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| Riotous color in Hercules in the Haunted World |
Mario Bava's Hercules in the Haunted World is not a film I would recommend to the casual video streamer. For aficionados of Italian horror, I do not consider myself one, the film is a must see. The flick is a mashup: half sword and sandal, half supernatural horror. The peplum scenes are a trudge especially due to Reg Park's performance as Hercules. It led me to look back much more fondly on Kevin Sorbo, if not Steve Reeves. Sam Raimi's Hercules and Xena owe much to the mixture of cod mythology and campy horror on display here. Ted Raimi's Joxer in the Xena series is much like this film's comic foil, Franco Giacobini's Telemachus. Giacobini appeared in eight films in 1961 alone, most notably Luciano Salce's The Fascist.
Hercules in the Haunted World is a snore any time Park starts tossing around paper-mache boulders, but when Christopher Lee appears playing a Hammer vampire things pick up. The occult elements allow Bava to play with riotous color for Pop Art effects that rival Lichtenstein and Warhol's then current offerings. The décor and lighting of this film far outstrip its dialogue and acting, though Lee, per usual, does his level best. For what its worth, the best Hercules movie I've ever seen, Hercules in the Haunted World would make a suitably cheesy treat for the inclined and reclined late night viewer.
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