William Shatner Week: Incubus

Hello all and greetings to Day 3 of Shatner Week.  We shall look back in time to an era before Star Trek but to an Outer Limits based movie in what is a horror movie. What could a mere mortal do against the awesome powers of a creature that corrupts men and steals their life force?  Hold long could a man fend off a being that such seduction?  Grab a cold shower, think of baseball and don’t listen to that inner voice.  This is Incubus.

Randy old goat indeed.

Do spoilers like the sea?

In the fishing village of Nomen Tuum there is a miraculous well that heals the sick and makes people beautiful.  Because of the latter several individuals of a corrupt or base nature flock to this amazing well unbeknownst to them is a source of evil.  Throughout the village succubae flood this land in order to lay claim the myriad of tainted souls leading them to their deaths and stealing their souls for Hell itself.    Sounds bit like marriage, eh fellas?   Okay now that we got that sexist pig joke out of the way, on with the story.  A young soldier name of Marc (William Shatner of Judgment at Nuremberg, The Defenders, For the People, White Comanche, The Andersonville Trial, Go Ask Alice and The Horror at 37,000 Feet) who was injured gravely in the last war travels with his sister Arndis (Ann Atmar of Street-Fighter, A Cold Wind in August, Checkmate, The Third Man and Police Story) in the hopes she can help his wounds by the healing properties of the well.

Them sirens done lured another boat to the rocks!!!

Intrigued by the acts of selfless a young succubus named Kia (The Phantom Planet, A House Is Not a Home, Simon, King of the Witches and The Man in the Glass Booth) befriends the siblings and follows them in their journey. Her sister succubus Amael (Eloise Hardt of Song of Love, The Juggler, Save the Tiger, Bronk and The Kentucky Fried Movie) warns Kia the dangers of a pure soul and that the power of love is most dangerous to their kind.  So they outlawed Huey Lewis and the News music as well. 

Here are just a few tidbits about the movie overall.  The entire film has been recorded in Esperanto of which Shatner is fluent in but it also has English subtitles for those of us to follow. During the latter half of the 19^th century this was constituted as an international language and is still used to this very day.  

Help me, Spock!

The principal cinematography took about 18 days and most of the locations can be found around Big Sur Beach as well as near Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County.   I must warn female viewers that there is a depicted though not overtly visualized rape and murder sequence.  More of an implied rape scene really so nice to see a bit of taste went into their personification of evil.

Probably just a case of Romulan VD.

Long time writer/director Leslie Stevens (Stoney Burke, The Outer Limits, Kraft Suspense Theatre and The Name of the Game) was said explaining the use of Esperanto was to give the film an eerie and other world like feel.  You know in case the demons roaming around the village was not enough.  Curiously enough it is this film that gave Stevens helm to direct several Star Trek episodes later on.