. The Stranger terrorizes several people in the village, and Jung-Goo’s family just happens to be next in line.

The alternate ending also shows why this might have happened to Jung-Goo. In the end, the Stranger tries to offer candy to the little girl, but the child’s mother is there to stop it. The mother is paying attention to her child’s safety. Jung-Goo is always so occupied with his police work that he never even notices his daughter falls victim until it is much too late.

Why Hyo-Jin’s Exorcism In The Wailing Didn’t Work

Hyo-Jin Was Never Saved

Before the climax of the film, The Wailing makes audience members believe that Hyo-Jin’s possession has been cured. She is normal, loving, and happy once again… until the moment when she isn’t. Just like the other killings, Hyo-Jin snapped. When Jong-goo heads to his house, he sees that Hyo-Jin already killed her mother and grandmother. She then stabs him, and he lies on the floor, dying, remembering the happy times he spent with his daughter.

It is in this moment that The Wailing really drives things home. Jong-goo went to the wrong people for help, and just when he thought the horrors had ended, things only got worse, and his own beloved daughter ended it. Hyo-Jin killed every member of her family without hesitation. By the time the possession fully took hold, the young and loving girl was completely lost to the demon, the most chilling of The Wailing‘s twists.

Jung-Goo Made His Choice

Jung-Goo Could Have Survived If He Had Listened

The moment that decided the fate of Jung-Goo and his family in The Wailing was when Moo-Myung gave him a choice. All he had to do was to wait for three rooster calls. This was the signal that Moo-Myung had warded the house from the demon, completely blocking the Stranger’s ability to cross the threshold of the Jung-Goo residence. He wouldn’t have been able to enter to kill. She continued to warn him, “If you go now, your entire family will die,”foreshadowing the most tragic of The Wailing‘s twists.

Jung-Goo tried to wait, but the more time that passed, the more he became impatient. He distracted Moo-Myung and put his faith in the wrong people. He chose to break the ward as he entered the house. As he did so, the small flower Moo-Myung placed on the door shriveled 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 act almost like zombies, the people who are “infected” in The Wailing aren’t sick with an actual disease at all, as the police believed. Instead, the illness is merely a symptom of the demonic infection plaguing the town. How The Wailing twists these genres together also makes it one of the best South Korean zombie movies, even without zombies.

The “zombies” seen throughout The Wailing are the Stranger’s previous victims. The naked woman at the police station was discovered the next day to have murdered her entire family in the same manner as the previous murders. While this at first seems like a zombie outbreak, it soon emerges that it was a mass demonic possession. By the end, when Hyo-Jin killed her parents and grandmother, she was clearly not a zombie but was in the trance of the Stranger.

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What Happens At The Ending Of The Wailing?

The Wailing Ends Where It Began

The Wailing ends the same way the movie begins — the saddest of The Wailing‘s twists. One family member is left alive, while the rest have been brutally murdered. The murderer always looks catatonic, with a severe skin rash. Hyo-Jin completes this cycle as Jung-Goo reminisces about the good times with his daughter. The Stranger will just continue to have new victims.

There is also a chance that Hyo-Jin will end up found and taken in by the next town that the Stranger goes to, and the entire cycle will repeat itself. A deleted scene shows Moo-Myung watching a car with the Stranger and Il-Gwang driving off, away from the town, to their next possession. It’s never made clear how long the unholy pair have done this, and how long it will continue.

The Wailing

The arrival of a mysterious stranger in a quiet village coincides with a wave of vicious murders, causing panic and distrust among the residents. While investigating the suspect, a policeman realizes that his daughter may have been a victim of the attack.

Director

Na Hong-jin

Release Date

June 3, 2016

Cast

Jun Kunimura , Hwang Jung-min , Kwak Do-won

Runtime

2h 36m