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Lack of good storyline.

Fresh and Exciting

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules (1962) ** (out of 4)Maciste (Reg Lewis), the son of Hercules, is wondering around when he runs into two members of a tribe that worships the Sun. They are being attacked by large fire breathing monster so Maciste kills it. Flash forward and the Moon worshipers are starting to kidnap the women from the Sun tribe so they go to Maciste for help.FIRE MONSTERS AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES, the American title of this Italian movie, isn't a film that is meant to be taken serious. Outside of the Mario Bava film HERCULES IN A HAUNTED WORLD, this is the first in the series that I've seen and from the start I couldn't help but think of the Toho Godzilla series with the poor dubbing and rather silly special effects. Of course, I'm sure many people would say the only way to fully enjoy this or even judge it is by watching the original Italian cut but I don't have that available.As far as this American edit goes, I thought it was actually entertaining as long as you don't expect too much from it. The performances are pretty much what they are and it's certainly hard to judge them with the atrocious accents and dubbing. Poor Maciste appears to be dubbed by someone simply holding their breathe. The film does contain quite a bit of action, which helps keep it move at a nice pace and it's certainly never boring.As for the title monster, it's a real doozy and appears to have been made from supplied bought at a dollar store. Yes, it looks incredibly cheap and silly but it somewhat adds to the charm.

The monster barely puts in a cameo in this half gladiator/half cave man film where the good guys are all blondes and the villains all brunettes. What does exist of the Hydra (Fire Monster) is one of the silliest looking creatures in cinema history that looks like a monster face painted on somebody's index finger with the camera up real close to try and fool its audience. The rest of the film (following a "Blob" like theme song obviously added to the American release print) mainly surrounds the alleged son of Hercules (named Maciste) stepping in to save the day as he battles the dark-haired villains to free the light haired captured slaves after they've been conquered. While some of the action sequences are actually pretty intense, this is as forgettable as gladiator movies can get.

Forget the papier mache monsters and the terrible costumes of the cast. Feast your eyes on Mae West's favorite muscle hunk--Reg Lewis--in his only foray into the explosion of muscle men movies made in Italy during the early 60s. Lewis had a glorious, muscled body that was full and sensuous. Beautifully portioned, there was nothing lean or overly chiseled on this Adonis. With his hair bleached blonde, this enhanced his sexy personae and his mouth was both cynical and humorous. I loved the brief, hip-baring loincloth he wore since nearly all the musclemen from that area kept their loin clothes securely wrapped around their waists. Lewis exuded a raw masculinity, especially when he's with his heroine, who wastes no time climbing into those brawney arms for a deep kiss. No wonder Mae West was nuts about him. My only complaint is there's not enough of Lewis since so much of the film is devoted between the battles of two warring tribes, neither of whom boasts any hot looking hunks. In fact, I think they were chosen for their flat chested looks so that Lewis would appear heroic in comparison and that he does in spades. Perhaps Lewis was dismayed by the very low budget of this movie and the rubber hydra they devised for his mighty battle underwater. We can only wish Italian producers had found something worthy to showcase his sexy torso like they did with Steve Reeves in "Giant of Marathon" in which he appears nearly naked in most of this vastly entertaining swords and sandals epic.

Can't get the theme song out of my mind! The monster in the lake was pretty good, probably took up most of the budget, and if it had been featured more, say wreaking havoc among the two ice age tribes and having an apocalyptic fight with the toothy hero amid exploding volcanoes, hurtling moons and collapsing ice cliffs, it would have been a decent club-and-sandal flick. But it got killed after just a few minutes, spear thrown through the eye from almost the next county...ouch! The other monsters would have seemed more lame had it not been for the human actors...made even paper mache look good.But it's set in the Ice Age, which makes it pretty unique for these types of movies, so a little more interesting than it would have been otherwise. It would make a nice Friday night double feature with "Goliath and the Dragon" if you had some pizza and beer.