Incubus

Director: John Hough
Script: George franklin
Cast: John Cassavetes, Kerrie Keane, Helen Hughs, Erin Flannery, Duncan McIntosh, John Ireland
Running time: 93 mins
Year: 1981
Certificate: 18

Back in the Eighties I was a keen collector of horror paperback novels and would frequently trawl through second hand book shops looking for bargains to buy with my very limited pocket money. One of the ‘treasures’ I unearthed from a dim and dusty bookshop that I frequented regularly was Ray Russell’s Incubus. I read it as a still sexually inexperienced teen and was somewhat traumatised by it; such was the level of sexual depravity described within. Some years later I watched the film version with some friends, on video, expecting it to be really nasty and semi-pornographic, but was relieved/disappointed that it was nowhere near as graphic as the book. All these years later 88 Films have released Incubus as part of their ‘Slasher Classics Collection’, so I was intrigued to see what my reaction would be watching it for a second time…

The film kicks off with a young amorous couple hanging out in a disused quarry, which is now a lake with some sun-baked shoreline, hence the attraction, I guess. The girl, Maggie, is playing hard-to-get so Roy goes for a swim and later explores a disused railway carriage where he is attacked and killed. The girl goes to look for him and is sexually violated and ends up in a coma in hospital. From that point on surgeon Sam Cordell, (John Cassavetes), becomes involved in her case and also that of other unfortunate young women who are similarly raped, although later victims die from their severe internal injuries.

Meanwhile Sam’s daughter, Jenny (Erin Flannery), is dating an increasingly disturbed young man, Tim (Duncan McIntosh), who keeps having weird dreams involving some kind of satanic cult and a female sacrifice. Unfortunately, every time he has one of these disturbing dreams someone is attacked and violated; could there be a real-world connection?

Incubus could have been a great film, but I get the sense that quite a bit of producer / studio meddling went on behind-the-scenes resulting in some of the dialogue not really making sense, hence I get the impression that quite important scenes were either cut or shortened in order to keep the running time shorter. This is a shame as John Hough has done a good job in turning some really difficult material into a half decent serial killer film. Personally, I wouldn’t call it a ‘slasher film’, although it does share some slasher tropes, particularly the opening sequence.

The film wisely treats the source material seriously and with respect, however, if someone was hoping to see lots of nasty sex scenes due to the film’s title, then they’ll be somewhat disappointed as the sexual encounters are largely played off screen and are inferred rather than displayed for all to see. Which is just as well really, as an Incubus is a male demon in human form that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women, although in Russell’s book and in this film none of the victims are sleeping! Plus, in the book the demon’s – cough – ‘dong’ is massive, which is what, ultimately, causes the internal damage… Although, the film is disturbing enough with lots of medical talk of violent ‘dry’ sex and red sperm, so it’s probably just as well the rapes are left to the imagination of the viewer.

Through the use of Stanley Myers’s creepy score and some clever framing of shots, director Hough has created a disturbing occult horror movie, which even after all these years has passed still retains to power to shock its audience. Plus, Hough having a solid cast to hang the rather ‘out-there’ central concept on can’t have hindered him either, although Duncan McIntosh, who played Tim, didn’t really fully convince me of his mental breakdown, which let the side down a little.

88 Films have done a great job restoring the film, nicely retaining the cinematic look, but cleaning the picture quality up and making it a lot easier to see what’s going on during the darker scenes, which I seem to recall were a bit on the too dark side when I watched the VHS version back in the day. Included on the Blu-ray are some special features including:

Audio Commentary by journalist David Flint– The author of Babylon Blue and excellent Ten Years of Terror is on good form chatting about the film and it’s cast and crew. For example, he reminded me that Erin Flannery, who plays the surgeon’s daughter in Incubus was also in another 80s ‘nasty’, namely Class of 1984, which was another film I chain-watched with some of my mates back in the day. Flint, quite rightly, observes that the film probably has more in common with a number of other supernaturally-led films from that era, including The Changeling and Ghost Story, rather than many of the slasher films which were also prevalent at the time. Flint also reminded me that John Hough has also directed some other noteworthy horror films such as Twins of Evil and The Legend of Hell House.

Trailer (2.13 mins) – Uses the featured song Vice Versa by NWOBHM stalwarts, Samson, featuring Bruce Dickinson (from Iron Maiden), quite a bit, which kind of makes sense since the movie features a music video that the guys did called Biceps of Steel. Additionally, this must be the only film trailer that I’ve seen which has the film’s title appear over shots of red-tinged sperm!