(1982)
Dir - John Hough
Overall: MEH
This messy, Canadian production from British filmmaker John Hough takes its subject matter seriously, yet it ultimately spins itself in aimless circles. An adaptation of Ray Russell's 1976 novel of the same name, Incubus, (not to be confused with the infamous, Esperanto-languaged 1966 film with William Shatner), deals with a rape demon or something that is very vaguely linked to a young man who dreams of the attacks without performing them. Also John Cassavetes is the surgeon who is trying to get to the bottom of things and looks as frustrated as we are watching the movie. There are a handful of side-plots that are never resolved and the twist ending is laughably dumb let alone just as random as many of the other previous details. Also the monster is barely shown and save for one somewhat nasty scene with a farmer, it is mostly bloodless. While this old school, "less is more" tactic is certainly fitting to many exceptional horror movies, the script here is too poor and the proceedings too boring overall, so a little or a lot more violent camp probably would have actually helped.
(1987)
Dir - Goran Marković
Overall: GOOD
A rare psychological horror film from Yugoslavia, Reflections, (Već viđeno, Deja Vu), explores the unbroken cycle of a traumatic upbringing. Book-ending in modern day, the bulk of the movie is told in two earlier timelines that seamlessly parallel each other, cutting between them from scene to scene. The political aspects of the story center around classism and poverty in a Communist backdrop, but the central theme goes deeper than just how these imbalanced episodes effect the troubled psyche of the main protagonist who essentially never gets a substantial enough break throughout his life. Mustafa Nadarević is primarily impish and pathetic throughout the movie, yet he makes a menacing impression once he snaps in the final set piece. As the gorgeous, ambitious, and ill-tempered object of his desire, Anica Dobra seems damaged enough in her own right, yet the story allows for each character to maintain a level of sympathy for the audience. Writer/director Goran Marković's flashback/flash-forward style is ambitious at times yet in a fulfilling way the emphasizes history repeating itself with unavoidably tragic results.
(1987)
Dir - Philippe Mora
Overall: MEH
After the botched and universally panned Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf, director Philippe Mora gave the franchise one more go in an attempt to redeem himself with Howling III, (Howling III: The Marsupials). A stand alone entry in the series that exists in its own quasi-meta universe, the last to be theatrically released, and the only one to be given a PG-13 rating, it bares zero relation to Gary Brandner's third Howling novel even though it is credited as being based on it. What Mora instead concocted is a part spoof, part anti-horror film; one that makes it a primary objective to sympathetically portray werewolves and their culture as a misunderstood anomaly. The script is highly unorthodox though as it bulldozes through its random plot, introducing and then quietly ignoring mild conflicts along the way. The last act in particular rushes over about two decades and concludes with an ending that is more awkward than funny, if the latter was indeed what was intended. Special effects wise, it is a considerable step down from the standards set up in the first film, yet the unconvincing makeup, exaggerated bladder swells, and Halloween dog masks may also be part of the joke. It is a mess, but at least not an insulting one.
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