Incubus (movie)
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- This article is about the 1965 movie. The Incubus is the title of an unrelated 1981 film starring John Cassavetes.
Incubus is a black and white horror film originally released in 1965 and later restored in 2001. Incubus was directed by Leslie Stevens, creator of The Outer Limits, and stars a pre-Star Trek William Shatner. Its striking black and white cinematography was by Conrad Hall, who later went on to win two Academy Awards for his work on the films Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and American Beauty.
The story is about a succubus who falls in love with a deeply religious soldier (Shatner) she intended to seduce. Outraged by this, her sister summons their leader, a devilish incubus (Milos Milos), who rapes the soldier's sister and attempts to kill him.
The film was performed entirely in the constructed language Esperanto. This was done to create an eerie, other-worldly feeling, and the director has prohibited dubbing into other languages. The film was lost for many years, the original print of the film burned in a fire and all copies reported lost, destroyed, or worn away. A copy of the film was found in France where it played, with French subtitles, in a small movie house. The Sci-Fi Channel funded the restoration from the found print and released a DVD in 2001 that included subtitles in English and French. Because the source print contained subtitles in French, the English subtitles are placed over black bars that partially obscure some portions of the frame. Most English speakers have given the film good ratings and reviews, likening it to the work of Ingmar Bergman, while Esperanto speakers are generally disappointed by the actors' dreadful pronunciation - in particular, Shatner's dialogue was delivered with a very noticeable French accent.
Incubus was the second feature-length Esperanto film ever made - the first, Angoroj (Esperanto for "Agonies") appeared in 1964, one year before Incubus.
Many members of the cast met rather gruesome fates after the film wrapped. Actor Milos killed his girlfriend and himself in 1966. Actress Ann Atmar, who plays Shatner's sister, committed suicide mere weeks after the film wrapped. The daughter of actress Eloise Hardt was kidnapped and murdered. These grim events have given rise to a popular rumor that Incubus was a cursed production, possibly due to its demonic subject matter. See also: Cult film
External links
- http://www.incubusthefilm.com/
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- Leslie Stevens' Incubus (http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/9829/incubus.html)