Maciste contre les monstres

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

"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

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...

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.

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.