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Known as Colossus and the Head Hunters here in America, this peplum was directed by Guido Malatesta, who also made Tarzana, the Wild Woman and a few other sword and sandal films, as well as the Eurospy Riuscirà il nostro eroe a ritrovare il più grande diamante del mondo? (Will Our Hero Be Able to Find the Largest Diamond in the World?).
Partially shot in Yugoslavia, this Maciste sequel takes the same volcano footage from Malatesta's Maciste contro i Mostri (Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules in the U.S.).
It stars Italian bodybuilder Kirk Morris as Maciste, but you can see original star Reg Lewis — he was in Maciste in the aforementioned Fire Monsters — in a few long shots. That's how much care this movie put into this, a film released at the near death of the sword and sandal cycle. Queen Amoa (Laura Brown, Colossus of the Stone Age) gets kidnapped by headhunters and our heroes defies the fates to save her.
This may be the movie that you need Mystery Science Theater 3000 to get through.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
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Audience Member
Those crazy Italian filmmakers. Well that's not being fair really because there are bad filmmakers all over the world, but the Italian productions just might seem a bit more fascinating when they're bad. Colossus and the Headhunters is just such an example. Don't get me wrong though. This is not a good movie at all. It's plot is very reminiscent of a Ray Harryhausen film, but then again it reminds me of Swiss Family Robinson early on for some bizarre reason. It's one of those mostly forgettable "sword and sandal" type movies that doesn't really have much going for it. It's difficult to explain, but for those who have seen the movie, I'm sure you know what I'm referring to. Thankfully the crew at Mystery Science Theater 3000 make this movie just a bit more bearable in terms of watch-ability. Otherwise I'd just say skip it altogether.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
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Audience Member
Boring movie, but a funny MST3K episode.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
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Audience Member
Another Sword and Sandal Movie and why this movie has the name Colossus and the headhunters I do not know as the our hero is called Colossus once during the beginning of the film and after that he is Maciste. And is played by Kirk Morris. Movie opens up with a Earthquake and Volcano eruption, and our little Island that Maciste and his people are living on, slowly sinks into the sea, but not before everyone on the Island crawls on a single raft and floats around the sea, not know where any land is, we never see nightfall and next thing you know Wham there is a Island, Pay close attention when their washing up onshore you can see buildings in the background. Typical Hercules type movie, we see a lion, though he doesn't fight one, (always thought Lions were in Jungle and not on Roman or Greek Soil). Much fighting, and of course the save the girl. The ending has the longest fight scene that I have ever seen in a Sword and Sandal movie. My copy was washed out of color. Got better about midway through. It was from the Mill Creek Warriors 50 Pack. I can only give this one 2 1/2 stars.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/23/23
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Audience Member
Only good if you watch the mystery science theater version
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Wandering hero Maciste (Morris) leads his people from their volcano-ravaged homeland to another island where they find themselves in the middle of a civil war. Machiste takes up the battle of the kindhearted and babe-alicious Queen Amoa (Brown) against the evil pretender to her throne (Bentic) and his headhunting mercenaries, all in the interest of peace and finding a new home of this people.
"Colossus and the Headhunters" is a low-budget fantasy film that is several different shades of bad. The cheapness wafts from every frame, the acting is horrendous (both on the part of the original actors and the voice actors who did the English-language dub), and the script drags on and on, turning even what should be exciting battle- and chase-scenes into excrutiating tests of the viewers patience.
The one well-done thing is the costume designs of the three different cultures featured in the film--Machiste's people, the kingdom dealing with the cival war, and the headhunters. Each culture has a distinct look to it, and some level of thought and care went into their visual creation. (Although even this isn't perfect. Were their two civilizations on Machiste's original home island, because the people he leads to safety are your garden variety, Sword & Sandel, psuedo-Greek/Mediterreanian in costuming and armaments... yet most of the people we see feeling from earthquakes and falling boulders as the island is consumed by the volcanic eruptions are fur-clad, sharpened-stick and stone-axe weilding cavemen! Were the filmmakers trying to establish that this was happening in ancient times, or was this film SO cheap that the opening scenes were mostly culled from some other, completely unrelated film? I don't care enough to do the research, but if someone knows, please use the "Comment" feature to enlighten me.
There is one reason to see this movie, one VERY good reason. It features one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes ever put on film. Run the movie while you're reading a book or cleaning, but start paying attention when the villian is forcing Queen Amoa to marry him... and watch in awe-struck disbelief (and through eventual tears of laughter) as the handmaiden throws off her cloak and performs a wedding dance like none you've ever seen. That dance alone earns this film a full Tomato!
A severely edited version of "Colossus and the Headhunters" might be great addition to a Bad Movie Night, but, despite hilarious bits like the wedding dance, there are too many drawn out, boring sections to make it worth while.
(It's interesting to me that, despite the American title, there is no character in the film named "Colossus". What was the aversion to using the name Maciste in titles when these films were imported? Would "Colossus" reallly attract that many more viewers than "Maciste"? I suspect "Headhunters" was a bigger draw, and youd get the same audience if it had been called "Big Gay Al and the Headhunters" or "PeeWee and the Headhunters".)
Colossus and the Headhunters (aka "Maciste vs. the Headhunters")
Starring: Kirk Morris, Laura Brown, Frank Leroy, Alfredo Zammi, and Demeter Bentic
Director: Guido Malatesta
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
01/18/23
Full Review
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