(1981/CANADA)
Reviewed By- Sean Patrick Dolan Director: John Hough Cast: John Cassavetes, John Ireland, Kerrie Keane, Helen Hughes, Erin Flannery, Duncan McIntosh Viewing Source: Vestron Video (1983, VHS) Runtime: Approx. 90 minutes
Dr. Sam Cordell (John Cassavetes) and his daughter, Jenny Cordell (Erin Flannery) have only lived in the small New England community of Galen for one year. Jenny is dating Tim Galen (Duncan McIntosh), a troubled young man who has terrible nightmares. A series of brutal rapes and murders has rocked the small town, and has brought Dr. Cordell into contact with his potential love interest- newspaper reporter Laura Kincaid (Kerrie Keane). As a surgeon, Cordell is called to the hospital to treat the victims that live and, more often, to perform autopsies on the rest. His findings immediately disturb him. In each case, the attacker seems to have been a man of immense stature, strong enough to crush necks and spines and to rupture the uterus of each woman he rapes. He recovers such a massive quantity of semen from one victim that he briefly suspects that there may be more than one assailant. But, when lab analysis has come back, he concludes that the rapist is indeed one individual- and, even more disturbing, his sperm is highly abnormal.
It is deep red in color and highly aggressive, moving much faster than the typical sample. However, the chief of police, Hank Walden (John Ireland), cannot believe Cordell’s "outlandish" theory, and proceeds to treat the cases as a series of gang rapes. Tim continues to have horrible nightmares of an Inquisition style torture chamber and a naked woman stretched on the rack, tortured in an attempt to make her "confess". The young man also begins to have severe headaches and hallucinations, and fears he may be committing the rapes and murders himself. His grandmother, Agatha Galen (Helen Hughes) constantly tells him that he is just responding psychologically to the deaths of his friends, as any other young man in his place would- Tim is not convinced. It is only revealed late in the film that a similar series of rapes and murders occurred in Galen just 30 years before. At the same stage, it is revealed that Tim’s mother was driven out of town, after accusations of witchcraft- and that he might have had a twin brother. Tim has admitted his concerns to Jenny, who tells her father, and Tim is arrested. Although his semen does not match that found in the victims, Cordell is convinced that the young man’s dreams are still connected to the murders. They all take a trip to the local witchcraft museum, and discover old texts relating to the incubus legend- a male sexual demon that preys on woman, especially witches, with the sole goal of procreating. Grandma Galen grows increasingly nervous as this line of thought is pursued. Dr. Cordell takes Tim home with him, and plans to induce one of Tim’s nightmares, which he believes are the gateway through which the demon gains access to our world. He warns the police chief to have all his men out on patrol this night, because he is sure an attempted rape/murder will result. Dr. Cordell is right, but the identity of the demon is a shock to all . . . .
The small town, New England setting of THE INCUBUS goes a fair way to lending the film the proper horror atmosphere- just like it did in films like THE AMMITYVILLE HORROR (1979) and another of Hough’s films, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973). A decent new wave and metal soundtrack- by a cadre of unknown artists- also adds to the decidedly "80’s" feel of this film. Throughout most of the film, the demon is not seen, which is a valid suspense building device- but, unfortunately, the murders also occur off camera, and there is very little gore. We hear a lot of victims screaming, but the film usually goes into a close-up of their tortured faces, annoyingly in slow motion, rather than letting us witness the "coups de grace". This is a fatal flaw in a film whose shock value rests on the brutality of the inhumanly violent acts of the titular demon. John Cassavetes does his best to save this film, and he does give a solid performance- his relationship with his teenage daughter feels genuine, as does his mounting frustration with small town authorities who refuse to take his theories seriously. The film hints at a subplot involving Dr. Cordell’s rocky marriage to Jenny’s mother, and his subsequent relationship with a young woman named Julia, who died a tragic death. But it is never developed. Similarly, Kerrie Keane is a very beautiful actress, but she is basically a prop here. Her checkered past is mentioned but never explored. The romance between the two adult characters is brief, and seems designed only to fill a few scenes and flesh out the running time to a b-movie standard of 90 minutes. Overall, this is a mediocre film that could have benefited from higher production values, a tighter, more cohesive plot, and an ending that didn’t rely on "deus ex machina" last minute revelations. Fans of 80’s era cheese may find some value in THE INCUBUS, everyone else can take a pass.
Story: 2.5 Bitch Slaps
