Incantation

Audiences are raving about Taiwan's newest horror film "Incantation," which just hit international Netflix this month. Exactly how real are the religious ...

Tantric Buddhism subsequently grew in popularity, influencing other forms of Buddhism that reached China. However, Tantric Buddhism is rooted in the peaceful use of the mandala (geometric symbols), mantra (religious phrases), and mudra (ritual gesture). Incantation takes these principles and runs in a very different direction. There is a clear disconnect from fact here, but the artistic choice to position and dress the Mother Buddha statues adds to the movie’s creepiness. The film takes components of Tantric Buddhism and Brahmic script and spins them into a new reality. Throughout the movie, Ronan begs the audience to chant “Hou ho xiu yi, si sei wu ma” (as rendered in the English subtitles; in Chinese, it is 火佛修一，心薩嘸哞). She tells us that reciting this incantation will stop the curse from escalating in the moment. Ronan’s two friends unveil the face of Mother Buddha in a forbidden tunnel, and frightening chaos ensues. The curse and religion in Incantation revolve around the worship of Dàhēi Fúmǔ 大黑佛母. This is a fictitious deity that isn’t present in any religious mythology. It isn’t until the end of the film that we the audience see the deity’s face. This draws an eerie parallel to a subplot in the movie: Ronan visits a temple to seek help for her dying daughter Dodo, where a priest orders Dodo to not eat for seven days. In 2016, a woman cut off her tongue in worship of Kali in the hope that the goddess would fulfill her wishes. The movie is set around Ronan’s curse after she breaks a religious taboo while ghost-hunting in Yunnan province. This ties back to a part of the film’s curse backstory: that misfortune and blessing are intertwined. Incantation also finds itself at the center of a debate on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. The hashtag “Is Incantation scary?” (咒吓人吗 zhòu xiàrén ma) has garnered millions of views.