Are you someone who LOVES horror films?
Lately, there hasn’t been as much horror films out there that could send chills up the spines of many (including me despite the fact that I dislike watching horror films).
Perhaps its time for you to tune into Netflix and search up for the Taiwanese horror movie “Incantation” cause it’s one of few Asian horror films that’s going to actually scare the s**t out of you.
The film is directed by Kevin Ko and it’s based off Li Ronan who was cursed after breaking a religious taboo. Now she must protect her daughter from the consequences of her actions.
What made the film stand out from others was that despite if you tried closing your ears to help from getting scared, yeah… this won’t work here as it’s already scary off the get go.
Is Incantation based on a true story?
For starters, Incantation is very loosely based off a ‘true story’ of an incident that occurred in Taiwan back in 2005. The movie does also take inspiration from both modern and classic Asian horror film cultures.
The filmmakers however did not reveal the specific incident and when trying to search on it online, it’s extremely scarce. One Chinese website stated that the claims of the incidents in the movie had took inspiration from an incident in Kaohsiung, Taiwan where a family of painters with the surname Wu had allegedly claimed to be cursed and “possessed by gods”.
The family was said to have gone crazy, even self-mutilation and other bizarre acts before it led to the death of one of the family members. They had not eaten for several days and had beat one another up with crutches alongside burning their skin with lit incense.
So, what makes the movie scary?
1. Breaking the fourth wall
First of all, the movie completely breaks down the fourth wall. For those who don’t know it means, it’s the wall that separates the reality of actors from the audience. It’s broken when the actors directly address the viewers or when the film refers to itself as such.
Incantation also uses the style of “found footage” which has proven to be one of their strongest points in getting the audience’s attention.
What made the film so surreal was when the female lead Ronan had addressed the viewers while chanting “Hou-ho-xiu-yi-sei-wu-ma” which emulates a prayer with hang gestures flashing on the screen. This give the effect of the film being very real.
Just check out how they get people to watch the film:
2. Constant build-up of suspense
Unlike some horror films, the suspense only builds up for a short while but in ‘Incantation’ they make it seem like the past and present is juxtaposed. This was done by alternating footages in the past and present making it look like it seemingly fits the situation.
If you’re a film buff, you can see something like this happening in the movie Dunkirk where the timeline was edited to be a “suspense snowball” effect.
It may get one a bit inpatient but it’s worth the suspense as it keeps you at the edge of your seat thinking what religious taboo did Ronan commit.
3. Audience immersion
Most horror movies always carry on and only engage the audience during certain build up scenes. But in this movie, we are forced to participate due to it engaging with the audience.
Me whenever the lady started to chant the curse in incantation:#Incantation #incantationnetflix #horror pic.twitter.com/NvwUrz6rpU
— Braids Ni Ran (@BraidsRan) July 18, 2022
The feel you get watching the movie is as if you yourself have been cursed.
To sum it up, the movie does certainly send chills up your spine and if you’re looking to kill some time at night, you should check it out. We also do hope you don’t get effected by it and break any religious taboos like the movie.
Well, it’s time to round up some friends and trick them into thinking we are watching a comedy film for our movie night 🤡
*Sources: Visual and Reference Credits to Social Media, Hitc & various cross references for context.
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