Movie Review: THE INCANTATION (2018)

The premise of THE INCANTATION is a very familiar one. A young American girl travels to France to stay at her family’s castle, and discovers that nothing is as it seems, or as she thought it was. The only thing that stood out as different, was the character of The Vicar. How often do you see a Vicar? It reminds me of that episode of Friends where Joey finds Rachel’s dirty book, and he thought a Vicar was a chimney sweep. It isn’t.

Lucy (Sam Valentine) arrives in France shortly after the death of her uncle. She should have turned away when the cab driver refused to help her carry her bags to the door, but she didn’t. She huffed and puffed and took her own in, to be greeted by the Vicar of Borley (played by writer and director Jude S. Walko), who criticizes her for not carrying herself with enough civility, “perhaps a modicum of decorum you’re not yet used to,” and demands that she attend the funeral of the uncle she doesn’t know. As usual to these types of films, the top floors of the castle are off limit, and there’s an awkward and intrusive chambermaid (Beatrice Orro). She soon makes a new friend in the gravedigger, Jean-Pierre (JP, played by Dylan Kellogg). With the introduction of a traveling insurance salesman, Abel Baddon (Dean Cain of Lois and Clark), and as her stay continues,  Lucy begins to find that nothing is really as she thought and that maybe her family has a lot of secrets they don’t want out.

THE INCANTATION is the first original content from Blue Falcon Productions (a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business) in conjunction with Gravitas Ventures. Written and directed by Jude S. Walko, the film is produced by Dan Campbell. While this slow-burn supernatural film wasn’t really my cup of tea, it did have an amazing original soundtrack by Daniel Lepervanche, and beautiful cinematography by Derek Street. The editing is spot-on, and the practical effects are impressive. Even though the film is set in France, I was very surprised to learn that they actually shot on location in the Loire Valley in the French countryside. The setting is absolutely breathtaking, and I’m happy to see that it was an actual castle used.

I get what Walko was wanting with this film, and I wish he had succeeded in everything he had set out to do. The main character of Lucy isn’t very likeable when we’re supposed to be rooting for her. The scene with the car accident isn’t fully explained, and there’s too much set up of the film, with not enough development, then there is in the climactic build-up. I felt that there needed to be more to the ending, and a bit more explanation, while developing on the supernatural aspect.

But don’t take just my word for it. You can catch THE INCANTATION on various streaming platforms.

Tiffany Blem
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