Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Truly Dreadful Film

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

One of my favorite low budget science fiction films is The Mole People with John Agar and Hugh Beaumont. This team of modern scientists discover an underground albino like people. That film must have inspired this uninspiring peplum epic, Mole Men Against The Son Of Hercules who in some countries is Maciste. Personally I think Hercules should have objected to the billing.One thing Mark Forest might have objected to, Hercules has a friend in Paul Wynter who's actually better built than him. I can't believe the producers let that one go.On his journeys Hercules comes upon a pretty barren countryside where a group of mysterious people make night raids, though mostly in the twilight of dawn, the better for cameras of surrounding villages, killing a few, but dragging the rest off as slaves. They can only operate above ground at night because they dry up and blow away just like The Mole People in the fire of Ishtar in that film.The albinos doing this are ruled by a Queen who doesn't quite have the pasty complexion they do. Of course there's an obvious reason for it, but no one in this film figures out until the very end.I will say this Paul Wynter is quite the total package, he's the best reason for watching Mole Men Against The Son Of Hercules.

"While traveling across the land, our hero Maciste finds the survivors of an attack by some strange warriors. The murderous attackers were all albinos that Maciste tracks to a hidden underground city. Looking to avenge the victims of the attacks, Maciste heads into the city under the surface to battle these strange underground dwellers," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. Dubbed "Mole Men against the Son of Hercules" for American consumption. Relatively speaking, this isn't too bad for a lower budgeted Italian "sword and sandal" epic. Bulging, muscular Mark Forest struts his Herculean form well. Queenly, voluptuous Moira Orfei will raise an eyebrow. Paul Wynter heralds some darker-skinned supporting players. And, Gianni Garko heads the clannish, white-cloaked "Mole Men", a vampire-like master race.**** Maciste, l'uomo piu forte del mondo (10/10/61) Antonio Leonviola ~ Mark Forest, Moira Orfei, Paul Wynter, Gianni Garko

The brave and mighty Maciste (brawny hunk Mark Forest) ventures underground into the kingdom of the Mole Men who capture humans and use them as slaves. The evil, yet beautiful Queen Alismoyab (gorgeously voluptuous brunette Moira Orfei) falls hard for Maciste. Naturally, Maciste rebuffs the Queen's advances and instead tries to free the slaves with the help of loyal companion Bangor (the equally muscular Paul Wynter). Boy, does this often uproariously terrible clunker possess all the right wrong stuff to rate highly as a real four-star stinkeroonie: we've got ham-fisted (mis)direction by Antonio Leonviola, erratic stop'n'go pacing, the mole men are played by a bunch of guys sporting pasty make-up and tacky white wigs, an utterly ridiculous Western-style theme song ballad, laughably cruddy dubbing, hopelessly stiff acting (special kudos here to Raffaella Carra as fair maiden Princess Saliura and Enrico Glori as wicked henchman Kahab), a bombastic score by Armando Trovajoli, clumsily staged action scenes, a cornball stentorian narrator, murky cinematography by Alvaro Mancori, and, of course, the inevitable last reel slave revolt. The picture earns bonus points for its inspired oddball touches: Maciste mixes it up with both a savage gorilla (some dude in an obvious ratty ape suit) and a bunch of ferocious lions, one unfortunate mole fellow disintegrates after being exposed to the sun's lethal rays, a godawful huge and deadly wheel contraption that the slaves are forced to push under threat of death, and Maciste being forced to hold up enormous slabs of stone that could crush his friends if he drops them. Moreover, Forest and Wynter make for a genuinely engaging beefcake duo. Entertainingly cheesy rubbish.

I have to say that MOLE MEN VS THE SON OF HERCULES is cheesy, the pacing is uneven (there are some really dull spots), the acting is nonexistent and the story doesn't make a lick of sense. Now that I got that out of the way, I have to add that if you're a fan of Peplums or a fan of bizarre movies, you must see this one! There are 4 or 5 unforgettable scenes or elements in it that are amazing and it's the reason why I've rated this 7 out of 10.The story concerns Maciste who gets involved with the mole men, a civilization which lives under the surface of the earth because the rays from the sun are deadly to them. One night, still on the surface of the earth, Maciste saves Bangor from the clutches of mole men. The two beefy men become friends and eventually decide to confront the underground enemy by letting themselves be kidnapped by them so they can be grouped with the slave population of the mole men and start up an uprising from within. The enslaved people are forced to work at a bizarre contraption that powers the whole underground civilization, which is ruled by an evil but beautiful queen. Maciste and Bangor are made to work at the MASSIVE wheel thing but eventually their presence causes a revolt and the whole underground civilization falls apart.Suffice it to say, the story is total nonsense, certainly in the way it is presented. It begs more questions than answers. But who really watches these films for the logical stories, hmm? Like I said before, there are many highlights amidst the cheese. The first highlight is the teaming of Mark Forest and Paul Wynter. They make an impressive beefy duo. The second highlight is that bizarre wheel contraption, which has to be seen to be believed. It's actually quite impressive and yet funny (in an engineering kind of sense). Who came up with this design? The third highlight is an incredible feat of strength Maciste, Bangor and another friend of the two have to endure: layers upon layers of heavy slabs are piled on Maciste's shoulders while both of his beefy fiends are sprawled on their backs next to him, with swords just above the two and about to stab them with each additional slab, as Maciste cannot keep the slabs up much longer. Will Maciste kill his friends? Will he then be crushed by the slabs? The whole thing is jaw-dropping. Again, who came up with this incredible torture idea that would be right at home in HOSTEL? The fourth highlight occurs when Maciste is put on a conveyor belt (yes, a conveyor belt) by an enemy who wants him to be crushed by a rock grinder. Seeing Maciste holding/pushing against the rock grinder, directly forcing the slaves to work harder at the wheel, is too much for words.And the fifth highlight, and it's a dozy, is seeing one of the mole man put to death with the rays of the sun. Though not gory or violent in any way, this scene would even make some viewers of today uncomfortable nevermind audiences in 1961 when this film was released: we see a near naked man, spread eagled, writhing and moaning loudly as he becomes exposed to the sun. Uniquely over-the-top! Remarkably, the film still has other highlights, like Maciste killing four mole men with one spear (!) or when Maciste and Bangor bring down the whole underground civilization with the big wheel, or when the Queen discovers she can live in the sun, or the additional torture scenes with Maciste and Bangor.Unfortunately, there are also some awful scenes such as when Maciste fights an unconvincing gorilla/monster or the many night scenes which are clearly shot in the daytime. And the look of the mole men is not really effective or imaginative in any way, shape or form.Anyway, MOLE MEN VS THE SON OF HERCULES will never be mistaken as great art but even so, I would love to see this film and those scenes on the big screen. I'm sure those amazing scenes would be even more impressive.