Hércules al centro de la tierra

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.

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.

I find this one quite fun! Hercules is clever and remembers what he is told about Hades: "Don't believe everything you see here". And what our hero is doing in Pluto's underworld, Hades, is to find a magic stone from there in order to free his lady love from evil.

Surreal and eerie imagery in this particular film - it is set in Hades. This film there isn't much in the way listen to but a whole lot to see... sure there is dialogue but as long as you know why Hercules is in Hades you really don't have to listen - just veg out and watch the film - dig on the cool imagery. LOL. The story is OK enough though.

What is weird: Seeing Christopher Lee's face and hearing another actor dub his voice into English. I guess Lee had other things going on so he couldn't dub his own voice back into English(?) - guessing.

This film is just a fun fantasy adventure - one to kick back and enjoy! 8/10

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.

Definitely one of the better Hercules films with British born bodybuilder Reg Park (the man who trained Arnold Schwarzenegger) a better Hercules than most. Another thing that puts this one above most of the rest is the presence of British villain Christopher Lee, who's about three inches taller than Reg Park.

In this one Hercules literally goes to Hell so that he can retrieve a magical rock thing that will save his girlfriend. From there he battles the usual assortment of monsters against a backdrop of atmospheric sets. This one's good for Halloween or any dark, misty night by the fireplace.