FILM Review: INCUBUS

{Brief introduction: Hi, my name is Jackie. Call me Rage. Amy has invited me to write on this blog.}

For thirty years, the film INCUBUS was lost in a vault in France. Starring a young William Shatner, it is the only film made entirely in the artificial language of Esperanto. Funding from the Sci-Fi channel helped restore this cult classic to its former full length glory as it had seen better days.

Directed by Leslie Stevens who is famed for shooting TVs (The Outer Limits) and shot by cinemetographer Conrad L. Hall (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty), it is the story of a beautiful she-demon named Kia (played by Allyson Ames) who has grown sick and tired of taking the souls of corrupt men. She is young, exuberant and bored with her life. So she demands a real challenge and sets out to seduce the purist soul she can find. That soul being Marc (played by William Shatner).

Her older sister (played by Eloise Hardt) is very dismayed and warns Kia not to try and seduce a pure soul. Such an attempt would leave her open to a power she could not possibly fathom or defeat---the power of love.

Long story short, Kia does fall in love with Marc and Marc falls held over heels for Kia. Forcing the older sisters hand, the Incubus is summoned (played by Milos Milos) to seduce Marc's sister (played by Ann Atmar).

In the end, love does seem to conquer all. Or perhaps not. It seems this movie came with a curse.

Ann Atmar committed suicide a few weeks after this film wrapped.

Milo Milos killed his lover and then himself in the following year.

The director's production company went bankrupt and his marriage would end in divorce 3 weeks later.

What to think of all this?

Well, the movie shot in black and white was rendered beautifully. The story seemed to hurried at some points, everything seemed to happen so fast. Boy meets girl. Girl tries to steal his soul. Girl falls in love trying, etc., etc. you get my drift.

All in all it is not the best movie I have ever seen, but among cult classics it is a gem.

The movie, if you can find it, is worth renting. So, see it for your self and all the interesting special reatures that come with it.

Note: Beware of the curse of the Incubus. I hit my toe after watching this movie last night. And it still hurts.