PRESENTS

The Wailing is a two and a half hour 'slow burn' that aims for suspense, but because of some pacing issues and a few too many filler scenes, it's a 'slow burn' that just feels slow. It's also twisty to a fault. There's only so many times an audience can have the rug pulled out from under them before they don't get back on the rug, only so long I can whip my head back and forth chasing the ping pong ball before I decide to turn something else on. The overly slow pacing and confusing story telling took me out, but didn't remove me so far that the many successes of the film couldn't draw me back in. The film looks incredible. The cinematography, the set dressing, the propping, the makeup, the prosthetics, the CGI, is all spectacular. The dialogue is believable and the acting is high bar. This is a well put together film with some effective scares, but you've gotta earn 'em by wading through a lot of slop.