Inkubus (2011)

It's time once again to go scraping some B-movie barrels over here, and dive headfirst into a little film staring one of the most lauded of horror movie icons: Robert Englund.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't really have high hopes for this one. Robert Englund is awesome and all, but it's a lot to ask for one actor to hold up a film all by themselves. The other actors highlighted on the back of the box, William Forsythe and Joey Fatone, were listed as being in such gems as "Gotti" and "Weekend at Bernie's." Classy. When those are the two best movies you can list off on the supporting actor's collective resume, perhaps one would be wise in adjusting one's preconceptions of what they are in for. Even if it does star Robert Englund.

In the end, yes, "Inkubus" is exactly what you might expect - low budget horror of SyFy Channel fare. Well, maybe a very small notch above SyFy Channel. As stock and overall unimpressive and somewhat dull as "Inkubus" admittedly is, however, for some reason my final impression of the film fell not into the "screaming in pain" range, but instead wound up being somewhere around a "C minus." It was just south of average. And to be honest, for a movie that would be lumped in with movies like "Frankenfish" or anything staring Michael Madsen, it's actually shockingly "un-bad." And although I was worried he couldn't do it, a lot of the un-badness comes from Robert Englund giving a clinic on how to be a master creep.

Seriously, how can you look at him and not smile? He's having such a great time...

I think what got me most was the concept more than the execution. The idea of "Inkubus" is that we are told a story by a guy in a mental institution (SIT DOWN, I know it's cliche. Just roll with it.) about the night that a lot of very very bad things happened in a police station. There had been a murder that night, and the suspect, covered in the victim's blood, swears they didn't touch the victim, and that it was a shadowy figure that appeared and then disappeared into thin air. Obviously, the police think he's full of it.

In walks Robert Englund with the victim's severed head saying "Here you go." He's immediately arrested, but it soon becomes clear that he's not exactly human, and is ludicrously dangerous. He tells them his name is Inkubus, as opposed to "Incubus," since he feels the "k" helps distinguish him from all the rest of the Incubi. His reason for being there becomes more clear by the end, even though it does get a little hazy by that point, but what it all boils down to is that he's just here to play a sick, twisted game with everyone before he kills them all.

"Thank you! Now for my next trick I need a volunteer."

It's not exactly "The Shining," I know, but where the story held my attention was the way that they portrayed why Inkubus was a threat, and what he did to the people he was tormenting. The way he does this is that he makes people see what he wants them to see, instead of what is really in front of them. So, for instance, a scene where Cop 1 and Cop 2 start beating the crap out of Inkubus turns into Inkubus and Cop 1 beating the crap out of Cop 2, once Inkubus quickly switches places with Cop 2, but makes Cop 1 see Cop 2 as Inkubus. It's pretty well done, actually, and really made Robert Englund just come off as a complete bastard, which is always awesome to watch.

That's the main reason this was a fun watch. I absolutely adore Robert Englund, and he is just having an absolute blast playing Inkubus. Sometimes you can just tell when an actor is enjoying themselves, and it really does become infectious. He sneers and snarks his way through this film as he guts people and rips out their spines, all while having a mischievous grin the whole time. It's the closest I've seen him come to recapturing the spirit of Freddy Krueger. In fact, while none of his lines were "I'm your boyfriend, now" caliber, there were a couple that got me jazzed up, and I had to rewind a few times to watch them again and say "That's awesome."

The whole experience can be summed up by my favorite Englund comeback of the film:
Forsythe: "Are you f#@king with us?!"
Englund: "YES!!!"

He's just having a good time. With murder.

"Why yes, that was in my pocket. But I'm still glad to see you."

A lot of murder.

THE BOTTOM LINE - "Inkubus" isn't for everyone. If you don't appreciate B-horror schlock, you'll probably find it pretty stupid. And while I wouldn't call it a shining gem of B-horror, in fact it is at best mediocre, Robert Englund's fantastic screen presence and shockingly intense and evil performance is enough for fans of the genre and of him to watch it. Recommended for horror buffs.