Rosalba looking all regal and menacing in Giorgio Ferroni’s Hercules vs. The Molock (Ercole contro Molock 1963). A better then average peplum that has her playing the evil Queen Demeter of Mycenae who forces conquered neighboring kingdoms to worship her disfigured son Moloch as a god (who wears a mask that looks like a dog) by sacrificing maidens to him. Ex-Tarzan Gordon Scott plays Hercules/Glacus who allows himself to be captured as a slave to infiltrate Mycenae to hopefully overthrow Demeter and destroy Moloch.
Thanks to some borrowed battle footage from 1961's The Trojan Horse, Hercules vs. the Moloch has a really epic look to it. The customs and set design are all better then average and the story has all sorts of interesting things lurking below the surface - especially with Rosalba's portrayal of Demeter. There's some hinted at incestuous stuff and she channels a truly evil step-mother thing right out of Snow White.
Molock's cavern is a riot of pulsating colored lights with his hand maidens banging away on bongos and gyrating wildly away as the female sacrifices are led into him. Tim Lucas of Video Watchdog believes that Mario Bava might have worked on this uncredited (and he ought know). Any one really wanting to check out some info the whole peplum genre should check out the excellent Peplum Cinema blog.
Always enjoy these posts! I have often debated a weekly series like this.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Just got back from vacation - can't wait to get posting again !
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