Ercole al centro della Terra

Directed by Mario Bava, HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD stars Reg Park as the human steam engine of the title. It also has the one and only Christopher Lee as the eeevil King Lico!

Big H is given the opportunity, almost immediately, to toss a hay wagon at some of Lico's warriors. His glistening, gleaming physique barely straining in the process!

Soon enough, Herc must embark on a quest to end a curse and rescue a princess. Along with his comrade, Theseus (George Ardisson), he must locate a magical object, and enter Hades itself!

Due to Bava's involvement, this is an exceptional example of its sub-genre, with the Director's flair evident throughout. Park is quite good in his bulging role, adding a certain amount of pathos to the character. For his part, Lee does what he does best, by being as wicked as possible!

The story is effective, complete with a big twist. There are some nice touches along the way, including the talking, robotic rock man, the bleeding vines- containing the souls of the damned, and the molten lava beds. The finale is also great, with a battle against the undead and Lico himself!

Fans of these films need to watch this one right now!...

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.

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.

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.

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.