Stars:
John Cassavetes, Kerrie Keane, Helen Hughes, Erik Flannery, Duncan McIntosh, and
John Ireland
Writer:
George Franklin
Based
On The Novel By: Ray Russell
Director:
John Hough
Feature
length: 93 minutes
Extras:
Theatrical Trailer
Languages:
English Monaural
Subtitles:
N/A
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 12
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1981/DVD Release: 2002
Home
Video Distributor: Elite Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Veteran
genre director John Hough’s feature film adaptation of Ray Russell’s “The
Incubus” is a mixed effort. The story deals with a series a vicious murders
with no suspects. The murders appear to be somewhat ritualistic. John Cassavetes
plays a surgeon and pathologist who assists in the investigation and discovers
that the killer might just be the Incubus, a demon of many forms that ravishes
women in their nightmares. He also learns that there is a counterpart, the
Succubus, a demon that appears to men. Both can also change their gender in
human form. Who are they?
There
are some scenes that work well as a thriller, but ultimately I think the test of
time more than anything has weakened the chilling effects. Elite Entertainment
has done a great job working from materials with a bit of inherent grain and the
result is a very solid anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) presentation, which when
one considers again that this is not a film that has been richly preserved, one
can at least appreciate the widescreen presentation for what it is.
A
clear two-channel English Monaural Soundtrack is provided, but unfortunately no
captions and subtitles are provided for the hearing impaired. The theatrical
trailer is presented in a (1.33:1) aspect ratio and the menus are standard
interactive still frames that are easy to navigate.
Worth
a look for occult film aficionados, “The Incubus” is available on DVD-Video
now from Elite Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.