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The
mighty Greek demigod rescues yet another kingdom
from the grasp of an evil tyrant in this spectacularly
colorful adventure. That the tyrant is played by
supreme screen villain Christopher Lee and the film
directed by Mario Bava, the great Italian maestro,
renders Hercules In The Haunted
World one of the most satisfying and entertaining
of all the '60s peplum. It's certainly the
most gorgeous to look at.
The
story begins with Hercules and his good friend Theseus
(George Ardisson) on their way to the kingdom of
Ecalia, where Herc is to be reunited with his lady
love, Princess Dianira (the beautiful Leonora Ruffo).
They're beset by a band of cutthroats, not realizing
the attack is actually an assassination attempt.
But the thugs are handily dealt with, the survivors
taking to their heels when they learn their main
target is the legendary strongman. Arriving in Ecalia,
Hercules receives bad news: the king has died, but
his daughter Dianira has not yet assumed the throne.
She can't. She's in no condition to rule. During
Herc's absence Dianira's been stricken with a strange
malady affecting her mind, leaving her in trance-like
dream state. Running the kingdom as regent is her
uncle, the sinister Lyco (Lee, effortlessly exuding
menace).
It
was Lyco, of course, who ordered the hit on Hercules.
(And who murders the leader of the assassins for
their failure.) He intends to remain on Ecalia's
throne; to this end he's placed Dianira under a
hypnotic spell to prevent her from assuming her
role as queen. Hercules, not exactly known for his
keen intelligence, takes a while to catch on to
this. He consults the Sybil (a mystic oracle), who
tells him that Dianira can be restored to normal
by the power of a magic rock found only in Hades,
the underworld domain of the god Pluto. But the
only way Herc can enter Hades and ever hope to return
is if he possesses the Golden Apple of the Hesperides.
Accompanied by Theseus and Telemachus (Franco Giacobini,
the flick's de rigueur comic relief), Hercules
immediately takes ship in search of the Hesperides'
fabled isle. Lyco's happy to see him leave, confident
that the heroes will either perish in the attempt
or take too long to return. At an appointed time
he will sacrifice Dianira to Pluto, drinking her
blood to become immortal and ruling Ecalia for eternity.
In
episodic fashion the film follows Hercules and company
on their quest. On the isle of the Hesperides —
beautiful women damned to live in darkness — Herc
must pluck the Golden Apple from a gigantic Redwood-dwarfing
tree that no man has ever climbed. He also has a
brief tangle with Procustes, a living rock being
(realized with an admittedly goofy, almost Gumby-like
costume) who delights in torture. With Procustes
defeated and the apple secure, Hercules and Theseus
enter the shadowy caverns of Hades in search of
the magic stone. Not threatened by monsters, they
instead face challenges posed by the hellish terrain.
Lakes of fire, a marsh of boiling mud — it'll take
cunning and a heart that is true, not just our hero's
prodigious strength, to forge ahead. And even should
they succeed in locating the stone and returning
to Ecalia there remains the evil despot Lyco, a
powerful sorcerer in his own right, to confront.
Hercules In The Haunted World
showcases Mario Bava's prodigious talents for gorgeous
imagery and squeezing the absolute maximum from
a tiny budget. Were it not for the DVD's informative
liner notes (by Bava scholar Tim Lucas), the viewer
would never know the film was made for virtually
nothing, with but a handful of sets that by necessity
had to be continuously recycled. As was often the
case with his movies, Bava wears multiple hats here
— not only as director, but as cinematographer and
special effects artist as well. With a palette of
vivid colors and inky black shadows he conjures
an entire fantasy world from a paucity of materials
— blood-red sunsets, storm-tossed seas, plains of
molten rock, an ancient citadel beneath roiling
dark clouds. Particularly impressive are the temple
of the soothsaying Sybil, almost psychedelic in
design, and the crypt from which Lyco summons a
horde of vampire-like wraiths to attack Hercules.
But even a genius can only do so much with so little.
Some of the effects do look rather cheesy by today's
digitally enhanced standards. As mentioned, the
costume of the monster Procustes leaves a lot to
be desired; Hercules' battle with the Undead during
the film's climax gets repetitious after he tosses
his fifth or sixth rock column. (For all his mastery
of the visual, Bava has never been noted as an "action"
director.) My elderly grandmother could've lifted
some of those obviously fake boulders. But these
minor shortcomings in the production are more than
compensated for by Bava's marvelous sense of the
aesthetic.
As for the cast, only Giacobini's
broadly played Telemachus hits the occasional sour
note — it's rare for
comic relief characters in such pictures to actually
be funny. Lee is Lee, of course, the consummate
movie villain. He doesn't get much screen time but
Bava makes the most of his formidable presence.
Even champion bodybuilder Reg Park,
bland and wooden playing the same role in Hercules
And The Captive Women,
comes off better here. Easy to anger but just as
quick to forgive, in Bava's film his
Hercules is a much
more appealing hero.
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Kudos
to Fantoma for bringing this long-sought after Sword
and Sandal classic to DVD. Previously available only
in cropped, horrid-looking VHS editions, Bava's original
vision finally gets its due. The film is presented
2.35:1 widescreen — anamorphically enhanced for 16x9
TVs — with the option of selecting either the Italian
or English language tracks. (Easy-to-read English
subtitles are available for the former, which, considering
the goofiness of the English dialog, is definitely
the preferred track. Unfortunately, as with The
Whip And The Body, Christopher Lee did not record
his own dialog for either version. The Italian voice
actors are decidedly superior for all the characters,
by the way.) While minor print damage is occasionally
seen here and there, colors are bold and strikingly
vibrant with rich, deep blacks. Given the film's age
and relative obscurity I have nothing to complain
about vis a vis the disc's A/V quality. Certainly,
Hercules In The Haunted World
(a.k.a. Hercules in the Center of the Earth)
hasn't looked or sounded this good since its original
release.
There
aren't many extras on hand, sad to report. An extensive
gallery of stills and international poster art is
included, along with the aforementioned liner notes
written by Video Watchdog editor Tim Lucas.
(An audio commentary by Lucas would've been marvelous.)
The DVD's gorgeous packaging artwork complements the
feature nicely.
8/18/02 |
