Ercole al centro della Terra

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.

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.

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.

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.

To save his beloved Deianira (Leonora Ruffo, the sexy starship captain in 'Star Pilot' (1966)), the mighty Hercules (a convincingly massive Reg Park) descends into a Hades to obtain a sacred stone. Directed by Mario Bava, the film has a colourful, surreal look that belies its low budget (similar to the director's sci-fi cult-fav 'Planet of the Vampires (1965)) and motors along at a brisk pace to a delirious finale involving flying daemons and a wicked vampire king (a dubbed and somewhat wasted Christopher Lee). As 60s Italian 'sword and sandal' epics go, this one is pretty good: Park makes a good bulky hero, Franco Giacobini doesn't overdo his goofy comic-relief shtick as Telemachus, and the vivid cinematography is striking, especially the colour-drenched Hell scenes. The special effects are surprisingly good at times (especially the 'distance' shots of characters crossing the sea of lava) although the wires holding up the 'flying' daemons at the end are painfully apparent. A fun, entertaining time-passer with memorable imagery.