on the set to correct their pronunciation during shooting. Filming Principal photography took place over 18 days in May 1965. Location shooting took place at Big Sur Beach and at the Mission San Antonio de Padua near Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County. Concerned that the authorities would not grant permission to shoot a horror film in these places, especially the Mission, Stevens concocted a cover story that the film was actually called Religious Leaders of Old Monterey, and showed the script, in Esperanto, but with stage directions and descriptions about monks and farmers. Release Theatrical release The premiere of Incubus took place at the San Francisco Film Festival on October 26, 1966, where, according to producer Taylor, a group of 50 to 100 Esperanto enthusiasts "screamed and laughed" at the actors' poor pronunciation of the language. Partly because of its Esperanto dialogue, and partly because of the scandal of actor Milos Milos taking his own life and that of his girlfriend Carolyn Mitchell, Taylor and Stevens were unable to find any distribution for the film except in France, where it premiered in November 1966. Restoration and home media Incubus was considered a lost film for many years. When producer Anthony Taylor attempted to prepare Incubus for home video release in 1993, he was told by the company that stored the negative, film elements, and prints, that all were missing and presumed to have been destroyed in a fire. Three years later, a print was discovered in the permanent collection of the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. However, not only was that print in poor condition, it had French subtitles. A new master was created by frame-by-frame optical printing, and English subtitles were superimposed over the French ones. The Sci Fi Channel funded the restoration from that print and a home video DVD was released in 2001. On February 14, 2023, CineSavant reported that a new 35mm print with "excellent" image quality has been located. Reception Stanley Eichelbaum of the San Francisco Examiner called the film "a dud, so pretentious and arty that it nearly drowns in dull, studied technique." Dennis Schwartz of Ozus’ World Movie Reviews awarded the film a grade C+, criticizing the film's "thin" story, and Shatner's performance, but commended the film's atmosphere, cinematography, and ability to engage in spite of its flaws. TV Guide rated the film one out of four stars, calling it "Inept, pretentious, and