The Wailing
Well Go USA Entertainment | Release Date: June 3, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueMartyn ConterioNov 23, 2016
Not only is the film a compellingly told tale of suspense and terror, but it's crafted with such precision and sense of timing that one can cry "Masterpiece!" without being shamefaced or wondering if a hyperbole-induced crime against all good sense has just been committed. Read full review
100
SalonAndrew O'HehirJun 1, 2016
Forget the inflated Trumpian moral dilemmas of "Superman" and "Captain America." The summer’s most powerful and most disturbing thriller has arrived, in the form of an intensely atmospheric Korean movie called The Wailing. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 9, 2016
I love movies like The Wailing. Na Hong-jin’s film is like a genre buffet, with horror as the main course, but a hearty helping of mystery, crime drama, black comedy and family relations on the menu, as well. Don’t forget the side dishes of religion, superstition and ritual. It’s a full meal. Read full review
90
Screen DailyJason BechervaiseMay 24, 2016
Na’s screenplay takes viewers to the root of evil in a manner that subverts expectations and cleverly manipulates cause and effect at almost every turn. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineChuck BowenMay 25, 2016
Na Hong-jin's The Wailing is a work of thriller maximal-ism, a rare case of more actually being more rather than less. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisJun 10, 2016
Despite its epic length, The Wailing never bores as Na slathers his tale with generous supplies of atmosphere and awfulness. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubBenjamin MercerJun 1, 2016
The Wailing might be a somewhat meandering and nonsensical genre recombination, but that spell never breaks over its lengthy running time. Read full review
83
The Film StageZhuo-Ning SuMay 25, 2016
Designed and choreographed with stupendous pizzazz, it’s an explosion of colors, noises, and murderous zest that floods the senses, reminding you in a (skipped) heartbeat how frightfully entertaining these supposedly artless horror flicks can be. Read full review
83
The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicMay 24, 2016
The film is a bullet train of laughs, gore, frights and folklore, making the two-and-a-half hour runtime feel like a couple of minutes. Blink and you might miss the whole thing. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid HughesNov 21, 2016
Two-and-a-half hours long, but never slow, The Wailing takes its time to burrow under your skin, but by the time it weaves its dark, potent spell, it leaves you with a lingering, unshakeable sense of dread that Hollywood horror films can rarely muster. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonNov 21, 2016
Overall this is a stupendously entertaining movie, crammed with delights. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 2, 2016
What makes The Wailing so unusually disturbing is the almost palpable aura of evil it radiates from calm start to sorrowful finish. More disturbing still is the way that evil can seem indistinguishable from compassion. Read full review
80
The New York TimesGlenn KennyJun 2, 2016
I was so invested with Jong-gu and his family that as the suspense, violence and worse ratcheted up, I was not merely scared, but heartbroken. An overly literal bit of business at the end slightly undermines the film. As a whole, though, The Wailing is the hard stuff. Handle with care. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiAug 3, 2016
Horror movies tend to be pretty quick affairs, clocking in at 90 minutes or less, but The Wailing runs over two-and-a-half hours. That's because Na's recipe absolutely requires simmering before it rips your guts out (and everyone else's). Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJun 3, 2016
South Korean horror-mystery hybrid The Wailing crosses that line several times, but somehow remains effectively atmospheric. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichael NordineJun 1, 2016
That the film has so many partial reference points only makes the ultimate amalgamation stranger, as the chimeric whole can't be fully explained by its parts. The Wailing enters the world malformed and screaming, as powerless to stop itself as we are. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungMay 24, 2016
As dark and pessimistic as the rest of South Korean thrill-master Na Hong Jin’s work, The Wailing (Goksung, a.k.a. The Strangers in France) is long and involving, permeated by a tense, sickening sense of foreboding, yet finally registers on a slightly lower key than the director’s acclaimed genre films The Chaser (2008) and The Yellow Sea (2010). Read full review
70
VarietyMaggie LeeMay 24, 2016
On the one hand, the film is a gripping whodunnit, exemplified by a scene of classic Hitchcockian suspense, when Jong-gu makes a frightening discovery while snooping around the Japanese man. At the same time it treads into supernatural territory through nightmarish dream sequences that feel unnervingly real. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 24, 2016
This is horror filmmaking that's designed to work on you like a virus, slowly incapacitating your defenses so it can build up and do some real damage. Read full review
More From This Movie

81 Critic Reviews

7.9 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL