Hercules in the Haunted World

G

1961

1h 31m

Fantasy

Adventure

List

57%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

53%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

When his beloved Princess Deianira (Leonora Ruffo) goes mad, strong man Hercules (Reg Park) turns to the oracle Medea for advice. Medea tells him to travel to the underworld and find the Stone of Forgetfulness, a mysterious crystal that will cure Deianira's ills. Along with his friend Theseus, Hercules ventures into the dark and foggy depths of Hades to find the stone. Meanwhile, Deianira's power-hungry uncle, Lico (Christopher Lee), plots to steal the throne that is her birthright.

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christopher c. m

This was the movie where this series went from dumb fun to just plain dumb. This one is darn right insulting. They hire mega star Christopher Lee to be the main villain who speaks Italian FYI. But still has someone else dub over him. Why? Because they're so racist they couldn't stand to hear a British accent speak Italian? That's racist. They had an opening scene that I guess was cut from the American dub but because it wasn't dubbed. But if you restore a Foreign language film scene in a dubbed version, at least subtitle it. Still have no idea what he said. The story was dumb, Christopher Lee is barely in the film. And the dubbing is bad.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Un film di puro intrattenimento in cui non riesco a vedere il tocco di Bava, cosa che invece si vedeva nel primo suo lungometraggio (La maschera del demonio). Rimangono a mente alcune scene con ottimi costumi o effetti speciali ma tutto ha la patina del low budget.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

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Audience Member

Greek Mythology Bava-Style--For that distinctive Bava touch!!

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Audience Member

Update: I recently saw the great Fantoma DVD version with it's full aspect ratio and great colors. The dialogue is pretty wooden at times, like all Peplum. Luckily Lyco and Hercules avoid the worst of it. Many of the sets and lighting give the movie a psychedelic, horror feeling at times that makes this movie fun. There's still quite a few cheesy laughs here and there, such as the goofy rock golem scene, but overall it's a good film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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Audience Member

Mario Bava war ein echtes Genie. Auch dieser Film ist wahrscheinlich in irgend einer kleinen Schulaula gedreht worden, doch das Ergebnis ist wie beinahe immer verblüffend genial. Was Bava mit Licht & Schatten, Nebel und Pappmasché so geschaffen hat ist einfach großartig. Die Geschichte in Vampire gegen Herakles ist außerdem auch noch ziemlich cool: (imba) Herkules muss alle möglichen Aufgaben bestehen und gegen böse Fiecher antreten um seine große Liebe zu retten. Seine ärgsten Widersacher sind evil knievel Vampire, Steinmonster und ein ultra fieser Christopher Lee. Zusammenfassend kann man also sagen, dass Vampire gegen Herakles ganz großes Kino ist und jeder der anderes behauptet hat einfach keine Ahnung und wird von Herkules selbst ein paar auf die Omme bekommen. gute 3,5/5

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Audience Member

Early effort from Mario Bava (with assistance from Franco Prosperi) is easily one of the strangest and best of the Italian sword and sandal epics. Despite its low-budget, Bava manages a surreal visual spectacle with some fun vintage special effects and his trademark atmospheric color photography. The plot is silly, but also fast-paced and full of memorably bizarre set pieces - a battle between Hercules and a gang of the undead is particularly impressive. Bava would go on to make much better films, but his visual style is firmly in place in this early effort.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Mario Bava

Director

Franco Prosperi

Director

Reg Park

Hercules

Christopher Lee

King Lico

Leonora Ruffo

Princess Deianira

George Ardisson

Thesus

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Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

An eerie, surreal vision of the afterlife as only Bava could have envisioned it.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 31, 2019

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

The acting (aside from Lee) is wooden and the script extremely choppy, but the film is elevated by Bava's renowned eye for atmospherics.

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 19, 2019

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Alberto Abuín

Espinof

The soundtrack of Armando Trovajoli also stands out, with jazz connotations that harmoniously match the fantasy. [Full Review in Spanish]

Aug 23, 2019

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Oct 14, 2005

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Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Typical Hercules/Machiste nonsense not made better by the overrated Bava direction.

Rated: 2/5

Feb 3, 2005

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Bava's innovative color cinematography sparkles in its own right, but becomes even more impressive when you realize what a limited budget the director had.

Apr 26, 2004

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Synopsis

When his beloved Princess Deianira (Leonora Ruffo) goes mad, strong man Hercules (Reg Park) turns to the oracle Medea for advice. Medea tells him to travel to the underworld and find the Stone of Forgetfulness, a mysterious crystal that will cure Deianira's ills. Along with his friend Theseus, Hercules ventures into the dark and foggy depths of Hades to find the stone. Meanwhile, Deianira's power-hungry uncle, Lico (Christopher Lee), plots to steal the throne that is her birthright.

Director: Mario Bava, Franco Prosperi
Screenwriter: Mario Bava, Sandro Continenza, Franco Prosperi, Duccio Tessari
Production Co: Omnia Deutsche Film Export
Rating: G
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 30, 2016
Runtime: 1h 31m

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