The Wailing poster

The Wailing

Never be tempted.

7.4(2,225)20162h 36m12

A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.

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Status
Released
Budget
$11M
Box office
$49.9M
Language
KO
  • daughter
  • small town
  • police
  • investigation
  • exorcism
  • possession
  • murder
  • priest
  • rural area
  • curse
  • shaman
  • zombie

Top billed cast

Behind the camera

Director

Na Hong-jin

Produced in

South Korea, United States of America

Where to watch

Availability for United States. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.

Stream

  • fuboTV logofuboTV
  • Fandor Amazon Channel logoFandor Amazon Channel
  • Screambox Amazon Channel logoScreambox Amazon Channel
  • Hi-YAH logoHi-YAH
  • Midnight Pulp Amazon Channel logoMidnight Pulp Amazon Channel
  • Hi-YAH Amazon Channel logoHi-YAH Amazon Channel

Gallery

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Videos

Release dates

  • United StatesUS

    • Theatrical (limited)NR20 May 2016
    • TheatricalNR3 Jun 2016
  • United KingdomGB

    • PremiereBFI London Film Festival12 Oct 2016
    • PremiereAbertoir Horror Festival20 Nov 2016
    • Theatrical1525 Nov 2016
  • CanadaCA

    • TheatricalR3 Jun 2016
  • BrazilBR

    • Theatrical1622 Dec 2016
  • ChinaCN

    • PremiereFIRST International Film Festival27 Jul 2016
  • FranceFR

    • PremiereCannes Film Festival18 May 2016
    • Theatrical126 Jul 2016
    • Physical12DVD & Bluray9 Jan 2017
    • Digital / OTTVOD3 Sept 2018
    • Digital / OTT12Prime Video20 May 2021
  • GermanyDE

    • PremiereMunich International Film Festival26 Jun 2016
    • Theatrical1612 Oct 2017
  • IrelandIE

    • Theatrical1525 Nov 2016
  • JapanJP

    • PremiereYubari International Fantastic Film Festival5 Mar 2017
    • TheatricalG11 Mar 2017
  • NetherlandsNL

    • Theatrical166 Oct 2016
    • PremiereAmsterdamned29 Oct 2016
    • Physical16DVD30 Jan 2017
  • PolandPL

    • Digital / OTT1629 Oct 2016
  • South KoreaKR

    • Theatrical1512 May 2016

Frequently asked questions

The Wailing was released on 12 May 2016.

Audience reviews

5
  • R

    Reno

    12/14/2016

    8/10

    **A father's struggle to see his daughter to get well.** A new film from the writer, director of 'The Chaser' and 'The Yellow Sea'. This time its a horror-thriller that focused on a rural police officer who witnesses a series of strange events escalating fears among its people. The original title was 'Goksung', which means the name of the village where this story takes place. This film is specially for those who l…

  • K

    Key-Si

    6/18/2018

    5/10

    Watching "The Wailing" is quite an undertaking. With a runtime of almost 3 hours this Korean Horror-Triller is a shear beast. Unfortunately I feel like pretty much more than half the runtime should have been cut. "The Wailing" circles around in a seemingly endless "who done it" or, to be more precise, "who is it" and even though the acting of our lead Do-won Kwak was not too bad, the dialogues bothered me constantly.…

  • K

    Kai

    12/21/2019

    10/10

    I don't often use the word masterpiece. I've seen 1,040 films in my life, totalling 1,549 hours of filmography. There's maybe 7 I would label a masterpiece with full usage and definition of the word. The Wailing is the eighth film of one thousand and forty films I very willingly, gladly and without hesitation give the title of Masterpiece to. I'm not too big of a fan of Asian supernatural horror. Whilst I very …

  • A

    Agustttt

    9/20/2025

    7/10

    The runtime is a grueling 2 hours and 36 minutes. A warning that there is a good amount of **animal abuse**. The first half is pretty light hearted compared to the last half. It's a really befuddling piece. It's hard to tell who is bad or good and it feels like parts are gone over too frequently. If you like Korean films and portrayals of shamanism you will enjoy it for sure. As far as horror goes, it's not ve…

  • D

    Dr Nostromo

    2/10/2026

    7/10

    66/100 A bumbling police Sergeant finds himself well out of his depth while investigating the mass murder of families by one of the family members. And now his daughter seems to be possessed. A tense, unique story that grabs your attention and doesn't let go, despite a prolonged first half. Keeping our protagonist as confused as the viewer over what is right, wrong, good, evil, are there demons, ghosts, witches, u…

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