Hercules Against the Moon Men

Hercules Against the Moon Men
Promotional film poster
Directed by	Giacomo Gentilomo
Produced by	Luigi Mondello
Written by	Giacomo Gentilomo Angelo Sangermano Arpad DeRiso Nino Scolaro
Starring	Sergio Ciani Jany Clair Anna Maria Polani
Music by	Carlo Franci
Cinematography	Oberdan Troiani
Distributed by	Governor Films Inc.
Release dates	27 June 1964 (1964-06-27)
Running time	90 min
Country	France Italy
Language	Italian

Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964) is an Italian/French sword and sandal film. It was directed by Giacomo Gentilomo and starred Alan Steel (real name Sergio Ciani) and Jany Clair. The film runs for 90 minutes and is dubbed.

The film "blends" elements from a number of mythologies. Roman, Greek, Ancient Egyptian and Cretan elements are all thrown in.

In the original Italian-language version, the hero was not Hercules but Maciste, originally a hero in silent Italian cinema, and its original Italian title was Maciste e la regina di Samar (Maciste and the Queen of Samar). Its French title was Maciste contre les hommes de pierre (Maciste Against the Men of Stone), but the English distributors dubbed him to be Hercules, because Maciste was not well known to American audiences.

Plot

In ancient Greece, a race of evil aliens from the Moon land on Earth. For years they have terrorized the nearby city of Samar, demanding children for sacrifice in hopes their spilled blood can revive their dead queen. Now, the queen of Samar has made a pact with the Moon men to conquer the world and become the most powerful woman alive. The downtrodden residents of Samar cheer the arrival of the mighty Hercules, who on their behalf faces deadly obstacles, battles the Moon monsters and eventually confronts the leader of the Moon men, Redolphis, a metal-headed giant.

Cast

• Alan Steel as Hercules/Maciste
• Jany Clair as Queen Samara
• Anna Maria Polani as Agar
• Nando Tamberlani as Gladius
• Jean-Pierre Honoré as Darix
• Delia D'Alberti as Billis / Selene (as Delia d'Alberti)
• Goffredo Unger as Mogol
• Franco Morici as Timor
• Attilio Dottesio as Remar
• Roberto Ceccacci as Redolphis
• Stefano Carletti as Mogol
• Paola Pittias Taris (as Paola Piretti)
• Giuliano Raffaelli as Tirteo - tavernkeeper
• Anna Maria Dionisi as Tavernkeeper's wife
• Salvatore Borghese as Aggressor of Maciste upon his arrival (uncredited)
• Antonio Corevi as Rubio, the imperial guard officer (uncredited)

MST3K

It was also shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000, making it infamous for its "Deep Hurting" Sequence (the very long sandstorm sequence). This sequence involved many of the cast floundering around pointlessly in a sandstorm for upwards of five minutes of screen time, in which no plot movement or character development is made at all. The "Deep Hurting" concept is introduced by Dr. Forrester as a follow-up to "Rock Climbing", a pain point of the movie Lost Continent that had previously been shown.

DVD releases

• The film has received numerous 'bargain box' releases from various studios.
• The MST3K version of the film was released by Rhino Home Video as part of the 'Collection, Volume 7' box set.

External links

• Hercules Against the Moon Men at IMDb
• Hercules Against the Moon Men is available for free download at the Internet Archive