Halloween week continues here at PEPLUM TV
Today in Halloween week: GOLIATH & THE VAMPIRES (1961) starring Gordon Scott, Leonara Ruffo, Jacques Sernas and Gianna Maria Canale. Directed by Giacomo Gentilomo, and Sergio Corbucci.
Goliath (Gordon Scott) is about to crush Kobrak's deadly army
This action packed movie starts with a village pillaged by evil soldiers who kidnap all the young women. The leader of these masked soldiers in Amahil (Van Aikens) brings the women to Ciro, who is controlled by Kobrak, the evil supernatural monster in need of blood. The main villain is Kobrak but helping him with his evil plans is Astra (Gianna Maria Canale), Kobrak's foot soldier.
After many tasks, Goliath escapes the clutches of King Ciro with his wife Guja by horse only to end up in the kingdom of the mysterious men in blue, with Kurtik (Jacques Sernas) as their leader. Because of meddling by Astra, Guja ends up in the hands of Kobrak. It's up to Goliath to defeat the monster, who takes the form of Goliath, culminating in a fight between Goliath vs Goliath.
The first 45 minutes moves at an amazing speed. It's almost nonstop action. It slows down a bit in the second half but the pitfalls Goliath has to overcome do not diminish. There are some really violence scenes in this movie directed by Giacomo Gentilomo and Sergio Corbucci. There was some sort of problem between Gentilomo and the producers and Sergio had to step in. The sudden shift in tone seen in the movie shows when things changed. Which one was responsible for the action packed first half and the more atmospheric second half? Since Gentilomo directed the action-packed HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (profiled yesterday), I suspect the first half was directed by Gentilomo. This doesn't diminish the fun to be had when watching this PEPLUM / Horror. The fight between Goliath at the end is a classic.
After many tasks, Goliath escapes the clutches of King Ciro with his wife Guja by horse only to end up in the kingdom of the mysterious men in blue, with Kurtik (Jacques Sernas) as their leader. Because of meddling by Astra, Guja ends up in the hands of Kobrak. It's up to Goliath to defeat the monster, who takes the form of Goliath, culminating in a fight between Goliath vs Goliath.
The first 45 minutes moves at an amazing speed. It's almost nonstop action. It slows down a bit in the second half but the pitfalls Goliath has to overcome do not diminish. There are some really violence scenes in this movie directed by Giacomo Gentilomo and Sergio Corbucci. There was some sort of problem between Gentilomo and the producers and Sergio had to step in. The sudden shift in tone seen in the movie shows when things changed. Which one was responsible for the action packed first half and the more atmospheric second half? Since Gentilomo directed the action-packed HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (profiled yesterday), I suspect the first half was directed by Gentilomo. This doesn't diminish the fun to be had when watching this PEPLUM / Horror. The fight between Goliath at the end is a classic.
Astra (Gianna Maria Canale) summons Kobrak.
Astra (Canale) tries to seduce Goliath (Scott)
Amahil (Van Aikens) hands a goblet filled with blood to Kobrak
Guja (Leonora Ruffo) is subject to the cruel control of Astra (Canale)
Goliath (Gordon Scott) brings down the surroundings to destroy and defeat the 'vampires'
The mask comes off: Kobrak impersonating Goliath (an uncredited Giovanni Cianfriglia)
Guja (Leonora Ruffo) is subject to the cruel control of Astra (Canale)
Another favorite peplum, and one of my favorite fantasy movies of all time! I saw this one a loooong time ago on Swedish VHS. I can't recall what it was called over here, but I think Goliath / Maciste was referred to as Samson in the translation.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see a good copy of this. There were some subpar ones on YouTube, but even they are gone.
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence, Kino Lorber just announced a Blu-ray of this film for 2020, based on a 4k remaster from StudioCanal!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=25961
Richard, I have yet to see any copy with the title as Samson
ReplyDeleteTim, I uploaded to Youtube and it was there for years and it was pulled for copyright issues. I believe they did this because of the upcoming blu-ray release.
A blue-ray release of this is great news. Hopefully, it will be uncut. I wonder why Samson instead of Goliath? Maybe it's due to rights.
I just checked -The movie is currently referred to as Samson vs the Vampires on IMDb. Maybe that's the current official title as defined by the upcoming blu-ray?
ReplyDeleteThe Swedish VHS I watched way back in the early 1980's (my first encounter with this movie) might actually have been a Danish edition to begin with. It was spoken English with Swedish subtitles (since we have hardly ever dubbed movies for an adult audience). It means that the character would've been named Goliath in the dialogue, but the title as I recall it included the name Samson, or rather Simson, as that's the Swedish name of the Biblical hero.
It's a long time ago, but my movie-damaged brain usually stores minute details like that for ages and ages.
Maybe we'll see a great copy from the Bluray.
ReplyDeleteStill pissed they pulled down your upload of The Bacchantes.
Tim, I tried to upload it again and several copyright issues stop me from uploading it again
ReplyDelete