''Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules'' () is a 1962 film directed by
Guido Malatesta
Guido Malatesta (1919 – 14 June 1970), born in Gallarate, Italy, was a film director and screenwriter.
He began working as a professional journalist. After he moved to Rome, he was drawn to cinema, as creator of treatments, then scriptwriter ...
that was filmed in Yugoslavia and Italy.
Plot summary
Set in the
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
, a nomadic tribe of sun worshippers reach an area they decide to settle in. When Idar and Rhia, a young couple of the tribe come across a water monster, the monster is killed by
Maciste
Maciste () is one of the oldest recurring characters of film, cinema, created by Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giovanni Pastrone. He is featured throughout the history of the cinema of Italy from the 1910s to the mid-1960s.
He is usually depicted as a ...
with a spear. The two ask Maciste to join their tribe but Maciste explains he has a destiny to fulfill of righting wrongs and must leave.
Soon afterwards a cave dwelling tribe of moon worshippers led by Fuwan attack the village and carry off the sun worshipper's women. Maciste returns to the sun worshippers and enters the moon worshipper's underground city through a river. There he discovers Moah, whose father and brother, formerly leaders of the tribe, were murdered by Fuwan who wishes to take Moah. Moah explains that the moon worshippers will sacrifice the captured women in a celebration of the full moon that night.
Maciste passes through an underwater tunnel, defeats the three headed hydra that lives there and is able to eliminate the guards to the entrance and remove the stone gate to the entrance letting the vengeful sun worshippers in. The women are freed but Maciste destroys their path to the surface once they have left and is captured by the moon worshippers who bury him, and later Moah in the earth so the worms may eat their bodies. They are saved by a volcanic eruption that sets them free and kills a large portion of the moon worshippers.
Seeking revenge, the moon worshippers make a pact with a tribe of cannibals to attack the sun worshippers. The combined forces are defeated by the sun worshippers and Maciste. Moah joins Maciste on his future journeys.
Cast
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Reg Lewis as
Maciste/ Maxus
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Margaret Lee as Moah
*
Luciano Marin as Idar son of Dorak
*
Andrea Aureli
Andrea Aureli (5 March 1923 – 5 November 2007) was an Italian actor.
Life and career
Born in Terni, Aureli graduated from the Liceo classico in his hometown, then he enrolled the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, graduating i ...
as Fuan of the Moon People
*
Birgit Bergen as Raya
*
Nello Pazzafini
Giovanni "Nello" Pazzafini (15 May 1933 – 9 January 1996) was an Italian actor who appeared in a very large number of Peplum film genre, Peplum movies, Spaghetti Westerns and Poliziotteschi.
Life and career
Born in Rome from parents originall ...
as Chief of the Ulmar People
*
Miria Kent as Woman of the Sun
*
Fulvia Gasser as Woman of the Sun
*
Rocco Spataro as Dorak
*
Ivan Pengov as Agur
Monsters include a river
sea serpent
A sea serpent is a type of sea monster described in various mythologies, most notably in Mesopotamian cosmology (Tiamat), Ugaritic cosmology ( Yam, Tannin), biblical cosmology (Leviathan, Rahab), Greek cosmology (Cetus, Echidna, Hydra, Scy ...
, a lizard (scaled from a real lizard), and a four-footed walking dragon.
Production
''Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules'' was a co-production between Italy's Euro International Film and Yugoslavia's Caserbib. The film was shot at Incir De Paolis Studios in Rome and on location in the caves of
Ljubljana
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, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
in
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
.
In the English-language version, Maciste is called "Maxus", referring to him as a son of Hercules. Maciste's name is changed to Maxus, so whenever Maxus' name is mentioned, a different higher-registered voice adds the dubbed name.
Release
The film was released in Italy on 25 April 1962. In the UK it was originally released as ''Colossus of the Stone Age'' in 1964, and retitled ''Land of the Monsters'' for its 1975 re-release paired with the 1965 film ''
Revenge of the Gladiators''.
Reception
In his book on Italian cinema, Howard Hughes discussed the English-language dub of the film, declaring it "probably the worst dubbing job of all time".
References
Footnotes
Sources
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External links
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''Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules''at
Variety Distribution
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fire Monsters Against The Son Of Hercules
1962 films
1960s fantasy films
Italian fantasy films
1960s Italian-language films
1960s monster movies
Yugoslav fantasy films
Films set in prehistory
Prehistoric people in popular culture
Films directed by Guido Malatesta
Maciste films
Films about dragons
Films shot in Slovenia
Sword-and-sandal films
1960s Italian films