Incubus

It's tempting to jokingly call this the best William Shatner movie in Esperanto I've ever seen, but it deserves better than that - it's a delightfully weird low-budget horror film that might best be described as "Ingmar Bergman Meets `The Outer Limits.'" The reference to the 60s TV series is apt, since several of the creative forces from that show were behind this film: writer-director Leslie Stevens; future Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad L. Hall, and composer Dominic Frontiere (although I suspect they simply borrowed his "Outer Limits" themes to score this film). In fact, "Incubus" looks, sounds and feels so much like an episode of the "The Outer Limits," there were times I half-expected it to fade to commercial; a flash of nudity reminds us this isn't a TV show.

In "Incubus," a seductive female demon - a succubus - named Kia becomes bored with luring morally corrupt men to their eternal doom and sets her sights on a virtuous soldier named Marc, played by a pre-"Star Trek" Shatner (who guest-starred in an "Outer Limits" episode titled "Cold Hands, Warm Heart"). The bucolic out-of-time setting reminds me of the medieval Sweden of Bergman's "The Seventh Seal," and Hall's black & white cinematography is starkly beautiful. The Esperanto dialogue lends an exotic flavor with its vaguely recognizable European word roots. It also dresses up dialogue that might have been too over-the-top in English (in his DVD commentary, Shatner can't help chuckling when Kia declares, "There are no heroes burning in the fires of Hell!"). I'm reminded of the old joke that a movie seems more "artistic" if it's in a foreign language with subtitles - I guess Esperanto, originally intended to be a universal language, effectively makes "Incubus" a "foreign film" to just about everyone.

Shatner, as the young, handsome, dashing hero, is unmistakably Shatner, even in Esperanto. Allyson Ames is frostily beautiful as the evil Kia, while Ann Atmar is sweetly vulnerable as Marc's sister, Arndis.

I don't mean to over-praise "Incubus." It's a very well done little film, comparable to the original "Carnival of Souls" - if you don't expect too much, you may be pleasantly surprised at how much there is. It's definitely worth a look.

A very weird, quietly creepy horror film... I think a big chunk of the weirdness and creepiness goes down to the fact that the film is entirely in Esperanto (and also the bit with the goat).

Put together by Outer Limits staffers (who were apparently obsessed with artificial languages), the production values are not dissimilar to 50s/60s TV (the odd camera shadow, out of focus evil beings, etc), but the effects are strangely effective and the use of sound is genuinely creepy in a way that made me think of "Eraserhead".

This film is worth seeing if for no other reason than to see William Shatner overacting in Esperanto. Most of the film he keeps the overacting in check, but about an hour in he clearly can't help himself.

Like an orphaned episode of "The Outer Limits", the film INCUBUS wrestles with issues of morality within the framework of a timeless fable. The use of Esperanto allows for dialogue that might have felt overblown if spoken in English, but here fits neatly into the story's dreamlike context. A strong script from director Leslie Stevens, brilliant cinematography from the great Conrad Hall, an evocative score from Dominic Frontiere (all three from "Outer Limits"), and fine work from a good cast (William Shatner is subtle and believable) all add up to a unique film. If you're tired of cops and serial killers and want to use your imagination, give INCUBUS a try.

The concept for this full-length film as well as its genesis are truly weird. The guiding force behind the television show "The Outer Limits" (Leslie Stevens) decides to produce the first (and probably only) full-length American-made Esperanto film--with a plot that is strongly influenced by his TV show as well as Ingmar Bergman's THE SEVENTH SEAL! Talk about strange! Yet, oddly, the experiment works, though in hindsight I am glad the idea never really took off and resulted in further films in this so-called "international language".

The film begins with a Satan worshiping siren who has delighted in luring people to their deaths. However, apparently this is getting rather old and this lady confides to an older Devil-loving lady that she wonders what it's all about, why they only take the souls of evil ones and why the Lord of Darkness, if he's so powerful, needs their help anyway! And, in fact, she'd like to try battling against a righteous soul instead of the typical damned ones! Well, the older lady will have none of that and counsels her to do her job and get such foolish ideas out of her head. But, given that the younger lady is apparently quite stupid, she sets out to seduce a "nice guy"--who turns out to be a young William Shatner. The problem is that once the evil incubus (a soul-stealing demon) is summoned to take Shatner, the siren has fallen in love with him and is torn between her duty and doing what is right.

While all this probably sounds a bit silly to someone who has never seen the film, it somehow works--mostly due to the efforts of Stevens. An old score from one of the "Outer Limits" shows is recycled and sounds very, very eerie--fitting the action quite well. In addition, the black and white cinematography is lovely as well as the odd yet appropriate camera angles. These work together to make the film seem other-worldly--like it occurs perhaps on another world or in another time.

As for the actors, they did a pretty good job and I was amazed at their speaking this odd language. In particular, it was a bit jarring to see Shatner both speak the language AND actually do a competent job acting. In some shows and movies, he has a tendency to way over-act--and especially to over-emote. Here, however, he seems quite capable as the nice guy who cannot allow himself to give in to temptation. Sadly, however, according to IMDb and interviews with surviving film crew, two of the main actors would be dead within a year of the completion of the film--one due to suicide and another to a murder/suicide! As they said, the film had the "curse of the incubus" on it!

While I am sure this film would not interest most people due to its artsy style, it is entertaining and worth seeing if you are a patient person. Spooky, strange and amazingly successful for a project that reportedly cost less than $100,000 to produce. And, of all the many, many Esperanto films out there, this one is surely the best!

It is correct to compare this independent, low-budget, black-and-white atmospheric horror film with others of its decade, such as "Carnival of Souls" and "Night Tide," and it's also correct to compare it with Bergman, since there is clearly a touch of "Seventh Seal" here and possibly a bit of "Virgin Spring" and "The Devil's Eye." But I'd like to point this out: the most obvious comparison people make is with "Persona" because of the strikingly composed "sister" shots, which evoke the famous profile compositions of Bergman's movie, yet "Persona" was made a year later, in 1966! ("Hour of the Wolf" was made three years later, in 1968.) Therefore, while we can say Leslie Stevens and Conrad Hall were influenced by Bergman, it's also reasonable to suppose that since this film played at the Venice Film Festival, Bergman might have been influenced by "Incubus"!

The awkward moments--I'm thinking especially of the last scene--create a rare accident that only occurs in low-budget films. The effects are so obvious and ludicrous that you're half-inclined to ridicule the scene with an "Oh, come on!" Yet at the same time, what it's trying to get across is so inherently disturbing that you also feel the frisson of real horror. It's a kind of accidental alienation effect. This state of conflict in the viewer's mind--half pitched out of the spell and rejecting what we see for what we know, and half shocked into ghastly conviction--this frame of mind is where is the uncanny takes effect.