Incubus (1965)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Leslie Stevens

Writer:

Leslie Stevens (writer)

Release Date:

November 1966 (France)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

On a strange island inhabited by demons and spirits, a man battles the forces of evil.

Plot Keywords:

Incubus | Succubus | Demon | Nudity | Drowning

Cast

William Shatner	...	Marc
Allyson Ames	...	Kia
Eloise Hardt	...	Amael
Robert Fortier	...	Olin
Ann Atmar	...	Arndis
Milos Milos	...	Incubus

Also Known As:

Incubus (France) [fr]

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Esperanto

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Big Sur, California, USA

Company:

Contempo III Productions

Trivia:

Just one year after this film came out, as its prints were being destroyed, William Shatner was cast in "Star Trek" (1966), cinematographer Conrad L. Hall got his first Academy Award nomination, actor Milos Milos murdered the estranged wife of Mickey Rooney and then killed himself, and actress Ann Atmar committed suicide.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: Just before Marc and Kia cross the shallow river the boom mic is clearly visible, lower left.

Quotes:

Amael: I warn you, Kia, that quiet, modest man, who seeks no honors, no rewards, that gentle person who seeks only peace, that man is a hero!
Kia: He is a mortal man!
Amael: A great hero, Kia... great and good.
Kia: Then he has a soul worth fighting for! There are no heroes burning in the fires of Hell! No Martyrs and no Saints! Don't try to stop me, Amael.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Blade: Trinity (2004)

lost surrealist classic..in Esperanto, no less!

I was quite amazed at how good this film was. It reminded me very much of the surrealist films of Jean Cocteau.Who would have guessed that Leslie Stevens was the equal to Cocteau, or Bergman, for that matter! The whole weird aspect of it being in Esperanto ( the language of the future--oops!)only added to the atmosphere. The black and white cinematography by Conrad Hall is gorgeous. The imagery is consistently impressive and strange. This movie casts a spell upon you while viewing. Quite haunting. William Shatner and the rest of the cast acquit themselves well with the ropy Esperanto dialog. Well worth watching. A must for cinema buffs. Remember: this is the ONLY film shot completely in Esperanto....the language of the future (oops!)...but as I mentioned earlier, that aspect is the least interesting thing about the film. The dialog might as well have been in Russian or Italian or Japanese, as far as I was concerned; the subtitles seemed to make sense, So i assume they were an accurate translation. But what impresses is the rest of the film; the dreamy atmosphere of other-worldliness...the composition and framing of every scene is expressionistic in the extreme. I loved it.