Even though an R-rated supernatural horror that runs for two and a half hours wouldn’t exactly jump out as a prime candidate to score a spot on the most-watched charts of the family-friendliest streaming service there is, Halloween has ensured that all bets are off, and The Wailing is back in a big way.
Per FlixPatrol, the 156-minute modern masterpiece that recouped its $8 million budget almost seven times over at the box office, holds a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 99 percent with 88 reviews in the can, and won 30 awards from various festivals in its native Korea has been spreading its distinctly unsettling brand of sickness and disease all over the platform’s global most-watched charts.
The harrowing epic revolves around a big city police officer sent to a small and isolated village to try and make sense of a murder spree that’s been blamed on the demonic, with the locals living in constant fear that a mysterious man dwelling in isolation is responsible. Not through his own means, though, but as a vengeful spirit disguising itself as a human man.
Spooky stories with exorbitant running times regularly fail to justify their butt-numbing nature, but based entirely on The Wailing‘s status as one of the greatest examples of its genre to have emerged in at least the last decade if not longer, you won’t regret peeking between your fingers at every single one of its dread-laden minutes.
Disney Plus might be the most unexpected destination, but it’s become appointment viewing nonetheless.