Incarnate

     Incarnate is directed by Brad Peyton (San Andreas) and stars Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) and David Mazouz (Gotham). It tells the story of a scientist who can enter the mind of those who are experiencing a flow of negative energy in order to return them to their natural state. Although many would consider them demons, our protagonist does not believe in any one religion or worldview, so he instead calls them energy forces.

     I didn’t know what to expect heading into this movie. The premise of Inception mixed with The Exorcist sounded interesting enough. But it had a very negative buzz, but director Brad Peyton had put out not necessarily good movies, but ones that can be enjoyed in the right setting. And Incarnate is one of those movies, for better or for worse.

     The best part about the movie is how unintentionally funny it is. During some of the more serious parts of the movie, I found myself laughing harder than I ever did during some of the other comedies released this year (looking at you Ghostbusters or Zoolander 2). But in no way is this comedy. And if the best part of a movie is not intentional, it’s hard to get behind it.

     The acting was cringe worthy with lines awkwardly delivered and character interactions feeling unnatural. Eckhart is not a bad actor but in this movie he feels uninspired without much material to work with. David Mazouz plays a child who is demon possessed. And I feel like Mazouz has been typecast into being dark and brooding but without much substance to his characters. The rest of the cast was unmemorable and bland, like vanilla ice cream but without the flavor.

    As the movie comes to a close, perhaps one of the worst special effects I have ever seen put to screen occurs. I feel like given five minutes in iMovie I could have created a comparable if not slightly better version of the scene myself. It makes me wonder where the budget even went, because it definitely did not go to the screen writers.  The resolution of the film left me scratching my head and wondering what exactly I had just watched. It breaks its own rules that the film set up and left my rolling my eyes as I left the theater.

     Incarnate is one of those horror movies that a studio puts out with a measly budget in hopes of turning a huge profit. But this movie was so bad it did not even break even. When the best part about a movie is unintentional, I can’t recommend wasting your time on it.

When should you watch it?
Give it 5 minutes