Incarnation (2022) follows a young couple who’ve just moved into a new home, hoping to start a business in a church-turned-brewery and finally leave their financial worries behind. What they don’t account for is the sinister presence lurking in the shadows of their new home. The demon Mammon offers a solution to all of the couple’s problems, but at a hefty price. 

In a film that felt largely disappointing and mostly confusing, Taye Diggs, as the leading man Brad, really gives the best performance possible with the material provided. He even provides moments of comedic relief as his character responds to sudden spooky happenings in a way that felt very real and relatable. A door opens mysteriously before Brad can grasp the knob and he just blurts, “What the hell?” Brad still makes stupid run-of-the-mill horror movie decisions, but that’s a given for the genre. I understand the plot’s gotta move forward.

Brad’s character felt three-dimensional and well-fleshed out on screen, whereas his wife Jess, played by Jessica Uberuaga, seemed forgotten by the screenwriters. Jess’s only motivation is that she desperately wants to start a family, even though they can’t afford it. I’m not saying this is a bad motivation for a female character to have, but it being the only motivation feels cliché and borderline sexist. It doesn’t help that Jess is painted as a passive character, reacting as things happen to her and not really acting back. There’s almost a nice moment where Jess has the spotlight while dancing to music in the kitchen, except the camera’s roaming up and down her body the whole time. Very male gaze-y, this film. 

I’d wager that the faults of Incarnation (2022) stem from the beginning creative decisions. The plot meanders along for the full run-time, not having a clear structure. The marker of a film becoming a swing and a miss is when the viewer has to rewind the ending a couple times to understand what happened, and still being confused (‘tis I, the viewer). Also, this would have benefited immensely from swapping some CGI effects for practical makeup effects, taking the route of 70s and 80s horror films. 

On the other hand, I want to point out the awesome shots of the ceiling of the house that are used a few times. The windows are arranged in such a way that it looks like an evil face grinning. The first time that shot appeared, I audibly said, “Whoa, that’s f*cking cool.” An homage to Amityville Horror that I really enjoyed. The rest of the cinematography felt disappointing, which surprised me because (based on his other work) Rickert-Epstein is clearly very talented at what he does. He’s also a Miami University alum like myself, which was a cool find!

A lot of shots were handheld and focused on panning from the character’s face to whatever they’re reacting to and back again. What I got from Incarnation’s cinematography was this feeling like the creators felt insecure about scaring the audience. They didn’t feel confident enough in the script or the cinematography to let a shot just sit and let the dread grow in the audience. This film has constant movement with the camera, accompanied by an omnipresent soundtrack that never allows a moment of silence to let the dread build.

The sound editing also wanted to make sure the audience knew something scary was happening. Constant sounds of spooky breathing and loud music markers plague the film, when silence would’ve served the scary moments much better. I wasn’t a big fan of the score in general, but I’m just stoked to see a female composer, Jennifer Burns, involved in the project. The film industry has a devastating lack of female composers and I’m glad Incarnation is pushing back against that. 

Incarnation (2022) is a supernatural horror that clings to clichés without putting any kind of new spin on them. Some horror films cling to clichés but are self-aware and establish that in the tone of the film. A great example is James Wan’s Malignant (2021), the director’s love letter to giallos. In contrast, Incarnation’s tone felt grave and serious like Insidious but that one famously puts a twist on a well-worn horror cliché. 

2 Mammons out of 10