D V D C R Y P T

INCUBUS

Directed by Anya Camilleri
Produced by Adam Shapiro, Pierre Spengler, Donald Kushner
Written by Gary Humphries
Director of Photograpy John Lynch
Music by Simon Boswell
Cast: Tara Reid, Alice O'Connell, Akemnji Ndifornyen, Russell Carter, Christian Bassington, Monica Dean

2005/87 mins/Color/Dolby Digital 5.1
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/USA/NTSC Region 1

Review from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD

Poor Tara Reid. At the dawn of the new millennium she was a star on the rise with roles in films like AMERICAN PIE and JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS and she had a high-profile romance with MTV personality Carson Daly. Then, things began to go downhill. Films such as MY BOSS’S DAUGHTER and ALONE IN THE DARK tanked and there were vicious rumors about Tara’s partying. These rumors only escalated when the E! show “Wild On” featured Tara visiting resort locations and reportedly partying too much. A low-point may be hard to identify, but a good candidate would be the “Us Weekly” interview where she discussed her botched boob job. Sometime in this whirlwind of bad press, Tara found time to venture to Romania to make INCUBUS. She should have just kept partying.

As INCUBUS opens, we come across an SUV which has left the road in the Montana mountains and landed on its side. The passengers, Jay (Tara Reid), Josh (Russell Carter), Bug (Akemnji Ndifornyen), Holly (Alice O’Connell), Peter (Christian Brassington), and Karen (Monica Dean), are all uninjured. Fearing that no one will pass by on the lonely road and unable to get a cell phone signal, the group begins to walk back down the mountain towards the main highway. Once in the woods, they find a large building surrounding by a high fence. They crawl through the fence and, finding the front door locked, managed to access the roof of the building. There, they find a skylight and climb down into the building. Inside, they find two dead bodies. Even stranger, there is a man (Mihai Stanescu) with tubes and wires running into his body who is strapped to a chair in an observation room. The man appears to be in a coma. The group realizes that they are locked in the building, and now instead of seeking shelter there, they try to find a way out. But, they soon learn that they aren’t alone in the building and that something evil can inhabit anyone who enters the place.

The job of editor may be one of the most misunderstood on a film crew. Yes, it’s the editor’s job to piece together the film shot for a movie. But, the editor can also be called upon to arrange that film so that a coherent story emerges. The credits for INCUBUS list not only an editor, but an ADDITIONAL EDITOR as well. I don’t have any proof of this, but I can only imagine that this additional editor was handed about 60-70 minutes of film tops and told, “Here, make something out of this.” -- the result is 87 minutes of confusion. I base this assumption the fact that INCUBUS is filled with random cutaways to trees, empty hallways, and characters who aren’t talking. There were also some shots which seemed to be repeated. My favorite moment is where a character’s shadow can be seen approaching Tara Reid from behind and the movie keeps cutting away to that character in another part of the building. Oh, I’m also basing this on the fact that the movie doesn’t make any sense.

I watched INCUBUS, and I’m still not 100% sure what was happening in the second half of the movie. (Be warned, I’m going to divulge some plot points here...like you care.) Jay recognizes the man strapped in the chair as a murderer who was supposedly executed. (OK, would you recognize some random killer if you happened upon them?) After searching a lab, Jay finds files and a videotape which explain that the man was part of an experiment. There is then talk about “leaving one’s body”. We also learn that the man was abused as a child and that he cut off his tongue. Then, everybody goes crazy. Is the man controlling people telepathically? That’s implied, but I honestly don’t know. I do know that the second half of the film features a lot of shots of people running down corridors and a similar number of shots of Tara Reid sitting on the floor spouting mumbo-jumbo. I think that this movie may be a rip-off of PATRICK, but I’m not sure.

INCUBUS is never interesting, exciting, or, worst of all, coherent for any length of time. There are a few bloody murders, but since we don’t know what’s happening, they don’t mean much. There is no character development, and we only learn that the group was going up the mountain to go camping. The movie did have one moment which I enjoyed immensely. This occurred when one member of the group simply walks away from the situation in the first 1/3 of the film. No explanation -- they just walk away. I wish that I could have done the same thing.

INCUBUS made history in October, 2006, as it was the first film made available to download through AOL’s “Red” site. Didn’t they want anyone to download a second film? Somehow, this movie cost $5 million to make, although most of the action takes place in what appears to be an abandoned building. The last thing that Tara Reid needed was another blight on her resume, but INCUBUS is an incomprehensible mess.

INCUBUS parties its way onto DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The transfer shows some issues, as the image is often somewhat dark...except for the shots which are far too bright given the fact that the characters are carrying flashlights. A subtle sheen of grain is notable throughout the film, and there are some minor defects from the source material. The image is sharp for the most part, but some shots do lack in detail. The DVD contains a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The dynamic range is just slightly askew here, as the subwoofer effects are sometimes much louder than the dialogue. The stereo effects are acceptable and there are a few examples of good surround sound.

There are no extra features on this DVD.

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