Leofwine_draca Possibly one of the cheapest peplums ever made, this low-budget epic is not totally without merit, although it does get pretty bad at times. Thankfully, instead of being so-bad-it's-boring, this is a so-bad-it's-funny kind of film which is pretty enjoyable to watch, even if the film itself fails to hold up as an effective slice of escapism as many of the pepla were. The story, which is simple and confusing at the same time, inter-cuts footage of the gods in a dry-ice temple in heaven arguing and discussing things with more standard sword-and-sandal action down on earth.Our first introduction to Vulcan is when we see him banging away on his anvil. The sexist Vulcan is played by Rod Flash, who never became a peplum star for obvious reasons. Physically he's very impressive, however, with an impossibly broad chest and a Steve Reeves-style beard. Sadly, Flash's acting is non-existent, and his acting style is the most wooden that I've ever witnessed in a peplum movie. It's so bad as to be cringe-worthy. Flash fights people by beating them over the back or throwing them around unconvincingly, so in the action scenes he's not too good either. Thankfully the supporting cast are more interesting.Vulcan's major opponent is Mars, played by Roger Browne (The Incredible Paris Incident). Browne in comparison is small and lithe, making the protracted battle of the pair at the end of the film a bit unnecessary. Still, he makes for a nice baddie, pairing up with an angry bald warrior king who looks like a cross between Peter Lorre and Telly Savalas. The pair are fighting over the love of Venus, an incredibly floozy who drapes herself over any man nearby; obviously the Italian's idea of the Goddess of Love is as a flirty, shallow, blonde bimbo woman! Appearing as a "special guest star" is none other than peplum favourite Gordon Mitchell as the evil Pluto, who is criminally under-used in this film. Appearing in only a handful of scenes, all he does is stand around, laugh, and occasionally act. In the end he gets banished back to his own kingdom by Jupiter - huh? Thankfully, the love interest (not Venus but Etna, a slave girl) is played by Bella Cortez, whose incredible figure is highlighted in the number of skimpy costumes that she wears; her exotic dancing is one of the film's highlights.From the moment a lightning bolt appears, having been scratched manually on to the film, you're made aware that the special effects aren't up to much. In fact the only other "effects" (if you can call them such) are of the lizard men, obviously just green-painted actors with bad rubber covers tied to their backs. I mean, no attempt has gone into them to make them even look halfway realistic and not like actors, but there you go. What can you do when you don't have a budget? Other highlights include a scene where the delectable Cortez is attacked by primitives in a mountainous valley (probably the film's only good bit of action) and a cat fight between Venus and Etna, with the pair whipping each other!! Sadly these scenes are countered by the presence of a (very) annoying dwarf character who acts as an unwanted comedy sidekick for Vulcan. He does things like disguise himself as a bush and push people over and is one of the most irritating characters in a peplum movie ever. So, finally, VULCAN, SON OF JUPITER is worthwhile only for bad movie fans who may get a kick out of Flash's wimpish hero, or undemanding movie viewers who may get a kick out of grown men hitting each other with lumps of wood. The choice is yours.

MARIO GAUCI This is now my fourth encounter with a movie involving Italian film-maker Emimmo Salvi – 2 of which proved positive but the remainder were not; consequently, I cannot say that I am looking forward to catch up with a fifth title...which is bound to be the Spaghetti Western, WANTED JOHNNY Texas (1967)! Anyway, the film under review is yet another peplum dealing with mythological Greek gods and must surely rank as one of the weirdest ever made – sometimes breaching a level of awfulness that almost equals the one displayed by Luigi Cozzi's more inventive HERCULES revamps of the 1980s! Rod Flash (a pseudonym for Iloosh Khoshabe!) plays the titular blacksmith (the Roman god of fire) forging weapons for the likes of Achilles in the Olympian foundry who is improbably involved in a divine love triangle with the nymphomaniac Venus (played by Annie Gorassini being, quite evidently, the Roman goddess of love!; her initial tryst with Adonis is summarily ended by a lightning bolt thrown by an angered Jupiter!) and Mars (for being the Roman god of war and impersonated by future "Argoman" Roger Browne, he is pretty ineffectual in combat and has to seek the help of humans to reach his vengeful ambitions!). The ensuing struggle angers the king of gods, Jupiter (the Roman equivalent of the Greek almighty, Zeus) who sends them all to sort out their romantic issues on Earth! Lamely, despite all manner of wild-eyed characters and wild creatures, the conflict is finally resolved by Jupiter's anti-climactic vocal admonishment from the skies after all! For what it is worth, among the other inhabitants on Mount Olympus that put in an incidental appearance here are Pluto (incarnated by Salvi regular Gordon Mitchell and prone as ever to maniacal cackling!) and Mercury (played by character actor Isarco Ravaioli).On the earthly side of the fence, Vulcan is abetted by Bella Cortez (playing his new love interest Aetna and the protagonist of a surprisingly sensual dance routine that for once justifies these normally terminally bland additions to the peplum stew), a pony-riding dwarf (ingenious or what?) and a sleepy-eyed Neptune and his Morlock-like minions! Hindering his progress, so to speak, are a Thracian warlord (who is somehow convinced by Mars to build a tower all the way up to Olympus with the intent of besieging it!) and his awfully silly-looking fanged lizard men!! This unheralded and (mostly unintentionally) enjoyable viewing came by way of a very battered, highly washed-out English-dubbed print available on a "You Tube" channel dedicated to this most maligned of film subgenres.

julianbristow-2 This is basically a poorly dubbed Italian B story about ancient Greek mythology with Roger Browne as Mars and Rod Flash (stage moniker for Iloosh Kooshabe) in the part of Vulcan. What makes this movie so funny is not the story but the costumes (like plastic skirts,and diapers sparkling silver boots that would make Liberache and Mario Bava envious). Put all of this together with an absolutely ludicrous fight scene, and you have Vulcan, Son of Jupiter. It's difficult to put this into words. You would have to see the movie to get what I'm saying. This is a very rare film and the only copy I could find was inside of the "50 movie warriors DVD pack" available at Amazon. I gave this movie a rating of 10 because it was so bad it was good! If your that type of person who enjoys terrible movies, this is the film for you!

SanFernandoCurt For folks who have no lives and avoid deep thinking, the sweaty Italian beefcake films of the late '50s/early '60s rank right up there with the Japanese "Godzilla" series and Mexican masked-wrestler epics as the ultimate in brainless entertainment. I'm not alone in this conclusion: Studies from Bulgaria in the 1970s provide the proof. They've got the data; let's not argue.If you hanker for bad dubbing, rotten special effects, and ridiculous plot lines, this genre is your meat. Universally, they feature poorly staged action scenes - always a bad sign in action movies - and richly saturated color that jumps off the screen and toys sadistically with human eyeballs."Vulcan, Son of Jupiter" is a better-than-usual entry for one simple reason: There are a lot of half-naked women running around, too. Set in Bronze Age Greece, it details a war among the gods of Olympus over who's gonna snag the tail of Venus. Or Aphrodite - can't remember exactly; she's the Goddess of Love, anyway. There's fighting, infighting, scheming and a very brave midget. Chariots... yelling. Y'know.It stars a guy named Rod Flash. Of course, that's his real name... And I'm Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. Doesn't matter. He's got a bod that could sell a whooole lotta Blueboy subscriptions. In fact, I wonder how these guys manage stay so oily. Was there a pec-lubrication specialist on the set?One bright spot is a beguiling showgirl-style dance by the astoundingly sexy Bella Cortez. Could any other woman so mesmerize with the gemstone jiggling in her navel? Whatever happened to this beautiful Cuban actress? At the end of her dance, the god Mercury shows up and tugs playfully at a jewel on her scanty costume; the quick gesture leaves a strangely potent erotic jolt.Interestingly, most of the over-the-hill bodybuilders in peplum were Americans who hung out at Gold's Gym in Santa Monica. Gordon Scott actually had a brief Hollywood career - as the first Technicolor Tarzan. Steve Reeves was... well... he was in a Ed Wood film in the mid-'50s. Gordon Mitchell, who's in "Vulcan" and was a kind of poor man's Charlton Heston, was the best actor of the lot, with a career mostly in Italy lasting until the early 2000s (He played the catamite-hungry gladiator in Fellini's "Satyricon").