By the Gods!

Piotr Stanislas plays Nero in NERO & POPPEA - AN ORGY OF POWER (1982; Nerone e Poppea)

Written and directed by sleazemeister Bruno Mattei, this entry in the CALIGULA-style debauched PEPLUM movies of the 1970s and 80s is not as famous as other titles but that doesn't mean it's not as sleazy as the others. With murder, orgies, incest, lesbian sex, torture, the burning of Rome, a gruesome castration scene, this low budget epic is not lacking of things questionable. The movie is filled with stock footage from other big PEPLUM films of the the Golden Era including GOLIATH AGAINST THE GIANTS (1961) and THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1959), which is always fun to watch with spotting famous actors of the genre make a quick appearance during these scenes. The sets are sorta cheap looking and the acting is negligible even though Stanislas as Nero is interesting. In one scene, he's shown fully nude. There is a story here but I doubt anyone will be paying attention to it. The best thing about the movie is the dubbed dialogue. I have to admit some of it was clever.

"What a shame your head contained the ambitious idea that you can stand in my way!" Agrippina says to the decapitated head of a woman she ordered to be killed.

That line made me lol. Was it originally written this way or the dubbing enhanced it? I dunno. BTW, the voice actors are the same voice actors who worked on PEPLUM movies of the 1950s and 1960s. It's a trip to hear those voices say lurid stuff.

The score is good but the loud dubbing drowns it out. Piotr Stanislaw was credited as Rudy Adams. And in the top photo, on the left of Stanislaw is Vladimir Brajovic, who played Caligula in CALIGULA AND MESSALINA (1981), another Mattei sleazefest. The IMDb listing for this movie is confusing. Since this movie is filled with questionable acts, only recommended to those who aren't easily offended. These movies are a genre unto itself.

Nero lovingly torments his brother, Britannicus (an actor who's not credited)