Incubus (1981)

[7]

John Cassavetes (Rosemary’s Baby, Love Streams) stars in this odd horror film about a boy whose recurring nightmare seems to coincide with a string of rapes and murders in a small New England town. Cassavetes plays a doctor who discovers vast quantities of unusual sperm in many of the victims. While many authorities believe it to be the result of rape gang, Cassavetes teams with a rogue reporter (Kerrie Keane) who shares his belief that it is one man — albeit a monstrous one.

Incubus is an odd, often jarring viewing experience. One might even call it a bad movie. Cassavetes and Keane’s performances are very peculiar, and the screenplay feels like the result of warring writers, with scenes drifting between pedestrian and (dare I say?) avantgarde. Cassavetes’ relationships with both Keane and his daughter (Erin Noble) are awkward — a little creepy, even. It makes you wonder all through the movie, ‘Is he the bad guy?’ Adding to the movie’s off-kilter nature is the heavily dubbed soundtrack. That, combined with Stanley Myers striking music and a generous number of point-of-view shots, give Incubus an old-fashioned Itallian giallo feel (even though the film was made in Canada).

Director John Hough cut his teeth on several Disney movies like Escape to Witch Mountain and The Watcher in the Woods before taking on this much more adult movie, one with Satanic overtones and more mentions of the word ‘sperm’ than any other movie I’ve seen. He gives the film an admirable, driving energy. His camera and staging is far from lazy, and he manages to create moments of genuine terror without resorting to much gore. But how did he make the movie feel as though it were made by an alien trying to understand human nature? It’s the damndest thing.

Maybe I find the core concept, a beastly shape-shifter filling women to bursting with its demon seed, provocative. Or maybe it’s that I can’t tell if the movie is wonky on purpose, or by design. Either way, it’s too weird to dismiss. I kinda wish there were more movies like it.