In 2021, The Medium was the scariest horror documentary. But in 2022, it's the turn of the Incantation that will make you goosebumps. The proof is, Kevin Ko's film has been a huge success in his home country so that it is said to be the best horror film of 2022.
Incantation tells the story of a young mother named Li Ronan who has
to save her child, Chen Dodo, from a curse after she broke a traditional rule
with her friends 6 years ago. At that time, Li Ronan and his two friends were
on a ghost exterminator expedition to the precious sites of the Chen Clan. The
three of them intend to visit and record the contents of the forbidden cave to
see what mystical things are actually in it. But it turns out, after
successfully entering the cave, a terrible curse appeared and made everyone
who saw the recorded video die horribly.
After 6 years, Li Ronan felt that his mistake had been forgiven and intended
to start raising his own child, whom he had entrusted to the orphanage since
childhood. At first, everything went smoothly, until in the end, some
irregularities started to appear which then forced Li Ronan to face his old
fear once again in order to save Chen Dodo from the curse.
Like other horror documentaries, Incantation tries to present a very realistic
story, making the audience feel as if they share the terror experienced by Li
Ronan. This film also invites you to play with perception, because perception
can change the story's course according to what you expect. For example, as
explained at the beginning of the film and also seen in the trailer, you can
change the direction of a fast-moving train yourself. It's the same as the
direction of the wheel's motion, which you can change from left to right or
vice versa.
In this film, it is Li Ronan's perception that determines the direction of the
story. Since the beginning of the film, you are invited to take part in seeing
Li Ronan's perception, who believes that her child is cursed and the only way
to cure it is to participate in chanting a spell and symbol that can be
trusted to give blessings. Therefore, the symbols and spells are displayed
repeatedly to make those of you who see them memorize them immediately.
As a horror film, Incantation has very good tense build-up moments. This can
be seen from the many scenes that made me shiver in fear when watching it even
though the scene doesn't have the slightest jumpscare or appearance. Only with
the background and the feeling of anxiety that is clearly illustrated by Li
Ronan, it already feels horror, it can make you close your eyes while
watching.
Apart from that, the sound of Taiwanese regional musical instruments which are
so thick, makes the impression of horror even more intense. It's similar to
The Medium, the conflict related to a regional culture makes all the
traditional elements shown become a good supporting force to add to the
existing level of eerie, not forgetting also to recite the spell over and over
again, guaranteed to make you even more nervous.
However, unfortunately, this Incantation film still has some obvious
shortcomings, one of which is the change in the story timeline which is not
smooth enough, even the impression is still too forced. This happened
repeatedly at the beginning of the film so it made me feel a little confused
while watching it, especially from the beginning to the middle of the film.
There's not much transition, so it feels like I'm just going to give a
flashback scene right away, then for a few minutes then it's back to the main
timeline.
The consistency of the documentary concept also needs to be questioned in this
film, because the documentary should try to show all the events in real terms
to make the realistic impression feel very real. So, in this Incantation film,
there are several footages that don't really make sense to show. Examples
include footage of the police killing themselves and footage of Chen Dodo
running away from the hospital. The two pieces of footage were shown from CCTV
cameras, which it seemed impossible for Li Ronan to get so the documentary
concept shown in this film did not make sense.
Even though it still has a few flaws, this film at least manages to bring a
frightening atmosphere throughout its duration. Therefore, it is only natural
that the film Incantation holds the title of the best horror film in its home
country.
This Incantation film is highly not recommended for people with trypophobia
(Phobia of holes). So, for those of you who have a phobia, it's better to just
avoid this film than regret it later.
SCORE
9/10
The many advantages that exist in the film Incantation make it the most
recommended horror documentary this year. When compared to The Medium, I think
the impression of horror is on the same level, because the two films managed
to make me nervous while watching them. It's really not comfortable like that,
I want to finish quickly because the scary thing is too late.
After watching the film, what do you think? Is this film worthy of being
called the scariest horror film of the year? Let's just discuss this in the
comments column.
TRAILERS
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That's all my review of the movie Incantation. If there are criticisms or
suggestions from you, please just write them in the comments column.