The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

While its attempt of shaking things up a bit by putting a new spin on the whole child-possessed-by-a-demon tale is refreshing to see, the chills are relatively scarce in Blumhouse’s latest film, Incarnate, which establishes an interesting idea but fails to follow through with it properly.  Written by Ronnie Christensen and directed by San Andreas’ Brad Peyton, Incarnate is not an entirely awful film, but one too many cheesy moments and general ‘lack’ derails it.

The story begins with the introduction of an eleven-year-old boy named Cameron (Mazouz) who, as the movie opens, is seen moving into a rundown apartment with his recently-divorced mother, Lindsay (Game of Thrones’ Carice Van Houten). He is soon jumped by a seemingly possessed homeless man, who has somehow managed to sneak his way into their home, and after a physical struggle, a demonic entity takes over Cameron.

Enter Dr. Seth Ember (Eckhart); a wheelchair-bound psychic who has devoted his life to chasing demons and is determined to track down one particular demon named Maggie that killed his wife and child and left him paralysed from the waist down some years before. Exorcisms are part of his daily routine, but Seth uses his own methods of cleansing the possessed by entering the minds of the ‘diseased’ and trying to persuade them to find their own strength to purge the devil spirit out of their body.

It won’t be too difficult to see where the movie is getting its inspirations from, with Incarnate coming across as a cheap and relatively ineffective blend of The Exorcist and Inception. Failing establish a tone of fear and suspense, director Brad Peyton keeps things relatively murky throughout, while the plot which tends to plays fast and loose with reason and logic. 

Having said that, credit is due for the sheer fact of trying to do things a little differently and adding a fresh but familiar spin on what is an overly used formula.  However, although the world of the subconscious mind mixed in with demonic gravity defying acts is quite the spectacle, there’s not enough focus to bring the movie full circle or into anything worth sticking with.