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Can't get the theme song out of my mind! The monster in the lake was pretty good, probably took up most of the budget, and if it had been featured more, say wreaking havoc among the two ice age tribes and having an apocalyptic fight with the toothy hero amid exploding volcanoes, hurtling moons and collapsing ice cliffs, it would have been a decent club-and-sandal flick. But it got killed after just a few minutes, spear thrown through the eye from almost the next county...ouch! The other monsters would have seemed more lame had it not been for the human actors...made even paper mache look good.

But it's set in the Ice Age, which makes it pretty unique for these types of movies, so a little more interesting than it would have been otherwise. It would make a nice Friday night double feature with "Goliath and the Dragon" if you had some pizza and beer.

"A hydra is threatening the countryside and the people are terrified for their lives. The people's only hope of survival rests with Maxus, a powerful man who has the strength of many men. Before Maxus can battle the multi-headed monster, he must face other challenges in order to prove himself worthy and to prepare for the fateful battle," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Actually, the story mainly involves a struggle between two pre-historic tribes: the "Good" or "Sun" worshipers, and the "Bad" or "Moon" worshipers. The "Sun" tribe of Nomads has decided to settle and live in peace; but, they pick land claimed by nearby "Moon" worshiping Cavemen. Bodybuilder Reg Lewis (as Maciste, or Maxus in English) does not belong to any tribe; however, he bonds with "Sun" leader Luciano Marin (as Idar), after saving him (and his woman) from a sea monster. The plot thickens when Mr. Lewis and "Moon" tribe woman Margaret Lee (as Moah) fall in love.

In English, misleadingly reproduced as "Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules". The English dubbing is dreadful; in a couple of scenes, two completely different voices dub Lewis. The bleached-blond muscleman throws cavemen around, and poses. Mr. Marin essays his part better than others; but, considering the shoddiness of the production, it's a wasted effort. The best part of the movie is the added-on TV theme song, "The (Mighty) Sons of Hercules".

*** Maciste contro i mostri (4/25/62) Guido Malatesta ~ Reg Lewis, Margaret Lee, Luciano Marin

This movie has some tribal squabble that is dull, otherwise the spots of actual life size monsters used are impressive.

Reg Lewis is back as Maxus/Germanicus (Maciste). Maxus happens upon a two primitive tribes: the good sun-worshipers and the evil moon-worshipers. The two tribes are battling it out because the evil moon people want it that way and end up capturing some of the sun people. Luckily for the sun people there are monsters that destroy the cave they are held in and Maxus is there to save them. OH and there is hydra in the film.

Barely entertaining film. It has it's moments of being okay but those moments aren't that grand. You'd think I would like this one with all the big monsters in it but I find it only barely tolerable to skim though.

2/10

This particular peplum is a prehistoric item as Maciste goes back to the caveman era and helps out one tribe which has been dislocated by the Ice Age to settle on some new lands. It seems as though the other tribe that was there before isn't happy about these late arrivals hunting in their forests and want them removed.

Bodybuilder Reg Lewis of Mae West's review plays the legendary Maciste here. He's got to deal with all kinds of prehistoric beasts including a multi-headed hydra. One thing I swear I can't understand is how Maciste avoids pneumonia when he insists on going in his usual loincloth while everyone else is bundled up in animal skins. But his body is what the movie-going public is paying to see.

Nothing here you haven't seen in One Million BC and a few hundred other successors.

A so-so Peplum set at a Stone period in a Cro-Magnon humanity , in which ferocious tribes battle among them and there are wild , giant monsters. There shows up Maciste : Reg Lewis, who comes upon two warring tribes . The main tribe is led by a barbarian chief : Andrea Aureli who attacks the enemy and abducting the women to sacrifice them by beheading . Then they asking for help Maciste or Maxus , Son of Hercules .

A run-of-the-mill Peplum with the particularity being set in remote times, in a fantastic Earth full of astonishing monsters and two violent Homo Sapiens tribes , the Moon worshippers and the Sun worshippers . It contains spectacular battles , human sacrifices , eclipses, earthquake, cliffs collapsing , fantastic caves, men falling to chasm and anything else . Besides , here turns up surprising monsters made by regular Carlo Rambaldi who created most of them in the Peplum sub-genre . Rambaldi was a crafsman who worked hardship through the 60s , 70s, and 80s making special effects , make-up , scale-model and monsters in most of Italian films , in fact he was hired by Steven Spielberg to make ET . Stars Reg Lewis who was one of various Hunk-Men along with Steve Reeves , Gordon Scott , Rock Stevens , Dan Vadis , Brad Harris, Ken Clark, Richard Harrison, who emigrated from US to Italy to play absurd mythological Peplums , however none of them topped in popularity to Steve Reeves. Here appears some familiar faces from Italian Spaghetti , thrillers , Peplum as secondaries, such as : Andrea Aureli, Luciano Marin , Nello Pazzafini and Margaret Lee , Klaus Kinski's wife.

It contains a decent cinematography by Giuseppe La Torre with gorgeous outdoors from Ljubijana , Slovenia and shot in Incir De Paolis Studios , Lazio , Rome . This routine motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Guido Malatesta. He was an artisan who wrote and directed all kinds of genres with penchant for adventures , historical and Peplum, such as : Fire over Rome, , Colossus and the Headhunters, Raid of the Giants, Tarzana the Wild Woman, Goliath against the giants , La Rivolta Dei Barbari, I Predoni Del Sahara , Samoa , Son of Black Eagle , Mask of Scaramouche , Poppea's Hot Nights, Samson versus Pirates , Catalina of Russia, Giuditta e Olofferne, Zorro versus Maciste , Revenge of the Gladiators Maciste avenger of the Mayans , among others. The film will appeal to Club and Sandals subgenre fans . Only for Peplum enthusiasts.

Forget the papier mache monsters and the terrible costumes of the cast. Feast your eyes on Mae West's favorite muscle hunk--Reg Lewis--in his only foray into the explosion of muscle men movies made in Italy during the early 60s. Lewis had a glorious, muscled body that was full and sensuous. Beautifully portioned, there was nothing lean or overly chiseled on this Adonis. With his hair bleached blonde, this enhanced his sexy personae and his mouth was both cynical and humorous. I loved the brief, hip-baring loincloth he wore since nearly all the musclemen from that area kept their loin clothes securely wrapped around their waists. Lewis exuded a raw masculinity, especially when he's with his heroine, who wastes no time climbing into those brawney arms for a deep kiss. No wonder Mae West was nuts about him. My only complaint is there's not enough of Lewis since so much of the film is devoted between the battles of two warring tribes, neither of whom boasts any hot looking hunks. In fact, I think they were chosen for their flat chested looks so that Lewis would appear heroic in comparison and that he does in spades. Perhaps Lewis was dismayed by the very low budget of this movie and the rubber hydra they devised for his mighty battle underwater. We can only wish Italian producers had found something worthy to showcase his sexy torso like they did with Steve Reeves in "Giant of Marathon" in which he appears nearly naked in most of this vastly entertaining swords and sandals epic.

Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules (1962)

** (out of 4)

Maciste (Reg Lewis), the son of Hercules, is wondering around when he runs into two members of a tribe that worships the Sun. They are being attacked by large fire breathing monster so Maciste kills it. Flash forward and the Moon worshipers are starting to kidnap the women from the Sun tribe so they go to Maciste for help.

FIRE MONSTERS AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES, the American title of this Italian movie, isn't a film that is meant to be taken serious. Outside of the Mario Bava film HERCULES IN A HAUNTED WORLD, this is the first in the series that I've seen and from the start I couldn't help but think of the Toho Godzilla series with the poor dubbing and rather silly special effects. Of course, I'm sure many people would say the only way to fully enjoy this or even judge it is by watching the original Italian cut but I don't have that available.

As far as this American edit goes, I thought it was actually entertaining as long as you don't expect too much from it. The performances are pretty much what they are and it's certainly hard to judge them with the atrocious accents and dubbing. Poor Maciste appears to be dubbed by someone simply holding their breathe. The film does contain quite a bit of action, which helps keep it move at a nice pace and it's certainly never boring.

As for the title monster, it's a real doozy and appears to have been made from supplied bought at a dollar store. Yes, it looks incredibly cheap and silly but it somewhat adds to the charm.

Repackaged for American audiences as part of the SONS OF HERCULES series, COLOSSUS OF THE STONE AGE opens with the most fantastically phenomenal theme song of all created time and space! Amen!

A tribe of nomadic, prehistoric types, dressed in fuzzy bathroom throw rugs, builds a village. They should have checked out the neighborhood first, as there's a monster in a nearby lake!

Thankfully, the shirtless mound of muscle known as Maxus (Reg Lewis) arrives in time to slay the creature, and to speak in a voice that's loud enough to set off car alarms, if they had such things in olden times, that is.

It's not long before beautiful village women are dancing around in headdresses, apparently designed by Dr. Seuss. A rival tribe attacks, and several lives and throw rugs are lost.

Good Lord!

The marauding miscreants have absconded with the women! Have no fear! Maxus returns to lead the men on a rescue mission, and to battle those who've wronged them so wrongly. Fighting and more female dancing ensue.

Also, watch for Maxus' struggle against a dragon that resembles a float in the Rose Bowl parade! Annnd, a band of horn-helmeted cannibals!

Fine entertainment for fans of our muscular heroes...

Sorry, gotta disagree with the people who gave this one bad reviews. Who doesn't love bad dialogue, even worse dubbing and lots of rubber and papier maché monsters? Maybe it was just the print I saw on the Grindhouse channel, but the son of Hercules introduces himself as Maxus using a different dubbed-in voice but a lot of the players keep calling him Maciste which the Closed Captioning translates as Maxus. He is also supposed to be named Germanicus, but I may have missed when they called him that. In a couple of scenes everyone is speaking English while Maciste/Maxus/Germanicus is answering them in Italian using yet another man's voice.

The only element that could have made this even better is if in the long nature shots, we could have seen in the distance people in motorboats or dune buggies.

Yes, this is a silly movie, but catching all the production goofs made it a worthwhile watch.

The docile peplum. The brutalist peplum: simple, honest and functional. Self Conscious and detached yet ludic, rough and practical. Typical storyline, uninvolved camera that lets its subjects act and move within the frame but with a precise concatenation of shots that narrate fluidly, engaging simplicity in its mise-en-scène that's as primitive as its setting. Playful game of period dressup and monster-slaying action. Images in movement that set a wider world, one that rejects personal psychological motives and embraces the lower instincts, larger than life scenarios and ancient themes (those stolen from the epic stories peplum derives from).

Must every peplum have artifice of a highly pictorial Leone? The ecstatic spectral otherworldly images of Bava? The constant action of Corbucci? Why not a brutalist and raw piece of pure peplumness.

Reg Lewis went to Italy hoping to make several Hercules/Strongman movies. He ended up only making this one MACISTE AGAINST THE MONSTERS. The working conditions during filming were so severe that Reg packed his bags and returned home, abandoning all the other projects. (I would have liked to have seen Reg in those unmade movies). If you watch the Kirk Morris movie COLOSSUS AND THE HEADHUNTERS, you will spot Reg Lewis in the opening scenes during the volcanic eruption. Reg was supposed to be in this movie but instead the produces found a young Kirk Morris to take Reg's place. Too bad for the fans of this genre. If you look at the photos in the gallery, (posted by me), you will see a boob shot of Margaret Lee being held by Reg. I am sure the producers were hoping to make a "different" type of Hercules movie other than a simple FIRE MONSTERS AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES movie. Larry Anderson.

I actually quite enjoyed this, even though the production is pretty woeful. Tapping into the mythology, we meet the shockingly wooden but muscular Reg Lewis as "Maxus". He is strolling the land looking for some good to do when he encounters a tribe of sun worshippers who have been brutally attacked by the cave-dwelling moon worshippers. This event was especially annoying for "Aydar" (Lucia Marin) who was just about to tie the knot with the feisty "Moah" (Margaret Lee) who has now gone and got herself taken captive by the evil "Fuan" (Andrea Aureli). Luckily, this young man manages to convince "Maxus" to help them, and so our adventure begins. Nope, the conclusion is never in doubt but along the way we have a sort of Ali Baba-esque cave, loads of maidenly sacrifices, some angry gods, great stone-axe combat and best of all - a dragon! The dubbing seems to be largely over English dialogue, which takes some getting used to and the camerawork is certainly nobody's finest work as it frequently suggests that few of these actors were in the same room at the same time. Much of the limited jeopardy relies on the noisy audio and lively score, but that works if you just take this for what it is. A cheap and cheerful adventure that is decently paced and quite good fun.

Such a great movie for its time! Wonderful performance from Reg Lewis. May he Rest In Peace and his contributions to film, bodybuilding, and Hollywood never be forgotten!