Succuba – review

Director: Jaron Lockridge

Release date: 2022

Contains spoilers

To avoid an inevitable comment – Taliesin Meets the Vampires looks at the widest spread of what might be termed as vampires and that includes demons whose actions are vampiric. This makes sense as the succubus and the vampire exist within the same general space symbolically and archetypally (I think). So long as the succubae in question feed on their victim (and they do indeed in this) then it’ll appear here.

This is a modest little film that is greater than the sum of its parts, I think, but we’ll see that it misses one particular element (which is a crying shame).

finding Maurice

The film starts with Eddie (Keith Lamont Johnson), a minister who is going to visit one of the parishioners, Maurice, who hasn’t been to the church for a couple of weeks. We get a sense (confirmed later) that Eddie is mourning and, on the way to Maurice’s home, he gets a photo message sent of Tracee (Crystal Jones), his wife who recently passed. He knocks on the door but no-one answers then he hears a gunshot. Entering there is gasoline on the floor and Maurice dead, a suicide. He had tried to light a gas-can before shooting but it didn’t catch. There is a strange sound and Eddie sees something…

Ketrick 'Jazz' Copeland as Phillip

Cut forward two-years and Sheriff Phillip Grover (Ketrick 'Jazz' Copeland) is standing for re-election and has been to a fundraiser with his wife (Nichole Tate-Jackson). Back home there is some talk – mostly her not being in the mood for sex and suggesting he use his porn account (and an indication that the porn he watches involves women who perhaps have a different look to his wife). The next day he is going fishing, an activity rejected by his daughter (Lauren Taylor) and wife – who warns a storm is due.

Keith Lamont Johnson as Eddie

He gets out to his normal fishing spot but it looks like the weather is turning so he quickly decides to go home. We see he has left his phone on a bench and the truck refuses to start until he fiddles under the hood. Eventually, part way home, the truck dies and he starts to walk. Night has fallen by the time he reaches a house. He knocks on the door, looking for help, but the owner – Eddie – refuses. Phillip pleads and Eddie lets him in but says he has no phone. A noise – his dog, he suggests – and Eddie’s demeanour tells the cop something is up.

shotgun

Eddie leaves the room and, when he gets back, the shotgun he aims at Phillip outguns the pistol the sheriff carries. Phillip tries to de-escalate the situation and Eddie explains what is going on. Back to the day at Maurice’s home and when he finds the source of the noise he heard he found Tracee sat in the backroom. He didn’t call in the suicide, he took her home and never questioned how his dead wife had returned – rather, they made love.

demonic form

However, he soon started waking with blood on his pillow, from where he had coughed it up. His health took a drastic turn – with him coughing up blood and blood in his stools and urine. He started to understand and confronted Tracee with gospel verses and eventually saw her true form – a demonic, horned creature. He pledged to imprison and guard her for as long as he could. However, when he finishes his tale, he passes out and Phillip goes to the padlocked room and rescues the woman (Brown Anastasia) he finds in there. He aims to take her to the station but she wants to go to his home and her eyes flash red, hypnotic, when he mentions his family being there…

pained by scripture

The film is quite simple in set up but it works well as a narrative, with all the actors (primarily Keith Lamont Johnson and Ketrick 'Jazz' Copeland) offering naturalistic performances. The dialogue is well constructed and this is mostly a neat little film. I say mostly because I felt it missed one element… a sense of horror, uncanny or anxiety. I never really bought the peril that the family found themselves in and it’s a shame as the running time could have withstood expanding in order that more of a tension could be built.

red eyed

We don’t get much lore. The Succubus isolates the male victim and uses sexuality to ensnare them (plus an implied hypnosis as necessary) – taking on a pleasing form for them. She does feed on them – this is stated – and the blood is a result of the feeding rather than her feeding on blood – so it isn’t explicitly stated but we can assume energy consumption. The use of scripture seemed to cause it pain. It appears that she remains in demonic form for women. However I don’t think we need much more lore than this – again a simple set up works in the film’s favour.

5.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK