Incubus: Mörderische Träume (1981)

Incubus: Mörderische Träume: Directed by John Hough. With John Cassavetes, John Ireland, Kerrie Keane, Helen Hughes. A small town’s doctor takes matters into his own hands after a series of gruesome and bizarre rape crimes perplex the clueless authorities.

“In a small Wisconsin town a series of aggressive rapes and bloody murders plague the community with the police authorities baffled to who or what is responsible. The local, drained-out Dr. Cordell is called upon to examine the bodies when they start to pile up. He is basically a newcomer to the town, along with his teenage daughter. His daughteru0026#39;s boyfriend is having terrible nightmares that he believes are connected to the brutal deaths and this leads Cordell to the conclusion that they are facing a supernatural threat.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are some deft touches evident, but what foils this luridly, glum Canadian B-grade shocker is that itu0026#39;s criminally, under-developed. Even though itu0026#39;s compelling, it could have been so much more, but in the end itu0026#39;s a basic routine format of a slasher flick with supernatural overtones that just sits there and turns into an incomplete muddle of who-ha. Just like a dream does, it doesnu0026#39;t make a whole lot of sense and the story fits that description. And for most time what a slow moving and quite uneventful exercise it was. The mysterious story, which is taken by Ray Russellu0026#39;s novel just, seems rather dead and irrational with little in the way of character and sub-plot developments. Also some strange occurrences pop up in the contexts that are never truly expanded on. But maybe that was the editing? These sudden offbeat interruptions involving nightmare sequences lack any sort of structure and the script lacks drive. There is some disquieting, hysterical and rather callous moments worked into the film, but they arenu0026#39;t terribly graphic and thereu0026#39;s a small dosage of flesh included. The demonic spirit; The Incubus is mostly kept off screen when it attacks its victims, until it finally shows in a couple of frames in the final few minutes of the film. The design of the monster looked top-notch. When it does come to itu0026#39;s conclusion, it leaves you with a blank expression on your face and you going u0026quot;Come again?u0026quot; Quite like what Cassavetes looks like throughout most of the film. The performances teeter on plain drab or dramatically over-the-top. Kerrie Kane takes the cake on that latter point and John Cassavetes in the lead role seems really out-of-it and in a state of bemusement. He plays Dr. Cordell is such a weary state that he just feels distant and rather distracted to whatu0026#39;s actually happening. The direction by John Hough is definitely the filmu0026#39;s strong point with Hough creating a cold and dark heavy air that sucks the life out of the picture. A highly atmospheric and robust score surrounds proceedings adding to the nauseating awe and the racy soundtrack harps on. On the surface the filmu0026#39;s slick photography has a wide range of inventive shots and arty angles. Visually it looked well with many solid techniques integrated into this production, despite some cheap fumbles.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Incubusu0026quot; has an interestingly foreboding set-up with a decent looking production, but sloppy handling within the material and out-of-sorts performances bring this one down to mediocre.”