Incubus (1966) by Leslie Stevens

Director: Leslie Stevens

Year: 1966

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Growing tired of her job, a female demon luring corrupt souls into the pits of Hell conspires to bring a soul of good down to their level eventually choosing to corrupt a humble priest, but once she grows human emotions towards him she realizes he's stuck in the middle of a battle for his being.

Review:

On the whole, this was a mixed bag here. Beyond the ingenuity of its conception and purpose, the main selling point for this one is the generally intriguing storyline that brings about some rather exciting and thrilling moments. The central concept involving the young demon being more concerned with testing herself as her powers of corrupting degenerates and unworthy humans are wearing thin and needing to tempt the priest offers the chance for her to finally do so is a logical enough setup that brings the film along nicely. Given that we see how easy her job is already and that the desire to corrupt a more faithful and honest person in him gives her delusions of grandeur that are quite appropriate as the eventual romance angle between them threatening to tear her role away from her chosen profession so everything comes together in a fun enough setup.

That gives way to the other fun part here as it's got a lot of good action mixed in with its atmospheric surroundings in such a setup. The eeriness of their initial meeting where the deviant nature of her purpose there to corrupt him perfectly masks the innocent nature of how they get together as the subsequent scenes of them building their romantic relationship in the woods on a hike or the beach where the skeleton of a previously-corrupted soul weathers amongst the rolling waves helps to give this one a hint of some unnatural power at play. That comes to a forefront at the finale when the special ceremony being conducted by the demons is finally exposed as the torturous activity taking place in the middle of a massive fog bank hiding everything in true Gothic splendor makes for a generally fun time with the discovery of their plans using his sister as bait and the eventual purpose of the ritual they’re set up to perform, making for a rather fun time here.

There are some big issues here that bring it down. The main factor with this one is that it's just way too long in the middle with their lame romance being built up for a majority of the running time. While it’s certainly atmospheric here with the way everything is shot and set up, there’s just not much in the way of genuine action on screen until the finale when the plan comes to fruition and the demonic forces are finally utilized. Until then, it misses several opportunities to build some creepy moments in as it’s just dull scenes of them wandering around trees suggestively with nothing happening despite hints in their exchanges that something should be happening yet nothing ever does. With the finale being the main source of the action here realizing the end-game of their plan and what’s going on, the rest of the film might be a bit of a slough to get there, but in the end, it's still highly watchable overall.

Overview: ***.5/5

A far better-than-expected effort with some big drawbacks, there’s enough going on here to be of interest beyond how it came to be which gives this an intriguing enough setup here. Give it a shot if you’re intrigued by the type of film in general, are curious about its origins, or are fans of the creative crew while those turned off by these factors should heed caution.