Hercules vs. the Moon Men

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Hercules vs. the Moon Men
A promotional film poster for "Hercules Vs. the Moonmen."
Directed by	Giacomo Gentilomo
Produced by	Luigi Mondello
Written by	Giacomo Gentilomo Angelo Sangermano Arpad DeRiso Nino Scolaro
Starring	Sergio Ciani Jany Clair Anna Maria Polani
Music by	Carlo Franci
Cinematography	Oberdan Troiani
Distributed by	Governor Films Inc.
Release date(s)	27 June 1964
Running time	90 min
Country	France  Italy
Language	Italian
Preceded by	Labors of Hercules
IMDb profile

Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964) is an Italian/French sword and sandal film. It was directed by Giacomo Gentilomo and starred Alan Steel (real name Sergio Ciani) and Jany Clair. The film runs for 90 minutes and is dubbed. It was also shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000, making it infamous for its "Deep Hurting" Sequence (the very long sandstorm sequence). This sequence involved many of the cast floundering around pointlessly in a sandstorm for upwards of five minutes of screen time, in which no plot movement or character development is made at all.

In ancient Greece a race of evil aliens from the moon land on earth. For years they've terrorized the nearby city of Samar, demanding children for sacrifice. Now, the queen of Samar has made a pact with the moon men to conquer the world and become the most powerful woman alive. However, the residents of Samar, sick of all the chaos, cheer when the mighty Hercules shows up to put a stop to it all.

Strangely, the film "blends" elements from a number of mythologies. Roman, Greek, Ancient Eygptian and Cretan elements are all thrown in.

In the original Italian language version, the hero was not Hercules but Maciste, and its original Italian title was Maciste e la regina di Samar (Maciste and the Queen of Samar). Its French title was Maciste contre les hommes de pierre (a rough translation would be Maciste vs. the Stone Men), but the English distributors dubbed him to be Hercules, because Maciste, originally a hero in silent Italian cinema, was not well-known to American audiences.

[edit] Alternative Titles

• "Hercules Against the Moon Men" (USA)
• Hercules and the Queen of Samar (literal translation of Italian title)
• Maciste vs. the Moon Men (International: English title)
• Maciste e la regina di Samar (Italian title)
• Maciste contre les hommes de pierre (French title)
• Maciste et la reine de Samar (French title)

[edit] DVD Releases

• The film has received numerous 'bargain box' releases from various studios.
• The MST3K version of the film was released by Rhino Home Video as part of the 'Collection, Volume 7' box set.