Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Incubus (John Hough, 1981)

Twenty-seven years after the release of Incubus, I finally get round to seeing it. I've somehow had it in the back of my mind all these years that it was a sequel of sorts to Wes Craven's 1980 film Deadly Blessing; nothing could be further from the truth. Depressing. Take that, childhood illusions! In hindsight, Incubus was probably the start of director John Hough's downward spiral; before this, he'd directed some widely acclaimed films (Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Escape to Witch Mountain). After this, well, there was Biggles: Adventures in Time. What hath Hollywood wrought?

The thin-as-onionskin storyline (adapted by George Franklin-- one of only two scripts he wrote that was ever produced-- from a Ray Russell novel I have yet to track down) concerns a teen who begins having visions of women being raped and murdered. After a bunch of "oh, it's just a phase" hooey, his doctor discovers that the things he's seeing in these dreams are actually happening. So is the kid the killer, or is there something else at work here? (Given that this is a horror film, I'm sure you can determine the answer on your own.)

Hough put together a pretty decent cast for this movie, then proceeded to waste it. John Cassavettes headlines as the intrepid doctor; recognizable character actor John Ireland plays the town sherriff; Erin Flannery (now Noble) plays the kid's girlfriend. (The kid himself is played by Duncan McIntosh, in the first role of his very short career.) None of them come close to a reasonable performance. That said, I'm relatively sure the actors aren't to blame; the story seemed a framework that Hough could use as filler between the murders. Quite a disappointment, this, though certainly not the worst movie I've seen in the past month. **

For the time that this came out it was a fairly good movie .Decent gore but reminded me of Humaniods from the Deep with the "mating" that was going on .The end can be seen a mile away , like the end of "The Village" but is still enjoyable .As a side note Bruce Dickinson make his film debut with the band Samson .