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Caligola: La Storia mai Raccontata
Caligula: The Untold Story
Caligula 2 / Emperor Caligula: The Garden of Taboo
Italy 1982
produced by Alexander Sussman (executive) for Cinema 80, Metaxa Corporation
directed by David Hills (= Joe D'Amato = Aristide Massaccesi)
starring David Brandon (as David Cain), Laura Gemser, Oliver Finch, Charles Borromel, Fabiola Toledo, Sasha D'arc, Alessandro Freyberger, Larry Dolgin, Gabriele Tinti, John Alin, Ulla Luna, Michele Soavi, Joan McCoy, Didi Franks, Giorgia Williams, Jessica Lopez, Patricia Queen, Donatella Down, Mark Shannon
written by Richard Franks (= George Eastman = Luigi Montefiori), David Hills (= Joe D'Amato = Aristide Massaccesi), cinematography by Fédérico Slonisco (= Joe D'Amato = Aristide Massaccesi)
Caligula
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Caligula (David Brandon), the new emperor of Rome, is a sick bastard:
He likes to torture and kill even those close to him, he likes to fuck the
wives of his friends, his own sisters and relatives, and even little kids,
he likes to turn the Vestal Virgins into prostitutes to entertain the
guests at his orgies, and every now and again, he likes to do a little
rape as well. Then though he goes one step too far when he rapes and then
kills Christian girl Livia (Fabiola Toledo), because Livia's best friend
is Miriam (Laura Gemser), a Nubian priestess who will stop at nothing to
get her revenge, she even goes so far as to sacrifice her own virginity
and become a whore, just to get close to Caligula - and she succeeds too,
because at one of his orgies she catches his eye, and soon they spend a
night of sin together.
Then though, the unexpected happens: Miriam and Caligula actually fall
in love, and Miriam even goes so far as to betray those who she's in
league with and kill Caligula's would-be assassin with her own hands to
save the emperor.
Caligula however is quite mad, and after weeks and weeks of being in
love, his mind snaps and in a fit of rage, he brutally stabs Miriam to
death for no reason at all - and now his underlings are really shocked and
decide they have to do away with Caligula.
In the end, on a beach, all those serving under Caligula gather for an
execution and confront him, and the man who actually shoots the emperor
dead with an arrow is Ulmar (Sasha D'Arc), his own trusted bodyguard.
A film about Caligula, done by Joe D'Amato - well, this
obviously is not some kind of a history lesson but rather a sleazefest
made to cash in on Tinto Brass' notorious art/porn-blend Caligula
from 1979. D'Amato however does away with the art and fills the story with
scene after scene of gratuitous nudity and (in its uncut form) hardcore
sex (Laura Gemser not performing any hardcore scenes in case you were
wondering), a little bit of sensationalistic decadence (which of course is
in a way true to historical facts) and some violence, plus a scene of a
woman masturbating a horse. The outcome is your typical Joe D'Amato piece
of sleaze, maybe technically on a higher level than some of his other
films but not as entertaining and as funny (if you can laugh about things
like this) as his best films, but entertaining enough if you know what
you're in for ...
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