What actually happens
Please memorize this symbol before we go on
Li Ronan speaks to the viewer and asks you to memorize a symbol and chant an incantation, saying it will send blessings and lift the curse on her six-year-old daughter, Dodo. The film is shown as found footage and out of order, with the symbol and the chant coming back often so that you play along. Six years earlier, Ronan was newly pregnant, and she traveled with her boyfriend Dom and his cousin Yuan to film a ritual for their online channel. They visited relatives in a remote mountain village where the clan worships an ancestral deity called Mother-Buddha. The three of them secretly watched the clan get a child ready to be sacrificed. The child lay unconscious with runes all over its body, set down at the mouth of a tunnel the clan had forbidden the trio to go into. Dom and Yuan went in anyway. Yuan came out screaming, and the villagers carried out Dom's body. After Dodo was born, Ronan left her at a foster home and sought psychiatric help.
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A seven-day fast that Ronan cannot keep
In the present, Ronan has recovered and wants to bring Dodo home. But Dodo starts to sense a malevolent presence and becomes seriously ill. Social workers come to take Dodo away, since they think Ronan is unfit to raise her, and Ming, who manages the foster home and is sympathetic, helps the two of them get away. They bring Dodo to a shrine, and there a priest and his wife tell Ronan that Dodo must not eat for seven days. Runes begin to show up all over Dodo's body, and Ronan, desperate, gives her food anyway. Afterward the priest and his wife die violently, and Dodo's condition worsens.
The footage with the veil
Ming goes to Yunnan to see an elder monk who translates esoteric Buddhist scripture, and he also has the damaged tunnel footage professionally restored. The monk watches the restored footage, becomes possessed and kills himself. The repaired footage is the scene people dread most, and what it shows is this: Dom and Yuan pass disturbing ritual objects all through the tunnel, which lead them to the altar of Mother-Buddha. Dom lifts the veil that covers her face and is possessed, and he dies. Yuan gets out of the tunnel alive, but unseen forces kill him violently. Dom's body is burned by the villagers, and runes cover their own bodies too.
Ronan has been lying to you
Ronan then admits she has been deceiving the viewers the entire time. The priest Ming visited in Yunnan told him that Mother-Buddha is a malevolent entity that was brought to Yunnan from Southeast Asia. Giving your name along with the incantation means you agree to carry her curse. The incantation does not send blessings after all. It thins the curse out: the more people who chant it, the more the curse spreads, and each person carries less of it and suffers fewer misfortunes. Mother-Buddha's face has to stay covered because it is where the curse comes from.
The ending, explained
Ronan takes Dodo back to the foster home and goes to the tunnel in the village, which is now empty. At the altar she uncovers Mother-Buddha's face on camera, hoping to curse the people who watch so that her daughter is spared. She is then possessed and dies. The film ends on a happy, healthy Dodo, which suggests the curse has been shared out among everyone who watched, so that it weighs less on her. Ronan, Dom, Yuan, the priest and his wife, and the monk did not survive.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Incantation scary?
Yes, Incantation is a 7 out of 10. It is found footage with a slow build, and part of the fear comes from the film talking directly to the viewer.
How does Incantation end?
Ronan uncovers Mother-Buddha's face on camera, on purpose, so the curse spreads to the viewers, and she is possessed and dies. The film ends on a happy, healthy Dodo, implying the curse is now shared with everyone who watched.
Does the dog die in Incantation?
No dog dies in Incantation. Larvae are squashed twice.
Is there a post-credits scene in Incantation?
Nobody has confirmed whether Incantation has a scene after the credits.
What does the incantation do in Incantation?
It is presented as a blessing, but Ronan admits it is not. It spreads Mother-Buddha's curse across everyone who chants it, so each person carries a smaller share of it.
