On May 8, 2001, the horror classic "Incubus" will be released on DVD and VHS. I swapped a few emails with the film's producer Anthony M. Taylor. "Incubus" can be ordered at incubusthefilm.com. Also, look for it at a video store near you. My review of the film is available here

      By email, Mr. Taylor told me about his relationship with William Shatner, the star of "Incubus:"

I found Bill Shatner to be a good friend and he has really extended himself to do everything he could to help me with INCUBUS. I hadn't spoken with him for many years and when I called him to tell him about finding the print & my plans for it, he returned my call within an hour and was elated. He did a TV appearance on "The Daily Show" for me but since his former wife's tragic death, he is not doing interviews.

      Mr. Taylor's search for the last remaining print of the famous film is a fascinating tale. You see, Mr. Taylor discovered in May of 1993 that the negatives and prints for "Incubus" had been lost or destroyed at some point in the lab (Consolidated Film Industries) where the materials had been stored. Mr. Taylor smartly brought suit against the lab and settled believing the film to be lost forever--it happens, sadly.

      Amazingly, on November 27th, 1996, Mr. Taylor received a call from Howard Rubin, a longtime friend and agent, who informed Taylor that he found a print of "Incubus" as a part of the permanent collection of the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris. After much maneuvering, a giant Fed Ex box arrived on Mr. Taylor's doorstep containing negatives and soundtracks, a copy of the Cinematheque Francaise's much used print of the lost film.

      The expensive process of restoring the film was many faceted including the replacing of the French subtitles, which had been "badly placed originally," according to Mr. Taylor. Scratches which appeared on the surviving print were removed digitally. Mr. Taylor sent me the VHS version some months ago and I can testify that the work on restoration is top notch. Its beautiful black and white and the subtitles, although housed in black boxes, do not distract terribly. The SciFi Channel contributed funds to the project and a 35mm print will be running in art houses around the country which should showcase Conrad L. Hall's wonderful B & W cinematography better than on the small screen.

[L-R] Tony Taylor and veteren cinematographers Conrad L. Hall (2 time Academy Award winner--"American Beauty" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid") and William Fraker (multiple Oscar nominee for films like "Wargames" and "1941," who was behind the camera in last weekend's release "Town & Country"). According to Mr. Taylor, "Conrad is now on location in Chicago filming Tom Hanks-Sam Mendes pic--Road To Perdition a Mafia film which he [Hall] says is great!" Photo Credit Anthony Taylor-Contempo III.

      The DVD release promises filmographies, the trailer, an audio commentary with William Shatner, an audio commentary with Tony Taylor, Conrad Hall & William Fraker, an interview with Tony Taylor, Conrad Hall & William Fraker, the English subtitled version, the French subtitled version, and Weblinks. Aren't DVDs great, folks!

[a]fter 1965, I developed several properties with Shatner several of which were made by others, also developed scripts with John Ford & others which never were filmed.. I moved to Montecito near Santa Barbara in the early 70's & raised avocados until I started restoring INCUBUS several years ago. What a long strange trip it's been.

      The great John Ford! I had to ask Mr. Taylor about his time with Mr. Ford and what happened to the scripts and properties he developed. He told me:

I had a script written by Joe Stefano--"Jubilee Time" a western. Joe produced Outer Limits--wrote Psycho and lots more. I spent a lot of time with Ford and talked about films, war, Ireland and everything else. He had a great sense of humor and was quite nice to me. I became a good friend of his daughter Barbara who was an excellent film editor who gave me a lot of advice on INCUBUS.

      I asked, as I always do, about what films Mr. Taylor had seen lately. He told me that he had seen "Almost Famous" which he enjoyed and he had seen "Traffic." He told me, "I love the fact that Soderbergh was able to make great low budget films and move on."

"[t]he only [Esperanto] joke I know--I speak Esperanto like a native--actually I don't speak it at all but am learning finally."

Jonathan W. Hickman