Vampire gegen Herakles

Not really an action movie as you might be led to believe by the title and given the fact that these epics were invariably promoted with chunky poster art of Hercules holding a boulder aloft ready to drop it on some unfortunate adversary. In fact, he does manage to fill the mandatory quota of rock throwing in this particular sword and sandal outing but at other times it's a bit slow moving. Not that it really matters because it still has a lot going for it.

Apart from anything else, it's a gorgeous looking film. The sets, costumes, special effects and camera work are a joy to behold and director Mario Bava's distinctive style is very much to the fore. Bava specialized in the creation of surreal and subtly sinister atmospherics and there's plenty of that.

Reg Park had a vibrant and attractive screen presence and turned in a convincing performance as the muscle bound super hero. His fellow players were also well cast and provided (dare I say it ?) "strong" support. And there are enough suspenseful moments along the way to keep the sandman at bay.

You could never say that "Hercules in the Haunted World" moves along at a cracking pace. It's more like a pleasant, slow boat ride through a kaleidoscope of fairy tale images.

This second film by Mario Bava is also known like ¨Hercules in the haunted world¨ or ¨Hercules vs. the vampires¨ . Here Hércules (a wooden Reg Park , the same of ¨The Conquest of Atlántida¨ by Vittorio Cottafavi) along with Teseo (Giorgo Ardisson) and Telémaco (Giacobini) travel to dead land located into center of earth . Hercules taking on king Lycos (Christopher Lee in similar acting his recent ¨Drácula¨ by Terence Fisher , though his voice was dubbed by another actor for the English-language version) has abducted his sweet-girl, Deianera (Leonora Ruffo) and she has lost her ordinary condition as well as senses . Hercules is accompanied by charming characters with mythological names as Teseo (from legend minotaur) , Telémaco (from Ulisses) , Perséfone (abducted by Hades) . As Hércules embarks on a risked quest for a stone , while he is unaware that Dianara's guardian , King Lycos , is the one responsible for her kidnapping . The trip is plenty of several dangers , a foggy sea , the garden of Hesperides plenty of apples , the encounter with Persefone or Proserpina , meeting with goddess Aretusa , the fighting against a monster of Stone , the bloody liana and trespassing a marshy lagoon with objective to achieve the magic rock . And the creepy final confrontation with Lycos and the eerie ghouls in some terrifying scenes .

The picture results to be a horror , sword and sandals epic with adventures , struggles , absurd humour , bizarre scenarios and being quite entertaining . The comic relief to be in charge of Telemaco's character was written by scriptwriter Duccio Tessari , who usually includes humorous touches , for example : ¨The Titans¨ and various Spaghetti Western . Besides , appearing famous Eurotrash babes as Rosalba Neri , Evelyn Stewart or Ida Galli , Leonora Ruffo and the habitual nasty , Raf Baldasarre . As usual , colorful cinematography by cameraman/filmmaker Mario Bava in gaudy colours and groundbreaking atmospheres . Appropriate music score by Armando Trovajoli . The motion picture was co-directed by Franco Prosperi , known director of shocking-documentary such as ¨Mondo Cane¨ and Conan rip-offs . The film belongs to sub-genre blending fantastic , horror and Peplum , like are : ¨Maciste in the inferno¨ (Riccardo Freda,1962) , ¨The conquest of Atlántida¨ (Vittorio Cottafavi , 1961) and ¨Maciste against the vampire¨ (Giacomo Gentilomo,1961) . The picture will appeal to Mario Bava fans.

This is a cute little Italian movie about Hercules, the strongest man on the earth. Actually Hercules is not so much a man but rather half a god. I won't go into Greek mythology to discuss the origins of Hercules though, but rather look at this film.

Hercules' beloved it dying and the only way to save her is to travel into Hades and get a rock. So he gets his friend Theseus, who is young, rash, and a lover of women, to come with him. Along with Theseus comes Telemachus, a man whose fiancé Theseus stole. They then travel into Hades, kill a rock man, avoid a half-naked woman, and cross a river of lava. As Des Mangan says: all in a day's work for the son of a God.

The movie has a bad guy – Leco, though it is difficult to understand what he actually wants to do. It seems that Leco wants to kill Hercules' beloved to make himself a God and to destroy Hercules, but Hercules manages to succeed in the end. But would you expect any other ending? Hercules in the Center of the Earth is nothing more than pulp fiction. There is little in the way of thought provoking ideas here. But still, this movie is not meant to be such a type. The thing I did notice is Hercules, the strong man, is actually the wise one. In myth Hercules is far from wise, but here he is. It is Theseus who is the foolish one, the one who thinks with his groin rather than his brain.

It is not a bad movie, though it is one that you watch just to watch. The effects are not the best, but what does one expect from a movie made in 1961. Des Mangan called it a cult movie: I personally don't know because I am that knowledgeable in such areas.

In terms of story and plot, this HERCULES film is arguably every bit as good as(and quite often better than)many others. The main flaw being the common solution Hercules uses for every problem he faces.

Still this movie is great fun to watch in either language(as the dub isn't too bad--only its too bad Christopher Lee didn't do his own) and features lots of terrific haunting color visuals from a master-Mario Bava. Any Gothic Horror fan will find much to enjoy here.

Sword-and-sandal afficionados will be happy to hear that this lush Mario Bava-helmed Hercules movie is getting a widescreen treatment on DVD. It's one of the more atmospheric Italian schlock epics, full of the imaginative and colorful set pieces distinctive to the renowned Italian filmmaker, Mario Bava. Reg Park was among the most impressive bodybuilders to ever play the mythical hero and he is given generous opportunity to strut his stuff. Hercules literally goes to Hell to defeat satanic villain Christopher Lee in this engaging muscleman movie, a definite kitsch classic of it's kind, now being made available in it's once-glorious Super Technirama format on videodisc.