HORROR BUSINESS Episode 158: THE WAILING & EXHUMA

            Greetings, and welcome back to Horror Business. We’ve got one heck of an episode in store for you guys as we’re talking about 2016’s The Wailing and 2025’s Exhuma.             First off thank you to the fine folks over at Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations, the premiere screen-printing company of the Lehigh Valley. Chris Reject and his merry band of miscreants are ready to work with you to bring to life your vision of a t-shirt for your business, band, project, or whatever else it is you need represented by a shirt, sweater, pin, or coozy. Head on over to www.xlvacx.com to check them out. Thank you also to Essex Coffee Roasters, our newest sponsor. Head to www.essexcoffeeroasters.com to check out their fine assortment of coffee and enter CINEPUNX in the promo code for ten percent off your order! And as always thank you to our Patreon subscribers. Your support means the world to us and we are eternally thankful. If you would like to become a Patron, head to patreon.com/cinepunx. Thanks in advance!             We briefly talk what we’ve doing involving horror recently. We talk about the films Sinners, Clown In A Cornfield, and Heart Eyes, as well as the television series The Last Of Us and the novel The Devils by Joe Abercrombie.              Up first is The Wailing. We start by talking about actor Jun Kunimura’s extensive filmography. We talk about our initial experience with the film, with Liam talking about how much he enjoyed it the second time around. Justin talks about the convoluted but not messy nature of the plot, and how the concept of a character whose presence incites violence in those surrounding him. We spend a goodish amount of time discussing the history of Japanese imperialism and how that has essentially scarred the collective psyche of Korea, and how the result Korean prejudice towards the Japanese is, if nothing else, understandable. We talk about how the Japanese character in the film feels almost like a red herring set up but ultimately is far worse than what we’re led to believe. We brief talk about the original ending of the film and how that affects the rest of the movie and why the director may have chosen to change it.             Up next is Exhuma. Justin talks about how the film draws upon religious ecstasy and the nature of ritual for a source of horror. We discuss how the film could’ve simply been about a geomancer dealing with a restless vengeful ghost but instead chooses to, just as The Wailing did, fold Korean history into the mix by once again using Japanese atrocities a source of horror. The films use of generational trauma and family shame as a source of horror is discussed, and we talk about how it avoids using grief as horror which is something of a trope at this point. Nationalism and nature of national shame is discussed. We talk about the strange hierarchy of Japanese ghosts. We talk about some of the unorthodox and frightening imagery of the film.             As always thank you for listening and to everyone and anyone who donated on Patreon, checked this episode out, or shared a tweet/shared a post on FB/gave us love by recommending us to someone. We love you forever for listening and donating. Any questions, comments, suggestions for movies and guests, or if you yourself want to join us for a movie viewing or even an episode, can be sent to [email protected]. We would love to hear from you! Thanks always to Justin Miller, Jacob Roberts, Paul Sharkey, and Doug Tilley for their technical contributions and fliers, Mike Smaczylo for the shirts and fliers (you can check more of his work out at here), and also thanks to Josh Alvarez for the theme song, Chris, Brad, and LVAC for the support and buttons (check them out at www.xlvacx.com and on Twitter), Essex Coffee Roasters (www.essexcoffeeroasters.com) and a HUGE thank you to anyone who retweeted us or shared something on Facebook that we posted. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @thehorrorbiz666, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/thehorrorbiz66, check out our Spotify account at Cinepunx, and remember to rate, review, and subscribe to us on ITunes. In fact, if you write us a review, email us with your mailing address and we’ll send you some free pins and stickers!  Check out www.cinepunx.com for more info on some of our other podcasts, some ultra stylish Cinepunx related merchandise, and how you can donate to our Patreon! Until next time…thanks!