Succubus

I didn't have high expectations but the movie turned out to be quite good. It kept me on the edge of my seat and wasn't bored at all.

The actors were all good. Rachel Cook's performance was great. I was really surprised by it because after watching her previous movie (Kill Shot) I wasn't sure if she had much acting skills. But she was awesome in this one.

While the majority of the film was great, it completely fell apart in the final act. What an anticlimactic conclusion to an otherwise great little horror story.

Because of the stereotypical horror cliffhanger I would love to see a sequel especially if it doesn't pick up 6 months later but 20 years later or something like that. I think there is a lot of potential there.

(And just a sidenote: Was the full.frontal male nudity really necessary?)

The Plot: A new father struggling with fatigue, emotional insecurities, and a failing marriage joins a dating app, only to swipe right on what may be an inhuman presence.

This is perhaps the WORST movie made in 2024. Perhaps in the past ten full years. There is nothing to recommend it so I am shocked by the "ten" ratings saying this is a classic.

It's downright horrible on every level.

The direction is less than mediocre. The dude who directed this trash should never work again. The pace is literally slower than pouring honey in a glass.

You will find yourself saying -- can we get to the point already?

Plus, the script is way sub-par and the acting is mediocre at best.

This film is a dark jewel, a shimmering exploration of loneliness, desire, and the seductive pull of the digital void. It's a story of psychological unease that unfolds not in darkened basements or fog-shrouded graveyards, but in the sterile glow of a laptop screen, the echo of a disembodied voice on a video call, the relentless ping of a dating app.

Brendan Bradley gives a performance of remarkable sensitivity as Chris, a man teetering on the precipice of a breakdown. This is not the tired trope of the pathetic, emasculated male; this is a raw, unflinching portrait of a father, a husband, a person grappling with the crushing weight of modern life. The scene where he sits catatonic, tears silently streaming down his face as Ron Perlman's Dr. Zephyr delivers a chilling warning, is both heartbreaking and terrifying. Some might call Bradley's acting in these moments "droll" or "listless," or even a "phoned-in" performance, but they clearly weren't paying attention. The quiet intensity he gives, his nuanced portrayal, embodies what other actors and reviewers fail to grasp.

Rachel Cook's Adra is incandescent, enigmatic, everything a succubus should be. Cook gives us a creature of mesmerizing allure and primal magic, a haunting blend of innocence and danger, hope and despair, vulnerability and power. Her transformation in the movie's brutal, practical-effects-driven finale, from dream-lover to demonic power, is a feast for the eyes and captivates the viewer completely.

Director R. J. Daniel Hanna creates an atmosphere of creeping unease, using technology itself as a tool of terror. The intrusive buzzing of notifications, the pixelated glow of screens, the hushed intimacy of video chats: all become instruments in a symphony of dread and disturbance. The electronic score pulses, mirroring Chris's unraveling mental state.

What some have criticized as excessive dialogue is, in fact, another layer in the film's complex tapestry. Ron Perlman as the disgraced scientist adds another dimension to the film's exploration of loneliness and longing. His limited online interactions and detached performance make him a poignant, modern trope. The disjointed conversations emphasize social anxieties. Through masterful editing and darkly comedic moments, like Eddie receiving maternal guidance mid-flirtation (unaware his mother is on camera), the film skewers the absurdities of our digital world.

This is a film that will stay with you, a visceral experience not for the faint of heart. Is it excessive? Perhaps. But that is precisely where its power lies. Do we, seduced by the promise of connection and trapped by our screens, truly know the nature of the darkness lurking just beyond the screen, in ourselves, or those digital whispers promising a fulfillment that isn't remotely there?

This intense and visceral horror film about the dangerous and obviously seductive succubus (a female demon that preys on men) takes its material seriously. It is a slow burn of authentic plot design that portrays an estranged husband whose descent into terror is believable and realistic. This sinister movie has a credible message about temptation and its consequences using even some echoes from films such as John Cusack's superior occult horror 1408 (2007) and as well as his bizarre role in the highly rated Being John Malkovich (1999). The low IMDb rating could be attributable to the overall creepy and insidious nature of the succubus as depicted in this movie which would repulse women and terrify men. However, this movie by its end has both a bitter yet sweet ending of sorts and the excellent special effects and the creeping horror of its believable plot outline is worth remembering for anyone who lives on the edge of instability and wanton desire.

Written and directed by R. J. Daniel Hanna, the movie follows Chris (Brendan Bradley), a separated new father, creating an account on a dating app and finding himself lured by a mysterious girl he matched with named Adra (Rachel Cook).

Succubus is a movie that has a decent beginning where what is seen is mostly through the screen as the protagonist is video calling with his best friend while swiping right on the dating app. You can feel where the story is heading as he comes across Rachel Cook's profile. A profile that screams scam in every single way where to proceed would require a suspension of logic and sense, but nonetheless she is real, and from then on strange things start to happen. Brendan Bradley is good playing the struggling father, and Ron Perlman as Dr. Orion Zephyr is definitely a strong presence on the film. However, the story loses its steam in the second half where the turn of events departs from what came before and goes for the paranormal. It is one of those cases where it probably would have worked better if the story never left the initial setting and the realm of the real.

It could be said the movie is an allegory for monogamy since many times the decisions the protagonist takes, ultimately putting himself in danger, are always related to finding the fulfillment of desire outside matrimony. It would seem Succubus is preaching that pleasure should only be sought between monogamous normative relationships, and everything outside its realms is deemed a one-way path to doomland. In any case, it is a movie with a good idea that sadly was not translated to the screen.