8/11/2019 Incubus (1965)

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Incubus (1965)

Kia is a succubus, luring to their final perdition men who already have sinful habits and libertineinclinations. She tires of this, it's too easy, and these souls are going to Hell anyway. She wants tomatch wits and charm with someone who is good. So, against the advice of her sister Amael, Kiaseeks out Marc, a man who has already faced death with courage. After a night together, Kiafinds that not only is Marc's goodness still intact, but she has been ravaged by love. n anger, sheand Amael con!ure an incubus to deal with Marc. "he incubus starts with Marc's sister, Arndis.#ho will win the struggle for souls$

#illiam Shatner ... MarcAllyson Ames ... Kia%loise Hardt ... Amael&obert ortier ... (lin

Ann Atmar ... ArndisMilos Milos ... ncubus)aolo *ossa ... +arrator"ed Mossman ... Monkay Ashworth ... Monkorrest ". -utler... Monk

irector/ 0eslie Stevens

&untime/ 12 mins

http/33www.imdb.com3title3tt44567883

*odecs/

9ideo / :78 M-, 8825 Kbps, ;7.61: fps, 58;=/7?, @9 @9 MpegB=,Audio / :2 M-, 8;1 Kbps, =2444 HC, ; channels, 4D55 M)%E 0ayerB7, 9-&,

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+*F-FS is a most unusual, and uniGue odd duckI a gothic fairy tale screenplay filmed as anabstract horror movie, in the style of the %uropean symbolists.

ilming the script in an unknown language >%speranto? assures that the film must communicatecompletely on an allegorical levelI +*F-FS is peopled by primal archetypes seemingly drawnfrom both a Erimms' fairy tale and a -ergman psychoBpastoral meditation. *haracters are eitherfull of wisdom and selfBinsight, or terror and loathing. "hey bleat to the heavens as if voicingShakespeare.

HeavyBhanded and pretentious to a fault, +*F-FS is also gorgeous, enchanting and whollyengaging, with seGuences of pure brilliance. Haunting and overwrought, +*F-FS appeals to usas grand theatre, and gripping melodrama.

Fnfortunately, the story is eDtremely simplistic, even sophomoric in spots. Although the granddesign of the piece is eyeBcatching and engaging, +*F-FS appears not so much as a moviefrom another planet as it is a movie from a curiously familiar, yet distant, parallel universe, onewith energy and talent and good intentions, but perhaps slightly naive cerebral abilities. "here issomething missing from the scenario, something subtle but profound.

Jet, where else can one find literal depiction of demons from Hell having theological argumentsand fighting over the souls of the living$ Supernatural figures come to literal life, somethingHollywood doesn't tackle too often, eDcept with great fanfare >"H% %@(&*S", "H% (M%+?.

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"he voluptuous, manipulative music of ominic rontiere, and the crisp charicascuro b3w fotog of*onrad Hall, create an art film of unusual depth and beauty. Although distinctly an ancientperiod piece, biCarre little anachronisms abound, like cylcone fences in the foreground of certainshots.

+*F-FS is, like the best of ':4's film art, pure cinemaI a swirling, kinetic carousel of theatrebrought to life. t's seductive face and overwhelming mythos make it an eDperience one is notlikely to forget, or confuse with another.

How one interprets +*F-FS is another story. t tackles too much and struggles valiantly underits own weight, creating a most unusual piece of film art along the way. "he film becomes a bitlongBwinded and belabored by the end, and one wonders who might have had the mental focusnecessary to follow this difficult but rewarding film to its conclusion during its assuredly brieftheatrical run.

magine an American doing an homage3hybrid of a -ergman film, not the smarmy cheap punchesof "H% (9%, but for real, a sincere attempt to appropriate -ergman's specific filmic languagefor use by a newer, less bright culture. #hile not successful, the results are eDtraordinary.+*F-FS will be thoroughly disappointing for anyone looking for a cheap fiD of ':4s horror.

Awash in elementary metaphysical pontification, +*F-FS works least as an illustratedtheological discussion, yet that is where it derives a great deal of its energy. 9isually, one mightcall it *A&+9A0 ( S(F0S done as a Shakespeare play.

#illiam Shatner is surprisingly effective as a simple man who trips headlong into a devastatingbattle for his life and very essence. A great scene late in the film shows #illiam enacting thesuffering implicit at the precise moment he envisions his own eternal damnationI he is a manliterally fleeing the devil to save his soul. +ot since the Ereek tragedies of yore have primal lifeissues taken such unabashed center stage, and to such powerful effect.

rom a dramatic and intellectual point of view, +*F-FS is an unGualified failure. Jet it is one ofthe most eDtraordinary and significant failures in all cinema history, a bold and uniGue documentof film on the very cutting edge of its time.

)S/ Mel Eibson >and3or his .).? stole A 0(" of +*F-FS' structure and sensibility for "H%)ASS(+ ( "H% *H&S".

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Made by some of the same folks who worked on the great (uter 0imits television series, this littleBknown gem >shot entirely in %speranto, a failed language conceived to become a universal dialectmany years ago? is definitely oneBofBaBkind and worth checking out. #illiam Shatner stars as warvet and allBaround good and decent guy who lives with his sister >some reudian implications arepresent? in a nameless and nearlyBvacant coastal village. He is briefly led astray by a seductive,blonde devilBworshipper >Allyson Ames? under false pretenses...he thinks it's for the mutualattraction and she is basically plotting to kill him and deliver another soul over to Satan.

"he remastering !ob is a crystal clear b3w print, gorgeously shot by *onrad 0. Hall >AM%&*A+-%AF"J? around picturesGue -ig Sur locations. irector 0eslie Stevens achieves some amaCingshots, throws in some great cameraBwork and the films has faint echoes of *A&+9A0 (S(F0S and many Mario -ava films. "he plotting >Shatner falling in love in the course of anafternoon and some heavyBhanded religious themes? is often at odds with the is lyrical and poetictone of the film, but it has many standout seGuences >including a winged demon seen only inshadow, a solar eclipse, the human incubus rising from the grave, an opening murder of thesuccubus drowning a drunken man in the ocean...? to recommend it.

8/11/2019 Incubus (1965)

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< All the spoken dialogue was in %speranto >to date O8666P, the only such American film?.

< ust one year after this film came out, as its prints were being destroyed, #illiam Shatner wascast in Star "rek >86::?, cinematographer *onrad 0. Hall got his first Academy Awardnomination, actor Milos Milos murdered the estranged wife of Mickey &ooney and then killedhimself, and actress Ann Atmar committed suicide.

< n %speranto, an ncubus >a male demon who seduces women? is inkubo >eenBK((Bbo?.-ut when Arndis says she's had a nightmare, nightmare in %speranto is also inkubo, orpreferably inkubsongQo >eenBkoobBS(+B!o?.

< Shatner grew up in Montreal, *anada, and probably because of this he keeps pronouncingcertain %speranto words as if they were like rench. 0isten for him saying sen >without?pronounced as if it were rench sans, or sento >feel? as if it were rench sentir >to feel?. orthe record, %speranto has no nasal vowelBsounds like rench does.

< &euses music from "he (uter 0imits >86:7? episode +ightmare.