Hercules Against the Moon Men

Starring:Sergio Ciani, Jany Clair, Anna Maria Polani, Nando Tamberlani, Delia D'Alberti, Jean-Pierre HonorÃ©, Goffredo Unger, Franco Morici, Paola Piretti, Stefano Carletti, Giuliano Raffaelli, Anna Maria Dionisi, Roberto Ceccacci, Attilio Dottesio
Director: Giacomo Gentilomo
Studio: Retro Media
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

What? "Hercules Moons the Men?" What?
Hercules was forced to take a shower
Moon Men and Rock People
Amusing Movie, Terrible Transfer
"Under the evil influence of Uranus."

Hercules Against the Moon Men
Starring: Sergio Ciani , Jany Clair , Anna Maria Polani , Nando Tamberlani , and Delia D'Alberti
Director: Giacomo Gentilomo
Manufacturer: Retromedia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Hercules Unchained
Hercules in the Haunted World
Hercules and the Princess of Troy/Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops
Hercules
Fire Monsters Against the Son of Herc

ASIN: B000AYYVA6
Release Date: 2005-10-11

Description

In this 1964 low-budget sci-fi Italian/French co-production, Greece's favorite mythological strongman (Alan Steel) must save the earth from a vampire queen, her legions of magical moon men, and some big rocky robots.

Customer Reviews:

What? "Hercules Moons the Men?" What?.......2007-06-29

So. We have a mythologically confused society run by a cruel but beautiful queen. She has joined forces with the Moon Man (fell to earth, made the mountain crumble and spew lava, etc etc). He has promised her that she will join him in ruling the world, but only after she tosses a bunch of people into the blue-light hole in the side of the mountain. What he really wants is her beautiful blonde half-sister, who is to provide some kind of a blood transfusion to wake up the dead/sleeping moon princess who he brought with him to Earth. Now wait a minute. I see a three way developing. I'm not sure she is going to want to share absolute power over all the world with his moll! Anyway, the people rebel against being tossed into the blue-light disco so they call Hercules. Now all joking aside, "Alan Steel" is a great Hercules. He is actually warm and engaging rather than the wooden (woody?) porn star that Steve Reeves was. I mean, in the fake love scene with the beautiful wicked queen he actually exudes chemistry! Really!
Anyway, there's a lot going on, many shots of "Alan Steel"s bulging biceps, running through sand storms, and the absolutely hilarious rock men. "You rock!" my spousy shouted out. Actually, it was kind of scary when the rock men crushed the queen, but never mind.
Aaron the 7-year-old critic raved: Two sticky thumbs up. He liked it so much that he has requested "Hercules and the Amazon Women" for our next movie night. Recommended!

Hercules was forced to take a shower.......2006-06-19

A fire from the sky drops near by Samara. It deposits something evil. This evil horde demands human sacrifice. The queen of Samara (Jany Clair) is in cahoots with the evil ones in exchange for a chance to rule the world.

Only one man can save them by leading a revolt. Yep it is Hercules (Sergio Ciani.) I suspect the queen could smell Hercules and ordered a shower. Evidently it did not work so she will try to make Herc take a powder, and he would be mooning over her.

Looks like another full moon and time for a sacrifice when the sound is turned off it looks like they are all going to the showers. Will Herc help? If you look close Herc looks like Bob Vila of this old house fame, only a tad smellier.

O.K. one more time lets try sand blasting him.

Let my people go.

Moon Men and Rock People.......2006-01-28

Hercules (Sergio Ciani) encounters a wicked Queen Samara (Delia D'Alberti), who routinely gathers people up for sacrifice to the monsters in the mountain, which includes some guy in a leftover Greek movie mask, and a bunch of stiffly walking rock men. It seems that the monsters, or Moon Men, want to pull the moon in close to earth to make the earth a place for their kind. Of course, that will destroy the earth, but the Moon Men have promised Queen Samara that she will receive all the treasure and leftovers when the moon is pulled to earth. Yeah, right.

Hercules (who in the Italian version was some other guy called Maciste, but apparently no one knows Maciste in the United States, so he was renamed Hercules) runs around trying to save everyone and out trick the Queen. Along the way are some unintentionally funny lines, which the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" folks had fun with in a lampoon of this movie. One ready example: When Hercules arrives to keep Derax (Jean-Pierre Honoré from being murdered, but after he was shot by an arrow, the line "...just arrived in time..." is uttered. Too funny; if Hercules had arrived in time he would have arrived before Derax was shot by an arrow.

Even with its inadvertently funny moments, the movie is generally interesting if you like Italian sword-and-sandals movies, or possibly even Conan-type movies. The pace is reasonably fast, and the story line, albeit ridiculous, is relatively easy to follow. This movie is probably about average for this genre, and you can always try to put in your own one-liners.

One word of caution; I was unimpressed with the video transfer. The sound was okay, but the picture could use a lot of cleanup.

Amusing Movie, Terrible Transfer.......2006-01-01

Of all of the Italian sword-and-sandals movies, this has perhaps the silliest premise--in fact, the whole notion of Hercules fighting "moon men" only appeared in the English-dubbed version (the Italian original is about "Maciste," a strongman character in Italian movies back to the 1914 *Cabiria*, and there was nothing about aliens from the moon). It is moderately entertaining, and very low budget, as was typical for these movies. I say moderately entertaining, but only if you like this sort of thing, i.e., cheesy genre movies--if you're looking for another *Casablanca*, this isn't it. Most of the sword and sandals DVDs have very low-quality transfers: they chop up the original widescreen movies with pan-and-scan, and often look like they are using a video camera pointed at a TV screen showing a very faded and scratched print to make the transfer. This particular movie, however, has the worst transfer I have seen yet: few colors besides blue have survived, and there is no sharpness in the image at all. I am checking out the "special edition" DVD of *Moon Men* from somethingweird.com (Something Weird Video), which specializes in this sort of thing--they promise widescreen at least, and a "digitally remastered" version.

I've looked at the Something Weird version, and it is incomparably better (well, the visual quality is, at any rate!)--this is the double feature entitled "Hercules Against the Moon Men/The Witch's Curse" (a mere $17.99 here at amazon.com).

"Under the evil influence of Uranus.".......2005-09-08

"Hercules Against the Moon Men"--an Italian sword and sandal film--is every bit as absurd as its title suggests. Wicked Queen Samara (Delia D'Alberti) rules the kingdom of Samar, and she's secretly in cahoots with the Moon Men--an alien race who've taken up residence on the Mountain of Death. Queen Samara regularly sends chained, screaming, resisting human sacrifices to the invaders. The people get so fed up, they send for Hercules/Maciste (Sergio Cianni AKA Alan Steel) a tanned, oiled, muscle-bound hero. He can knock down rows of the Queen's men like bowling pins and effortlessly toss others into vats of wine.

The film is dubbed. The Alpha DVD is a bit crackly for the first scenes, and the picture is tolerable--but not clean and crisp. The film's colour is faded. The most bizarre feature of the film is the hodge podge blending of mythology. There are bits of Roman and Greek culture weaved with Egyptian motifs, and even a pinch of the labyrinth of the Minotaur thrown in for good measure. There's one scene with Hercules wearing what appears to be undies with a lacy waistband. Ultimately--this is truly cheesy cinema with zero camp appeal--displacedhuman

Hercules Against the Moon Men/The Witch's Curse

Average customer rating:

Hercules Against the Moon Men/The Witch's Curse
Starring: Kirk Morris , Hélène Chanel , Vira Silenti , Andrea Bosic , and Remo De Angelis
Director: Riccardo Freda , and Giacomo Gentilomo
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Son of Samson/Son of Cleopatra
Goliath and the Dragon
Hercules/Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules
The Giant of Metropolis/Hercules and the Princess of Joy
Hercules The Avenger / Hercules And The Black Pirate

ASIN: B000089Q5R
Release Date: 2002-10-15

Average customer rating:

Best Ever!
Attack of the Muscle Men !
Somewhat lacking --
So bad it can be great

Hercules Against the Moon Men / The Witch's Curse

Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Amazon.com

There's more well-muscled beef on display here than at a cattle farm in Texas, but for fans of camp/cult titles or action with a mythological bent, this double bill of Italian-made sword-and-sandal adventure films will provide some old-school thrills. In the widescreen Hercules Against the Moon Men, Alan Steel (née Sergio Ciani) steps into the toga as the World's Mightiest Mortal (though in the original Italian version, he was called Maciste) to defeat a hot-blooded queen in cahoots with a race of evil invaders from the Moon. And in Riccardo Freda's The Witch's Curse, Kirk Morris is Maciste, who must travel to Hell in order to save a woman possessed by the spirit of a dead witch. While the atrocious English dubbing renders these films into laugh fodder (Moon Men made for one of the funnier "experiments" on Mystery Science Theater 3000), their lush photography, frenetic pacing, and moments of pure budget surrealism (the ape creature in Moon Men, the visit to Hell in Curse) are solid reminders to both novice and veteran viewers of the Italian film industry's inventiveness and eye for spectacle, as well as the unadulterated fun these films provide. --Paul Gaita

Description

Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964, 86 min.) - It's muscles versus monsters when a meteor-like object crashes into the ancient country of Samar, where Moon Men set up headquarters inside "The Mountain of Death" and demand hundreds of human sacrifices. Evil sexpot Queen Samara secretly joins the Moon Men after being promised she'll be "The Most Powerful Women on Earth" once their dead queen returns to life. And it just so happens that the dead Moon Queen is a dead ringer for pure-in-heart Princess Billis, whose blood must be given to the Moon Queen when the planets align and everyone is "under the evil of Uranus." Fortunately their dastardly plans are spoiled by Hercules, who also confronts a gorilla-like beast with gigantic fangs, the Moon Men's "huge deformed rock-like creatures," and the Queen's spike-covered torture machine. But when Herc isn't looking, Samara slips him an aphrodisiac that turns the muscular superhero into her own personal love slave! This colorful sci-fi sword and sandal fantasy is one of the most enjoyably wild and wacky of the Italian Muscleman movies, presented here in gorgeous widescreen "Cromoscope!" "C'mon men, let's storm the palace!" "The Witch's Curse" (1963, 75 min.) - When the villagers of a Scottish town believe an innocent woman is the reincarnation of a witch once burned at the stake, Maciste sets things right by going to Hell, literally, in the 1963 feature pitting Kirk Morris against The Witch's Curse!

Customer Reviews:

Best Ever!.......2006-11-08

I, like many, have seen this film more times than I would openly admit and, I must say that this is the BEST EVER version of Hercules against the Moon Men I've seen. I am referring to the picture quality. It is very sharp. I did not notice the "compressed aspect" as has been mentioned in other reviews here. The Witch's Curse does not look as clean unfortunately but, it also is the best version I've seen -with respect to picture quality.
There are some nice extras and I am very happy with the overall item.

Attack of the Muscle Men !.......2002-11-25

First of all, let's not kid ourselves--"Hercules Against the Moon Men " ( HAMM ) and the "Witch's Curse" ( WC )are pretty bad movies. However, for people like me who remember those dubbed, Italian "spear and sandal" epics from the early 60s, these films still provide good fun. If you are expecting big-budget production values, plots that make sense and great special effects--stay away !

HAMM gives us "Alan Steel" as Hercules--he certainly has the physique but, for me, Steve Reeves was, and always will be, the best Hercules. Reeves was always knocked for his acting--well, Steel makes Reeves look like Olivier ! Basically Herc has to overcome one obstacle after another to battle forces from the Moon ( don't expect too much here ) and the evil queen who is under their control. Probably the highlight is when our hero is captured, and placed between two slabs of wood with huge knives pointing toward him--as those nasty points get closer, Steel gets to flex his muscles all over the place. This is a classic moment for Hercules' fans. Actually, I found the finale of the film very quick and disappointing. Overall, if you like a healthy serving of cheese and muscle, HAMM delivers.

As another reviewer has pointed out, an error occurred in the transfer of HAMM--figures seem abnormally stretched--if a corrected version is released will my friends at Amazon send a replacement ( hint--hint )? Added note, dated 15 July 2006--I guess the answer to my last question is a resounding "NO" !

WC is even more outlandish--it is 17th century Scotland--everyone is heavily clothed ( Scotland can be chilly ! )--and here comes muscle-bound Kirk Morris running around in briefs. This is one of many smiles you will get from this "so bad it's good" movie. Again, in his search through the underworld for an evil witch, our hero--Maciste--must use all of his strength to defeat various phony-looking monsters, and avoid one scrape after another. This is a very bizarre movie, but I found that I had to keep watching it.

The transfer of WC is not great--but it is not poor enough to spoil your fun.

Overall, a fascinating double bill--what's that expression--" they don't make them like that anymore " !

Somewhat lacking --.......2002-11-12

The main feature, "Hercules Against the Moon Men" to my eyes looks very compressed. The figures are stretched out as if they spent time on a Medieval torture rack. The images call to mind old Cinemascope movies mooshed together to be shown on fullscreen TV. Sort of hard to watch. Nice, bright, colorful pictures, though. The back-up feature "The Witch's Curse" is so-so. Many of these things are bought on the basis of the extras. HOWEVER: Many of the "coming attractions" trailers for the peplum movies are in black and white.

So bad it can be great.......2002-11-10

If you love bad films - I mean really bad films - this double feature is incredible. The gladiator cycle of the 1950's and 1960's that started with Steve Reeve's very decent Hercules was running out of ideas and was becoming increasingly far fetched in plots. In Hercules versus the Moon Men, we enter science fiction territory as Herc battles silly masked aliens, cardboard rock monsters, and an ape creature with a serious lower jaw problem (how does he eat?). There's also a dust storm that lasts forever. In Witch's Curse we are in Mario Bava's Black Sabbath territory as our hero Maciste is in 17th century Scotland (without much clothes, where people have no Scottish accents) and literally goes to hell to save an innocent woman accused of witchcraft (the first thing he meets is a lion - how does he eat?). Logic and consistency are never allowed to stand in the way of advancing the plot. If you demand things in movies like believability or halfway decent acting, these are not for you. Otherwise, enjoy. The DVD is loaded with tons of tongue in cheek extras but no commentary - you get to supply that on your own. This has "MST3K fodder" written all over it.

Hercules Against the Moon Men + Hercules Unchained

Average customer rating:

Hercules Against the Moon Men + Hercules Unchained

Manufacturer: East West Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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2 Feature Films
All Regions DVD

ASIN: B000K60FW2

Product Description

Two Hercules movies on one DVD. HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN is set in ancient Greece where Hercules (Alan Steel) battles a race of evil aliens from the moon. In HERCULES UNCHAINED while en route to Thebes for an important diplomatic mission, Hercules drinks from a magic spring and loses his memory.

Average customer rating:

Strange movie...musta be the "French" half of the "Italo-French Production"

Hercules Against the Moon Men

Manufacturer: Digiview
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Hercules
Hercules Unchained
Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules

ASIN: B0008029XI

Product Description

Big muscled Alan Steele plays Herc' in this classic remastered DVD in which the title tells all. Herc' battles evil moon men in tin foil suits, (that alone is worth the view, ha !) topple terrifying stone men, confront pulsing orbs (hey, what's this rated ? ha !) and (get this one...) ward off the dangerous advances of a volupuous femme fatale. (such problems Herc' must be faced with, I've got to go view this now. ha !)

Customer Reviews:

Strange movie...musta be the "French" half of the "Italo-French Production".......2006-05-05

I confess, I must have missed the ancient Greek myth of Hercules battles with space aliens and rock monsters in elementary school. Then again, my public school education afforded me little but molding the degenerate before you today from the brattiest of clay. I wear my badge well. Herc, portrayed here by Alan Steele, is summoned to stop the teenage sacrifices the alien of the magic mountain demands. Is it my imagination, or is that alien's chest so disproportionately large that he's hiding some huge tatas under there? Anyway, Hercules falls into one of those Chinese water traps, fights a shaggy green monster who looks suspiciously like a man in a rubber suit, endures a sandstorm that seems the length of the plantation scene in Apocalypse Now, kills the alien and rides off with the girl. Nuff said. For fans of the Hercules series (what is there, 20 of them? Films, not fans) only. Mine came in the ever recommended Tree Line 50 Sci-Fi films pack. Hercules isn't science fiction, but what the hey, there is an alien. I'll give it a pass.