A skeleton crew at an out dated and soon to be demolished police station are all that remains during the transition to a new department across town. Working the graveyard shift none of them expect any excitement, but tonight they get an unexpected visitor, Inkubus. Holding the head of his most recent victim, Inkubus confesses to a laundry list of murders, many of them dating back over 100 years ago. Why would a self professed demon allow himself to be arrested? Because he wants to face the one detective who came the closest to catching him thirteen years ago. As for the crew working the final shift at the department, they are unfortunately caught in the crossfire and bloodshed in the game Inkubus has come to play.
I want to get this out of the way early in the review. For those of you who are bitching about former *NSYNC member Joey Fatone playing a leading man in a horror movie, back off. I admit that initially I, like many of you, had a healthy amount of skepticism going into the movie. However, there was no need for it. Fatone's character of Detective Caretti goes through varying degrees of trauma, emotional stress, and sailing clearly over the edge of a breaking point, all of which he conveyed with the performance of a seasoned genre pro. It's a challenge for any actor to not get dominated and lost on the screen when going toe to toe against fan favorites Englund and Forsythe, yet Fatone stood his own. Well done, sir.
As for Robert Englund and William Forsythe, do I really need to tell you how spectacular they were? I will anyway, because they really shined in their roles. Robert Englund is at home as the demon Inkubus, he delivers the dialogue so naturally he practically purrs the lines. I would be genuinely surprised if director Glenn Ciano did not have Englund already signed on for this movie before he finished the script, because his performance was seamless and catered to all of his well known strengths.
Playing Dr. Loomis to Englund's Michael Myers is William Forsythe, another well known actor in the genre. For a fan base who has come to expect Forsythe in the roles we are used to seeing him in, this is one that may rattle us more than the bloodshed on screen. Forsythe is someone who notably portrays grotesque killers and hardened criminals, but his character in Inkubus is a weak, vulnerable, and mere shell of a man. The attributes of this retired detective are not the type of characteristics that come to mind when you imagine a Forsythe role. However, the veteran genre actor delivers this role as if it was just as common for him to play as all of the other vile men we love watching him act out on screen.
While this movie surpassed my expectations from a new production studio, I do have two qualms. First of all, the lack of females on screen was sorely disappointing, especially when the title of the film is INKUBUS. The definition of an Incubus is commonly known as a demon who preys upon women, specifically by having sex with them in their sleep. This certainly ties into the back story nicely. When the character Inkubus confesses to a laundry list of victims many of them are sexually active women of history who met gruesome ends. This garnered a snicker from the true crime nerd in me. The plot line is well thought out though, and I do love the detail Ciano puts into the back story. However, the two actresses who are arguably among the main characters don't contribute much on screen. Despite delivering well acted scenes, their contributions to the script are left one dimensional. Perhaps the recent announcement of the prequel will fix this issue I take with the film.
Another minor qualm I have with this movie is the missed balance between visual effects and those added by computers. Visual fx vs CGI have battled it out on screen since the technology began appearing in movies. However, the CGI special effects in Inkubus were not needed in my opinion. Ciano effectively creates suspense and terror without the crutch of flashy special fx, so why use them at all? Ciano has the potential of becoming one of the great cinematic story tellers of his time. His well developed back story and character development is reminiscent of the greats during their early careers. In the 1970s it wasn't about pushing the visual envelope, it was about telling a good scary story. While the visual impact may be something the audience has come to expect in modern horror, it's unnecessary to tell the story of Inkubus.
For an audience that has become desensitized visually, Ciano has the benefit of gaining support through plot alone. As a story teller he has an expansive imagination, and does a fantastic job of portraying it into the mind's eye of his viewers. Hopefully through his future films audiences will remember it's not about production value, rather it's about the value of the story.
