Before watching the movie Succubus, I had no idea about this mythical, demonic creature that preys on people’s worst vices, feeding on them and often haunting their dreams. But in the film Succubus, the creature doesn’t just stick to dreams; it also exists in reality, on a place called Lil’ Esdale Island. The island is like a couples retreat, where various couples go to mend their relationships and overcome their worst fears and problems. Among them is a girl named Stacey, whose twin sister visited the island for historical research and never returned home. Stacey wants to find out what happened to her sister. As the couples try to work on their relationships, they start to notice that something is very wrong with their surroundings. Little by little, they realize that a succubus is lurking around, making their situation even more terrifying. In the end, the big question is: can they defeat this deadly monster? And also, will Stacey find out about her sister again? Let’s find out over the course of this explainer.
Spoilers Ahead
What was Stacey’s real identity?
As the movie starts, we get introduced to four couples who came to Lil’ Esdale Island to mend their relationships. These couples were Stacey and Michael, Javier and Jean, Andy and Olivia, and Kate and Nick. They were all there to work through their problems and become better partners for one another. But right from the beginning, you could sense that something was deadly wrong with this place. For instance, this was a remote island, accessible only by helicopter, situated in the middle of a jungle with snow-dense surroundings. There was literally nothing there except a villa where the couples’ retreat took place. The supervisors wore masks, hiding their identities, as if they were the only ones who could see through the couples, not the other way around. As we got to know more about them, we understood why these couples came here in the first place. Stacey was obsessed with her job as a historian, which put a strain on her relationship with Michael.
Andy had cheated on Olivia, making it hard for her to trust him. Javier and Jean were in a polyamorous relationship, which initially felt freeing but wasn’t anymore. Kate and Nick had issues because Kate was interested in other men, which Nick hated, and it led to significant problems in their relationship. The couples tried hard to keep their issues hidden, but a lie detector test brought everything out into the open. For their first test, they were sent into the jungle to find their partners and return to the villa. The jungle was dense with sharp foliage everywhere, making it difficult to pass through. On top of that, ominous creatures were lurking around, which made things even worse as they became too frightened. Along the way, they saw mirrors everywhere. Whoever looked into these mirrors saw themselves getting intimate with someone else, which disgusted them. They couldn’t understand why they were seeing these images. For instance, Stacey saw herself sleeping with Nick, who also saw the same, and even Michael saw himself sleeping with Jean. They were uncomfortable with this truth but kept it to themselves when they returned to the villa. Maybe they were too afraid to admit their emotions and too scared to face reality. They were just glad their partners were alive and had found their way back. Some of them thought about going back home, but they knew that wouldn’t solve anything. Stacey knew she had to stay because she found a locket with the number 11 on it that belonged to her sister, who might still be on the island.
There was also something brewing between Andy and Stacey; maybe Andy was attracted to her, and maybe Stacey felt the same. But Stacey didn’t want to get into that because she wanted to remain faithful to Michael and befriended Andy to get his help in finding her sister. When Stacey entered room 11, she found some kind of spell-infused Babylonian water in a hidden box. She didn’t understand why it was there, but she knew it had been created by her sister for some reason. Then, the real identity of Stacey was revealed. The Stacey who came with Michael was not Stacey at all; it was her twin sister. Actually, Stacey’s twin sister had slept with Michael when Stacey wasn’t around because she had recently broken up and always had a soft spot for Michael. Neither Michael nor Stacey knew this. When Stacey found out, she kept it a secret and told her sister to keep it a secret too, as she had to go to the island to find this mythical creature. From that point on, her sister pretended to be Stacey with Michael, not revealing her true identity. The fact that Stacey hadn’t returned home and got lost hurt her sister deeply, and she somewhat blamed herself. She just wanted to find her sister and bring her back home.
What happened to Kate and Michael?
Meanwhile, there was a night of partying, and everyone was having fun. But not Stacey’s sister. She couldn’t just relax and enjoy herself, knowing that her sister hadn’t returned home. So she went out to search the island. As she was lurking around the villa, she noticed people in hoods and masks capturing Kate and taking her somewhere. She was shocked. What was going on? She followed them and found Kate tied to a branch in the jungle. She was shocked and didn’t understand what was happening until she saw something terrifying. An ominous creature took the shape of Kate and then sucked every ounce of life from her body, leaving the real Kate dead. It was a horrifying sight. She didn’t understand what was going on until she found her sister’s diary in the jungle. The diary revealed the whole truth about this place and why her sister came here. It turned out there was a creature called a succubus that lurked in this jungle, and the people in the villa were worshippers of this mythical creature. The succubus preyed on people’s envy, lust, and other sinister virtues, then took on their shapes and forms before killing them. Being an ethnologist, Stacey discovered this truth and figured out how to defeat the succubus.
The Babylonian water, which we saw earlier, was infused by Stacey with old spells and charms to defeat the monster. Her sister was shocked and didn’t know what to believe. But when she returned to the villa, she found Michael being attacked by Jean, who was trying to seduce him. They came to realize that Jean was the mastermind behind all of this. Jean was the main worshipper of the succubus, pretending to be one of the participants to learn about everyone’s worst vices. Michael showed great courage. He attacked Jean to stop her, and as he did, those who were hiding their faces behind the masks were also killed. They realized that these masked people were some kind of deadly entity, not humans at all. They were figments of the succubus’s imagination, already dead but appearing human. While doing this, Michael got attacked too, and he died.Â
What happened to the Succubus?
After reading Stacey’s journal, her sister realized that to kill the succubus, they needed three mirrors, as the succubus was afraid to look at its own reflection, which would reveal its true, horrific personality. To trap the monster, they had to show it their most sinister selves. So, Stacey started kissing Andy to lure the succubus out. The plan worked. The succubus, taking Andy’s shape, got trapped. When it came into reality and saw itself in the mirror, it revealed its true form: a black, demonic, horrifying creature. At that moment, they set it on fire and threw the Babylonian water on it. This not only killed the succubus but also liberated the bodies it had entrapped. Stacey herself had been trapped in some zombie-like monstrous creature, and she too was freed. The Babylonian water and the mirror were the keys to ending the succubus’s reign of terror and freeing everyone from its evil grip.
As this horrifying nightmare comes to an end, it’s time for everyone to return to their normal lives. But is everything really going to be normal anymore? I don’t think so. We see in the end that they are about to return home. Stacey’s sister leaves her journal in the villa, and Andy goes back to get it. As Andy walks past the mirror, it cracks. Does this mean that Andy is one of those zombie-like creatures, with his body trapped and changed, while the real Andy is dead? It’s a possibility. We don’t know for sure yet. After all, the Succubus is a mythical creature. I believe they can’t really be killed, you know, just like you can’t truly kill a demon or a god.
