Dec 12, 2025
Incubus (The Incubus, 1981)
"It hurts."
"What?"
"My head hurts. It... it's a nightmare. It's the same nightmare, over and over again. And every time I have a dream... someone dies."
#incubus#the incubus#horror film#blood tw#canadian cinema#john hough#john cassavetes#sandor stern#ray russell#john ireland#kerrie keane#helen hughes#erin noble#duncan mcintosh#harvey atkin#harry ditson#mitch martin#matt birman#beverly cooper#stanley myers#im endlessly fascinated by the career of Cassavetes. here was a man at the forefront of indie art cinema who was creating these award#winning‚ deeply intelligent‚ emotionally complex films; but to fund them he had to keep starring in a steady stream of absolute garbage‚#most of it making him supremely miserable. he famously hated working on De Palma's The Fury (which I always found bizarre! it is not a bad#film!) and yet he apparently had an ok time doing this bargain basement sleazy slasher. possibly that's because he heavily rewrote the#script during filming (so much so that original screenwriter Stern couldn't even be credited). he's clearly having some fun here‚ making a#lot of interesting physical choices (he touches faces A Lot in this movie) and making the most of some of the more risible dialogue#it's not a bad film‚ though undeniably grotty and probably tough to stomach for those not numbed to the nastier side of 80s horror cinema#direction is a mixed bag; Hough was intermittently brilliant (his work on The Avengers and 70s horror Legend of Hell House speak for#themselves) but his star had waned and so too his enthusiasm it seems. the attack scenes here are very good‚ tightly shot chaos‚ but a lot#of the exposition is very flatly handled and visually dull. the multiple rewrites also open up a couple of small plot holes
