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
- Biswas_ - 20 December 2022
That was quite terrifying!!!!!!
This film is about a woman , who once broke a ritual by infiltrating a cursed tunnel and now has to protect her adopted daughter from the curse she has released.
From the moment it started with the visuals of a girl with weird rashes and scratches all over her body and a haunting sacred bgm, i knew what was coming and it came true.
The film is divided into two parts - the present where the mother is protecting her daughter from the curse and the past, where she broke the ritual.
The ritual part, that is, the past, is the most terrifying part. The creepy setting and the ultimate events happening there sent shivers down my spine. Being shot in a footage style, it brought in that realistic factor without adding much bgm and sticking to natural bg noises. This made the past part more terrifying to watch.
The present may not be as terrifying as the past part but the present has many tensed moments keeping you on your toes because you anticipate something creepy is about to happen. Here, there are a few jump scares , all of which are pretty well executed. I liked how the film doesn't overly rely on jump scares but rather in tension building. The jumpscare at the monestry in the 2nd half was quite terrifying along with the one that comes at the end in the tunnel video (ya everyone will eagerly wait to see the tunnel video but the makers have cleverly put it at the end ).
The film overall is slow paced and a little long but it's absolutely worth the watch till the end. Director has done a very good job with this film. I just wished the ritual part extended longer with more creepy terrifying events cuz i was enjoying it genuinely.
Overall, a must watch horror film especially best suited for night time dark environment watch with silence all around. Ooof this setting will make this film feel even more terrifying to you. - CinemaClown - 23 September 2022
Destined To Garner A Cult Following
Managing to make its viewers feel like they are watching something they should not be seeing, Incantation is a dark, disturbing & diabolical chiller that comes smeared with an ancient curse and reeks of death & devilry from its opening moments. A terrifying entry in the found-footage subgenre that only gets more unnerving & unsettling as it progresses, this Taiwanese horror is not for the easily distressed.
Co-written & directed by Kevin Ko, the story concerns a mother trying to protect her daughter from a curse and is surprisingly quick in its setup. The escalation happens within minutes into the picture and it doesn't get any easier after that either as more details & revelations pour in and the dots start to connect. The build-up & scares are downright effective and the ominous aura is also sustained with nerve-racking intensity.
However, the non-linear narrative arrangement isn't utilised right as there is too much back-n-forth jumps that are often poorly timed & also dilute our emotional investment in the unfolding nightmare. The atmosphere remains tense & foreboding from start to finish, thanks to sinister camerawork, pagan rituals & ill-omened set pieces. Performances from the cast is convincing enough and its eerie score effortlessly heightens the suspense & terror.
Overall, Incantation is by all means a welcome addition to the Asian horror landscape and also ranks amongst the most perturbing curses to surface in recent years. It is a tad drawn out and inconsistently edited but when it gets the combinations right, it delivers the bone-chilling thrills that strongly affect the viewers' mind, body & soul. Downright creepy, thoroughly distressing & incessantly invoking an evil presence, this cursed offering is destined to garner a cult following.
