The Wailing

The Wailing is a 2016 South Korean horror film written and directed by Na Hong-jin and starring Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee. The film centers on a policeman who investigates a series of mysterious killings and illnesses in a remote Korean village called Gokseong in order to save his daughter. The film was both a commercial and critical success. Plot After a mysterious Japanese man and his Cane Corso dog arrive in Gokseong, a small village in the mountains of South Korea, a mysterious infection breaks out and causes the villagers to become deranged and violently kill their families. One night at the police station, a naked woman appears outside. The next day, the police find the woman has become infected and murdered her family. Officer Jong-goo meets a mysterious young woman called Moo-myeong (“no name” in Korean), who tells him that the Japanese man is the culprit, and is actually an evil spirit. When Jong-goo steps away for a moment, Moo-myeong vanishes and a demonic figure with glowing red eyes ambushes him; he awakens in his bed. A local hunter tells Jong-goo and Officer Oh Seong-bok that he saw the stranger, with glowing red eyes, eating from a deer carcass in the forest. As he continues to experience disturbing dreams about the demonic figure, Jong-goo decides to question the stranger. He enlists the help of Seong-bok's nephew, a Japanese-speaking deacon named Yang I-sam (“two-three” in Korean). They investigate the stranger's house in the forest, discovering a shrine containing photographs of murdered villagers, as well as some of their belongings. On the way home, Seong-bok shows Jong-goo a shoe that belongs to Jong-goo's daughter, Hyo-jin. Hyo-jin becomes sick, displaying symptoms similar to the infected. Jong-goo returns to the stranger's house, but learns that the evidence has been burned. Infuriated, he smashes up the worship room, kills the stranger's guard dog, and orders the stranger to leave the village.