Incubus
directed by Leslie Stevens
starring William Shatner, Ann Atmar, Eloise Hardt
Arrow Video
In the mid-1960s, there was a fad of people learning the constructed international auxiliary language Esperanto, and director Leslie Stevens thought he had found an untapped audience in the Esperantist community. Stevens created Incubus, a black and white folk horror art film performed solely in Esperanto. It was a bold experiment and a colossal failure that never found an audience and was presumed lost for decades, until a print was discovered in France in the mid-1990s. Now Incubus has returned, with a pre-_Star Trek_ William Shatner, in all of its monochrome 4K glory on a new UHD disc from Arrow Video.
Set in the fictional village of Nomen Tuum, a magical well has the power to heal and make those who partake of its water more beautiful. In the village, there are also a pair of beautiful demons who prey on the souls of the men who visit Nomen Tuum. A young blonde succubus named Kia (Allyson Ames) is weary of tempting immoral men and wants the fulfillment of corrupting a righteous soul. She sees her opportunity when a wounded soldier, Marc (Shatner), and his sister Arndis (Ann Atmar) come to the village. When Kia proves unable to tempt Marc, she and her sister Amael (Eloise Hardt) summon an incubus demon to attack Marc through his sister Arndis. The demon rapes and murders Arndis and Marc attacks the demon. In the end Kia turns to the light, defying evil, and pronounces her love for Marc.
Leslie Stevens started work on the film following his run on the pioneering science fiction/horror TV show, The Outer Limits. It should not come a surprise that Incubus feels at times like an extended Outer Limits episode. The influence of Swedish art film director Ingmar Bergman is undeniable, both in the tone of the film and the gorgeous black and white photography delivered by Conrad Hall (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and William Fraker (Rosemary’s Baby). Although the dialogue scenes are understandably wooden, given the entire cast was speaking a language none of them were fluent in, the solidly trained actors were able to compensate with their physical acting and charisma to bring interesting and sympathetic characters to life. The entire production gives off an uncanny fairy tale feeling that is effectively creepy and keeps the viewer off-kilter throughout.
Incubus is such a strange cultural anomaly that it certainly needs some context for full appreciation of the film, and Arrow delivers with this release. The film looks astonishing in black and white 4K, and there are a ton of fascinating extras to accompany. Three audio commentaries each deliver a unique take on the film and its quirky production and legacy. There is a track featuring the film’s cinematographer, Conrad Hall, and William Fraker, a new track from David J. Schow, author of The Outer Limits: The Official Companion, and one from star William Shatner. Regardless what you think of Shatner, the man can tell a hell of a story, and he has some great ones regarding his time on Incubus, just before his breakout role as James T. Kirk on Star Trek.
The notoriety of Incubus was allowed to fester for generations, mostly due to the film being lost and no one actually seeing it for decades. The reality is, if the film had been shot in English or made in Scandinavia, it probably would have been a warmly regarded folk horror film, which, despite the Esperanto element, is exactly the reputation it deserves. It is a delightful piece of mid-sixties art house film that certainly deserves a serious audience and is hardly the riffable disaster we may have once imagined.
