Incarnate (2016)

Remember just a few short years ago when literally every single fucking horror flick that saw the light of day was a possession film without a single original thought to be seen? That's being a bit harsh, of course. Occasionally a decent film made it through; The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Taking of Deborah Logan, At the Devil's Door, Eva's Possession, and the Insidious and The Conjuring films (though whether or not those count as possession films is debatable) all manage to excel by being wildly different from the rest. Hell, even trash like The Rite or The Last Exorcism rank higher than most other films of their ilk to me simply for not just being complete Exorcist ripoffs like so many others. Luckily, Incarnate manages to avoid ripping off the Exorcist to much. Instead, it rips off The Cell.

Aaron Eckhart --whom you might remember as a good actor whom use to appear in good movies once upon a time-- stars as our Jennifer Lopez analog as a man who can enter the minds of those possessed and uses his ability in an attempt to find and destroy the demon that causes the accident that killed his wife and son and placed him in a wheelchair. A young boy, the victim of abuse at the hands of his estranged father and living in a brand new apartment with his mother, becomes possessed by that very demon and is in desperate need of the help of him and the part-time Hot Topic employees that assist him.

Writer Ronnie Christensen tried to do something unique with the possession subgenre, but sadly nothing really lands. Riddled with plot holes and inconsistency regarding how the rules of the world of the film works, it wants to be The Cell and The Exorcist but with none of the style of the former or the subtext of the latter. Director Brad (San Andreas, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) Peyton proves he has no understanding of how horror films work and presents a dull, uninteresting vision. A couple decent performances and a decent idea, however, can't make up for a film that's fundamentally flawed.