ADDITION - Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray October 2018: Vinegar Syndrome have brought the 1981 John (Cassavetes / Ireland / Hough) classic "The Incubus" to Blu-ray for the first time. The 1.85:1 image is housed on a dual-layered Blu-ray and has a maxed out bitrate. The film was newly scanned and restored in 4k, mostly from its 35mm negative, with one reel sourced from a 35mm theatrical print. A title card before the film reads; "When restoring THE INCUBUS, we made every effort to source and utilize the best quality film elements believed to survive. However, we were only able to locate theatrical prints for reel 4. Although we performed extensive restoration work, some severely damaged sections remain". Certainly there are some scenes of varying image quality but I would say that you shouldn't be too frightened off by that title card "warning". The restoration work here is nice, without losing or cleaning up the heavy grain and random small bits of debris/scratches. Reel 4 does contain occasional green vertical scratches which can be a little distracting. The presentation here is quite good, considering the source materials (or lack thereof) available to Vinegar Syndrome.

Vinegar Syndrome present Incubus with a 24-bit 1.0 DTS-HD Master audio track. The track sounds good, with dialogue clearly audible, and a very creepy score from Stanley Myers (The Wilby Conspiracy,  Eureka, Cimino's The Deer Hunter, Roeg's Insignificance, Harold Becker's The Boost, Pete Walker House of Mortal Sin and Frightmare, etc.). The string-heavy score is something of a mix between John William's Jaws and Bernard Herrmann's Psycho scores. There are optional English subtitles on this Region-Free Blu-ray.

There is a commentary by "The Hysteria Continues!" team. This is a fun track, with Joseph in particular claiming that this is his favorite movie of all time. The crew give a scene-specific commentary that covers a wide variety of topics. "From the Horror Through the Television" is a 27-minute interview with director John Hough. Hough mentions that he was raised on the films of Ingmar Bergman and was always motivated to make emotional films. He discusses how he ended up making films in the horror genre. Also here is a 21-minute "Becoming the Incubus", an interview with lead actress Kerrie Keane. Keane talks about her career, from growing up in a small rural village in Ontario, Canada to her acting career, and Incubus in particular. "Capturing the Incubus" is a 27-minute interview with cinematographer Albert J. Dunk. Fellow Canadian, Dunk talks about his interest in photography and how his fascination with film projection and the film "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" led him into working in film. There are 1.5-minutes of trims and alternate shots, the original theatrical trailer and TV spots. There is also some neat reversible cover artwork and second disc DVD.

The Incubus is not your average 80s horror flick. This is a fascinating take on the novel by author Ray Russell. Though the film certainly doesn't shy away from uncomfortable subject matter, it is worth checking out. This Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray is a treat, thankfully they have found the best sources available to them for this restoration. Certain scenes can look a little rough but this only adds to the grimy feel of the film. This is a fascinating horror film that I would recommend to adventurous genre fans.

Colin Zavitz

***

Scorpion Releasing announced a few months before the release of THE INCUBUS that the company that licensed the title to Elite and provided materials for the transfer no longer had the film elements, and were unable to secure another print to do a new HD transfer and had to make due with the SD digital master prepared for the 2002 release; that said, Scorpion's new encode is a superior representation of the master. It preserves the grain that was filtered out of the older encoding and is more accurately framed at 1.83:1; the 2002 DVD was framed at 1.80:1 with slivers of side matte cropping out picture information at the edge (as opposed to compressing the existing image within that narrower ratio). The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono tracks are similar.

Both releases feature a trailer for the film, but little else. Scorpion's introduction and post-script by Katarina Leigh Waters is programmed for optional viewing, and it is an entertaining addition as always. The new disc is also easier obtained than the OOP 2002 disc.

 - Eric Cotenas