

The Wailing
Never be tempted.
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.
TMDB
7.4/10
2,225 votes
IMDb
Not rated yet
View on IMDb
- 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
Writers
Produced in
South Korea, United States of America
Where to watch
Availability for United States. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.
Stream
fuboTV
Fandor Amazon Channel
Screambox Amazon Channel
Hi-YAH
Midnight Pulp Amazon Channel
Hi-YAH Amazon Channel
Gallery












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- R8/10
Reno
12/14/2016
**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…
- K5/10
Key-Si
6/18/2018
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.…
- K10/10
Kai
12/21/2019
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 …
- A7/10
Agustttt
9/20/2025
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…
- D7/10
Dr Nostromo
2/10/2026
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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