If you're a Netflix subscriber, you've only got a few more days to watch one of the best horror movies of all time, because The Wailing is leaving the streamer's library in both the US and UK on Thursday, January 30.
A South Korean movie from 2016, The Wailing is set in a small mountainous village. A strange illness is causing villagers to kill their families, and some people think a new Japanese arrival is to blame, while others think it's evil spirits.
We follow a policeman called Jong-goo, whose daughter begins to succumb to the illness, prompting him to go to desperate lengths to stop the illness and save his daughter and wife.
It's a really creepy movie, with the film going out of its way to make it ambiguous as to what's really wrong, up until the end when everything makes sense. It's a "slow-burn" movie, but not to the degree that it's ever boring, it just has a twisty story as we learn more about the situation.
I really like atmospheric horror stories that focus on character and narrative over blood, gore and jump scares, and with that in mind, The Wailing ranks as one of the best horror movies I've seen as it ticks all my boxes.
If you don't believe me, just check out Rotten Tomatoes, where the movie has a near-perfect 99% critic score. The only criticism critics have, even in the negative review, is the two-and-a-half hour runtime (which is a fair point for any long movie).
Despite this high score, The Wailing remains lesser-known in the west, with most viewers having discovered it by word of mouth. That's why I have to pass it on with an article like this!
The movie's director, Na Hong-jin, is currently working on his next movie called Hope which is due to premiere this year. A sci-fi thriller, its cast includes a few Korean stars as well as Michael Fessbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell.
If you live in the US, you can still watch The Wailing on Peacock and Prime Video, while in the UK it's also on Prime Video. So there are still ways to watch the movie, and based on precedent it could be back on Netflix in about 18 months.
