idk why but that scene where the shaman bleeds and becomes sick just by being in sight of the woman really sticks with me. such a powerful scene and yet, i still believed in the wrong person. this movie fucking with my head.
The last scene when the Japanese man transformed into a demon still creeps me out thinking he was the one making weird noise on the ceiling of that little girl's room.
I knew something wasn't right with both the Shamans when they were using blood rituals & goat sacrifices. No way in hell you can convince me that's a good thing. Dumping his face in blood. The Angel gave no reason to doubt her since the beginning. Remember when the Father said to the guy can you prove the shaman is doing this? The same logic should have applied to the Angel. He literally had proof the Shamans were hurting people & his daughter. Had nothing on the Angel
@@davidortiz3094 damn bro, nice catch. Yeah if he listened to the catholic Padre and had faith in the hospital none of this would have happened and he would not have sinned by killing the Japanese shaman.
@@FLOSSYTREADWELLi think it was a cat vs crow ive heard a crow and crows were sent by the good spirit/deity remember when the shaman destroyed a pot tht had a crow actually she sent it to protect the family but the shaman destroyed it
for those still confused - the girl was the village deity , protecting families . She's wearing random objects from the villagers as a way of protecting them. At the end she broke down when the dad leaves to enter his house because it was the best chance to capture the demon but he ruins it.The shaman and the devil had teamed up , the shaman was actually destroying protecting rituals that were placed all over the village ( for protecting them from bad spirits) and was making the devil more and more powerful . The wood statue that shaman attacked in the ritual is called “jangsung” which is the guardian of the town in the Korean tradition.
What you have said that makes sence to me Cause i was also thinking it this way. Cause the shaman wasn’t able to enter the house for the good spirit and for that reason e used hyo jin's father to do that Then the girl murdered all the Family members and the work of those bad spirits was finished. And they gained more and more power But it was so sad that the good spirit couldn’t finished her work because of the foolishness of that man 🙂 Btw the movie was outstanding 🥺 i loved it so much 🤝 and thanks for your information❤️
The wood statue that shaman attacked in the ritual is called “jangsung” which is the guardian of the town in the Korean tradition. Even almost koreans couldn’t find it out at first. So the shaman attacked all the protection of the town and the girl
The Japanese is an ONI. An ogre, demon in the japanese folklore. They are the masters of the thunder. We see the thunder many times in the film. Some ONI are red, blue or yellow. The young shaman, when he has a jacket, his jacket is cleary blue. And the Japanese, we see him many times his face full of blood, which makes him look red. A master red ONI and his blue ONI stooge.
IMO..The woman in white is the village guardian or local diety who is good. She's wearing random objects from the villagers as a way of protecting them, but its a losing battle. At the end she broke down when the dad leaves to enter his house because it was the best chance to capture the demon but he ruins it. There's a small scene at the end where she just sits alone by the road dejected, she knew at that point her village is beyond saving. Still too many damn questions of this movie tho
Yeah I wonder what's up with the shaman. Good or evil? If the shaman was working with the devil why did he hurt the japanese man with the ritual ? Way too many questions. Also why was the japanese man surprised when the corpse wasn't in the truck anymore and turned into a zombie. If he was evil shouldn't he be perfectly okay with that?
Timmy Turner ...yes those two's motivations still confuse me. Pretty sure both are evil by then end of movie but not sure if they were from beginning or just possessed at some point.
Did you guys even watch the video???? I thought while watching the movie that the japanese man was doing something like reviving that zombie guy to move into his body, but apparently the japanese man was just cursing a dead body, i believe the japanese man just did curses on villagers, and the shaman is another free oni that helps the other japanese oni overtake villages by getting rid of people who are immune to them like the little girl, the people forced to hiring the shaman taking their money and finally killing the villagers. The ghost female is apparently a protector of the village. I wanna give kudos to the film director for making us second guess what a movies direction is, for subverting horror movie tropes and actually making an audience think about character motivation, and character study. Rather than just assume every role is as pedantic as "this is bad guy 1, this is good guy 2"
@@TimmyTurner421 Lies and misdirection to the audience it looks like. Girl in white is a local angel. Japanese man is a Red Oni, Shaman is a Blue Oni working for the Red Oni.
When she was telling him not to go, I really felt like she was evil. But then doubted on how the dude survived the car crash and then thrown off the cliff and still survived. Now I really wished he listened to her... (had to say, she was kinda cute) Love this movie and really wanted to end on a happy ending, but now liked it on how it DID end, cuz it leaves with so many questions and is not your typical "Jumpscare" horror but more on the culture, pure evil who don't move chairs to scare people; portrayed in hollywood films.
Yeah I was inclined to believe she was evil at first, then she asks him to believe her until the cock crows 3 times. Then I was like, wait, SHE's the good one here, isn't she?
@@badrulamzar6767 Ever watched oculus, haunting of hill house or any other mike flanagan directed horror thriller movies?!..those are indeed a treat to eyes!
man what a film. Still shook by it, I'm keeping my eye on south korea, first it was train to busan and now the wailing. I got the host on my list as well. we'll see how it goes
Thanks to everyone for the recommendations, I'm gonna check them all out. keep em coming already saw The Host i liked it but not as much as Train to Busan and The Wailing.
In Jong-goo's house there is a moment when the TV is showing a lion hunting a prey (i don't remember if it was a Zebra or another animal). For Jun Kunimura character it is a Safari in a exotic land. The Korean Shaman helps him selecting the hunting ground and the victims, he's working with the japanese since the beginning. Remember the fundoshi? The fishing scene is also a great clue. Maybe is a stupid idea, but aside of the shaman fundoshi detail, he changes his clothes to wear a Nike jacket and Adidas pants. Nike is the sponsor of South Korea National Football (Soccer) Team and for ages Adidas has been the brand for the Japanese Soccer Team. The film is a masterpiece.
Lions being shown on the TV actually happens twice. Once when the father confronts his daughter about the shoe he found and once when the little girl stabs her neighbor, Lions are a direct allusion to the bible passage 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour"
@@kyzersoze.musicology I think its just edited that way. The real reason the Japanese man starts to get affected is because of the woman in white (some kind of angel)
I think that the shaman an the demon have a mutualistic relationship. The demon terrorizes the people and kills his victums, while the shaman makes money for "exorcising" the afflicted. Then takes pictures foe the demon.
Its not about money! There`s only one thing that devil wants... making people suffer and admire it by keeping his creation in a picture, it is an art for him.
@@vukasintodorovic8936 Shaman was destroying the protection gods of the town and the daughter during the ritual, as seen when he chop down the statue which is meant to be the korean protection totem. The girl ghost is probably the one attacking the demon
@@vukasintodorovic8936 he was killing the daughter. You can tell when the shaman hits the stakes they are hurting the girl. The director even said that the 2 ritual scenes did not take place at the same time and he did that to make it look like the shamans spell was working correctly. In reality the Good Ghost's presecence is what made the demon weak.
You didn't make emphasis on how both the Japanese men/ the shaman are physically weak and dreadful of the mere presence of the Woman(angel).This is seen on the mountain scene,when the Japanese men runs from her and eventually get run over by the truck, while the rituals are taking place is is revealed at 7:23 that she was the cause of the Japanese man chest pains and of course the shaman gushing out blood . Also,after the murder at the house of Park Chun-bae's house we see they've held a ritual with the shaman too,from which no one survived
Yesss... I found him sketchy when he asked for a large be sum of money to help hyo jin. I got flashbacks too when the girl who hanged herself also ended up killing her family even after seeing a shaman.
@@joycexoforvever The woman in white is actually working with the devil. The shaman and the old Japanese guys are trying to kill her. The woman in white telling the father to wait, may seem like a test of faith but in fact it was to get the shaman to enter the house before the father and set off the trap. But the father didn’t listen and ruined her plan, that’s why she screamed. In fact if the father ignored her completely and ran straight home, he’d have a better chance of saving his family. The woman in white is literally a wolf in sheep’s closing. She appears pure and kind so we think she’s nice. The Japanese man and the shaman man appear aloof and unorthodox so we struggle to trust them. Notice that the shaman and Japanese guys have pictures of dead bodies or always try to take pictures of dead bodies. All the dead bodies in the pictures have never been resurrected. No one took a picture of the old Japanese man, so he became possessed by the devil when he died.
@@ipman127 the test of faith at the end of the movie exposes it all. If the man ignored the woman, he’d have a better chance at saving his family. The lady in white lied.
shaman said that because the father had finally comitted the sin by hitting the japanese man after which the lady will not able to save or guard the daughter anymore.
I’m surprised people don’t mention much about how in the background countless news talked about the of mushroom epidemic which added to the layer of what is real and what do we believe.
Just watched The Wailing and it's a brilliantly layered film which lots of room for interpretation. Rather than retread a lot of what's been discussed, I did notice other themes in the film and small occurrences that may fit certain viewpoints: - The film deals a lot with suspicions of outsiders: the Japanese man is blamed without proof, the city shaman is flashy and seems untrustworthy, the Christian religion is an outside religion to the mountainside superstitions - Physical touch is mentioned a few times. Talk of ghosts not being flesh and blood, the Japanese man asking the deacon to touch him, the woman in white grabbing Jong-gu's hand - The woman in white turns very pale and unnaturally white when she grabs Jong-gu. Previous to that she'd always looked like a normal woman. - The woman in white regularly mentions 'grandma'. At first it seems she's talking about the grandma of the murder house from earlier in the film, but later it seems she may be referencing Jong-gu's mother (or mother in law?) as she is always listening in other rooms, the girl goes missing on her watch, and she's the one who calls for the city shaman. There's something fishy about the girl's grandma. - The connection of the two shamans is only made possible by the grandma. Without her, the city shaman wouldn't be in the story. - The Japanese man looks visibly frightened when he discovers the body in the car is missing. If he wanted it brought to life, why is he worried? - The deacon acts strange after visiting the mountain house for the first time. Lingering shots in the rear view mirror suggest something is up. Later the deacon seems intent on killing the Japanese man which runs counter to his usual demeanour. - Jong-gu also snaps. He's a bumbling fool for most of the movie but once he too goes to the mountain, he changes and becomes more violent. - The woman in white's warning that Jong-gu returning to the house will kill his family can also be read as a threat. - The biblical overtones are important, especially around sin and whether that makes someone worth protecting. There are examples of lust, greed, gluttony etc throughout the film. - Cameras are considered to capture souls in some superstitions. - Dialogue is often very ambiguous. Is the woman in white threatening or helping Jong-gu? Is the demon talking to a human deacon or a possessed deacon? Is there one, two or three demons? Are they working together or against each other? - The two rituals taking place at the same time are unclear as to with side is affecting who. The girls says make him stop, but is she talking about the city shaman or the Japanese man? - The woman in white is holding her side in pain when the Japanese man sees her at the bottom of the cliff. - Did they woman in white knowingly force the Japanese man in front of Jong-gu's car, knowing it would cause him to sin? There are so many details like this in the movie and it's very open to interpretation. Brilliant film that stays with you for a long time after. Nice to see some genuine mystery in horror again.
I was also wondering about the City Shaman. Could it be that he was just wrong in his measurement - acting against the white (?) lady (her maybe having side pains due to wounds from the ritual done by the city shaman?) withouth any harmful intent? But then why the photos. good film aniway, made me thinking. clash of religions. who knows. lots of good observations here in the comment section
The father annoyed me so much - he was totally incompetent as a cop, as a father, as a husband and as a man. Pretty happy with the ending (however feel bad for that deacon lol)
Signs of an incredible actor. But really in the end he just wanted his daughter to be safe. If you dislike someone its because you see something about yourself that you dont like, so this comment says more about you than it does about this fictional character. He protected his daughter at the cost of his wife and mother in law. This film is really terrifying in the most somber of ways how faith and trust can lead us extremely astray.
The Japanese man took the pictures of victims before their deaths and the shaman took the pictures after their deaths. I hope everyone understood everything by that. And Also, when you see the Japanese man in the end. He looks like a "Jinn".
No man a jinn is something else and a devil or a demon or satan is something else. In Islam there are two things the shaitan meaning the devil and the jinn. There are muslim jinns as well
@@fakenews8295 that's it? Yeah well, korean horror hits different. If you have a curse, that's it. You just need to survive, not be the hero of the story.
It is very good but my take on the film is that it is actually deeply Christian allegory which you don't specifically mention . The town is under attack because they have 'lost faith' exemplified most when the head priest is dismissive and mocking when policeman comes to him finally saying 'the church cannot help you'. So the town church itself has no faith. The Woman in white is not just a good spirit, she is the embodiment of Jesus Christ. When we first see her she throws stones which is direct reference to the bible passage "he who is without sin may cast the first stone' so when woman throws rocks at the policeman she must be Jesus because he is the only one who is 'without sin'. At the end when policeman asks her to give him proof, she asks him to 'have faith' and to just 'believe', which echoes Jesus words when he says 'blessed are they who have not seen and yet believe'. She asks him to stand by her until the cock has crowed three times which again is direct reference to Peter in the bible who Jesus says will betray him before the cock has crowed three times. I think the movie has Christian message underneath it because the woman in white is Christ figure while the shaman are both evil although the Japanese one is the actual devil. Oh and the scene where Shaman is driving nails into the wood references the crucifixion and I think he is like Pilate or the Jews acting as agent of the devil. There's heaps more actually when you think about it
You've "nailed" it! (No pun intended) haha. Although i personally think that the reason why the church didn't help them is because the policeman is already in ties with the shaman. He believed the shaman more. Also it's important to note that the director used a locust scene when the shaman was in the car. It clearly is a Biblical reference of God's wrath against the wolves in sheep's clothing who deceive the humans. Notice how the Shaman threw up lots of blood in front of the woman? It's because he is so impure in the sight of the embodiment of Jesus. That's what happens in the Old Testament when God was directly inhabiting the land of Israel in the Holy Temple. All who entered His temple were burnt. Because all of us have sinned and, thus, impure in God's holy presence
Best possible answer up to now. Thank you for your Christian knowledge. Whether the film is actually "Christian", or based on Korean folklore, the motifs remain the same (and arguably, there is a mix): trust your faith, the devil will always tempt you...now, the protagonist is at the beginning shown to be tempted by lust (indeed, he sins), and then the shaman takes advantage of patriarchal prejudices to convince him that SHE (another young woman) is to be blamed for, that she is the devil, and that she will tempt him. In the end, the message of the film is clear: trust your faith and your values. The cold facts are that the Japanese man raped a young woman near the lake (we can see that he is evil!), and the Shaman is technically a miser (he charges the protagonist 10k for a "dangerous" ritual, that even if we as Western viewers force ourselves to respect because it is their own culture, we still have the suspicion that it is a scam). Curiously enough, the film challenges us with two "strange" cultural forces: the Japanese man (the national Other) and the Shaman (for Westerners and Christians, the religious Other) and even forces us to question: is the protagonist being xenophobic against the Japanese foreigner? Are we, skeptic spectators, being unrespectful to these deeply enrooted Korean folklore beliefs and practices? Indeed, at a personal level, we can all agree that the demeanor of the Japanese man and the Shaman is unpleasant, somehow evil for the Jap and narcissistic for the Sham, while the young beautiful woman is depicted from the beginning as an innocent being throwing stones (and even the Catholic deacon shines with honesty). Therefore, trust the beauty and the love you see and don't get overzealous on believing convoluted hunches based on greed and hate.
I believe that the Japanese guy was really free during the ceremony, and he was performing the ritual in order to prevent the demon possessing him again. When he falls down the cliff he actually starts sobbing (first time he shows any kind of emotion), and when he is hit by the car he is actually innocent. That's why the woman in white later tells Jong-goo he has committed a sin, confirming that the trap Il-gwang mentioned before was not set for the Japanese guy, but for Jong-goo.
@Edwardson Larosa incredibly easy comparison, you discreetly smoke weed in your parents house vs smoking weed in the vast open field, who is going to get caught first?
I thought similar to you - My take was that the woman in white was the ''good'' in the film and that the Japanese man and the Shaman were the ''evil'' in the film. I didn't think the shaman was evil until he met the woman in white. When he took the photo at the end that confirmed for me he was in partnership with the Japanese man.
it’s supposed to be funny, he kind of represents the Everyman in korea. And it hits even harder when things become not so funny later in the movie and becomes straight up horrific
TBH, when I watched this movie I don't know wth happened. Then I googled it, then it gave me goosebumps. It's not a typhical horror movie that will scare you. It was so deep that and well written. btw, the image of Japanese man in devil form is really scary.
I thought shaman was the main villain. And that Japanese man was just a random good guy trying to help the village. I was confused with the identity of the white dress girl. Damn I got it all wrong. It’s always opposite of what I think. My faith is thin like a paper. 😒
1. Oldboy 2. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance 3. Parasite 4. Memories of Murder 5. I Saw the Devil 6. Mother So many more, can't really put them in order because each of them are equally good.
One thing people don't seem to mention is the scene where one police officer talks about the old Japanese man raping someone. Do you think that this was his sin that caused him to be possessed?
The Korean shaman is the disciple of the Japanese shaman. In certain religions that deal directly with spirits (like African Voodoo, Santeria, Bhuddism etc) a disciple is bonded for life with his master/teacher. This is evident in the scene where the Korean shaman changes clothes and is seen wearing the "Fundoshi" (traditional "Japanese" undergarment used in ancient times and shinto tradition. This is the connection between the two shamans. Also the fact that the disciple does the labor intensive work for the master as it would be in magickal traditions and or in martial arts with students mopping floors and cleaning the dojo etc. So then does the korean shaman take the pictures from the house or Japanese shaman as explained in the end. The Japanese shaman would be bonded with whatever evil spirit he made a contract with and it is this "devil" that shows up in the end as the full physical possession of the man. The Japanese shaman used to be human and is no longer so, probably due to all the souls he collected from his victims with the help of his associate shaman and intermediary in the "living" world. This is what the picture collecting is about. They're not pictures but souls that he was taking as evidenced by the former shells the victims had become at the time of the picture taking. The victims have been left hollow, soul-less and headed to the grave just like it happened to every single other victim. This is a tale of 2 spirits battling over the souls of men (as in mankind). The evil shaman ghost/demon or whatever you want to call him (if you think of the Japanese yokai then you're in the ballpark, spirits which can be good or evil depending on their nature and if you made sacrifices to get favor from them, they can also bring misfortune). So yea, women (passive element of good), Japanese shaman (male possessive and dominant) in a spiritual battle with us humans being caught in the middle.
She gave no reason for doubt. It reminds me of what the Priest told him about the Shaman. "Do you have any proof that the Shamn did this?" And that it was all rumors but the truth is he did have proof by seeing all the witchcraft in the place & in possession of his daughter shoe. And when his daughter told him that a man keeps trying to get in. Then with the other shaman who was doing way to many blood rituals. Dipping his face in blood. Goat sacrifice. Talking about he'll cast a Death ritual. The signs were all there. He didn't have proof that the Angel was misleading him at all.
That's great man. I was so confused during the movie. I was 100% on trusting the Shaman so even in the end I couldn't see him as the bad guy. But I fully agree with your interpretation now. I'd love for u to put out more content in your video. Well pointed about the cloth the shaman wears haha I thought it was sooooo sketchy but made nothing of it.
The statue the shaman is attacking is called a JANGSEUNG STATUE. It's a statue to mark boundaries and scare away demons. It's key to understanding that entire scene, and the movie really. By the shaman attacking the JangSeung statue, he's destroying the wards on the girl allowing the Japanese/Devil to further penetrate her body. She's not in pain from being staked, she's in pain because the staking on her "protective shield" is allowing more and more and more demon into her body.
I saw some Japanese ppl in the comments explaining the ONI from their culture so i will add one more fact to the whole thing what my Korean friend told me. In old Korean totem-ism culture usually they made those totem like figures from wood to scare the demons and they were set around the villages creating some kind of line or fence. In the movie the shaman guy does something against it actually because he chops down the totem which should protect the village and so the shaman was trying to get rid of the female spirit - protector of the whole village :)
I guess that when the movie went out in Korea, everyone knew that the chaman was the bad guy at the moment he burnt the totem then :) when we, on the other side of the world, thought wow he's such a good guy 😅
I agree to all but my current thoughts are, if the woman in white was protecting the village why people kept dying anyway? Lets say she was failing then why would the shaman and japanese guy care enough to try and stop her protecting powers with these rituals the shaman did when she was failing anyway
if this is the case, the shaman is trying to destroy the good spirit but how come the daughter tells her father to make the shaman stop? Because he was accidentally killing the demon instead? Or was the daughter influenced by the good spirit at this point and made the daughter convince the dad to stop the shaman from destroying the good spirit? and then when the devil is injured the good spirit visits him.... so confusing
This movie is also saying something about religion. The deacon, the priest, the devil, the Catholic Church and traditional religion vs non traditional or demonic religions practice.
The demon itself did not kill the man who saw it eating a dead corpse of an animal, he was alive and well after seeing the japanese man in red eyes aka the demon. the demon let him go and later he told the cops where he found him at and that there is a house. That house was used by the Shaman and the demon happen to live near by inside a cave. He went there at same time as the 2 cops to maybe talk to the shaman guy about collecting souls for him. Cops confronted the demon in japanese man form and destroyed the house with the pickaxe. demon didnt care since its not his house. The shaman later on went back to the house to collect his pictures to hide the evidence leading to him be part of the murders from the tonic drinks.
I loved the ambiguity of the ending, and I have so much respect for a Korean movie industry which will finance a pretty large production like this and still show so much respect for the audience’s intelligence, and capacity to deal with uncertainty. There may well be a clear-cut explanation, but I took the director’s intentions as to create a sense of ultimate unknowability in the end. The last stretch of this movie completely wrong-footed me which I think only added to the terror.
Wasn’t there a part in the movie where there was another family in the village who said they were told about the Shaman and they chose not to use his services and they didn’t die?
This is the first time I needed to watch expplanation video about movie. I know I'm not pride of my self, but damn this movie was hard to understand :(
At 7:58 the wooden statue he cuts down is actually the symbol for a guardian protecting the village. Korean villages tend to have these wooden things to protect bad spirits. He then proceeds to stab the guardian. So we know he had bad intentions since early on.
I also never understood why these cops are so scared, they have revolvers which are outdated in terms of policing standards and higher capacity magazines. It doesn't matter how much one practices, a semi-auto will always reload faster than a revolver, even if one has a speed-loader There's a higher chance of fumbling the process when under stress. Back to the issue at hand of the police being scared. When the naked woman appears at the police station, they both start screaming hysterically and the one dude runs out with a surge protector or landline telephone as a melee weapon. Dude has a gun and more than likely a baton, OC spray and most cops have taser. Then at the burned out house, when the officer is being chased by the red eyed Stranger, he's on the ground screaming, he has a gun on his hip but he turns his head away and cowers till he wakes up. Then when they arrange the posse they all go with pitchforks and other melee weapons, why didn't the cop bring his gun? Plus why wasn't his partner involved in the posse, he was the one who said "they have to do something about the Stranger?"
I really loved the character of the village guardian because guardians are very real and you really never know how they are working in your favor behind the scenes without you knowing
I think you did a great job explaining. Obviously, with a movie like this there's a lot of different ways to interpret it, but this explanation was very clear and concise.
@@TheHolyMongolEmpire I agree. It seemed as a bible reference for when Jesus already resurrected and asked the doubting Thomas to touch him as proof that he has flesh. Since the deacon is Catholic, it could be to confuse him to trusting the Japanese man
The really scary thing about this movie is that it starts when you understand this movie little by little. "What you thought was good and acted was biting the devil's bait, and in the end it turned out to be the tragedy the devil had hoped for. But I comfort you in grief. I have seen you struggle so much for the good, even if it ended in tragedy."
Has anyone watched the alternate ending? Where the demon is sitting on the side of the road. He motions for the little girl (who is with her parents) to walk across the road. Right at the middle of the road the girl is picked up by her mom. The shaman drives up and picks up the demon. As the shamans car drives away the angel comes out from the opposite side of the road where she has been hiding. The angel was on the side with the little girl and her family. I haven't read all if the responses but, the demon has appealed to the shaman with the shamans greed of money. Basically, help me create chaos and I will make you rich.
This film was made by a fan of Fire: Walk With Me.. Which is THE Twin Peaks Horror Film... And make no mistake , that film is something of it's own artform. Even the "smashing of the TV" (recall Invitation To Love is the "Twin Peaks" show in the world of Twin Peaks. The smashing of the TV in my opinion, is Lynch saying "They ruined what I made. Screw that, I"m gonna give you something TV never could. Keep in mind the Film was made in late 80's. Shows like The Sopranos/Oz being broadcast big were still a pipedream) This film has that same "dream"/ Angels and Demons fightinf for souls, and evil winning vibe" that Fire Walk With Me had. And that film was HUGE in Japan
Great video analysis and such a good movie. I think the scene with the Shaman trying to expell the demon from the girl was interesting because we can see that the Japanese man is also hurt in the process. After the ending I was just left wondering why the woman in white wasn't more convincing when trying to get the man to trust her. Why did she have to sneak around all suspect the whole film? She could have just explained she was an angel and that she set the trap for the devil rather than acting as though she was an evil spirit. But I guess the point of the film would be to keep the viewers guessing and for the ending to be more revealing and creepy.
There were so many themes explored in this film it was hard to keep track. The alternate ending provided by Blackout made sense. I'm not sure of the shaman/devil (represented by the Japanese man) connection. Unless for evil to survive and manifest a form, it has to be fed the souls of living, preferably the young as they have more energy and are more vulnerable to suggestion. The shaman's phone call to the girl's father saying that he made a mistake in ID'ing the Japanese man, he was not evil but a shaman like himself, and the girl was evil was a give away. Why did the shaman link up with the devil? There is a superstition among the Navajo Indians that skinwalkers, originally shamans who turned to the left handed path (that of evil) can possess living animals or humans to prey on the living. Those shamans that stay on the right handed path are valued as healers. In this tradition, all shamans come to a point in their practice and need to decide what direction to take, left (witch/warlock) or right (healer). My interpretation of the shaman is that he is undecided. He's willing to help the family for a price, but at the same time is fascinated by the devil and so drives him around. That an old Japanese man is the epitome of "the banality of evil" for Koreans would fit given the history.
One thing I notice about the shaman is that he's very respected, praised and wealthy you can even tell by his greed when he demands 10 grand for his services it's obviously that he does this in exchange.
I watched this movie, and later in the evening I'm sleeping and dreaming about being chased in the woods by the "demon" of this movie. My son comes to ask me something and I felt a presence looming over me. I startled awake...saw him..screamed..scared him..he stumbled backwards into the table and flipped over it. 😮😫 Taught his ass to not hover over people who watched a scary movie prior to going to sleep. 😂😂
everyone got the movie wrong...korean/japanese love subtleties and misdirection.. the actual evil was the female ghost, and the japanese was trying to banish her..the other shaman was telling him to go to her daughter but didnt so the daughter killed all the family, the ghost also was stalling him....well there is alot i can still say but i dont think anyone cares..
Would also like to add there was an extra/deleted scene where the shaman and japanese man get in the car together. The japanese man is waiting for the shaman, and once he gets there, he jumps in his car. After they drive off, you see the lady in white watching them drive off. This just further proves that the japanese man/shaman knew each other/ were working together.
when I watched the movie I didn't have subtitles when the japanese man was talking to the priest in the cave, can someone tell what they were talkinjg about? This videos theory is good and understandable. but I've read another theory in the comments which could also make sense. about the japanese getting possessed after the zombie died (the zombie was actually possessed by the demon/devil) and the japanese man actually tried to exorcise him in the night before, so its important to know if there were any indications of that in their talk. you could clearly see the japanese man was shocked when he saw that the car/truck was empty and desperately tried to find the corpse/zombie. soak that in and think about it
Very good analysis of the movie. If the lady in white is the village's protector deity then it makes sense of why she looked pale and frail. As the shaman destroyed more of the protection spells and ornaments in the village and the wavering faith of the villagers, her power had probably weakened alot. Her expressions at the end has a feeling of doom, as if she had lost her last chance to win the demonic force
A quick timeline of events. Key characters: Main character, Japanese Shaman, Woman in white, Korean Shaman (the out of town Shaman) 1. People in town start becoming possessed, including the main character's daughter 2. Out Of Town Shaman (Korean Shaman) is called in to perform a Death Curse on the Japanese shaman, because they believe he is the one behind the possessions 3. The Death Curse is called off because it seems to be hurting the daughter 4. The Japanese man is run over and dies 5. Korean Shaman meets Woman In White and starts puking. He decides to flee town but later returns to warn the main character about her. 6. Woman in white tries to prevent the Main Character from going home. 7. Deacon meets Japanese shaman who is revealed to be a demon 8. Main character's family all dies. 9. Korean Shaman returns and photographs the corpses. Is the Japanese man evil? (No, but he becomes possessed after dying) The Japanese shaman, who is shown to be a demon at the end of the film, was working the whole time to protect the town. He was misunderstood. He finds the bodies of the dead and performs a cleansing ritual by photographing the corpse. This stops people from coming back as possessed. There is one scene where he finds a corpse in a truck. He goes home to perform the cleansing ritual, but this ritual is interrupted by the out-of-town shaman performing a death curse on him. He goes back to the truck the next day and the body is missing, and the Japanese shaman is distressed because he failed to cleanse the body and it became a demon. Near the end, the Japanese man is run over and dies. After this, no one performs a ritual on him, so he becomes a demon. The deacon goes to meet him and finds him possessed. The demon berates him for only seeing what he wanted to see, they never opened their minds to the possibility it wasn't the Japanese man. He was not evil or a demon the whole time. Evidence of this: there is a scene where the police chase him, and he narrowly escapes. This whole time he is clearly distressed (even when no one is looking at him, so he has no reason to fake) if he were a demon he'd have nothing to worry about. Is the out of town shaman evil? (No) The out-of-town shaman only gets involved at first because he was being paid to come in and do his job. He's never seen working with the Japanese shaman (only working against him, as seen when he tries to kill him with a ritual). We know he was trying to kill the Japanese shaman because, after that ritual, he believes he has killed the evil spirit plaguing the town and gets ready to leave. It is only after he encounters the woman in white (who makes him puke blood) that he realizes he failed to kill the evil spirit. Even then, he decides to leave. It is only when he gets a message from God, in the form of moths against his windscreen, that he decides to returns to the town and help (help via warning the main character not to trust the spirit, and later, to take photographs to stop the dead from coming back). Is the woman in white evil? (Yes) During the scene where he meets her, she is shown slowly moving towards him. She gets closer and closer until he decides to go against her and run back to the house. She was trying to get closer so she could possess him, and was distressed when he ran away because she missed her chance. The second reason she was distressed is that she wanted to delay him. This is so that the Korean Shaman would get to the house first, spring the trap and open himself to being possessed. Instead, he arrived after the trap was already sprung thus ruining his chance of being possessed. The Significance of the flowers in front of the door The flowers on the door are a "trap". This trap only works once, and when sprung the flowers wither and die. What they do is open whoever passes through them up to possession. Lady in White wanted to delay main character from going home so the trap could be used on Korean Shaman, but he resists her and goes home. Him going to the house too early is not what caused the family to die. His daughter was the one who killed the family. She was possessed and killed them with a knife. If we examine the timeframe, his family was already dead or in the process of being killed while the White Woman was delaying him. If he had gone earlier, he may have been able to prevent them from killing them. If he had arrived later (like the woman in white wanted), they would already be dead. The film closes with Korean Shaman getting to the house. Too late to save anyone, he takes pictures of the corpses so he can do the cleansing ritual to prevent them from being possessed.
>> [The Japanase shaman] He finds the bodies of the dead and performs a cleansing ritual by photographing the corpse. When they entering the Japanese's house, we can see a lot of photographs of people BEFORE they are dead, not only corpse
I think that by interrupting the Shaman's death hex ritual, the shaman ends up possessed by the Japanese man. Ie good at the begining, but bad after the ritual.
The shaman was trying to blame the ghost girl (the good person in the movie) as the culprit of the murders and the possesion of his daughter, which is not true. She said that the one who is behind it all is coming to his house. The one person going to his house at that moment is the shaman guy saying he will meet with the cop at his house to save his daughter. When he walked past the front door with the herbs hanging on top it tripped the trap the ghost lady set for the shaman guy. thats how he can get inside his house after his daughter kills everyone to take the pictures.
This is a film about faith and the scene where the Angel tells her to trust her plan and not go home is akin to Peter walking on the water with Christ. When Peter doubted Jesus, he began sinking, but when he looked at him, he stood above the water.
The korean shaman breaks the statue during the ritual(2:30) That wooden statue is a traditional guardian god for each region. You can actually see the statues in countrysides even these days. We usually put that statue in the entrance of the village.
The gokseong(wailling) is an actual town’s name in Korea. And all the actors use the region’s dialect. it sounds very light and funny. And it makes the serious/scary atmosphere of the movie very contrasted.
Its clear that the girl was hurting where the shaman drove the nails, but we can equally well say that it is the daemon that is hurting (which is inside the girl) so this proves really nothing. Also the "angel" lady said that the daughter is hurting because of the sin of the father, that the father killed a man, but it happened after she was possessed so this cannot be a reason. Also the guy that he killed turned out to the devil, so how come can it count as a sin. There is a scene where they throw the Japanese man out of the road and then both the angel lady and the shaman seem to be quite content and the shaman even says something like 'they got the rat' or 'the rat has fallen' (don't want to put emphasis on 'them', but rather on the 'rat'). Something doesn't stick together. The director said supposedly that the angel lady is a good entity in this movie so that is something we can rely on, but the rest of the scenes don't add up to this. I wonder if the director wasn't as confused as we are now.
He actually says "the rat has fallen into the trap" which I think means that the shaman WANTED jong-gu to kill him. Think back to what the guy says in this video where the victims are those who lost faith and sinned. Maybe that's what he meant?
The good spirit can't protect jong-gu no longer after he sinned. The only way to protect him is if jong-gu shows her faith, but he runs away to his house. You see that flower wither when he enters his home. He ran into his demise.
Timmy Turner But even if he didn’t go in the house, his daughter already did the killing before he entered and spoiled the trap. I still don’t see how his family would have been saved if he stayed away like the lady in white told him to
I think the lady in white knew that there is nothing she could do to save the father's family so she was just trying to at least save the him and prevent him from tripping the trap.
I think the Demon is using the Shaman against his will, if he doesn't then he'll eat his soul. or the Demon owns the Shaman's tainted soul so the Shaman has to do its bidding. Gotta understand the "Oni" Japanese Demons side to understand what the Demon is doing. The shaman is greedy for money. If the Demon really did die, then the Shaman would be free of it. But since the Demon knew that the Shaman was rejoicing, it got mad and said "I'm alive but this dead japanese guys soul is now in hell so I'm taking this human's body."
I also believe that the Shaman is a metaphor of human religion, and how it tends to be sided the depraved and evil nature of human beings rather than connect us with our true spiritual side (The women in White)
One of the overlooked biblical references is when in the finale, the mysterious girl in white tells the protagonist that he must put his faith in her by waiting for the third rooster crow before heading home if he wants his family to survive. The clear allusion is to Matthew 26:34 as well as Luke 22:34, where Jesus prophesies Peter’s denying him thrice before the cock crows. That said, the film is still ambiguous about taking sides with Christian belief and the force of goodness as the little priest also gets ensnared eventually by the devil and even the white girl is a bit foggy and suscpicious (if we accept that she is on the angelic side, that is).
did you see the scene when the shaman said "the rat fell into the trap"he said that after the father and the gang throw the Japanese body down the hill. so it means that they set a trap so that the father commit sin and the devil can take control of the daughter.The shaman make a ritual to hurt more the daughter so it will make the father became more furious and wants to kill the Japanese. It was all a trap,and the father fall for it.
the shaman had a nike jacket with adidas track pants, i knew he couldnt be trusted.
lol
Bwa ha ha. Why did I think the same thing tho!?! 😂
Western Spy
BIG FACTS lol
Whaaat I always mix Nike and adidas clothes!
idk why but that scene where the shaman bleeds and becomes sick just by being in sight of the woman really sticks with me. such a powerful scene and yet, i still believed in the wrong person. this movie fucking with my head.
Word
Same
mine too
The last scene when the Japanese man transformed into a demon still creeps me out thinking he was the one making weird noise on the ceiling of that little girl's room.
I knew something wasn't right with both the Shamans when they were using blood rituals & goat sacrifices. No way in hell you can convince me that's a good thing. Dumping his face in blood. The Angel gave no reason to doubt her since the beginning. Remember when the Father said to the guy can you prove the shaman is doing this? The same logic should have applied to the Angel. He literally had proof the Shamans were hurting people & his daughter. Had nothing on the Angel
on the roof.... Oh you mean the two cats fighting lol
@@davidortiz3094 damn bro, nice catch. Yeah if he listened to the catholic Padre and had faith in the hospital none of this would have happened and he would not have sinned by killing the Japanese shaman.
@@YongyoonKim we already saw a man dying in the hospital. Hospital wasn’t the cure at all .
@@FLOSSYTREADWELLi think it was a cat vs crow ive heard a crow and crows were sent by the good spirit/deity remember when the shaman destroyed a pot tht had a crow actually she sent it to protect the family but the shaman destroyed it
for those still confused - the girl was the village deity , protecting families . She's wearing random objects from the villagers as a way of protecting them. At the end she broke down when the dad leaves to enter his house because it was the best chance to capture the demon but he ruins it.The shaman and the devil had teamed up , the shaman was actually destroying protecting rituals that were placed all over the village ( for protecting them from bad spirits) and was making the devil more and more powerful . The wood statue that shaman attacked in the ritual is called “jangsung” which is the guardian of the town in the Korean tradition.
What you have said that makes sence to me
Cause i was also thinking it this way.
Cause the shaman wasn’t able to enter the house for the good spirit and for that reason e used hyo jin's father to do that
Then the girl murdered all the Family members and the work of those bad spirits was finished.
And they gained more and more power
But it was so sad that the good spirit couldn’t finished her work because of the foolishness of that man 🙂
Btw the movie was outstanding 🥺 i loved it so much 🤝 and thanks for your information❤️
Thank you so much. This makes perfect sense.
Great analysis. Thank you.
u copied lil bro
you just copied and combined all the comments in the comment section
The wood statue that shaman attacked in the ritual is called “jangsung” which is the guardian of the town in the Korean tradition. Even almost koreans couldn’t find it out at first. So the shaman attacked all the protection of the town and the girl
Then who attacked japanese guy? He was also feeling stabbed
@@ShubhamPatil-rl4jk i heard this theory where the Japanese guy was exorcizing himself
@@ShubhamPatil-rl4jk i've read somewhere here that it's actually not happening at the same time.
Oh so that's it. That's why she was bleeding the day after the hex was casted.
@@ShubhamPatil-rl4jk the japanese man exorcise himself. he pass the devil inside him into the dead man in the truck.
That Japanese at the end looked so scary and realistic...far better than Hollywood horrors.
You bet I legitimately thought he was the devil. I always imagined a real devil would look similar to that. I had to start praying at that moment
True ..no cgi,just make up but horror as fuck!!
Mahmuda Kabir Moni hollywood is shit
i agree, do you remember how terrible the red devil looked in insidious? it was comically hilarious.
I was not able to sleep last night because of that
The Japanese is an ONI. An ogre, demon in the japanese folklore. They are the masters of the thunder. We see the thunder many times in the film. Some ONI are red, blue or yellow. The young shaman, when he has a jacket, his jacket is cleary blue. And the Japanese, we see him many times his face full of blood, which makes him look red. A master red ONI and his blue ONI stooge.
wow thanks for posting
bullshit.
This makes the most sense
Makes sense because we see a Noh mask during the search in the japanese man's house
Wow .. are you japanese by any chance ?? HAHAHA
IMO..The woman in white is the village guardian or local diety who is good. She's wearing random objects from the villagers as a way of protecting them, but its a losing battle. At the end she broke down when the dad leaves to enter his house because it was the best chance to capture the demon but he ruins it. There's a small scene at the end where she just sits alone by the road dejected, she knew at that point her village is beyond saving. Still too many damn questions of this movie tho
Yeah I wonder what's up with the shaman. Good or evil? If the shaman was working with the devil why did he hurt the japanese man with the ritual ? Way too many questions. Also why was the japanese man surprised when the corpse wasn't in the truck anymore and turned into a zombie. If he was evil shouldn't he be perfectly okay with that?
Timmy Turner ...yes those two's motivations still confuse me. Pretty sure both are evil by then end of movie but not sure if they were from beginning or just possessed at some point.
Did you guys even watch the video????
I thought while watching the movie that the japanese man was doing something like reviving that zombie guy to move into his body, but apparently the japanese man was just cursing a dead body, i believe the japanese man just did curses on villagers, and the shaman is another free oni that helps the other japanese oni overtake villages by getting rid of people who are immune to them like the little girl, the people forced to hiring the shaman taking their money and finally killing the villagers.
The ghost female is apparently a protector of the village.
I wanna give kudos to the film director for making us second guess what a movies direction is, for subverting horror movie tropes and actually making an audience think about character motivation, and character study.
Rather than just assume every role is as pedantic as "this is bad guy 1, this is good guy 2"
Yours and mahaut miyashita
's comments make the most sense in unraveling this plot. Thank you
@@TimmyTurner421 Lies and misdirection to the audience it looks like. Girl in white is a local angel. Japanese man is a Red Oni, Shaman is a Blue Oni working for the Red Oni.
When she was telling him not to go, I really felt like she was evil. But then doubted on how the dude survived the car crash and then thrown off the cliff and still survived.
Now I really wished he listened to her... (had to say, she was kinda cute)
Love this movie and really wanted to end on a happy ending, but now liked it on how it DID end, cuz it leaves with so many questions and is not your typical "Jumpscare" horror but more on the culture, pure evil who don't move chairs to scare people; portrayed in hollywood films.
Awesome !! Well said 👍
Moving chairs hahahaha
@akshay satish Ikr.. Most of the Hollywood horror film are jumpscare shit..
Yeah I was inclined to believe she was evil at first, then she asks him to believe her until the cock crows 3 times. Then I was like, wait, SHE's the good one here, isn't she?
@@badrulamzar6767 Ever watched oculus, haunting of hill house or any other mike flanagan directed horror thriller movies?!..those are indeed a treat to eyes!
man what a film. Still shook by it, I'm keeping my eye on south korea, first it was train to busan and now the wailing. I got the host on my list as well. we'll see how it goes
PapiDarko see memories of murder. Probably the best Korean movie a long with old boy
memories of murder is the best korean film ever made, and one of the best films of all time in general
PapiDarko Try I Saw the Devil and The Chaser. The latter has the same director as The Wailing.
The host, I saw the devil, old boy, lady vengeance.. So many good movies
Thanks to everyone for the recommendations, I'm gonna check them all out. keep em coming already saw The Host i liked it but not as much as Train to Busan and The Wailing.
The fact that the shaman took more pictures at the end tells you that he was definitely evil
Worked for the devil basically. The Angel stated it.
Can see him wearing that Japanese underwear too when he was changing infront of the father, the same underwear that the old japanese guy was wearing.
I missed that point thanks
In Jong-goo's house there is a moment when the TV is showing a lion hunting a prey (i don't remember if it was a Zebra or another animal). For Jun Kunimura character it is a Safari in a exotic land. The Korean Shaman helps him selecting the hunting ground and the victims, he's working with the japanese since the beginning. Remember the fundoshi? The fishing scene is also a great clue. Maybe is a stupid idea, but aside of the shaman fundoshi detail, he changes his clothes to wear a Nike jacket and Adidas pants. Nike is the sponsor of South Korea National Football (Soccer) Team and for ages Adidas has been the brand for the Japanese Soccer Team. The film is a masterpiece.
Interesting points
Lions being shown on the TV actually happens twice. Once when the father confronts his daughter about the shoe he found and once when the little girl stabs her neighbor, Lions are a direct allusion to the bible passage 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour"
But why is then when the Korean shaman was stabbing the statue it started to affect the Japanese man???
@@kyzersoze.musicology I think its just edited that way. The real reason the Japanese man starts to get affected is because of the woman in white (some kind of angel)
Man this movie was WILD
craazy but amazing storyline, well written and well filmed
hell no it was trash
Alexander Sylvester Borhum fucking gay
It was pretty trssh
People who said it was trash has some cheap taste of movie
I think that the shaman an the demon have a mutualistic relationship. The demon terrorizes the people and kills his victums, while the shaman makes money for "exorcising" the afflicted. Then takes pictures foe the demon.
There are tons of opinions yet your's is the most fundamental and clever one
Its not about money! There`s only one thing that devil wants... making people suffer and admire it by keeping his creation in a picture, it is an art for him.
Why did the shaman try to kill the demon? What would have happened If they hadn't stopped the ritual ?
@@vukasintodorovic8936 Shaman was destroying the protection gods of the town and the daughter during the ritual, as seen when he chop down the statue which is meant to be the korean protection totem. The girl ghost is probably the one attacking the demon
@@vukasintodorovic8936 he was killing the daughter. You can tell when the shaman hits the stakes they are hurting the girl. The director even said that the 2 ritual scenes did not take place at the same time and he did that to make it look like the shamans spell was working correctly. In reality the Good Ghost's presecence is what made the demon weak.
You didn't make emphasis on how both the Japanese men/ the shaman are physically weak and dreadful of the mere presence of the Woman(angel).This is seen on the mountain scene,when the Japanese men runs from her and eventually get run over by the truck, while the rituals are taking place is is revealed at 7:23 that she was the cause of the Japanese man chest pains and of course the shaman gushing out blood . Also,after the murder at the house of Park Chun-bae's house we see they've held a ritual with the shaman too,from which no one survived
Oooohkkkkay.....nw i get it.
Are you sure she was chasing him?
I thought he was chasing her
He was chasing her becuz The woman is Looking back while running butt I dunno maybe youre right
Then does that mean the Shaman and the Demon is teaming up?
The shaman likely represents the evil of people, he is arrogant, and highly motivated by money.
Only by money his entire village at threat yet only does it for money I thought that on my first viewing at least
Yesss... I found him sketchy when he asked for a large be sum of money to help hyo jin. I got flashbacks too when the girl who hanged herself also ended up killing her family even after seeing a shaman.
@@joycexoforvever The woman in white is actually working with the devil. The shaman and the old Japanese guys are trying to kill her.
The woman in white telling the father to wait, may seem like a test of faith but in fact it was to get the shaman to enter the house before the father and set off the trap. But the father didn’t listen and ruined her plan, that’s why she screamed. In fact if the father ignored her completely and ran straight home, he’d have a better chance of saving his family.
The woman in white is literally a wolf in sheep’s closing. She appears pure and kind so we think she’s nice. The Japanese man and the shaman man appear aloof and unorthodox so we struggle to trust them.
Notice that the shaman and Japanese guys have pictures of dead bodies or always try to take pictures of dead bodies. All the dead bodies in the pictures have never been resurrected.
No one took a picture of the old Japanese man, so he became possessed by the devil when he died.
@@dieu5041 nah I'm 100% sure the Shaman guy is actually evil and working with the Japanese man the whole time
@@ipman127 the test of faith at the end of the movie exposes it all. If the man ignored the woman, he’d have a better chance at saving his family. The lady in white lied.
No wonder the shamen said “the mouse has fell into the trap”
shaman said that because the father had finally comitted the sin by hitting the japanese man after which the lady will not able to save or guard the daughter anymore.
Ant*
Nikki Newyen Hahahaha that right
@@kaleyangfo1689 not hit. her throw the japanese man to the cliff while he still alive
@@nurulaiin2748 we never even see her throw the japanese. We are all under the impression that the white girl did it. So, we can never tell really.
I’m surprised people don’t mention much about how in the background countless news talked about the of mushroom epidemic which added to the layer of what is real and what do we believe.
Just watched The Wailing and it's a brilliantly layered film which lots of room for interpretation.
Rather than retread a lot of what's been discussed, I did notice other themes in the film and small occurrences that may fit certain viewpoints:
- The film deals a lot with suspicions of outsiders: the Japanese man is blamed without proof, the city shaman is flashy and seems untrustworthy, the Christian religion is an outside religion to the mountainside superstitions
- Physical touch is mentioned a few times. Talk of ghosts not being flesh and blood, the Japanese man asking the deacon to touch him, the woman in white grabbing Jong-gu's hand
- The woman in white turns very pale and unnaturally white when she grabs Jong-gu. Previous to that she'd always looked like a normal woman.
- The woman in white regularly mentions 'grandma'. At first it seems she's talking about the grandma of the murder house from earlier in the film, but later it seems she may be referencing Jong-gu's mother (or mother in law?) as she is always listening in other rooms, the girl goes missing on her watch, and she's the one who calls for the city shaman. There's something fishy about the girl's grandma.
- The connection of the two shamans is only made possible by the grandma. Without her, the city shaman wouldn't be in the story.
- The Japanese man looks visibly frightened when he discovers the body in the car is missing. If he wanted it brought to life, why is he worried?
- The deacon acts strange after visiting the mountain house for the first time. Lingering shots in the rear view mirror suggest something is up. Later the deacon seems intent on killing the Japanese man which runs counter to his usual demeanour.
- Jong-gu also snaps. He's a bumbling fool for most of the movie but once he too goes to the mountain, he changes and becomes more violent.
- The woman in white's warning that Jong-gu returning to the house will kill his family can also be read as a threat.
- The biblical overtones are important, especially around sin and whether that makes someone worth protecting. There are examples of lust, greed, gluttony etc throughout the film.
- Cameras are considered to capture souls in some superstitions.
- Dialogue is often very ambiguous. Is the woman in white threatening or helping Jong-gu? Is the demon talking to a human deacon or a possessed deacon? Is there one, two or three demons? Are they working together or against each other?
- The two rituals taking place at the same time are unclear as to with side is affecting who. The girls says make him stop, but is she talking about the city shaman or the Japanese man?
- The woman in white is holding her side in pain when the Japanese man sees her at the bottom of the cliff.
- Did they woman in white knowingly force the Japanese man in front of Jong-gu's car, knowing it would cause him to sin?
There are so many details like this in the movie and it's very open to interpretation.
Brilliant film that stays with you for a long time after. Nice to see some genuine mystery in horror again.
Thanks for you're perspective!
These are good points/thoughts/questions, thank you for sharing
What I'm looking for is the message of this film. The cinematography is great but I don't see some sort of meaning
I was also wondering about the City Shaman. Could it be that he was just wrong in his measurement - acting against the white (?) lady (her maybe having side pains due to wounds from the ritual done by the city shaman?) withouth any harmful intent? But then why the photos. good film aniway, made me thinking. clash of religions. who knows. lots of good observations here in the comment section
svaka cast majstore!
The father annoyed me so much - he was totally incompetent as a cop, as a father, as a husband and as a man. Pretty happy with the ending (however feel bad for that deacon lol)
Signs of an incredible actor.
But really in the end he just wanted his daughter to be safe.
If you dislike someone its because you see something about yourself that you dont like, so this comment says more about you than it does about this fictional character.
He protected his daughter at the cost of his wife and mother in law.
This film is really terrifying in the most somber of ways how faith and trust can lead us extremely astray.
Atleast he was good at fuckin
Yes, that is the point of the movie
@Blue Cheese So, the Sean Bean of Korea? In that he dies in almost every movie.
TRUE HE IS A PIECE OH SHT!!!!
The Japanese man took the pictures of victims before their deaths and the shaman took the pictures after their deaths.
I hope everyone understood everything by that.
And Also, when you see the Japanese man in the end. He looks like a "Jinn".
Ooh, of course!! Good observation.
But also, not a "Djinn" but an "Oni".
No man a jinn is something else and a devil or a demon or satan is something else. In Islam there are two things the shaitan meaning the devil and the jinn. There are muslim jinns as well
Why took pictures? For what?
@@trickg1274 ermm the demon also need to target his victim , lol
I'm not sure if this was mentioned but the Shaman and The Japanese Man are both taking pictures with the same Minolta camera.
Wow...missed This one.
Anybody know what is the sin of the Father/Protagonist?
@@kalebbautista2320 Sloth
@@fakenews8295 that's it? Yeah well, korean horror hits different. If you have a curse, that's it. You just need to survive, not be the hero of the story.
@@kalebbautista2320i think He kill Japanese man's dog
It is very good but my take on the film is that it is actually deeply Christian allegory which you don't specifically mention . The town is under attack because they have 'lost faith' exemplified most when the head priest is dismissive and mocking when policeman comes to him finally saying 'the church cannot help you'. So the town church itself has no faith. The Woman in white is not just a good spirit, she is the embodiment of Jesus Christ. When we first see her she throws stones which is direct reference to the bible passage "he who is without sin may cast the first stone' so when woman throws rocks at the policeman she must be Jesus because he is the only one who is 'without sin'. At the end when policeman asks her to give him proof, she asks him to 'have faith' and to just 'believe', which echoes Jesus words when he says 'blessed are they who have not seen and yet believe'. She asks him to stand by her until the cock has crowed three times which again is direct reference to Peter in the bible who Jesus says will betray him before the cock has crowed three times. I think the movie has Christian message underneath it because the woman in white is Christ figure while the shaman are both evil although the Japanese one is the actual devil.
Oh and the scene where Shaman is driving nails into the wood references the crucifixion and I think he is like Pilate or the Jews acting as agent of the devil. There's heaps more actually when you think about it
Thank you for the bible references :D
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
You've "nailed" it! (No pun intended) haha. Although i personally think that the reason why the church didn't help them is because the policeman is already in ties with the shaman. He believed the shaman more. Also it's important to note that the director used a locust scene when the shaman was in the car. It clearly is a Biblical reference of God's wrath against the wolves in sheep's clothing who deceive the humans. Notice how the Shaman threw up lots of blood in front of the woman? It's because he is so impure in the sight of the embodiment of Jesus. That's what happens in the Old Testament when God was directly inhabiting the land of Israel in the Holy Temple. All who entered His temple were burnt. Because all of us have sinned and, thus, impure in God's holy presence
M
Best possible answer up to now. Thank you for your Christian knowledge. Whether the film is actually "Christian", or based on Korean folklore, the motifs remain the same (and arguably, there is a mix): trust your faith, the devil will always tempt you...now, the protagonist is at the beginning shown to be tempted by lust (indeed, he sins), and then the shaman takes advantage of patriarchal prejudices to convince him that SHE (another young woman) is to be blamed for, that she is the devil, and that she will tempt him.
In the end, the message of the film is clear: trust your faith and your values. The cold facts are that the Japanese man raped a young woman near the lake (we can see that he is evil!), and the Shaman is technically a miser (he charges the protagonist 10k for a "dangerous" ritual, that even if we as Western viewers force ourselves to respect because it is their own culture, we still have the suspicion that it is a scam). Curiously enough, the film challenges us with two "strange" cultural forces: the Japanese man (the national Other) and the Shaman (for Westerners and Christians, the religious Other) and even forces us to question: is the protagonist being xenophobic against the Japanese foreigner? Are we, skeptic spectators, being unrespectful to these deeply enrooted Korean folklore beliefs and practices?
Indeed, at a personal level, we can all agree that the demeanor of the Japanese man and the Shaman is unpleasant, somehow evil for the Jap and narcissistic for the Sham, while the young beautiful woman is depicted from the beginning as an innocent being throwing stones (and even the Catholic deacon shines with honesty).
Therefore, trust the beauty and the love you see and don't get overzealous on believing convoluted hunches based on greed and hate.
I believe that the Japanese guy was really free during the ceremony, and he was performing the ritual in order to prevent the demon possessing him again. When he falls down the cliff he actually starts sobbing (first time he shows any kind of emotion), and when he is hit by the car he is actually innocent. That's why the woman in white later tells Jong-goo he has committed a sin, confirming that the trap Il-gwang mentioned before was not set for the Japanese guy, but for Jong-goo.
L theory
This is reason why I don't want to live in rural area or in the forest.
Well... I think there is bad thing in the city too. lol
Some people will probably take the evil rural and forests over city drive bys and drug infested city's any day lmao
Jose Delgado nah I’m taking the latter, something about evil in the rural is scarier because it’s more unknown.
@Edwardson Larosa incredibly easy comparison, you discreetly smoke weed in your parents house vs smoking weed in the vast open field, who is going to get caught first?
I live in a rural area with only foresf behind my house and just watched this, film ended at midnight. haha also, I never watch horror movies..
Was i the only one who saw the blue glow in her eyes when she screamed to him not to go?
Nope !
I saw the blue light cave at the begining. Quite pretty, eerie, but pretty.
Creb Park liar
Crebs Park You can't even spell you're ya fuckin fanny
I did too but thought that mean she was dead or a ghost of some sort so in other words the real evil entity at first.
I thought similar to you - My take was that the woman in white was the ''good'' in the film and that the Japanese man and the Shaman were the ''evil'' in the film. I didn't think the shaman was evil until he met the woman in white. When he took the photo at the end that confirmed for me he was in partnership with the Japanese man.
This movie was pretty good! Was I the only one laughin at the male lead sometimes?? He seemed kinda funny😅
especially his reaction to those nightmares he has. 😂😂😂👌
it’s supposed to be funny, he kind of represents the Everyman in korea. And it hits even harder when things become not so funny later in the movie and becomes straight up horrific
TBH, when I watched this movie I don't know wth happened. Then I googled it, then it gave me goosebumps. It's not a typhical horror movie that will scare you. It was so deep that and well written.
btw, the image of Japanese man in devil form is really scary.
I thought shaman was the main villain. And that Japanese man was just a random good guy trying to help the village. I was confused with the identity of the white dress girl.
Damn I got it all wrong. It’s always opposite of what I think. My faith is thin like a paper. 😒
Exact same thoughts! Lol
Same the movie really did a good job manipulating it's viewers to feel bad for the old man and think maybe he was just trying to help the village
ugh, so relatable! I cannot believe I was also tricked by the devil. this movie is fckin good!
My top 5 Korean movies
1) memories of murder
2) I saw the devil
3) the wailing
4) a man from nowhere
5) tie between host & oldboy
All of them suck!
@@BURGATRON then what are your picks?
1. Oldboy
2. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
3. Parasite
4. Memories of Murder
5. I Saw the Devil
6. Mother
So many more, can't really put them in order because each of them are equally good.
@@BURGATRON lol?
@@BURGATRON go watch pogo then😂
One thing people don't seem to mention is the scene where one police officer talks about the old Japanese man raping someone. Do you think that this was his sin that caused him to be possessed?
"let him that is without sin cast the first stone"
Is that why the (good ?) sprit threw stones at him in the beginning?
Timmy Turner That was definitely intentional.
Dude, you're cute
that's gotta be the smartest comment I've seen on youtube in years. Honestly. (not saying it ironically)
@Shatter OSAS no its not!! Shut up
The transformation of the Japanese man in the ending gives me chill and sweat.hahahahaha..
Not gonna lie i felt bad for the Japanese man when he cried a bit on the film
You dude take my virtual huge. Even I was pitying the man n stuff 🙄
the scene when the japanese man turned to the priest(?), "Yes, it's me." and took a picture of that guy. Still shook for several days
Watch the deleted scene of this movie, The Wailing. The shaman and the japanese man works together.
The Korean shaman is the disciple of the Japanese shaman. In certain religions that deal directly with spirits (like African Voodoo, Santeria, Bhuddism etc) a disciple is bonded for life with his master/teacher. This is evident in the scene where the Korean shaman changes clothes and is seen wearing the "Fundoshi" (traditional "Japanese" undergarment used in ancient times and shinto tradition. This is the connection between the two shamans. Also the fact that the disciple does the labor intensive work for the master as it would be in magickal traditions and or in martial arts with students mopping floors and cleaning the dojo etc. So then does the korean shaman take the pictures from the house or Japanese shaman as explained in the end.
The Japanese shaman would be bonded with whatever evil spirit he made a contract with and it is this "devil" that shows up in the end as the full physical possession of the man. The Japanese shaman used to be human and is no longer so, probably due to all the souls he collected from his victims with the help of his associate shaman and intermediary in the "living" world. This is what the picture collecting is about. They're not pictures but souls that he was taking as evidenced by the former shells the victims had become at the time of the picture taking. The victims have been left hollow, soul-less and headed to the grave just like it happened to every single other victim.
This is a tale of 2 spirits battling over the souls of men (as in mankind). The evil shaman ghost/demon or whatever you want to call him (if you think of the Japanese yokai then you're in the ballpark, spirits which can be good or evil depending on their nature and if you made sacrifices to get favor from them, they can also bring misfortune).
So yea, women (passive element of good), Japanese shaman (male possessive and dominant) in a spiritual battle with us humans being caught in the middle.
The wailing, train to busan, where the hell do they get there’s kids.😢😢😢
we felt what protagonist felt!! that means its a damn good movie... at the end i also believed in shawman rather than white dress woman damn!!
She gave no reason for doubt. It reminds me of what the Priest told him about the Shaman. "Do you have any proof that the Shamn did this?" And that it was all rumors but the truth is he did have proof by seeing all the witchcraft in the place & in possession of his daughter shoe. And when his daughter told him that a man keeps trying to get in. Then with the other shaman who was doing way to many blood rituals. Dipping his face in blood. Goat sacrifice. Talking about he'll cast a Death ritual. The signs were all there. He didn't have proof that the Angel was misleading him at all.
"Sinless casting the first stone".That was what I need to hear.
We all sinners but it was an Angel throwing the stone.
As horror fan, the end of the this movie fucked me up. I still cant stop thinking about it a week later
That's great man. I was so confused during the movie. I was 100% on trusting the Shaman so even in the end I couldn't see him as the bad guy. But I fully agree with your interpretation now. I'd love for u to put out more content in your video. Well pointed about the cloth the shaman wears haha I thought it was sooooo sketchy but made nothing of it.
The statue the shaman is attacking is called a JANGSEUNG STATUE. It's a statue to mark boundaries and scare away demons. It's key to understanding that entire scene, and the movie really. By the shaman attacking the JangSeung statue, he's destroying the wards on the girl allowing the Japanese/Devil to further penetrate her body. She's not in pain from being staked, she's in pain because the staking on her "protective shield" is allowing more and more and more demon into her body.
I saw some Japanese ppl in the comments explaining the ONI from their culture so i will add one more fact to the whole thing what my Korean friend told me. In old Korean totem-ism culture usually they made those totem like figures from wood to scare the demons and they were set around the villages creating some kind of line or fence. In the movie the shaman guy does something against it actually because he chops down the totem which should protect the village and so the shaman was trying to get rid of the female spirit - protector of the whole village :)
I guess that when the movie went out in Korea, everyone knew that the chaman was the bad guy at the moment he burnt the totem then :) when we, on the other side of the world, thought wow he's such a good guy 😅
I agree to all but my current thoughts are, if the woman in white was protecting the village why people kept dying anyway? Lets say she was failing then why would the shaman and japanese guy care enough to try and stop her protecting powers with these rituals the shaman did when she was failing anyway
@@fangirlalways3853 as far as I remember, she doesn't save people but try to help people to save themselves, and they fail 😭😅
@@Fibromatose oh I totally forgot! Thank you for reminding me❤️
if this is the case, the shaman is trying to destroy the good spirit but how come the daughter tells her father to make the shaman stop? Because he was accidentally killing the demon instead? Or was the daughter influenced by the good spirit at this point and made the daughter convince the dad to stop the shaman from destroying the good spirit? and then when the devil is injured the good spirit visits him.... so confusing
This movie is also saying something about religion. The deacon, the priest, the devil, the Catholic Church and traditional religion vs non traditional or demonic religions practice.
dang, this video and so many comments here helped me understand more and appreciate the writing that went into The Wailing.
The demon itself did not kill the man who saw it eating a dead corpse of an animal, he was alive and well after seeing the japanese man in red eyes aka the demon. the demon let him go and later he told the cops where he found him at and that there is a house. That house was used by the Shaman and the demon happen to live near by inside a cave. He went there at same time as the 2 cops to maybe talk to the shaman guy about collecting souls for him. Cops confronted the demon in japanese man form and destroyed the house with the pickaxe. demon didnt care since its not his house. The shaman later on went back to the house to collect his pictures to hide the evidence leading to him be part of the murders from the tonic drinks.
I loved the ambiguity of the ending, and I have so much respect for a Korean movie industry which will finance a pretty large production like this and still show so much respect for the audience’s intelligence, and capacity to deal with uncertainty.
There may well be a clear-cut explanation, but I took the director’s intentions as to create a sense of ultimate unknowability in the end. The last stretch of this movie completely wrong-footed me which I think only added to the terror.
Wasn’t there a part in the movie where there was another family in the village who said they were told about the Shaman and they chose not to use his services and they didn’t die?
Yes, there was.
I did not get to see that part, at what part of the movie this happened?
This is the first time I needed to watch expplanation video about movie. I know I'm not pride of my self, but damn this movie was hard to understand :(
Lol that was excatly what I thought :)
@kupis1408 i was extremely frustrated throughout it all lol
This is so late but try Donnie Darko.
lol thats why im here also hahaha
Me too
Different kind of scariness...it’s another level. Damn i don’t think i can fall asleep tonight. Thumbs up!
At 7:58 the wooden statue he cuts down is actually the symbol for a guardian protecting the village. Korean villages tend to have these wooden things to protect bad spirits. He then proceeds to stab the guardian. So we know he had bad intentions since early on.
I also never understood why these cops are so scared, they have revolvers which are outdated in terms of policing standards and higher capacity magazines. It doesn't matter how much one practices, a semi-auto will always reload faster than a revolver, even if one has a speed-loader There's a higher chance of fumbling the process when under stress. Back to the issue at hand of the police being scared. When the naked woman appears at the police station, they both start screaming hysterically and the one dude runs out with a surge protector or landline telephone as a melee weapon. Dude has a gun and more than likely a baton, OC spray and most cops have taser.
Then at the burned out house, when the officer is being chased by the red eyed Stranger, he's on the ground screaming, he has a gun on his hip but he turns his head away and cowers till he wakes up. Then when they arrange the posse they all go with pitchforks and other melee weapons, why didn't the cop bring his gun? Plus why wasn't his partner involved in the posse, he was the one who said "they have to do something about the Stranger?"
I really loved the character of the village guardian because guardians are very real and you really never know how they are working in your favor behind the scenes without you knowing
I JUST finished watching this movie and needed some answers. Thank you!!
I think you did a great job explaining. Obviously, with a movie like this there's a lot of different ways to interpret it, but this explanation was very clear and concise.
What about the stigmata? The devil shows holes in his hands
A mockery for Jesus' nail wounds?
Garret Curtis I think it was just to fake out the priest real quick
@@TheHolyMongolEmpire I agree. It seemed as a bible reference for when Jesus already resurrected and asked the doubting Thomas to touch him as proof that he has flesh. Since the deacon is Catholic, it could be to confuse him to trusting the Japanese man
the devil is a trickster and a liar
this film speaks a lot of emotion: fear, disgust, horror, remorse, etc. this is a well written and a very good movie!!
The really scary thing about this movie is that it starts when you understand this movie little by little.
"What you thought was good and acted was biting the devil's bait, and in the end it turned out to be the tragedy the devil had hoped for.
But I comfort you in grief. I have seen you struggle so much for the good, even if it ended in tragedy."
Say whatever you want about the Shaman that man is entertaining to watch.
Has anyone watched the alternate ending?
Where the demon is sitting on the side of the road. He motions for the little girl (who is with her parents) to walk across the road. Right at the middle of the road the girl is picked up by her mom.
The shaman drives up and picks up the demon. As the shamans car drives away the angel comes out from the opposite side of the road where she has been hiding. The angel was on the side with the little girl and her family.
I haven't read all if the responses but, the demon has appealed to the shaman with the shamans greed of money. Basically, help me create chaos and I will make you rich.
This movie is lit!! 10/10!! Goosebumps!! I felt the same as I watched “Seklusyon”
i thought the japanes man was using his superior magic to deflect the shaman's ritual on to the girl
the scene were the father is being tested by shaman, the lady. and the Japanese, was a very great scene. i was also confused who is the devil. Hahaha.
This film was made by a fan of Fire: Walk With Me.. Which is THE Twin Peaks Horror Film... And make no mistake , that film is something of it's own artform. Even the "smashing of the TV" (recall Invitation To Love is the "Twin Peaks" show in the world of Twin Peaks. The smashing of the TV in my opinion, is Lynch saying "They ruined what I made. Screw that, I"m gonna give you something TV never could. Keep in mind the Film was made in late 80's. Shows like The Sopranos/Oz being broadcast big were still a pipedream)
This film has that same "dream"/ Angels and Demons fightinf for souls, and evil winning vibe" that Fire Walk With Me had. And that film was HUGE in Japan
Great video analysis and such a good movie. I think the scene with the Shaman trying to expell the demon from the girl was interesting because we can see that the Japanese man is also hurt in the process. After the ending I was just left wondering why the woman in white wasn't more convincing when trying to get the man to trust her. Why did she have to sneak around all suspect the whole film? She could have just explained she was an angel and that she set the trap for the devil rather than acting as though she was an evil spirit. But I guess the point of the film would be to keep the viewers guessing and for the ending to be more revealing and creepy.
Probably yes. Keep the viewers guessing and if she serves God, his intervention always seems indirect and nuanced for some reason.
There were so many themes explored in this film it was hard to keep track. The alternate ending provided by Blackout made sense. I'm not sure of the shaman/devil (represented by the Japanese man) connection. Unless for evil to survive and manifest a form, it has to be fed the souls of living, preferably the young as they have more energy and are more vulnerable to suggestion. The shaman's phone call to the girl's father saying that he made a mistake in ID'ing the Japanese man, he was not evil but a shaman like himself, and the girl was evil was a give away. Why did the shaman link up with the devil? There is a superstition among the Navajo Indians that skinwalkers, originally shamans who turned to the left handed path (that of evil) can possess living animals or humans to prey on the living. Those shamans that stay on the right handed path are valued as healers. In this tradition, all shamans come to a point in their practice and need to decide what direction to take, left (witch/warlock) or right (healer). My interpretation of the shaman is that he is undecided. He's willing to help the family for a price, but at the same time is fascinated by the devil and so drives him around. That an old Japanese man is the epitome of "the banality of evil" for Koreans would fit given the history.
You guys have no idea how much this movie left me thinking for like hours after seeing it
One thing I notice about the shaman is that he's very respected, praised and wealthy you can even tell by his greed when he demands 10 grand for his services it's obviously that he does this in exchange.
I watched this movie, and later in the evening I'm sleeping and dreaming about being chased in the woods by the "demon" of this movie. My son comes to ask me something and I felt a presence looming over me. I startled awake...saw him..screamed..scared him..he stumbled backwards into the table and flipped over it. 😮😫 Taught his ass to not hover over people who watched a scary movie prior to going to sleep. 😂😂
Lol
Im dead lmaoooo
everyone got the movie wrong...korean/japanese love subtleties and misdirection.. the actual evil was the female ghost, and the japanese was trying to banish her..the other shaman was telling him to go to her daughter but didnt so the daughter killed all the family, the ghost also was stalling him....well there is alot i can still say but i dont think anyone cares..
are we not going to talk about how great the daughter's acting????
Would also like to add there was an extra/deleted scene where the shaman and japanese man get in the car together. The japanese man is waiting for the shaman, and once he gets there, he jumps in his car. After they drive off, you see the lady in white watching them drive off. This just further proves that the japanese man/shaman knew each other/ were working together.
when I watched the movie I didn't have subtitles when the japanese man was talking to the priest in the cave, can someone tell what they were talkinjg about?
This videos theory is good and understandable. but I've read another theory in the comments which could also make sense. about the japanese getting possessed after the zombie died (the zombie was actually possessed by the demon/devil) and the japanese man actually tried to exorcise him in the night before, so its important to know if there were any indications of that in their talk. you could clearly see the japanese man was shocked when he saw that the car/truck was empty and desperately tried to find the corpse/zombie. soak that in and think about it
If you're still active, I hope you do a video on The Medium too. You're good at this. Keep it up!
Great video man. 10/10
Very good analysis of the movie. If the lady in white is the village's protector deity then it makes sense of why she looked pale and frail. As the shaman destroyed more of the protection spells and ornaments in the village and the wavering faith of the villagers, her power had probably weakened alot. Her expressions at the end has a feeling of doom, as if she had lost her last chance to win the demonic force
A quick timeline of events.
Key characters: Main character, Japanese Shaman, Woman in white, Korean Shaman (the out of town Shaman)
1. People in town start becoming possessed, including the main character's daughter
2. Out Of Town Shaman (Korean Shaman) is called in to perform a Death Curse on the Japanese shaman, because they believe he is the one behind the possessions
3. The Death Curse is called off because it seems to be hurting the daughter
4. The Japanese man is run over and dies
5. Korean Shaman meets Woman In White and starts puking. He decides to flee town but later returns to warn the main character about her.
6. Woman in white tries to prevent the Main Character from going home.
7. Deacon meets Japanese shaman who is revealed to be a demon
8. Main character's family all dies.
9. Korean Shaman returns and photographs the corpses.
Is the Japanese man evil? (No, but he becomes possessed after dying)
The Japanese shaman, who is shown to be a demon at the end of the film, was working the whole time to protect the town. He was misunderstood. He finds the bodies of the dead and performs a cleansing ritual by photographing the corpse. This stops people from coming back as possessed.
There is one scene where he finds a corpse in a truck. He goes home to perform the cleansing ritual, but this ritual is interrupted by the out-of-town shaman performing a death curse on him. He goes back to the truck the next day and the body is missing, and the Japanese shaman is distressed because he failed to cleanse the body and it became a demon.
Near the end, the Japanese man is run over and dies. After this, no one performs a ritual on him, so he becomes a demon. The deacon goes to meet him and finds him possessed. The demon berates him for only seeing what he wanted to see, they never opened their minds to the possibility it wasn't the Japanese man.
He was not evil or a demon the whole time. Evidence of this: there is a scene where the police chase him, and he narrowly escapes. This whole time he is clearly distressed (even when no one is looking at him, so he has no reason to fake) if he were a demon he'd have nothing to worry about.
Is the out of town shaman evil? (No)
The out-of-town shaman only gets involved at first because he was being paid to come in and do his job. He's never seen working with the Japanese shaman (only working against him, as seen when he tries to kill him with a ritual). We know he was trying to kill the Japanese shaman because, after that ritual, he believes he has killed the evil spirit plaguing the town and gets ready to leave. It is only after he encounters the woman in white (who makes him puke blood) that he realizes he failed to kill the evil spirit. Even then, he decides to leave. It is only when he gets a message from God, in the form of moths against his windscreen, that he decides to returns to the town and help (help via warning the main character not to trust the spirit, and later, to take photographs to stop the dead from coming back).
Is the woman in white evil? (Yes)
During the scene where he meets her, she is shown slowly moving towards him. She gets closer and closer until he decides to go against her and run back to the house. She was trying to get closer so she could possess him, and was distressed when he ran away because she missed her chance.
The second reason she was distressed is that she wanted to delay him. This is so that the Korean Shaman would get to the house first, spring the trap and open himself to being possessed. Instead, he arrived after the trap was already sprung thus ruining his chance of being possessed.
The Significance of the flowers in front of the door
The flowers on the door are a "trap". This trap only works once, and when sprung the flowers wither and die. What they do is open whoever passes through them up to possession. Lady in White wanted to delay main character from going home so the trap could be used on Korean Shaman, but he resists her and goes home.
Him going to the house too early is not what caused the family to die. His daughter was the one who killed the family. She was possessed and killed them with a knife. If we examine the timeframe, his family was already dead or in the process of being killed while the White Woman was delaying him. If he had gone earlier, he may have been able to prevent them from killing them. If he had arrived later (like the woman in white wanted), they would already be dead.
The film closes with Korean Shaman getting to the house. Too late to save anyone, he takes pictures of the corpses so he can do the cleansing ritual to prevent them from being possessed.
>> [The Japanase shaman] He finds the bodies of the dead and performs a cleansing ritual by photographing the corpse.
When they entering the Japanese's house, we can see a lot of photographs of people BEFORE they are dead, not only corpse
I think that by interrupting the Shaman's death hex ritual, the shaman ends up possessed by the Japanese man. Ie good at the begining, but bad after the ritual.
The shaman was trying to blame the ghost girl (the good person in the movie) as the culprit of the murders and the possesion of his daughter, which is not true. She said that the one who is behind it all is coming to his house. The one person going to his house at that moment is the shaman guy saying he will meet with the cop at his house to save his daughter. When he walked past the front door with the herbs hanging on top it tripped the trap the ghost lady set for the shaman guy. thats how he can get inside his house after his daughter kills everyone to take the pictures.
😢
This is a film about faith and the scene where the Angel tells her to trust her plan and not go home is akin to Peter walking on the water with Christ. When Peter doubted Jesus, he began sinking, but when he looked at him, he stood above the water.
Mostly the ending of Korean movies likely to make us predict what was happening
The sport jacket the shaman changes into is a rare one commemorating the 1908 FA Cup Champions, Manchester United. Known also as the 'Red Devils'.
The old Japanese man (old shaman) only became possessed by an evil spirit/The Devil after he died.
Then how can you explain why he had a lot of photos in his house?
lol, confused boy
The korean shaman breaks the statue during the ritual(2:30) That wooden statue is a traditional guardian god for each region. You can actually see the statues in countrysides even these days. We usually put that statue in the entrance of the village.
The japanese does the ritual as well. But this is not to fight back to the korean shaman but to bring the dead man to a zombie.
The gokseong(wailling) is an actual town’s name in Korea. And all the actors use the region’s dialect. it sounds very light and funny. And it makes the serious/scary atmosphere of the movie very contrasted.
Its clear that the girl was hurting where the shaman drove the nails, but we can equally well say that it is the daemon that is hurting (which is inside the girl) so this proves really nothing. Also the "angel" lady said that the daughter is hurting because of the sin of the father, that the father killed a man, but it happened after she was possessed so this cannot be a reason. Also the guy that he killed turned out to the devil, so how come can it count as a sin. There is a scene where they throw the Japanese man out of the road and then both the angel lady and the shaman seem to be quite content and the shaman even says something like 'they got the rat' or 'the rat has fallen' (don't want to put emphasis on 'them', but rather on the 'rat'). Something doesn't stick together. The director said supposedly that the angel lady is a good entity in this movie so that is something we can rely on, but the rest of the scenes don't add up to this. I wonder if the director wasn't as confused as we are now.
He actually says "the rat has fallen into the trap" which I think means that the shaman WANTED jong-gu to kill him. Think back to what the guy says in this video where the victims are those who lost faith and sinned. Maybe that's what he meant?
The good spirit can't protect jong-gu no longer after he sinned. The only way to protect him is if jong-gu shows her faith, but he runs away to his house. You see that flower wither when he enters his home. He ran into his demise.
Timmy Turner But even if he didn’t go in the house, his daughter already did the killing before he entered and spoiled the trap. I still don’t see how his family would have been saved if he stayed away like the lady in white told him to
I think the lady in white knew that there is nothing she could do to save the father's family so she was just trying to at least save the him and prevent him from tripping the trap.
I think the Demon is using the Shaman against his will, if he doesn't then he'll eat his soul. or the Demon owns the Shaman's tainted soul so the Shaman has to do its bidding. Gotta understand the "Oni" Japanese Demons side to understand what the Demon is doing. The shaman is greedy for money. If the Demon really did die, then the Shaman would be free of it. But since the Demon knew that the Shaman was rejoicing, it got mad and said "I'm alive but this dead japanese guys soul is now in hell so I'm taking this human's body."
I also believe that the Shaman is a metaphor of human religion, and how it tends to be sided the depraved and evil nature of human beings rather than connect us with our true spiritual side (The women in White)
One of the most creative and thoughtful horror film I have ever seen in my whole life 👏
One of the overlooked biblical references is when in the finale, the mysterious girl in white tells the protagonist that he must put his faith in her by waiting for the third rooster crow before heading home if he wants his family to survive. The clear allusion is to Matthew 26:34 as well as Luke 22:34, where Jesus prophesies Peter’s denying him thrice before the cock crows.
That said, the film is still ambiguous about taking sides with Christian belief and the force of goodness as the little priest also gets ensnared eventually by the devil and even the white girl is a bit foggy and suscpicious (if we accept that she is on the angelic side, that is).
The movie is so damn good!
did you see the scene when the shaman said "the rat fell into the trap"he said that after the father and the gang throw the Japanese body down the hill. so it means that they set a trap so that the father commit sin and the devil can take control of the daughter.The shaman make a ritual to hurt more the daughter so it will make the father became more furious and wants to kill the Japanese. It was all a trap,and the father fall for it.
The Hereditary of 2016.
Hereditary was horrible.. horror/ comedy.. the worst film of the decade. No comparison at all.
Hereditary was pure rubbish. This is way way way better.
Yeah that shaman guy really confused me too. Your explanation is legit. Thanks
I stopped trusting the shaman when he asked for money
Well...hes gotta to make a living anyway
The devil and shaman work together. It is shown in the alternate/deleted ending. He picks him up on the way out of the town.
This movie is so confusing. I thought it was gonna be another zombie when I saw trailer.
Yutube SuspendedMyAccount Lol 😆
She without sin cast the first stone. I did not pick up on that! What a great point
When can we have the wailing 2 ????????????? Plzzz
Absolutely fantastic breakdown of the film. I just watched this and was completely taken aback. I was shocked, tricked, and impressed beyond belief.