Maciste e la regina di Samar (1964)

Director:

Giacomo Gentilomo

Writers:

Arpad DeRiso (screenplay)
Arpad DeRiso (story)

Release Date:

May 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Planets On Collision Course!

Plot:

Hercules is summoned to oppose the evil Queen Samara, who has allied herself with aliens and is sacrificing her own people in a bid to awaken a moon goddess.

Plot Keywords:

Moon | Hercules | Queen | Evil Queen | Sacrifice

Cast

Sergio Ciani	...	Maciste (Hercules) (as Alan Steel)
Jany Clair	...	Queen Samara
Anna Maria Polani	...	Agar
Nando Tamberlani	...	Claudis
Jean-Pierre Honoré	...	Derax
Delia D'Alberti	...	Billis (as Delia d'Alberti)
Goffredo Unger	...	Tarin
Franco Morici	...	Timor
Attilio Dottesio	...	Remar
Roberto Ceccacci	...	Redolphis
Stefano Carletti	...	Mogol
Paola Pitti	...	Taris (as Paola Piretti)
Giuliano Raffaelli	...	Tavernkeeper
Anna Maria Dionisi	...	Tavernkeeper's Wife

Also Known As:

Hercules Against the Moon Men (USA)
Hercules and the Queen of Samar (International: English title) (informal literal title)
Hercules vs. the Moon Men (International: English title)
Maciste contre les hommes de pierre (France)
Maciste contro gli uomini della Luna (Italy)
Maciste et la reine de Samar (France)
Maciste vs. the Moon Men (International: English title)
Maciste vs. the Stone Men (International: English title)

Runtime:

90 min | USA:88 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Comptoir Français du Film Production (CFFP)

Trivia:

This would be the final film project for director Giacomo Gentilomo. He left the film industry to pursue a career as a full-time painter.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the Queen tries to drug Hercules, she pours powder into a cup. She then grabs the cup behind it and hands Hercules the undrugged cup while she drinks from the drugged one.

Quotes:

Maciste: [to Claudis] Your daughter is as courageous as she is beautiful.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Hercules Against the Moon Men (#5.10)" (1992)

It almost doesn't suck...that is until the amazingly dumb final 20 minutes.

HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (MACISTE E LA REGINA DI SAMAR) is a bad film, though it's almost passable entertainment up until the last 20 or so minutes of the film. Then, the film shows exactly why it's now listed in the "hallowed 100"--the 100 lowest ranked films on IMDb.

The film begins in the land controlled by the insane Queen of Samara. It seems that they have made a deal with some weird rock-like creatures. They'll make the Queen all-powerful and all she has to do is keep supplying them with human sacrifices. Oddly, her people don't seem to appreciate this arrangement and one of them even sends out a request to Hercules (Maciste in the original non-dubbed film) to put a stop to Samara and her rock group. The film is packed with betrayals, a love potion and assorted silly rock monsters and somehow it almost works for the first hour. Sure, there are some unexplained problems, such as:

"How does Hercules ALWAYS manage to have his skin glisten like he's just had a baby oil rubdown and wouldn't this tend to mess up the furniture?"

"If Hercules is so strong, why does he have to struggle so hard and have such difficulty killing some of the people or getting out of traps--after all, he's freakin' Hercules (or at least Maciste), right?!"

"If this is a mythical tale, why is it so slow and ponderous?"

"Why, oh, why, doesn't Hercules just snap the Queen's neck early in the film and put an end to everything?! Why dilly-dally?!"

However, late in the film, it just goes from dull but watchable to totally stupid. When you see the rock creatures and their weird boss, you can't help but laugh as they seem like the least scary and silliest monsters in film history. Plus, when Hercules has his final showdown, it sure seems to end awfully easily and quickly.

Overall, it's a watchable mess but still, clearly, a mess of a film. However, there are a few moderately interesting scenes and Sergio Ciani is some nice eye-candy, so I really think it's current ranking on the worst films list is unmerited--the bottom 500, maybe, but not #92--I've seen many films worse than this muddled mess of a film.