Overview: It is often said that films about the Devil are cursed with bad luck, but Leslie Stevens’ Incubus might be the most cursed of them all. By the time it premiered in 1966, two of its stars had tragically taken their own lives; the eccentric director’s insistence on filming in the obscure Esperanto language ensured it failed to receive any distribution; and it was nearly lost forever when the original elements were believed lost in a fire. Decades passed until it was finally saved and unveiled to the public in all its unholy glory!

Wounded in battle, soldier Marc (William Shatner, just prior to being cast in Star Trek) ventures to the remote village of Nomen Tuum to find a well where the waters are said to be blessed with healing powers. Little does he suspect that the inhabitants of Nomen Tuum are demonic seductresses who entice interlopers and lead them to damnation, and one such succubus, Kia (Allyson Ames) has her sights on Marc. As an eclipse shrouds the sun and darkness falls over the village, Marc and Kia’s relationship becomes more passionate... will his soul survive?

Now restored in 4K from the last known surviving 35mm print, this eerie and unforgettable American folk horror from the creator of The Outer Limits survives to chill a new generation as never seen before. Stylishly filmed in Big Sur and other California locations by cinematographer (and future Academy Award winner) Conrad L. Hall, Incubus is a film unlike any other, now accompanied by hours of bonus features delving into the mysteries of this once-thought-lost cult classic.

4K UHD Blu-ray Verdict: 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 archival commentary, Shatner can’t help chuckling when Kia declares, There are no heroes burning in the fires of Hell!).

Indeed, 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.

That most of the actors in this film met with personal tragedy or death, themselves, is a well-known curse of this movie, as William Shatner is the last surviving member of the cast, and that would also include just about everyone, that had anything to do with Daystar Productions.

In closing, 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.

4K Ultra HD Limited Edition Special Features:
4K restoration from the last surviving 35mm print by Le Chat Qui Fume
4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original lossless Esperanto mono audio
Optional English subtitles
Optional Esperanto subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
New audio commentary by writer and genre historian David J. Schow, author of The Outer Limits: The Official Companion
Archive audio commentary by star William Shatner
Archive audio commentary by producer Anthony Taylor, cinematographer Conrad L. Hall and camera operator William Fraker
Alternate 1.37:1 presentation of the film (1080p only)
Words and Worlds: Incubus and Esperanto in Cinema, a newly filmed interview with genre historian Stephen Bissette
Internacia Lingvo: A History of Esperanto, a newly filmed interview with Esther Schor, author of Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language
An Interview with the Makers of Incubus, an archive interview by Schow with Taylor, Hall and Fraker
Video trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Richard Wells
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Frank Collins and Jason Kruppa

www.arrowvideo.com