The Wailing Ending Explained: A Father's Final Fatal Failure
The 2016 South Korean horror film "The Wailing" is a roller coaster ride with enough twists and turns to keep even the most experienced movie watcher guessing. Set in the small mountain village of Gokseong, the movie follows bumbling police officer Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won) as he tries to solve the mystery of an infection that causes people to become mentally unwell and kill their loved ones. The infection and its effects are horrifying enough, but then Jong-goo's daughter Hyo-jin (Kim Hwan-hee) becomes stricken with the same infection. Desperate to save his daughter, Jong-goo will do just about anything, delving into solutions both spiritual and mundane. He recruits the help of his friends, co-workers, and a local shaman named Il-gwang (Hwang Jung-min), but it seems like the evil descending on Gokseong is too much for anyone to stop.
The ending of "The Wailing" is a horrific tragedy that offers possible explanations for its events without ever confirming them directly. It's definitely something seriously spooky and supernatural, but the exact details are up for the audience's interpretation. Was the infection a demonic possession, the work of a vengeful ghost, or something else entirely? Whatever it is, it's terrifying.
What you need to remember about the plot of The Wailing
While investigating the first wild family murder, Jong-goo meets a mysterious woman in white at the crime scene, Moo-myung (Chun Woo-hee), whose name literally means "no name." She tells him that the woman was cursed by the Japanese man who lived in the woods (Jun Kunimura) and that a shaman could have maybe stopped it. When Hyo-jin starts behaving strangely and a tell-tale rash appears on her, Jong-goo, his wife, and his mother-in-law hire Il-gwang to try and help. Along with the assistance of a young deacon who speaks Japanese, Jong-goo and his co-worker go to investigate the Japanese man, and they find a shrine with photos of victims of the infection and murders. They also find Hyo-jin's shoe, which sends Jong-goo into a fury. He returns to the man's house and finds that the shrine and photos have been burned, which prompts him to destroy the shrine room and kill the man's dog before telling him to get out of town.
Il-gwang comes to do a ritual that will rid Hyo-jin of the illness, but he tells Jong-goo that it's very dangerous and he cannot be interrupted. Unfortunately, Hyo-jin feels incredible pain during the ritual, as does the Japanese man. She begs Jong-goo to make Il-gwang stop and he does, which allows the evil to continue to take root within Hyo-jin.
What happened at the end of The Wailing
Following the botched ritual, Hyo-jin starts getting worse. Jong-goo takes a group of his friends and they go to beat up the Japanese man. He manages to get away before they hit him with their vehicle and chuck his body over the side of the mountain. When Jong-goo gets home, Hyo-jin seems like she's really starting to recover. Il-gwang has his doubts, however, and he returns to Jong-goo's home to try and tell him that he thinks they targeted the wrong person. While there, he sees Moo-myung, who causes him to begin vomiting blood. He escapes back to his vehicle, calling Jong-goo and telling him that Moo-myung is the real cause of the infection. Jong-goo ends up seeing Moo-myung and she tries to tell him to trust her, claiming she's set a trap for the Japanese man (who she says is the real demon). Unsure of who to trust, Jong-goo ends up leaving Moo-myung and ruins her trap, allowing evil to enter the house.
At the same time, the deacon finds the Japanese man in a cave, discovering that he has survived somehow. He turns into a demon, terrifying the deacon. Jong-goo walks into his house to find that Hyo-jin killed her mother and grandmother, and then she stabs him. As he lay dying, he thinks about happier times with his daughter.
Theory A: Moo-myung was the culprit
The end of the movie gives the audience one of two villains to blame when it comes to the mysterious infection in the village: Moo-myung or the Japanese stranger. Moo-myung is certainly supernatural, but her motivations are pretty mysterious. She's obviously connected to the murders, and when she tries to grab Jong-goo's wrist to prevent him from breaking her trap, he notices that she's wearing items that belonged to many of the victims. She also causes Il-gwang to vomit blood when he tries to warn Jong-goo. The main issue with this theory is that we see the Japanese man reveal himself as a demon to the deacon, which could be the deacon's mind playing tricks on him, but it's unlikely. The other issue is that Moo-myung initially tells Jong-goo that the reason the woman murdered her family was because they wouldn't hire a shaman, so why would she give him the tools to bring about her own destruction?
Theory B: The Japanese man was actually a demon
The more likely ending is that the old Japanese man actually was an evil entity, likely some kind of demon. He moves from village to village, family to family, infecting one member of the family with the rash. Different reasons are given throughout the movie for why he attacks certain families, including the idea that he selected Hyo-jin because of the sins of her father, but it's likely that he chooses his victims through pure happenstance. It also seems like he's working with Il-gwang, as the shaman tries to convince Jong-goo that Moo-myung is actually the demonic force. It's possible that they only started working together after the botched exorcism of Hyo-jin, or maybe they've been in cahoots for a while, using the demon's talents to help the shaman make some extra money. It definitely seems like the Japanese man is the ultimate evil in "The Wailing," confirmed by the fact that he not only survived his horrific hit-and-run, but he revealed himself to the deacon as such.
In the end, Jong-goo is forced to choose between two potential evils, either choosing to believe Il-gwang and go to his daughter or to believe Moo-myung and stay put despite his fears. Jong-goo is indecisive and bumbling throughout, and he fails one last time, running back and breaking Moo-myung's protection spell. As he runs across his property, a flower she had tied up withers and dies, signifying the evil entering the house. If only he had listened to Moo-myung.
The Wailing's alternate ending
There isn't an alternate ending for "The Wailing" so much as there is an extended one that follows the Japanese man after Hyo-jin kills her family. He waits on the side of the road across from a bus stop, being friendly to a little girl waiting there with her family. The little girl runs across the road to say hello but her mother grabs her, protecting her in a way that Jong-goo was unable to protect his own daughter. Moo-myung walks out of the brush to watch and sees Il-gwang drive up in an SUV, stopping to pick up the Japanese stranger. It confirms that the Japanese man was, in fact, the demonic force and that he and Il-gwang were working together.
While it's an extremely bleak ending that shows evil not only winning but going on to do more evil, it's also a definitive ending that hands the answers to the audience. It's not quite as good, unfortunately, as the ambiguous ending that closes with Jong-goo's memories of happier days. Forcing the audience to contend with the same level of mystery as Jong-goo and his family makes for a more compelling experience, and the viewer will be haunted by the theatrical ending for long after the credits roll.