Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964) + The Witch's Curse (1962)

Original title: Maciste e la Regina di Samar

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Alan Steel, Jany Clair & Anna Maria Polani. Directed by Giacomo Gentilomo.

DVD: Something Weird (USA). English dubbed. Widescreen. Good quality. This DVD also includes a low quality, fullscreen, shortened US version of Freda's fantastic horror-peplum The Witch's Curse.

Wonderful, mega-cheezy sci-fi/peplum classic! Leave all your pretentions at the door and enjoy the silly ride! (it would take almost 20 years before someone managed to top this one in good-natured, naive silly fun: that one being sci-fi-nerd-turned-director Luigi Cozzi and his adorable little films Starcrash and Hercules I & II) 4/5

Samson (1961)

Original title: Sansone

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Brad Harris, Alan Steel, Serge Gainsbourg, Luisella Boni, Carlo Tamberlani & Mara Berni. Directed by Gianfranco Parolini.

RHV (Italy). English/italian language options. Widescreen. Very good quality.

Brad Harris hero has no connection to the longhaired biblical except for the name in this pretty entertaining peplum. Watch out for Serge Gainsbourg as the weasly villian! 3/5

Giant of Marathon (1959)

Original title: La Battaglia di Maratona

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Steve Reeves, Mylène Demongeot, Daniela Rocca, Philippe Hersent, Alberto Lupo, Daniele Vargas & Alan Steel. Directed by Jacques Tourneur & Mario Bava.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Widescreen.

Brilliant peplum! 4/5

Hercules and the Black Pirate (1964)

Original title: Sansone Contro il Corsaro Nero

Peplum/Pirate yarn. Italy. Starring Alan Steel, Rosalba Neri, Piero Lulli & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Luigi Capuano.

DVD: Retromedia (USA). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Fun mixture of sword and sandal and pirate film. 3/5

Slaughter on the Khyber Pass (1970)

Original title: La Furia dei Khyber

Exotic adventure. Spain/Italy. Starring Peter Lee Lawrence, Alan Steel, Carlos Quiney, Antonio Mayans & Luis Barboo. Directed by José Luis Merino.

Videofilm AB (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Dry but enjoyable exotic adventure for us who can't get enough of teadrinking gentlemen and men in turbans. The lovely imperialists of the Honourable East India Company are pitted against the evil Kali whorshippers of the Khyber pass. 3/5

Robin Hood, Arrows, Beans and Karate (1976)

Original title: Storia di Arcieri, Pugni e Occhi Neri

Robin Hood/Comedy. Italy/Spain. Starring Alan Steel, Cris Huerta, Victoria Abril & Charly Bravo. Directed by Tonino Ricci.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Widescreen.

Alan Steel is the overaged Robin Hood in this incredibly daft slapstick adventure, yet another opportunistic cheapie by hack director Ricci. I was expecting the worst but ended up liking this film quite a bit, albeit purely as entertaining trash: just turn off your brain and enjoy the zany humour, kung fu (!) and Steel's wretched performance! Just call me an idiot. 3/5

Hercules and the Masked Rider (1963)

Original title: Golia e il Cavaliere Mascherato

Peplum/Zorro. Italy. Starring Alan Steel, Mimmo Palmara, Arturo Dominici, Ettore Manni & Sal Borgese. Directed by Piero Pierotti.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Widescreen. Very nice print, blows away the dutch EVC tape I had earlier!

Curious genre mixture between peplum and Zorro adventure. Actually the Goliath/Hercules (depending on which print you're watching) character plays second fiddle to the Zorro character, plus he's 100% gay (watch the ending if you don't believe me)! Highly entertaining, good- natured swashbuckling with a little muscleman action thrown in for good measure - what's not to like? 4/5

Hercules Against Rome (1964)

Original title: Ercole contro Roma

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Alan Steel, Wandisa Guida, Andrea Aureli, Daniele Vargas, Livio Lorenzon & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Piero Pierotti.

Video Screen (Holland). Italian with dutch subtitles. Fullscreen.

Samson and the Mighty Challange (1964)

Original title: Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus Gli Invincibili

Peplum/Comedy. Italy/Spain/France. Starring Alan Steel, Howard Ross, Nadir Moretti, Yann Larvor & Moira Orfei. Directed by Giorgio Capitani.

Key Video Productions (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

It's Hercules against Samson against Ursus against Maciste in this pretty funny comic peplum. 3/5