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Actors
Bartolomeo Pagano
Franz Sala
Elena Sangro
Lucia Zanussi
Umberto Guarracino
Domenico Serra
Pauline Polaire

Director	IMDB Rating
Guido Brignone	6.9 out of 10 (188 votes)

Year	1925

Available Quality	DivX

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699 MiB

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Plot Summary:

The devil takes Maciste down to hell in an attempt to corrupt and ruin his morality.

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Boba_Fett1138

19 May 2012

The best known movie out of the Maciste franchise.

Out of all the popular and long running Maciste franchise, this hasalways been the one that got the most attention and appreciation, evennow days.I have not seen most of the other old Maciste movies, because they arebasically impossible to get or view in any way now days, so I can'treally comment on how this movie fits within its long running series ofItalian shorts. Seems to me that every movie is different and does notonly pick a different story but also tone and environment. This timethe movie is really being like an horror, from the 1920's and has avery dark and moody atmosphere.It's a movie that really reminded me of a lot of other great horrormovies from its time. It mostly reminded me of the Germanexpressionistic "Faust", by F.W. Murnau. I'm not saying that it's arip-off in any way though and that's not even possible, consideringthat this movie got released actually one year earlier than "Faust". Itjust breaths the same sort of atmosphere and has even a bit of asimilar story and characters in it.The movie already started off wonderfully and I liked the story butthen the movie even becomes better, once Maciste enters the gates ofhell. The devil (or Pluto as he is called in this movie. It's anItalian movie after all) plays around with Maciste but he of course isnot a person to be fooled with and soon declares war on the devilhimself.It's a real visual movie. Especially the hell-world got wonderfullycreated, with large sets and impressive looking make-up and costumes.The movie also uses a lot of early effects for some of the movie itsevil magic, which is all good looking and impressive really.A real great and wonderful looking Maciste movie.9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Steve Nyland

19 May 2012

Staggering.

This is one of the most amazing films I have ever seen. The scope ofit's storytelling is nothing short of biblical, and I am not referringto the plot but to the size of the film. This movie was bigger than allthree of the PETER JACKSON'S JRR TOLKEIN'S THE LORD OF THE RINGS: AFILM BY PETER JACKSON DIRECTED BY PETER JACKSON movies combined, whenproportions to era are taken into consideration. It dwarfs pretty muchanything you can think of and the only comparison I can make would bemaybe cross BIRTH OF A NATION with Hieronymous Bosch's "Garden ofEarthy Delights" triptych and throw in ample amounts of that brown acidthe Pigman was warning everyone about on the WOODSTOCK soundtrack.Even then it doesn't do justice to the scale of the film: Individualhumans seem puny or insignificant compared to the immense sets,brimming with contorted and writhing forms of the damned, confined tohell for all eternity as if it was some huge mosh pit at a GWARconcert. As one contributor has already stated it has little in commonwith the "Maciste" muscle-man films of the Italian Peplum rage of 1960- 1964 or so. Other than our hero goes around righting wrongs, fightingfor the freedom of the innocent, and making all the evil, reptilianshe-hellions swoon. Here he is a modern man in a vested suit but theeffect is no different once the film switches gear at about the twentyminute mark when Maciste is literally thrown into the bowels of Hades,and it is not a pretty place.Every last cultural form that has been attributed to Lucifer,Mephistopholes, Satan or the Devil finds manifestation in this film,and certain scenes do indeed appear to have been directly inspired bythe visual work of classical artists like Bosh, Blake, Goya and Titian.Out of nowhere come dragons, devil men carrying pitchforks, a giantSaturn devouring his children, horned beasts of every shape &description, and a cast of thousands undulating in a sparking, smoking,simmering vision of hell that would even scare Osama Bin Laden out ofhis cave. Screw dropping bombs on Afganistan, bombard the bastards withvideos and DVDs of this movie. They'll surrender inside of a week afterseeing what fate awaits them as Legions of the Damned.As for videos and DVDs, sadly the most common version of this moviecurrently available is a VHS sourced DVD print of the 65 minute Englishpaneled version, with an arbitrary classical music score tacked on butsome genuinely compelling hand tinting to the Hades segments. It is themost frenzied, out of control silent film I have ever seen: HAXAN isdreamily sonorous compared to the brimstone and riotous clamor of thismovie. Some of the beginning passages have the kind of over-dramaticacting one usually associates with silent movies -- complete with asquad of mustachioed Mephistopholes' -- but once it shifts undergroundevery scene is depicted with a kind of visual authority that willindeed take modern day viewers by surprise. It is a staggering moviefilled with some of the most outrageous visuals ever filmed, and is 81years old. Holy Moses.10/10, and that's just for the chopped 65 minute version. Just amazing.

tom_bombadillo-1

09 May 2012

One of the Greatest Fanties Ever Made

The themes of hell, Satan, and other demonic entities as a source ofentertainment have always been met with controversy. "Maciste in Hell"certainly has had its share after having met its audiences with imagesof scantly clad women, devils, demons, and even what I believe to beone of the first decapitions to be portrayed on film. Aside from allthe uproar however, this movie also excelled in its use of specialeffects. It featured animatronics, stop motion, and costume design. Outof all the movies that make one wonder as to how "they did it?", thisfilm is at the top of my list. I definitely recommend watching itwhether you like silent films or not. It's certainly worth a watch.

MARIO GAUCI

08 May 2012

MACISTE IN HELL (Guido Brignone, 1925) **1/2

Since I was going through some of the low-brow Italian peplums of the50s and 60s over the Easter period, I decided to watch this Silent epic(also made in Italy) simultaneously. However, it turned out to notreally be a peplum after all Â despite the muscular title character(protagonist of a long-running series of films and, here, somewhatincongruously sporting modern attire Â including a suit and tie!) andthe fact that the Italians had actually pioneered the religious epicgenre during the Silent era! That said, I guess I should have knownsince I had already watched Riccardo Freda's colorful but disappointing1962 semi-remake (actually set against a 17th Century Puritan backdrop)but, there at least, Maciste is still somehow fitted with thetraditional loinclothÂ Anyway, to get to the movie itself: since I hadn't previously watchedany of the Silent Italian epics, I didn't quite know how well it wouldhave worn the passage of time but, surprisingly, I was left reasonablyimpressed by the visual splendor of the production which often evokedmedieval paintings Â particularly in its hellish sequences. In fact, asI watched the film, I was most reminded Â as had been another viewerwriting on the IMDb Â of Benjamin Christensen's HAXAN (1922) and F.W.Murnau's FAUST (1926) which, I'm sure you'll agree, is high praiseindeed for a film of this kind! Besides, the human form taken by thedevil Barbariccia (literally "Curlybeard") and his minions evokesmemories of Scapinelli, the Mephistophelean figure of "The Student OfPrague" (a German folk-tale filmed twice, at least, during the Silentera)Â The plot of the film proper Â Maciste is apparently a do-gooder whoseactivities are giving Hell a bad name, so a devil is sent to Earth inorder to tempt him; somehow, the former ends up in the underworld and,giving in to the affections of some devilish sirens, is himself turnedinto a hellish creatureÂuntil saved by a child's prayer on ChristmasEve! Â is quaint yet curiously effective, especially given the myriadunconvincing-looking demons Maciste has to face; at one point, there'seven a revolt (never fully explained, at least in the 66-minute print Iwatched) against Barbariccia's dominion in Hell Â which is aninteresting way of saying that petty jealousies and machinations, thecause of so much evil on Earth, are present in the afterlife as well! I don't recall the 1962 film enough to make comparisons, except to saythat it was an unintentional laugh-riot, but also that the plot of thelater version is quite different Â as it involves a reanimated witchwho had been burned at the stake (in fact, it was called THE WITCH'SCURSE in the U.S.); I know, however, that I enjoyed the 'original' agood deal and am certainly interested now in seeking out more Silentspectacles from Italy Â L'INFERNO (1911), THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII(1913), CABIRIA (1914), etc.Â

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