Italy made a LOT of peplum movies after
HERCULES (1958) was a big hit worldwide. Naturally that led to a glut of these types of movies, no surprise there, it happens with every fad and type of movie- spies, westerns, sci-fi (I'm waiting for the brainless big budget action movie fad to die) you name it.
since there were so many of these movies released, the US distributors could pick the best of them to release to the theaters, and let AIP-TV (and others) release the rest directly to TV. Something Weird released a nice DVD of this a while ago, with a great print.
this is one of the fun ones. Hercules (actually Maciste) comes to Samar to save them from the menace from outer space, a strange form of life. The Queen of Samar has made a pact with the Moon Men and that involves killing children.
there's a weird fanged ape monster that Herc has to battle as well, and it was hard to get any kind of decent shot of it. I like it more because it wasn't just a ratty old ape suit. these monsters almost always add to the fun of these movies.
Here Herc trashes a moon man. They are reminiscent of the Rock Men of FLASH GORDON fame, and at least
Alan Steel has no problem hefting one over his head, but how heavy would styrofoam actually be? The costume was probably pretty warm for those poor stunt men though.
Queen Samar and the leader of the Moon Men are defeated. She was going to sacrifice her sister, Billus to them so they could resurrect their dead queen. I'm not sure why this would have been a good idea.
The effects are actually pretty decent, and the movie is never boring, despite a five minute sandstorm towards the end.
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