Six years ago, Li Ronan was cursed after breaking a religious taboo. Now, she must protect her daughter from the consequences of her actions.Six years ago, Li Ronan was cursed after breaking a religious taboo. Now, she must protect her daughter from the consequences of her actions.Six years ago, Li Ronan was cursed after breaking a religious taboo. Now, she must protect her daughter from the consequences of her actions.
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As a fan of found footage films I have seen them all and I know the difference between a good one and bad one. And this is a good one. First off the lone problem. It's too long at an hour fifty. But Asian horror is often long running and that's that. This is short by those standards.
Otherwise we get a good story, superb acting (so much so that you forget you're reading subtitles) almost constant creepy scares from the start and in general just a damn good found footage environment. Also the emotionally charged story really keeps you rooting for the protagonist the whole way as it centers around a parent's love for her child and what she will face to protect her.
Just a damn good film with plenty of scares, gore and more. Give it a watch.
Otherwise we get a good story, superb acting (so much so that you forget you're reading subtitles) almost constant creepy scares from the start and in general just a damn good found footage environment. Also the emotionally charged story really keeps you rooting for the protagonist the whole way as it centers around a parent's love for her child and what she will face to protect her.
Just a damn good film with plenty of scares, gore and more. Give it a watch.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Incantation's premise is a decent vehicle for a found footage film. The ride to get there is engaging thanks to the efforts of a strong cast, relatable elements that ground the story, and a dreadful atmosphere. Many spells are cast and give goosebumps throughout the film.
Did you know
- TriviaThe movie was inspired by an incident that occurred in 2005 in the District of Gushan, Kaohsiung (Taiwan). A family of 6 people claimed that they were possessed by evil entities from Chinese folklore. The oldest daughter died and the other members of the family were arrested. Ultimately the surviving family members were released when it was determined the daughter had starved herself to death in the belief it could drive the deity out of her body. The most anyone could be charged with under Chinese law was the equivalent of improper disposal of a corpse after the rest of the family abandoned her body outside of a hospital before leaving town.
- ConnectionsReferences Bob l'éponge (1999)
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- Also known as
- Maleficio
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- Budget
- NT$45,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
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- 1.78 : 1
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