Netflix’s newest found footage horror film Incantation came out of nowhere (unless you are Taiwanese, as this movie is the highest grossing film there this year) and packs a surprising punch for such a polarizing genre. While it treads in a lot of familiar found footage tropes that fans most likely have seen before, the film brings a surprisingly deep emotional range to the story and offers up some actually spooky sequences and a shocking amount of gory body horror.
Not without its problems, this film is notable for its fourth wall breaking format that invites the viewer as an active participant finding this footage. Directed by Kevin Ko, this Taiwanese horror film was dropped on Netflix with little marketing, and yet quickly gained traction on the platform as a well-made found footage spookfest. The film is also supposedly based on real events.
“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.”
Ronan (Hsuan-yen Tsai) is a mother who starts a vlog with the aim of trying to find a solution to a curse that was put on her daughter. She states that the curse is a result of her own ignorance from years prior, where she started a Youtube myth exploring show called “ghost busters” with her partner and some other friends, which led them to investigate a mysterious ritual led by a cult that retaliated by putting a curse upon them.
After a stint in a psychiatric hospital, Ronan gets her daughter back from foster care and soon after her daughter starts seeing a malevolent force.
The film switches in between the present and the past when Ronan’s ghost show investigates the ritual, and also Ronan at one point views the footage from the past, in the present. As that sounds, sometimes this movie can be confusing. The switching timelines are not only unique to see in found footage, they also muddle the story by not always transitioning noticeably enough.
While that is one detractor of this film, it makes up for it with an intense emotional core, with the love that the mother feels toward her child. The film plays with your emotions in general: from the mother-daughter relationship to the disturbing happenings at play. This adds to the experience as well, making the viewer care more about the fate of this family.
It takes awhile to get to the scares, and doesn’t really ramp up until the end. Because of that, the runtime of Incantation, an hour and fifty minutes, is definitely felt. For a found footage film it’s a bit overly long. With the breadth of the story however, it makes sense.
When Incantation does get to the scares, they’re pretty good. It doesn’t rely on jump scares but can rattle the viewer with the approach it does take. While some situations and scares have been done before in horror, they still leave a sense of dread and shock that will get to a lot of viewers.
Another plus with the horror side of Incantation is that it has some bloody, bloody scenes. The film starts with a shockingly violent car accident scene and culminates in some nasty body horror that will make more than a few queasy, especially if they are triggered by trypophobia.
The film overall has very memorable imagery, from the hauntings, to the deaths, to the ritualistic practices. It’s all organized around a chant that is repeated consistently through the film and the viewer is encouraged to chant it for protection, which adds a level of cohesiveness to it that brings meaning to the rituals, setting them apart from other horror films.
The ending also goes to surprising places, and very sinister intentions. Where it might seem similar to other found footage movies throughout, the ending is what brings it to that next level of effective horror.
So while it was a bit long and puzzling, the memorable and violent cultish ritual at the center of this story make the film worth it for horror fans, as well as some intense violence and successful blend of upsetting and gruesome themes as well as family-based wholesomeness. It can be viewed on Netflix now.
