Incubus — Incubus( Blu Ray/ UHD)
Incubus is a mid-60s blend of myth-fired fantasy, moody Bergman-like drama, and horror. It’s a decidedly arty film starring a pre-Star Trek Willam Shatner and features the Invented language of Esperanto. Here from Arrow Video- both UK and Stateside- is a new Blu-Ray or UHD release of the film- featuring three commentary tracks, and a selection of new/ archive footage.
Incubus (aka Leslie Stevens' Incubus ) is a low-budget American production from the year 1966. It was directed/ written by Washington-born Leslie Stevens. He had three other film credits to his name- these took in crime/ drama Private Property (1960), period set action-adventure Hero’s Island (1962), and action comedy Three Kinds of Heat(1987). He’s most known as a screenwriter- having forty-six credits to his name- which largely sit on the TV side of things like The Outer Limits, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, and 70’s US action/adventure series Search. So, Incubus is very much a curio- in more than a few ways.
The black and white scoped film runs for one hour and fourteen minutes. And is meant to be set on a strange island, where there is a youth replacing well. But it was filmed in several locations around California.
The film's plot focuses on Kia (Allyson Ames) one of the few Sirens on the island- she basically spends her days enchanting men- then taking them to the coast to kill them. We first meet her temping another man to the seawater- with promises of nude bathing- but instead pushes him down into the sea pressing his head under her feet & drowning him, before burying him on the beach. She then talks to one of her fellow Sirens- saying she’s become bored by men who are so easily corrupted.
She goes wandering around the island- seeing one immoral man after another- but then she catches sight of Marc (Shatner) and his sister. Seemingly he’s recently returned from war, recovering from an injury. He seems a decent/nice person- so Kia decides to get to her enchanting, but things don’t go quite how she hopes.
As the film unfolds, we have panic attack-tipped visits to a church, menacing ritual-gowned figures, brooding/ eerier landscape shots, demonic figures pulling themselves out of shallow graves, and the Mendes goat.
Shatner is fine- been believable in his shifting emotions, though at points he does overact/ ham things up slightly. The rest of the small cast is ok, if rather theatrical in their acting. I'm not really sure quite why it was decided to use Esperanto as the film’s language- and really, I’m not sure if it adds much, aside from another arty twist to the whole thing.
Though the film runs under your normal/ standard feature length- it certainly did drag in places, so there are some pacing issues here. I’d say if you enjoy moody arthouse drama with fantasy elements- with a growing sense of satanic menace/ horror, give Incubus a go.
Moving onto this new release, we get a 4k scan from the original 35mm print- this largely looks fine, with some great definition/ clarity in the moody shadows. Though unfortunately, we do the appearance of old French subtitles under the new English subtitles which is a tad annoying.
Moving onto the new extras side of things- we get a commentary track from writer and genre historian David J. Schow, author of The Outer Limits: The Official Companion. He begins by talking about how specific occult-based illustrations/woodcuts in the credits were detailed in the original script- he points out/briefly discusses some of these. We find out the entire film's soundtrack utilizes unused cues from The Outer Limits. He talks about how the film was lost until the 1990s- until the producer of the film decided to track down a print. He touches on talking about how this is only the second fiction filmed using Esperanto- the first was 1962 French crime drama Against. We find out the film was shot in two weeks in May of 1969 with a budget of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. He points out actors/actresses as they appear, touching on other notable roles. We find out a fair few of the films crew were brought over from The Outer Limits. He talks about how the film is the first and only Zen horror film. Later on, he talks about the English dialogue section and moments of nudity that were filmed for the picture but never got used. We get a rundown of the difficulties of the producer trying to get hold of the print, and much more. A most interesting/ worthy commentary.
Otherwise, on the new extra side, we have- Words and Worlds: Incubus and Esperanto in Cinema( 43.29) a filmed interview with genre historian Stephen Bissette. This starts by him discussing how/ when Esperanto came about & its history, moving on to discuss Incubus. An in-depth and fascinating extra. Internacia Lingvo: A History of Esperanto (22.05) a filmed interview with Esther Schor, author of Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language. This is a more focused history of the language and its creator L. L. Zamenhof. We find out he invented it to bring together groups of people, it has no irregular verbs, and uses glued-together words. We find out Esperanto means ‘The hopeful one’. She talks about how it was most used in the 1920s by socialists and anarchists, and where the language is today. Again, a most interesting interview.
On the archive side, we have three commentary tracks- one with William Shatner, and one with producer Anthony Taylor, cinematographer Conrad L. Hall and camera operator William Fraker. An Interview with the makers of Incubus, an archive interview by Schow with Taylor, Hall and Fraker, and a Video trailer
The finished release comes with a reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Richard Wells. And an Illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film by Frank Collins and Jason Kruppa.
I’d say you’ll have to have some grounding in both arthouse drama and low-key horror to get the most out of Incubus. It certainly is great to see it getting the Arrow Video treatment- with a well-balanced new 4k print, and a good/ informative selection of new and archive extras.