Three women in three different countries are stalked by a ghost only visible on video. A ghastly randy old man – with pallid grey skin, a bald head and a hungry mouth – will make every effort to stick his lecherous tongue on their neck, and to keep every potential threat (such as a male pursuer, or that sneaky female friend) out of the way. Preferably six feet under. At first, he’s mostly seem from a distance. A mobile phone zoom is required in order to make out his faint Kubrick stare.
The first woman is Andrea (Ester Expósito), a Spanish university student with a boyfriend living in Australia. The two lovebirds communicate mostly via Whatsapp, the text printed in large funky letters across the screen, catering for a firmly young audience. Until one day they chat via video on theirs laptops, and the young man spots a blurry figure behind his partner, on the other side of the planet. Parallel to this, Andrea has just found out that she was adopted. A quick online search reveals that her mother was a foreigner living on a different continent, that she was jailed for murder around the time she was born, and that she died just a month earlier. She begins to suspect that the apparitions on camera are related to her unusual, newfound roots.
The other two women are Marie (Mathilde Ollivier) and Lisbeth, and their stories take place in Argentina and France respectively (the other two countries of this international co-production of three nations). The three characters share a connection of many sorts, in a story that travels across time, and also across the Atlantic and back as the victims seek to rid themselves of the mysterious abuser. The plot devices include rape, drugs, strobe lights and even some frontal male nudity (a rare occurrence nowadays). Friendly film student Camie (Malena Villa) adds another touch of metalanguage as she sets out to help one of the confused and terrified women, with her vintage movie camera to hand.
Pedro Martin-Calero, who wrote the film script alongside Isabel Pena, inserts just the right amount of intrigue and mystery in order to keep viewers hooked for 107 minutes. The jump scares are sparse and effective, and the acting is top notch. Old genre tricks are successfully replaced with the new technologies available (a light being turn on and off becomes a mobile phone switching between the front and the back camera). The effective use of three different countries and nationalities also deserves praise. Often international co-productions fall into banality as the writers clumsily inject multiple international locations without a narrative function into the story.
Martin-Calero and Pena leave enough loose ends to vouch for a sequel (which I will be watching), or perhaps an entire franchise. This is a movie with a promising future ahead.
The Wailing premiered in the Official Competition of the 72nd San Sebastian International Film Festival, when this piece was originally written. It is extremely unusual for a-list festivals to include genre films in the main selection (except perhaps if it’s an established auteur such as Cronenberg), and it is the very first time I come across a teen scream flick in such competition. A commendable choice, and a refreshing break from an otherwise mostly stern film marathon. Also showing at IndieLisboa. The UK premiere took place in October, as part of the 68th BFI London Film Festival. Also showing at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival.
