kevin olzak 1961's "Goliath and the Vampires" marked the transitional period when Gordon Scott left the Tarzan series (six films) for the Italian 'peplum' series, which began with the 1957 "Hercules," featuring Steve Reeves in the title role. The connection is made even clearer by the sultry presence of "Hercules" actress Gianna Maria Canale, here cast as the evil one's consort, as well as an uncredited appearance from Reeves himself, for the bravura finale pitting one Goliath against another. Gianna has quite an edge over Leonora Ruffo, just as lifeless in similar hapless heroine mode in Mario Bava's "Hercules in the Haunted World," which followed this release in Italy by three months, boasting a villain essayed by Christopher Lee. While not as fanciful as the masterful Bava's take, this remains one of the finest examples of the muscleman entries, the barrel chested Scott already a veteran actor capable of greater emotion than most, and an excellent man of action performing his own stunts (called 'Maciste' in the original Italian version). The opening raid on Goliath's village features an arrow through the eye, and the women kidnapped to supply blood for a fiendish creature known as Kobrak, the sole 'vampire' on display, more a hideous sorcerer who appears transparent at will, at other times corporeal when slashing its victims' throats. In fact, there are no guarantees for any of the good guys save Goliath, and no obvious comic relief (unlike one painful character in Bava's feature), making for a stronger dramatic take filled with plentiful action. Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater aired this title on three occasions from 1968-73 (simply titled "The Vampires"), coupled with Larry Buchanan's "Curse of the Swamp Creature" (twice!) and the Japanese Gamera entry "Destroy All Planets," offering up other peplums like Gordon Mitchell's "The Giant of Metropolis" and John Drew Barrymore's "War of the Zombies."

dinky-4 Introducing non-traditional elements into the standard sword-and-sandal formula can be risky. The results often collapse into confusion and absurdity. Here, however, the merging of horror-movie with mythic- strongman motifs results in a "peplum" which stands a notch or two above its competitors. There are, of course, the standard but always-welcome virtues: a lively brawl in a town square and again in a tavern, a hoochy-koochy dance number inside the Sultan's palace, a beefcake-bondage scene in which our sweaty, bare-chested hero struggles with a wooden yoke bound across his brawny shoulders and outstretched arms, etc. Then there are the spooky, supernatural vampire elements -- not as hokey as you'd fear -- and a memorable fight which pits our hero against none other than his clone. Thrown in for good measure is an ear-drum torture scene carried out inside a giant bell which conjures up memories of similar moments in MGM's "The Mask of Fu Manchu" and Rory Calhoun's "Colossus of Rhodes." Finally, a word of approval must be given to this movie's refusal to use the boy, Ciro, for the comic relief usually provided by those annoying Italian midgets.There are, not surprisingly, weaknesses. Leonora Ruffo isn't given much to do as the heroine and, as a result, seems pale, lifeless, and forgettable, especially when compared to the vibrant, dark-haired "bad girl," Gianna Maria Canale. Secondly, the role of the Sultan is so poorly developed that the political situation inside Salmanak remains needlessly muddled. What's more, not enough is done with the character played by Jacques Sernas -- somewhat surprising considering Sernas' star-power.Assets clearly outweigh detriments, however, and towering over everything is the impressive figure of Gordon Scott, an underrated screen presence who was somehow more than just a glorious physique.

Skragg This is probably the first "Peplum" movie I ever saw, so I'm pretty biased about it, but even considering that, it's very entertaining. As one reviewer on another site points out, it's a revenge story (an unusual thing for this category of film), and one that's surprisingly violent at the beginning. And also that the requisite little kid sidekick isn't squeezed edgewise into scenes, but used in a pretty clever way. Along with that, it has plenty of good "formula" things - the harem girls, a pretty good supernatural monster, a "villainess" (albeit the kind who changes sides - I prefer the "unrepentant" kind), and (as many posters have pointed out) the "Blue Man Group." Gordon Scott always fit so easily into these movies (I might be the only one on earth who thinks that "Danger : Deathray" is okay, thanks largely to him), as did the Italian actors in this one.

noahax I don't know what possessed me to pick up this movie from the video store, but it turned out to be an interesting, and enjoyable, flick. I think I would have enjoyed it much more, if the video transfer hadn't been of such poor quality. This otherwise routine sword-and-sandal film is livened up the truly bizarre villain and some excellent music. One tune in particular, which plays while a slave girl dances, wouldn't sound out of place on a Ventures album, or a compilation of surf tunes.The story concerns Goliath's attempt to rescue the women of his village who were kidnapped as part of a diabolical scheme by the wizard Kobrak. The villain wants to use their blood to power his army of robots. (In this movie, robots run on human blood.) In the final scene, Kobrak changes into Goliath's shape. Goliath must then do battle with himself.