Incantation vs. The Medium: Battle of the Cursed Found-Footage Nightmares

In the shadowy realm of Asian horror, two films dare you to break ancient taboos—but only one truly ensnares your soul forever.

Asian horror has long mastered the art of the unseen, turning cultural superstitions into visceral dread. Incantation (2022) and The Medium (2021) stand as towering achievements in found-footage terror, both weaving mockumentary styles around shamanistic rituals gone awry. These Taiwanese and Thai gems pit maternal desperation against familial possession, forcing viewers to question where folklore ends and nightmare begins. This analysis dissects their strengths, from unrelenting scares to profound thematic layers, to crown a supreme chiller.

  • Both films excel in found-footage immersion, but Incantation‘s audience-invoked curse innovates beyond The Medium‘s traditional shocks.
  • Superior performances and cultural authenticity elevate The Medium‘s raw shamanism, yet Incantation edges ahead with tighter pacing and bolder visuals.
  • In the end, Incantation claims victory for its lingering psychological grip and genre-pushing interactivity.

Unveiling the Rituals: Origins in Folklore and Filmmaking

Both films draw from deep wells of regional shamanism, transforming personal taboos into communal curses. Incantation, directed by Kevin Ko, unfolds as a mother’s confessional video diary, six years after she violated a forbidden mountain ritual. The Taiwanese production, released on Netflix, blends domestic drama with escalating supernatural horror, inspired by local legends of maternal sacrifice and vengeful deities. Its verité style mimics cellphone footage and hidden cams, pulling audiences into a conspiracy of silence surrounding her daughter Dodo’s affliction.

The Medium, helmed by Banjong Pisanthanakun with Park Chan-wook as producer, adopts a documentary format tracking a Korean film crew documenting a shaman in Thailand’s Isan region. The narrative spirals when the shaman’s niece Nim becomes a vessel for a malevolent spirit, echoing Mor phon rituals where the body hosts ancestral or demonic forces. Shot over real shamanistic ceremonies, the film captures unscripted authenticity, bridging Thai folklore with Korean horror sensibilities for a cross-cultural punch.

Production hurdles shaped their raw edges. Incantation navigated COVID restrictions, relying on practical effects and intimate sets to amplify claustrophobia. Ko’s team crafted the film’s infamous incantation—chanted by viewers themselves—from fragmented Taiwanese myths, ensuring no single “true” ritual exists to avoid real-world backlash. Meanwhile, The Medium faced censorship battles in Thailand over its graphic depictions of spirit possession, pushing boundaries with long takes of improvised rituals filmed in actual villages.

These origins underscore a shared commitment to cultural specificity, yet Incantation personalises the horror through its protagonist’s POV, making the curse feel intimately tailored, while The Medium broadens to ethnographic observation, occasionally distancing viewers from the emotional core.

Threads of Terror: Dissecting the Plots

Incantation opens with Li Ronan (Tsai Hsuan-yen) pleading directly to the camera, her daughter Dodo marked by eerie symbols from a taboo temple rite. Flashbacks reveal Ronan’s pilgrimage with boyfriend Dom, where they mocked sacred rules, unleashing a entity that mimics innocence. As Dodo’s condition worsens—vomiting symbols, levitating toys—the film escalates into a web of accomplices, from cultish monks to haunted neighbours, culminating in a ritual demanding viewer participation: reciting the curse to “save” Dodo.

In contrast, The Medium follows documentarian Ja-yoon (Choi Min-ho? No, the crew led by Korean director, but focus on shaman Noy (Sawanee Utoomma) and niece Nim (Narilya Gulmongkolpech). What starts as celebratory footage of Noy’s Mor phon ceremony darkens as Nim inherits the shaman power, her body twisting in agony during trances. Revelations of family secrets—a hidden pregnancy, vengeful water spirits—unfold in marathon possession sequences, blending slow-burn buildup with explosive violence.

Key scenes amplify their narratives. Ronan’s bathroom confrontation in Incantation, where shadows coalesce into a grinning horror, uses distorted lenses for disorientation. The Medium‘s hotel room exorcism, with Nim’s spine arching unnaturally, employs practical prosthetics for grotesque realism. Both plots hinge on female lineage—mother-daughter in Incantation, aunt-niece in The Medium—exploring inheritance of trauma through supernatural vectors.

Pacing reveals divides: Incantation‘s 110 minutes tighten like a noose, intercutting past and present for relentless momentum. The Medium‘s 130-minute runtime allows ethnographic depth but risks drag in early village life segments, though its finale’s multi-layered possessions compensate with sheer ferocity.

Shadows and Shudders: Cinematography and Visual Craft

Found-footage demands visual ingenuity to transcend gimmickry. Incantation masterfully varies sources—shaky cams, security feeds, even animated incantations—creating a fractured mosaic. Cinematographer Yang Hai-yin employs negative space and peripheral glimpses, like Dodo’s reflection warping in glass, to evoke paranoia. The colour palette shifts from warm domestic tones to sickly greens during hauntings, symbolising corruption seeping into safety.

The Medium counters with Steadicam prowess, capturing fluid ritual dances amid firelight and incense haze. Long, unbroken takes during possessions—Nim’s contortions lit by flickering candles—immerse in physicality. Editor Nattawut Poonpiriya layers split-screens for dual perspectives, heightening chaos as spirits fragment identities.

Mise-en-scène elevates both: Incantation‘s cluttered apartment, strewn with talismans, mirrors Ronan’s fraying sanity; The Medium‘s rural shack, adorned with spirit houses, grounds folklore in tangible decay. Yet Incantation innovates with interactive QR codes in credits, extending dread post-screening.

Special effects warrant scrutiny. Incantation blends CGI subtly—entities emerging from walls via practical puppets enhanced digitally—for seamless terror. The Medium favours gore-heavy prosthetics: splitting skulls, protruding bones, crafted by Thai FX maestro, delivering visceral impact akin to Ringu‘s legacy but amplified.

Echoes of the Abyss: Sound Design and Score

Audio crafts the intangible dread. Incantation‘s soundscape layers children’s rhymes with guttural chants, distorted by low-frequency rumbles that vibrate screens. Silence punctuates jumps, like footsteps halting mid-stride, building unbearable tension. Composer Soft Lin’s motifs evolve from lullabies to dissonant shrieks, mirroring the curse’s mimicry.

The Medium harnesses diegetic noise: ritual drums, pig squeals during sacrifices, Nim’s multilingual babble in trances. Subtle foley—cracking bones, whispering winds—amplifies authenticity. The score, by Decha Srimantra, swells with gongs and throat-singing, evoking Isan traditions while underscoring possession’s invasion.

Both films weaponise voice: Ronan’s breaking pleas in Incantation, Nim’s guttural roars in The Medium. This auditory assault ensures haunts linger, proving sound as horror’s sharpest blade.

Possessed Performances: Acting Under Duress

Tsai Hsuan-yen anchors Incantation with raw vulnerability, her wide-eyed terror evolving into fierce resolve. Child actor Alin Pang’s Dodo blends innocence with uncanny menace, her doll-like stares chilling. Supporting turns, like Wu Kang-jen as the duplicitous monk, add moral ambiguity.

Narilya Gulmongkolpech dominates The Medium, her Nim convulsing with balletic horror—eyes rolling, limbs snapping. Sawanee Utoomma’s shaman exudes weary wisdom, crumbling under legacy’s weight. The ensemble’s unpolished naturalism sells the mockumentary illusion.

Physical demands peaked in long takes, with actors enduring hours in rigs. These commitments forge empathy, making possessions feel invasively real.

Cultural Curses: Themes of Faith, Family, and Forbidden Knowledge

Both probe superstition’s double edge: comfort in ritual, peril in transgression. Incantation critiques blind faith via cult dynamics, paralleling Taiwan’s blend of Buddhism, Taoism, and folk cults. Maternal love confronts cosmic indifference, with Ronan’s arc questioning sacrifice’s cost.

The Medium dissects shamanism’s burdens in animist Thailand, where spirits demand balance. Gender roles surface—women as vessels—interrogating inheritance amid modernisation’s clash with tradition.

Class undertones simmer: rural poverty fuels desperation in both. Trauma’s heritability links personal sins to generational hauntings, resonating post-pandemic anxieties over unseen threats.

Influence abounds: Incantation nods REC, The Medium [REC] and The Blair Witch Project, yet localise tropes uniquely.

Enduring Haunts: Legacy and Lasting Impact

Incantation topped Netflix charts, sparking global curse challenges despite warnings. Its interactivity influenced viral marketing in horror. The Medium won Fantasia awards, praised for cultural depth, inspiring Thai horror’s mockumentary wave.

Neither spawned direct sequels, but echoes persist in streaming chills. Censorship debates highlighted ethical lines in depicting rituals.

The Ultimate Verdict: One Curse Conquers

While The Medium delivers unmatched raw power and ethnographic terror, Incantation triumphs through innovative engagement, tighter craft, and psychological depth. Its curse binds viewer to narrative, outlasting The Medium‘s visceral blasts. For found-footage supremacy, Incantation reigns.

Director in the Spotlight

Kevin Ko emerged from Taiwan’s indie scene, born in 1983 in Taipei. A self-taught filmmaker, he honed skills via commercials and music videos before feature directing. Influenced by J-horror masters like Hideo Nakata and Takashi Shimizu, Ko blends psychological tension with supernatural flair. His breakthrough, Death Note: Light Up the New World (2016), adapted the manga for Japan, showcasing adept horror orchestration despite mixed reception.

Ko’s career highlights include Incantation (2022), a Netflix smash praised for interactivity, earning Golden Horse nods. Earlier, Mon Mon Mon Monsters! (2017) mixed body horror with teen comedy, exploring bullying via monstrous transformations. He directed The Tag-Along (2015), a box-office hit from urban legend, launching a franchise. Upcoming projects tease more folk-horror hybrids.

Filmography: The Tag-Along (2015)—red balloon spirit stalks child; Death Note: Light Up the New World (2016)—final manga arc with killer notebook; Mon Mon Mon Monsters! (2017)—teens experiment with flesh-eating; Incantation (2022)—interactive curse tale. Ko’s visual style—handheld intimacy, symbolic lighting—cements his status in Asian horror’s new guard.

Actor in the Spotlight

Tsai Hsuan-yen, born 1995 in Taiwan, rocketed from obscurity via Incantation‘s Li Ronan. Early life in Taichung sparked theatre passion; she trained at National Taiwan University of Arts. Breakthrough in indie Dear Ex (2018), earning Golden Horse Best New Performer for grieving widow role.

Post-Incantation, acclaim surged: Variety touted her “ferocious vulnerability.” Notable roles include Vivarium (2019, Jesse Eisenberg film)—trapped suburbanite; Blue Tears (2020)—historical drama. Awards: Golden Horse noms, Asian Film Awards recognition. She advocates mental health, drawing from personal loss.

Filmography: Dear Ex (2018)—queer family drama; Vivarium (2019)—existential trap; Blue Tears (2020)—WWI nurse saga; Incantation (2022)—cursed mother; Marry My Dead Body (2023)—cop comedy with supernatural twist. Tsai’s range—from horror intensity to dramatic nuance—positions her as Taiwan’s rising star.

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