Line #19 Film/Incantation2022


1	[[quoteright:261:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/incantation_film.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:261:Hou-ho-xiu-yi, si-sei-wu-ma]]
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4	''Incantation'' is a 2022 Taiwanese found footage ReligiousHorror film, directed by Kevin Ko, and co-written by Ko and Chang Che-wei. The film centres around a woman called Li Ronan, who has recently regained custody of her daughter, nicknamed Dodo. The mother and daughter are targeted by supernatural forces, stemming from a curse placed on the family before Dodo's birth.
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7	!!This film provides examples of the following tropes:
8	* AnimalMotif: Caterpillars appear in many pivotal scenes.
9	* ArcWords: The eponymous incantation is repeated throughout the film. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that the incantation's purpose is to spread curses across multiple people, and thus dilute the effects.]]
10	* AudienceParticipation: Played for Drama. Li Ronan encourages the viewer to play with optical illusions onscreen and invites them to chant the incantation along with her. [[spoiler: It's revealed in the lead up to the climax that the entire audience will be afflicted by Mother-Buddha's curse, but Ronan is hoping that the chanting will dilute the curse enough to keep her daughter and the audience from suffering serious ill effects.]]
11	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Li Ronan and Ming may be dead, and the audience may have contracted a supernatural curse, but the footage of Dodo implies that she is happy, and her burden has been lessened to the point where she can lead a normal life.]]
12	* ChildrenAreInnocent: Played straight with Dodo. She is manipulated by supernatural forces, but aside from a sleepwalking scene in the beginning of the film, she is never portrayed as sinister beyond a child's normal behaviour.
13	* CreepyChild: The girl the Chen clan are planning to sacrifice has some very odd mannerisms and keeps a box of pet frogs, though she comes across more as a normal child trying to make her own entertainment in an admittedly freaky situation.
14	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Characters possessed by Mother-Buddha will commit suicide by bashing their heads repeatedly against the nearest hard object. Examples include a stone wall, a computer desk and an altar to the Mother-Buddha herself.]]
15	* {{Curse}}: The cause of the hauntings in the film.
16	* DemonicPossession: Mother-Buddha possesses several characters, which usually results in suicide.
17	* DontLookAtMe: Seeing Mother-Buddha's face is one way to contract the curse. Any character that sees it in person is possessed and driven to suicide.
18	* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Did you decide to play along with Li Ronan when she started chanting? [[spoiler:Well, bad news, you've just been afflicted by Mother-Buddha's curse.]]
19	* HauntedHeroine: Li Ronan is troubled by both her struggles with mental health and the malevolent entity hunting her family.
20	* OneWordTitle: Just "Incantation". Same goes for it's Mandarin title, ''zou'' (咒) which literally translates to its English title.
21	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The film was inspired by a case of [[https://www.storm.mg/lifestyle/4252427 mass hysteria in Kaohsiung in 2005]], in which members of a family were convinced they were possessed by various deities from Chinese folk religions, and accused each other of being demons.

Context Film / Incantation2022