INCANTATION review

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Incantation is all about a mother's unconditional love towards her child and reflects what a mother would do to protect her child.

The found footage style was one of the best things about the movie because it made the movie feel more real.
The main actress did a really good job of making me feel with all the physical and emotional hardships she is going through.
This movie didn't use that much CGI but all the CGI scenes were normal. The temple scene was too scary for me.
I like how the movie had more dreadful anticipation more than jumps scare.
the movie was just not only about the scary things but also the drama involving the mother trying her best to live normally and peacefully with her child.
The build-up, the twist, and the reveal were very good it’s the reason why I liked it so much.
The story is quite complex and goes back to religion and Asian cults. The story is so terrifying that you actually feel like you are in the movie.

INCANTATION

Incantation starts with “Based on a True Story” and people have guessed its inspiration comes from an ominous incident that took place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In 2005 a family claimed to be possessed by demons they were performing disturbing ritual acts and ended up killing their two daughters.

The film unfolds in a dual narrative with its timeline jumping back and forth between the past and the present.

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Flashbacks reveal that six years ago Ronan was a part of a paranormal investigation with her boyfriend Dom and Dom’s cousin Yuan. At the village the trio was asked to submit their names with the incantation to the Mother Buddha.

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The clan elder told them that they must return every ten years to pray to Mother Buddha after offering their name. The clan elder also included that after giving birth to Ronan’s daughter , her daughter must also do the same. Ronan was surprised as she didn’t knew that she was pregnant.

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During their ghost hunt in forbidden parts of the village. That night the Ghost Busters sneaked out. They found the tunnel and strange noises were coming from the inside. Dom and Yuan went inside the tunnel and they uncovered the face of the Mother Buddha. Dom seemed to have died inside the tunnel, and the village people carried his body out. Yuan becomes possessed and takes his life. After Ronan’s two companions face disturbing deaths. She leaves the village and returns home after that we can see that she was haunted by a supernatural curse.

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After Ronan was affected by the terrible curse, she was separated from her daughter in the past due to her mental condition. After six years of therapy, Ronan’s life improved, and she is deemed fit to care for Dodo. As a result, she gains temporary custody of Dodo.

Ronan was trying to spend a quality time with her daughter dodo trying to make things remorseful for her. Ming was also like an ideal father to Dodo. Ming has always cared for dodo and giving his all attention and care to her.

Ronan also starts experiencing the aftereffects of the curse once again, and her mental condition steadily declines.

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Dodo was being cursed and a spiritual thing was following her everywhere. Ronan headed towards a shrine where she knew that she could get a cure for treating her curse. The priest in the shrine did some cleansing rituals on the webcam that had the footage of the tunnel. Then Ronan was told to not let Dodo eat anything for seven days, as it would relapse whatever progress they had made. Dodos condition was getting worse and she needed to be injected but she can’t be injected without having any food before that. and The scene where Ronan was eating bread in secret and was bitterly crying about it because of the guilt really tugged my heartstrings. But Ronan couldn't see her little one in such a condition so at last she decided to feed her.

After feeding dodo everything went to vein. The people of the shrine everyone was dead.

Besides, Ming tells Ronan that he wouldn’t send the repaired footage of the tunnel to her. Ming apologizes to Ronan for reporting her. He also gets possessed and kills himself by smashing his head on computer which forwards the video of the tunnel to Ronan.

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After a while she decided to write runes all over her body and returns to the forbidden tunnel, where she recites the incantation and offers the ear as a sacrifice. She starts recording saying the chant of the incantation “Hou-ho-xiu-Yi, si-sei-wu-ma” is an ancient religious blessing. This religion spread from Southeast Asia to Yunnan. As many people chant it the power of blessing will be gathered and it will protect the person who chants it.

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She urges the audience to chant it collectively to save her daughter. Then Ronan confesses that she has been lying to the viewer all along. It is revealed that once you submit your name with the incantation then you agree to spread the curse. Ronan then reaches the altar inside the tunnel and asks the viewer for their name before revealing the Buddha-Mother’s wormhole-like face on camera. By tricking people into watching it. Ronan hoped implying that the burden of her curse has been shared with everyone who watches the film.

It's been a while since a movie made me feel satisfied in the end. Many movies nowadays makes me feel a bit disappointed with its ending or climax. This movie did not disappoint me at all. At the end of Incantation, we see a brief clip of Dodo she is alive and happy. It seems that Ronan's theory was correct, and her footage was found and viewed. She was able to save her daughter.

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I didn't expect it to actually show the face in the end. I've always found it lazy when some movies don't reveal the thing because they just leave it to the imagination of the audience. The face design/idea and the accompanying music in that scene were so hair-raising-satisfying for me. Super well made, genuinely thought I was cursed when finishing it because of how realistic it was.

Ratings ⭐️

Absolutely incredible cinematography, I am stunned by how well made this is.

Please do not watch the movie if you are really scared of horror movies and curse. Watch it at your own risk though after watching the movie I have been hearing voices when I am trying to sleep. Nope just playing but watch it for real it’s a good movie.

Ratings: 8/10

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