Incarnate - Devilish Possession - Blu-ray

Movie: Dr. Ember (Aaron Eckhart) has an unusual gift: he can enter the minds of people possessed by a demon - or as Ember calls it, an unclean spirit - and cast out the dark power from there. This costs him a lot of power and is not without danger, but has so far always been successful. However, Ember is also pursuing a very personal agenda: he is looking for the demon he holds responsible for the death of his wife and child. And indeed, this demon now seems to have reappeared, in the body of the boy Cameron (David Mazouz), of all people. Now Ember faces his greatest challenge - he must save the boy and destroy the demon that destroyed his life.

Director Brad Peyton (San Andreas) has chosen a not uninteresting exorcism twist with Incarnate: His blend of The Exorcist and Inception has some really good ideas to offer. That you can enter the mind of a possessed person and see how the demon manipulates its host is a pleasantly original idea. The demon virtually immobilizes its victim by seemingly granting him/her their most ardent desires. The lines between reality and deception keep blurring, which gives the whole thing a decent potential for suspense. In addition, Peyton manages to pull off a few good shock effects, especially at the beginning, which make for pleasant creepiness.

With Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight), Carice van Houten (Game of Thrones) and Catalina Sandino Moreno (Che, A most violent year) the film is also quite well cast, which sets it apart from many other works of this genre. Due to the basic idea, the sometimes atmospherically very successful production and the good cast Incarnate has a very good potential, which isn't always used adequately, though. Especially towards the end Peyton falls into too obvious cliché traps too often and unfortunately misses the chance to leave a lasting impression especially at the finale.

It's a pity that especially the ending comes across too conventional and smooth. Because it doesn't look like that until just before it. But even though that might be a bit disappointing, the movie still manages to leave a good impression overall. Even if it only rarely gets really scary, the movie is never boring, but actually entertaining and pleasantly thrilling throughout. And for that there is then also a deserved: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The Blu-ray's picture has very good overall sharpness, which neatly brings out smaller details even in the many dark scenes. The colour scheme enhances the gritty look of the film and does a good job of capturing the demonic atmosphere. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix provides pleasant movement on the surround channels, especially during the well-placed shock moments, while also transporting the dialogue out of the speakers with good intelligibility. Good.

Extras: As a bonus, there is unfortunately only the trailer and other program tips from the provider.

Conclusion: Incarnate takes a fairly original approach to the exorcism horror genre. Even if not all the potential that this successful basic idea offers is used, Brad Peyton has directed an overall decent and quite exciting demon thriller, which presents itself on the Blu-ray in good picture and sound quality. The only thing the viewer has to do without is bonus material. Overall, there is a satisfied for this disc: recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp