InKubus (2012)

(aka not even close to being a "New Nightmare")
Release Date: On DVD now
Directed by: Glenn Ciano.
Written by: Glenn Ciano and Carl V. Dupre.
Starring: Robert Englund, William Forsythe and Joey Fatone from N'Sync.

The little blurb at the bottom of the poster says "New Demon, New Nightmare." We may be nitpicking here, but to say that any movie starring Robert Englund is a "New Nightmare" seems kinda misleading to us. If anything, it seems to be a cheap capitalization on the man's past, and his far better work.


Had Inkubus been a better movie, it might not have felt so insulting. But it's not. So, it does.

Don't look so surprised, Robert. You knew exactly what this was.

Inkubus is the story of a sparsely staffed Police Station on the eve of its demolition, and a mysterious figure who saunters in, severed head in hand, and makes the final shift for those involved a true nightmare... there's that word again! The stranger identifies himself as Inkubus; a murderer that was almost put away years ago by a Detective (who has long since retired), only to slip away unpunished.

Inkubus toys with the small group of Coppers, and soon reveals that he's been killing for centuries, which must mean that he's a Demon of some sort. Then again, that's what an Incubus is, a Demon. Of course Incubi are Demons that pretty much exist to get laid. I'm not sure how that applies to this movie at all, but those are the facts.

Inkubus sure likes playing head games with people... *rimshot!*

Anywho, people start dying left and right until the Cop that almost put Inky away years earlier is forced out of retirement, for one final confrontation...

Inkubus is a pretty bad movie, saved and made watchable by the performance of Robert Englund. He's a bit comically over the top here, but he's so devilishly good at it that it makes you not care. The man still knows how to entertain, and it was really nice seeing him do so in this one.

It was great to see William Forsythe in action again too. He's one hell of an actor, and was in some great stuff back in the 80's & 90's. Then again he was great last year in Bordwalk Empire too, so he hasn't really gone anywhere, it just felt like he had. It was good to see him all the same.

No, no no, kill other people William!

The problem with this movie, is that the writing is weak. In one scene, Inkubus makes a phone call to someone using his mind; now in an of itself, and given the subject matter of the movie, we can buy that. The part that we don't buy is while he's making his "mental call," everyone is watching it all happen like "this guy's a nut!" When the lead Detective on duty picks up a phone, randomly, and joins in on the mental phone call in progress, no one says "holy shit, this is freaky!" They treat it like nothing at all out of the ordinary is happening, and go about their business.

That's the kind of sloppy writing that ultimately doomed this movie. It also really feels a lot like the Val Kilmer flick, The Traveler, which came out in 2010. It was just a weakly executed premise which felt a bit borrowed. 

If you just take away the power you've given him, he will... oh wait, wrong movie.

We're also a bit perplexed by the fact that Joey FatOne from N'Sync plays the lead in this. He can't act very wel at alll, and it was a bit distracting to see the fat guy who used to be the backup singer in a boy band trying to play a hard-boiled, no-nonsense, whatever other cliche' applies, Cop. Make your money, kid, we do not fault you for that, but stick to comedies or something and leave the tough guy roles to someone else.

Wow. Just...wow.

Inkubus was a cheesy, B-grade Horror flick that you'd expect to see on Syfy, only with more gore. It wasn't very good, but as we said earlier, it was made fairly entertaining by Englund and Forsythe. It won't kill you to watch this one, but it may piss you off a little. Then again, we're very touchy when it comes to our emotions, so maybe it won't piss you off as badly as it did us. Check it if you want, just don't say that you weren't warned.

D+

As nice to look at as Michelle Ray Smith was in this movie, why is it that she has a sex scene where she remains fully clothed? As a general rule, people don't have sex clothed, and if they do, why would you want to glorify it on film. Get naked or no sex.