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Incubus

Incubus

Incubus (1966)

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Months before Star Trek, William Shatner starred in a horror film performed entirely in Esperanto, the constructed international language created in 1887 by a Polish eye doctor.

Not one person on the production actually spoke Esperanto. The cast learned their lines phonetically in a couple of weeks, with no fluent speaker on set to correct them. Supposedly, when the film premiered, a crowd of Esperanto enthusiasts laughed out loud at the pronunciation.

Writer and director Leslie Stevens chose Esperanto not because he believed in the ideal of a shared global language, but because he wanted an otherworldly feel and a distinctive selling point.

The language gimmick tends to be all anyone hears about INCUBUS (1966), which is a shame, because underneath it is a beautiful, eerie film.

Stevens, who was the creator of The Outer Limits, brought his television crew with him. The black-and-white photography was by Conrad Hall, who would go on to win three Academy Awards. His camera operator was William Fraker and his assistant was Jordan Cronenweth, who would later shoot BLADE RUNNER.

The result, a stark folk-horror tale of a succubus who sets out to corrupt a pure-hearted soldier and undoes herself by falling in love, looks less like a curio than a lost Bergman filmed on the cliffs of Big Sur.

Incubus nearly vanished for good. A lab fire destroyed the negative and every print. For thirty years the film was simply gone, until one damaged copy surfaced in a Paris archive, French subtitles burned into the frame. A better 35mm print was discovered in 2023, also with burned-in French subtitles. Some modern prints crop, obscure, or find other creative ways to replace the subtitles.

Physical Media

4K UHDArrow VideoUnited StatesRegion A2025UPC 760137167280

a member added 9/25/2026

4K UHDLe Chat Qui FumeFrance2023

a member added 9/25/2026

VHSFox LorberUnited States2001

a member added 9/25/2026

DVDFox LorberUnited StatesRegion 12001

a member added 9/25/2026

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About the Film

Evil has never been so seductive.

Directed By
Leslie Stevens
Runtime
74 minutes
Released
October 26, 1966
Country
United States of America
Starring
William Shatner, Allyson Ames, Eloise Hardt, Robert Fortier, Ann Atmar
More Credits
Genres
Horror
Language
Esperanto
Origin
US
Studios
Daystar Productions, Contempo III Productions
Written By
Leslie Stevens
Produced By
Anthony M. Taylor
Cinematography
Conrad Hall, William A. Fraker
Music
Dominic Frontiere
Also Starring
Milos Milos, Paolo Cossa
Budget
$125,000

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Comments

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    2. Jonathan Bagamery Yes, there is definitely imagery right out of Bergman’s Persona, almost cribbing certain frames. But it is still a very compelling movie with a haunting score by the composer who wrote music for the Outer Limits. It also had an original sound design. The film is also famous for the tragic fates of some cast and crew members. Ann Atmar and Milos Milos both died not long after production as well as the cinematographer.

    2. Andrew Martin Hogsten imperfection should be allowed to exist in the world as it shows that imperfect beings are responsible for it’s creation. Ai only turns things to garbage. Leave it off.

  15. I looked into Esperanto. It annoyingly has a bunch of accented letters, like the worst aspects of several European languages. “Universal” language my ass. If it’s that difficult to pronounce that the nerdy Esperanto speakers were snickering, I’m guessing it’s a good sign as to why it didn’t catch on.

  20. I actually saw this in the theater in the 90s in Austin, it was weird as hell but kinda beautiful. I don’t speak Esperanto but I do remember being very solidly convinced by their performances that none of the actors did either. And I also remember there being a strangely visible Esperanto presence on the UT campus at the time and the only reason I knew what it even was was because I’d seen the film.

  30. I watched it with other Esperanto speakers in a living room in Philadelphia in the early 2000s. William Shatner overacts in every language. It has a good-bad-movie (as in: like Samuel Fuller if Fuller were Bergman-influenced and into monks sucking eggs, not as in: Ed Wood) quality to it that is only enhanced by an Esperanto group watch.

  33. Watched the blu ray, surprisingly good film. People saying Shatner overacted must have not watched the movie. His performance was tone down compared to his Star Trek acting. Film was well shot and well acted and had an interesting story.

    1. George Stammerjohn he’s never been as bad an actor as he is parodied as. People remember the over over acting of those making fun of him more than they remember Shatner himself, and take that as reality
      Same thing happened to Sarah Palin when Tina Fey did her. The parody was so convincing that people swear Palin said some of the ridiculous sh!t Fey said for her. (Not that Palin never said ridiculous sh!t on her own)

    1. John Cinnamon I kind of imagine they learn the language and join their little cliques in order to separate themselves from the plebeian hordes of speakers of more common languages
      Which of course is exactly opposite the purpose

  36. I love it and have the 4k disc. An odd thing . . . a couple of years back a 35mm print cropped up for sale on Ebay for $90. I was seriously tempted to buy it, even though I don’t have 35mm projection equipment. But I’d love to know what it is and where it came from! (I assume it’s a dupe from the safety negative that’s been used for the HD masters)

  42. American Cinematheque please do a double feature of this with Corman’s “The Intruder!” This year is “Incubus” 60th anniversary. Maybe invite Shatner to introduce the films?

  44. Watched this a few years ago and it’s very good. Shatner is great, as he is I believe from the theatre background so every scene he is in is acted with passion and feeling. Great movie 👏👏👏

  45. FYI the Arrow release of this uses the same 35mm scan and as a bonus has a music only track that I painstakingly reconstructed from the original Outer Limits recordings, which were edited together to make the score.

    It was also shot by Conrad Hall, who does a lot with very little and makes it look way better than it has any business being. (Hall later won three Oscars first cinematography)

  46. Incubus is like a cross between an Ingmar Bergman film and the original Outer Limits (especially due to Leslie Stevens and Dominic Frontiere). I would have enjoyed it more in English.

  48. The Esperanto (which I originally thought was a dialect of Italian) “Incubus” is crazy! Never been comfortable with goats since. What I did NOT know, was that it was filmed on Catalina island. Now that I live close by, I must tour looking for the filming locations!!!

      1. Randy Woodall Possibly !
        One of my favorite parts in incubus the very first time I watched it was when his sister foolishly looked at the eclipse and was blinded so she wandered outside and all of a sudden called out for her brother — “MARCO”!!!!!
        I almost choked on my beer trying not to “POLO” her back !!!

  53. Definitely worth seeking out as a great/horrible film !!
    Another fantastic terrible shatner film is “white Comanche” where he actually plays a white character as well as his half Comanche brother !!!
    Both equally badly !!!
    😀😆😁😜😝😄🤪

  54. Back in college my friend and I saw it on the shelves of Media Play and had to have it. There was only one copy available, so we split the cost and ownership of the DVD 50/50, watched it that night, and later we would mail the DVD back and forth.

  59. The film is strange and dreamlike. It has become accused of having a “curse,” because both of its female leads died after appearing in it. However, Shatner, Stevens and Cronenweth went on to fame, so I don’t consider it cursed.

  69. I discovered the channel surfing late one night and stopped only because I recognized Shatner. I heard snips of Spanish, French, and English, and realized it was that “espo..” language I had heard about.

    There were no subtitles, I came in late, and couldn’t make heads nit talks of the plot, but it was visibly engaging.

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