Incarnate wasn’t terrible but was entirely forgettable and only bearable thanks to Aaron Eckhart who for some reason agreed to this turkey of a supernatural-horror flick that somehow made to the big screen albeit for a short time.
Incarnate
— Unrated —
(2016)
Genre(s): Horror, Supernatural
Universal | PG13/Unrated – 87 min. – $34.98 | March 7, 2017
Date Published: 03/02/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 2.0/5 |
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Following my viewing of this supernatural-horror, it came to no surprise discovering Incarnate was filmed nearly 4 years ago and evidently sat on shelves unable to find a distributor before being unceremoniously dumped into theaters in December and was gone after only four weeks taking in a whopping $4.8 million ($6.3 million worldwide). The plot centers around Dr. Seth Ember (AARON ECKHART) who, with his two techie associates — Oliver (KEIR O’DONNELL) and Riley (EMILY JACKSON) — is able to enter the mind of a possessed person who is in dream state created by the parasitic entity (i.e. demon) and, as he describes it, “evict” them, using the term since he’s non-religious and takes exception to the idea of exorcisms. Think Cell meets Inception without the style and creativeness (respectively).
But Ember isn’t doing this for the victim but hunting down a demon named Maggie, responsible for a car crash that killed his wife and son and left him in paralyzed in a wheelchair (though inside the mind, is able to walk). One day Ember is approached by Camilla Marquez (CATALINA SANDINO MORENO), a representative of the Vatican who has a case of an 11-year boy named Cameron (DAVID MAZOUZ) who has been possessed by Maggie. After Cameron’s mother (CARICE VAN HOUTEN) reluctantly agrees for Ember to treat her son, he gets to work. However, there are a couple of rules like Ember can only be inside the mind for 8-minutes and no one is ever to touch Cameron as the demon (Maggie) can transfer from one person to another. Ember enters the boy’s mind (not sure how, there’s no EKG or other equipment attached) but is obviously up against Maggie who is stronger than anything he’s gone up against and she has her own tricks and he’s quickly taken out. Now Ember must figure out a way to get to Cameron, whose trapped in a dream state with his idealized father (MATT NABLE), who is abusive and absent in real life, without himself getting killed or, worse yet, possessed by Maggie who, for some unknown reason, has it out for Ember…
Again, it’s easy to see how a movie like Incarnate has been in limbo, so much that director Brad Peyton went on to helm the disaster film, San Andreas not long after which was released last year. The only question I have, is why it even got a theatrical release rather than the VOD and direct-to-video route; I’ve seen films, which likely were more expensive, with all-star casts go down that road. The one, and perhaps only, saving grace is Aaron Eckhart who at least appeared to be having fun in what he had to known was a turkey of a film. His character isn’t anything new — awnry handicapped man out for vengeance — but he does give a fun performance that made the film bearable even though the plot is haphazard including a sequence where Ember goes to the warehouse/office of his mentor (TOMAS ARANA) who was holding a former incarnate now possessed, that had escaped. There was no real reason for this other than pad an already short running time.
In the end, Incarnate was just a mess of a film that somehow made its way to theaters only to be there and gone in about a month. Perhaps uber fans of possession movies will get something but for myself I was never scared (which should be easy to when it comes to these supernatural-horror flicks). This is a movie destined to air on SyFy (has the quality of their films anyway). |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.0/5 |
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This release comes with a semi-glossy slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. The only feature included is The Making of Incarnate (7:11; HD) featurette which is rather short but provides some behind-the-scenes footage and on-set interviews with the cast and crew. A quick note about the “Unrated” version, it’s a whopping 31 seconds longer. I didn’t see the theatrical version but I suspect the only differences are an additional f-bomb and a nasty broken arm with bone sticking through. |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Incarnate arrives on Blu-ray through Universal Pictures Home Entertainment presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and an AVC-encoded 1080p high-definition transfer. The video quality isn’t anything I’d describe as extraordinary but still looks decent with sharp detail and stark black levels with some splashes of color as well as natural looking skin tones. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| The disc includes a basic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which I’d say is acceptable providing for clear and clean dialogue levels although the depth is lacking outside a scene or two when the demon err parasitic entity attacks and we get a jump scare from the mundane/throwaway score. As possession movies go, this is on the weaker side but satisfactory enough. |
OVERALL – 2.0/5 |
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Overall, Incarnate wasn’t terrible but was entirely forgettable and only bearable thanks to Aaron Eckhart who for some reason agreed to this turkey of a supernatural-horror flick that somehow made to the big screen albeit for a short time. This Blu-ray release offers fine audio/video and a throwaway bonus feature. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.