Thanks to Inland_Taipan for recommending
The Wailing, one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time.
The director, Na Hong-jin, is a master auteur. He achieves a lot with very little, relying on low budget effects, stunning location shots, and a few small interiors to create a work of sublime horror.
Its long running time (over two and a half hours) never drags. Halfway in you’re wondering where it can go, how it can surpass itself, and it maintains this suspense all the way through.
It features a brilliant cast. The lead is well-rounded (not just fat), at times humorous, pathetic, tragic. He has a sidekick of sorts, a mysterious Van Helsing type, who acts as a foil to the inept lead. Perhaps best of all is the villain. Despite speaking only a few lines, he gives an amazing performance (can’t go into details w/o spoiling).
And like most great movies, you see other movies in it:
The Exorcist,
The Omen,
Night of the Living Dead,
The Shining,
Rosemary’s Baby. It shares themes with
Cape Fear and
Shadow of a Doubt.
I’m rewatching it with a friend who hasn’t seen it. Maybe he’ll temper my praise.
I don’t think the 99% on RT does it justice. To me, it’s an allegory of universal appeal. Not one of the best films of 2016, but of any year.