Rediscovered lost movies have given us some real treats over the years. The Plot Against Harry—hilarious. Abel Gance’s Napoleon—huge, strange, and fascinating. Ganja & Hess—exceeds the Video Watchdog hype. Rabid Dogs—might be Mario Bava’s BEST work.
I do believe Incubus was another lost movie. According to the information on the DVD, for years the only way you could see William Shatner speaking Esperanto was to go to France where such a thing was popular at midnight screenings. And if something is only findable in France then, as far as I’m concerned, it’s lost.
This movie’s biggest claim to infamy is that it’s the only Esperanto-language feature ever, but there’s also some artful photography here by Conrad Hall and a fine loony atmosphere that oughta please most anyone who wishes Herk Harvey had made more movies (other than his classic Carnival of Souls).
Here we have the story of a pretty blonde demon lady who has the job of luring sinners to their death so they can be sent to Hell. She finds herself bored with the easy jobs though and takes up the challenge of claiming for Satan the chaste, Christian soul of William Shatner. He and the she-devil go for a long walk through the forest, all the while she tries tempting him into loveless, premarital sex with her on the beach—because that would be a sin. Doesn’t work, though. Shatner is much too pure of heart and ends up falling in love with the demon and by the satanic world’s bizarro standards, an expression of love is the equivalent to rape. So she turns hysterical, she’s been violated, and goes off in tears to get her brother, one of meanest demons around, and then TJ Hooker is in REAL trouble.
Incubus appears to be doomed to a reputation as a camp curiosity, but I see it as a unique, dark fairy tale. I’d toss this next to otherworldly films like Curse of the Cat People and maybe even Henry Hathaway’s accidental surrealist classic, Peter Ibbetson. At the very least, this movie deserves more than some will give it.