The mythological character of Hercules was among the most popular heroes of the peplum (sword-and-sandal) genre within Italian cinema; in fact, its heyday was largely heralded by the unprecedented success of HERCULES (1957), with Steve Reeves – on which the director of this one had actually served as cinematographer! Having watched (and suffered through) quite a few of these low-brow entries over the years, it transpires that only a handful were truly worthy of attention; the film under review being certainly one of them, with another being Vittorio Cottafavi's HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961), both of which just happened to feature the same leading man (Reg Park). At his best an unparalleled purveyor of atmosphere, Bava was ideal for helming the muscle-bound demi-God's adventures in the Netherworld, letting rip his imagination to conceive a color scheme and special effects that would transcend budgetary constraints – and, at the same time, make up for narrative shortcomings (notably such obligatory conventions as youthful romance and comedy relief); however, another definitive trump-card here is the presence of an imposing villain in Christopher Lee (his first of two satisfying collaborations with Bava). To get back to the film's fantasy elements, Hercules consults with a masked clairvoyant throughout (to determine the fate of his beloved, held for the longest time under the spell of Lee's malevolent influence) and combats a flying legion of the undead at the climax (their 'costume' would actually be borrowed by Bava himself for a later sci-fi effort, the equally fine PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES [1965]!); as expected, the action is plentiful, if a bit overly vigorous and obviously artificial: however, instead of destroying the illusion, this rather lends the whole added charm (at one point, Hercules amusingly disarms a throng of pursuers by effortlessly hurling a cart at them - just as he would dispatch the undead with an array of flying boulders)! Despite being best-known in the English-speaking world with the title at the top of this review, the opening credits of the print I watched (presumably culled from the Fantoma DVD) sports a literal translation of the original Italian one i.e. HERCULES IN THE CENTER OF THE EARTH!
Review of Hercules in the Haunted World
