Incantation

Incantation had the potential to be great, and the earmarks of a great horror movie were present in the first five minutes: a creepy score, unsettling imagery, and the unique application of optical illusions, as well as legitimate audience participation. Sadly, the film wasn't quite able to capitalize.

Incantation's major downfalls can be found in its overuse of what can only be referred to as horror cliches. These include but are not limited to telegraphed jump scares, nonsensical character decisions for the sake of advancing the plot, and excessive "found footage" that heavily strains believability. When done well, a found footage film can be one of the most immersive horror experiences, but when characters consistently film themselves in ways that make no sense and actually become detrimental, the film tends to break the suspension of disbelief. Incantation is a particularly bad offender in this category, and frequently has protagonists waste valuable time reaching for the camera or aiming it to get a good shot rather than do literally anything more logical.

Upsides? The concept is fascinating, and the aforementioned mechanic of audience participation is implemented in a clever way. There are some genuinely haunting visuals that are absolutely not for the faint of heart, and the sound design and score of the film do a fine job of creating a creepy atmosphere when they aren't screaming at the audience to prepare for a jumpscare.

Overall, Incantation is a technically competent found footage film that fails to rise above mediocre in most aspects, but it's good enough for a single watch.

Plot

Six years ago, Li Ronan was cursed after breaking a religious taboo. Now, she must protect her daughter from the consequences of her actions.

Cast

Directed by Kevin Ko who also directed my favourite Taiwanese movie A Choo (2020).

Verdict

From the stylish thought provoking opening scene the film had my attention, after countless poor movies lately this was very exciting.

Part traditional, part found footage style Incantation is a fascinating supernatural tale set across our leading ladies past and present, watching them collide and a very intriguing story.

Suitably creepy and thoroughly putting Hollywood to shame who simply cannot do horror anymore I was positively gripped. Granted the plot does make it up as it goes along and a couple of questions went unanswered, but most were, the ending delivers and this has now become my second favorite Taiwanese movie.

Very much worth your time.

Rants

Once again within the bowels of the IMDB reviews I see a standard type, the "I didn't finish the movie" type. Sorry but if you didn't watch the movie you have absolutely no right to an opinion and the site shouldn't allow such reviews. You're admitting you haven't seen it, watch until the credits roll then talk until then shush!

The Good

Very creepy Wonderfully constructed Oddly stylish Gripping

The Bad

A few questions go unanswered Some found footage moments actually make no logistical sense Casting could have done a better job.

Some of my friends know me for being that guy who does not get scared at horror movies. So because of that some of them came up to me saying how this was "the scariest movie that they've ever seen" and "oh this one is definitely gonna scare you". And tbh i see why. The movie make many attempts to build tension, i mean like many. And for the most part i can see how it would get people to feel unsettled or uncomfortable with what's going on in the movie.

I liked the movie a lot if you couldn't tell from the high ratings. I did catch my self a couple times getting like really into it but honestly it was nothing i haven't seen before. The movie was still fun with big climaxes and tones of scares that even got me to jump. Really enjoyed it. One thing i will say is so not watch it in dubbed. It sounds terrible, just suck it up and read some subtitles. Trust me it makes the movie 100% times better.

If you like horror movies, you might have watched stuff at the end of which you were either 1. Glad it was over 2. Or, glad you watched it because it was fun 3. Or, both but now didn't want to dream about the movie

This film did something that I haven't come across before. Towards the end of the movie, it'll leave you feeling like you are and will continue to be a part of the movie. Get it? I was like "That was a good movie, I'm glad I watched it, but WHY did I watch it?" It's tough to explain this feeling without spoiling it so I'll leave it there.

Incantation is a story about a mother's drive to protect her daughter from a curse, no matter what/who comes in her way.

The movie is shot in found-footage (FF, cinematic technique in which all or a substantial part of the work is presented as if it were discovered film or video recordings); showing a movie in the form of a recording is fine, but the purpose of the recording and the audience's involvement with the recording is what IMO makes or breaks the FF sub-genre and I have to say, they've made really GOOD use of this technique, just by better writing. I so wish I could tell more.

Horror movies that make you feel uneasy/creeped out are so much better than the ones that heavily rely on cheap jump scares. I counted a grand total of ONE jump scare in this movie, so that is a major plus in my books. There's this continued sense of eeriness and the creeps (goosebumps galore) throughout the movie, all well conveyed by the audio-visuals and just plain silence. The acting by everybody involved was good, including the kid.

The movie does have flaws IMO, a couple dumb moments here and there, but you can't expect to make everyone happy as a moviemaker. If I look past that, it's a regular horror movie with a certain twist that makes it a GOOD horror movie, the best of the year so far...?

If you like horror movies, check this out. Watch it especially if you're a fan of the FF sub-genre, they've done something that you may not have seen before.

A movie that wanted all the credibility of found footage but didn't want to really put in the work. I know that found footage means you can sort of just wing it with the camera work and not really bother with the music but this would have worked better in a normal format.

It feels very deliberate how EVERYTHING gets filmed and the documentary approach (interviews with characters) doesn't help anything, the #horror scenes are cheesy and unfortunately they do include non-diegetic music.

There are positives though: although not a great example of horror that sears off the screen, there's a more than adequate story of a person trying to rebuilt their life under the ugly, watchful eye of those who would take someone's child away against the latter's will. They play it for a lot of pathos and go quite too for with it to be frank. It's not that I don't feel for these characters and their plight. It's that the whole thing feels like the author is exploiting their misery in lieu of better horroring.

The flashback element, where they are staying with that traditional family...I think maybe that should have been the whole movie. It creeped me out big time to see them painting that poor little girl.

There are other memorable moments that occur as the thing goes on and which I won't spoil. They admirably use a quite feather touch approach as we the audience just helplessly watch something that just might end up bad.

The final act carries a special sense of dread as we hang in the balance and it's fairly effective.

Those optical illusions add nothing.