Incantation
Inspired by a true story of a family who believed they were possessed by spirits, this film follows a woman who must protect her child from a curse. WARNING: This is a cursed video, it might contain certain risks to watch. For those who dares to follow, please solve the puzzle of my daughter's curse with me.
- Released:
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- Genre: Horror
- Stars: Hsuan-yen Tsai, Kao Ying-Hsuan, Sin-Ting Huang, Sean Lin, Wen Ching-Yu, Queenie Chen, Yi Peng
- Director: Kevin Ko
Comments
- Platypuschow - 18 April 2024
Incantation: Pleasant surprise
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. - deloudelouvain - 11 September 2023
Overrated, found footage handycam movie, says enough
I can't say I can remember a really good Thai movie, quite the opposite, but maybe this one, considering the high ratings and positive reviews it got, would change that fact. Nope, it didn't, at least not for my wife nor me. It's one of those annoying handycam movies, so the cinematography is below average. I always wonder why they choose deliberately to have shaky unclear images? It's a found footage story, shot with a handycam, with surveillance cameras etc. The acting was okay by Thai standards, so that was something. The duration of the movie was way too long, for that the story was not interesting enough, and the suspense and/or horror scenes were nothing else than a couple jump scares. I got bored at one point and was glad when the end credits appeared. - therealjaysmoke - 16 March 2023
Giving it a 4 for good make-up!
The was really hard to finish watching. Maybe it's the language barrier. Maybe it was just the fact that nothing happened throughout the movie. Maybe it's the fact that the acting sucked. Maybe it's the horrible camera technique used. Maybe it's the bad storyline which really didn't make any sense. Maybe it's the fact that they thought it would be nice to forcefully involve the viewer in something that the viewer has no knowledge about, because of this, I skipped alot of dialogues where it seem they we reciting something with the intention of getting the viewer to react. It sucked. If you doing a movie, just do it, why involved the viewer? We never know how far these horror movies go with these demonic acts so we don't want to participate with you, we want to just see you do you. 😁
I've seen many movies that utilized this first person camera style but when it came to it, they always switched to the master camera because it made more sense. With this one, it just didn't make any sense. Several times she would be in a terrifying situation and she's still holding a camera, like who does that? By the time it was all over, I was bored stiff. Had to watch some Jackass to liven up my spirit. 🤣 - ushynnus1991 - 30 October 2022
Probably the best Taiwanese horror film in the recent years
Disclaimer I'm from Taiwan but not religious, but watching this film I definitely got spooked knowing it was based on true story of a family that did some creepy stuff when they accidentally worshiped the wrong god and led to pretty tragic ending.
I believe this is the first documentation style film in Taiwan. Reminds me a lot of paranormal activity movie series. Stuff started happening pretty quick into the movie, it didn't waste time building the characters up, at least it didn't feel obvious like some other horror movies.
Story telling and editing was pretty good, I felt like it was paced well. There were some unique visual effects/tricks that I've never seen before.
I closed my eyes several times because I have trypophobia, as there were numerous trypophobia triggers. There were also some aspects of child abuse due to the mom's beliefs (being a mom myself that was a little hard to watch).
I gave it 7 out of 10 because the acting was okay; felt like the part with the apartment was too short; dialogues were a little cheesy but I'm pretty picky about that. - CrabGrill312 - 6 September 2022
It hit the spot sometimes ngl
Released on March 18, 2022. Taiwan.
Incantation. Honestly I loved how fresh everything was. Religious horror movies have been so washed out and dry with a few exceptions.
The movie is loosely based on the 2005 incident of Kaohsiung where a family claimed to be possessed by deities. It takes some parts of Tantric Buddhism and Brahmic script and turns it into a whole cult.
Let's look at the movie from a creative side of things. The movie was shot in a found footage style but is actually in good quality.
The colours of the movie were dull with a lot of greys, blues and reds. With red almost always being associated with the cult or with blood. Which gives the viewer almost a fight or flight reaction to it. Darkness works in its favour rather than cheapen it. The atmosphere created by it wasn't enough to really pull me in their world but it was creepy and enough for the twist to work. The staring at the symbols and when you avert your eyes irl it kinda stayed, I loved this detail.
The sounds. Omg the sounds. I loved the throat singing and the effects of the gore scenes. It made me one setp closer to being in the movie and it brought an unsettling atmosphere.
The character and dialogue were fine. Li Ronan truly represents the love a mother has for their child. Doing everything in her power to protect her but in the end failing with the leaf method because she couldn't bear to watch her child suffer. Fearing the worst for her.
The mid part of the movie is a little boring and I think a lot more could have happened to build tension or to create more sympathy and love for these characters. Sometimes it was confusing when jumping back in time and in present since I could'nt rlly see a big destinction. I would have liked to shine more light on the cult itself and the people that were in there. Since it was very well made and interesting.
In conclusion I think it's very much worth the watch it you enjoy being a part of the horror as a watcher. It does what a lot of found footage couldn't do. A lot of horror movies have been dull and not really entertaining lately and this was like a cold glass of water, very refreshing. - luckyrooo - 15 August 2022
New idea
This is so typical horror jumpscare movie. But it gave you new uncomfortable feeling. Congratulations!! Taiwanese filmmkers. I watched lot of horror movie , they are so same as each other. Some people says this is cursed film. I can tell you there is no curse. Film was mentioned faceless Mother Buddha. There is no such god in real life, neither in Buddhism nor in other ancient religions. So don'd be affraid to watch. Its just new idea of horror films.
