Inkubus review

This low budget horror from Glenn Ciano brings Robert Englund back to the genre where he belongs; albeit bereft of his gardening gloves and striped jumper. This film tells the story of the last shift in aRhode Islandpolice station that has been earmarked for demolition. A teenage girl has been murdered, and as there is no trace of an intruder at the crime scene, her boyfriend is the only suspect.

He tries to explain to the cops the ghostly, phantom like presence that appeared from nowhere and committed the crime and, invariably, things take an unexpected turn. The key to Inkubus is the supernatural twist on that memorable moment in Se7en when the serial killer, Kevin Spacey, hands himself in and dumbfounds everyone. Here we have Robert Englund, as Inkubus, arriving with a severed head and spouting oddball dialogue.

The soundtrack at this point changes to heavy orchestral strings, and we even have a bell tolling in the impending doom. You can see that Englund is relishing this role; alternating between sinister and tongue in cheek humour, especially when he confesses, like you do, to crimes that have taken place over the past few centuries. He certainly seems to have been around a bit, then we discover he has a score to settle a bit closer to home.

His main beef is with a retired detective from the station; Gil Diamente, a badly underwritten role with which William Forsythe does his best. This gruff, old detective is so traumatised by the fiend that he comes to station complete with a psychiatrist in tow. It is no surprise that Diamente is the only one who comes anywhere near discovering the truth, which is hard to believe as it is as Inkubus makes it as clear as day to the audience.

Just when we have reached that point where we wonder what the hell is going on Inkubus sits himself down for his interrogation and spills the beans big time. This is demon of contrasts, despite having the power to transport himself through the power of his twisted mind, be drives around in a beat up transit full of severed limbs, and has even written a book explaining his methodology.

The film, in all honesty, has been uneven from the opening scenes, but now it just goes off on a tangent that really isn’t interesting enough to follow. What could have been genuinely creepy and chilling moments have been handled so ham fisted by Ciano that they lose all impact and come across as pretty feeble.

In complete contrast to Kruger, who only lived in dreams, there is no end to the power of Inkubus, but these aren’t expressed with any vigour due to lack of budget and effects. This we are left with a film that could have been one of the best horrors for many a while, but is in fact a very damp squib.