O Lamento

Duas horas e meia duma mistura, tipicamente ao estilo de Coreia do Sul, desarticulada de comédia, drama familiar e, sobretudo, horror, com demónios, xamãs, zombies, uma menina possuída e muito sangue. Muitas grandes cenas individuais, mas no seu conjunto não podem ser levadas a sério, quanto mais não seja por causa dos personagens que agem como idiotas. É uma pena, porque os valores de produção são elevados e pode-se sentir a ambição de inovar em clichés de género a partir das reviravoltas do cenário no último terço. [Cannes] (19/05/2016)

A richer horror sub-genre blend than I expected. That naked old man with blazing red eyes will probably haunt my dreams for a few days, thanks a lot! Perhaps it is overstuffed, there are so many motifs and evil or potentially evil entities that I’m not entirely sure that I got everything, but the overall impression is very positive nonetheless. (24/07/2016)

A film as treacherous, captivating, cunning and unpredictable as the Devil himself. The Wailing is the perfect fulfilment of the basic horror principle that the most frightening thing is the loss of rational certainties, which is felt not only by the film’s characters, but primarily by its viewers. (08/01/2017)

The Wailing definitely had the makings of an excellent film. The atmosphere, the village, the cast, a few funny moments in the beginning, and the odd case that the viewer is actually looking forward to solving. But the more supernatural it started to get, the more my hope for a solid script diminished. Then the red eyes, the shamans start showing up, and it ends up being a bit of a nonsensical mishmash. At least they managed to keep the suspense up. 3 stars. (13/12/2016)

An interesting Korean genre mix where it pays to follow all the themes closely. Everything may not fit 100% as it should in the end (more accurately – as I imagined it would), but the overall impression of a fairly original crime drama with a distinct mystery atmosphere remains strong nonetheless. If its main investigator had a more in-depth (or more seriously) fleshed out character, it might even have made the cut. Indeed, at times I felt that some of the characters were caricatures of themselves, which I can't quite connect with. 3.5 stars (06/07/2019)