Color, 1981, 93 mins. / Directed by John Hough / Starring John Cassavetes, Kerrie Keane, Helen Hughes, John Ireland / WS (1.85:1) (16:9) / Elite (US R0 NTSC)
The quiet New England hamlet of Galen finds itself rocked by a string of brutal murders involving the grisly sexual assault of women, with a few unlucky guys dispatched along the way as well. The new doctor in town, Sam Cordell (John Cassavetes, cashing a paycheck for his next directorial effort), teams up with the local police chief (John Ireland) and a glamorous reporter (Kerrie Keane) to find the demented culprit - or perhaps culprits, judging from the amounts of, er, fluid found during the autopsies - behind these ghoulish crimes. Meanwhile Tim (Duncan McIntosh), the boyfriend of Cordell's daughter, suffers from vivid nightmares which seem to coincide with each murder. As it turns out, the town suffers from a history of demonism and mysterious killings which tie in to the mythical incubus, a sexually voracious, nightmare creature which ravages its victims.
Director John Hough had done the offbeat horror routine before, notably in The Legend of Hell House and the previous year's The Watcher in the Woods, but The Incubus is a whole other matter entirely. The shock quotient of the subject matter has been dulled by years of NYPD Blue and Law and Order covering some of the same general material, but the bizarre hyperbole of characters yammering on about it over and over makes for strange viewing indeed. The presence of Cassavetes is particularly unsettling, a long way from the urban menace of Rosemary's Baby. The film is professionally mounted and features a solid score by the late Stanley Myers, who wrings tension out of several scenes; however, memorable music honors go to a midnight movie sequence (with a special treat for Iron Maiden fans) in which a young girl is attacked in the theater bathroom. And watch out for that sick twist ending!
Elite's packaging for this DVD sports a disclaimer on the back: "You may notice occasional film grain in certain scenes in this picture. This grain is inherent in the original film elements used." Naturally alarm bells should go off considering they didn't bother with any kind of warning on their Popcorn DVD debacle, but The Incubus actually looks surprisingly good. Interestingly, the aforementioned grain turns up during several gritty looking daylight scenes while night scenes are razor sharp, displaying beautiful contrast and shadow dileneation. The source appears to be a very clean 35mm print and is a great improvement over the long discontinued Vestron tape, which was simply an unwatchable, colorless mess. While Hough has contributed to some of his past releases, this particular title is threadbare apart from a dupey-looking theatrical trailer (complete with that wonderful early '80s horror narration.) Incidentally, the onscreen title simply reads Incubus; perhaps it was changed during promotion to avoid confusion with the rarely seen William Shatner film?
An outrageously sick entry in the slasher sweepstakes from the early '80s, The Incubus is comparatively low on graphic bloodshed but makes up for it with dashes of the supernatural, some marvelous small town atmospherics, a few good jolts, and a flood of tasteless dialogue that'll make you choke on your popcorn.
