Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964)

Maciste e la regina di Samar
Hercules and the Queen of Samar
Hercules vs. the Moon Men
Maciste vs. the Moon Men
Maciste vs. the Stone Men

Cast:

Sergio "Call me Alan Steel" Ciani is Maciste (Hercules)
Jany Clair is Queen Samara
Anna Maria Polani is Agar
Nando Tamberlani is Gladius
Jean-Pierre Honoré is Darix

What the box says:

An alien race from the Moon lands in ancient Greece, terrorizing the nearby city of Samar, and taking the populations's children as human sacrifices. If that isn't enough, the queen of Samar has made an alliance with the aliens in order to rule the world. Now, it's up to Hercules to save the day and free the oppressed townspeople.

Plot:

Samor Mountain is hit by a meteorite and is called Mount Death. The queen is having her soldiers grab the cityfolks younger teens to be sacrificed for the monsters in the mountain. Queen Samara's counsel, Claudias wants Hercules to save them and for the queen to rebel against the monsters.

Friends, Romans, and countrymen lend me your ears...Wait sorry Of course, the superior queen refuses of course.

Hercules is heading to the city after being contacted. On the road, he gets attacked but easily beats them away.

The Moon Man contacts Samara how she must destroy Hercules.

You got some food in your rock beard... They've been planning on conquering the Earth and allowing Samara to rule. They want Samara to give up her sister, Phyllis, for sacrificing to reanimate the Mole Men's queen.

Agar, Claudius's daughter, sneaks Hercules into the city to meet her father. Hercules is told how Queen Samara is sacrificing the kingdom's youth, and the kingdom needs Hercules to lead a rebellion. Claudus and Hercules sneak into the castle tunnels to keep anyone from finding Hercules. Agar realizes that the conversation has been overheard and heads out to warn her dad.

In the tunnel, Claudius gets killed. Hercules falls into a pit filling with water. The dying Claudius tells Agar to still take Hercules to the kingdom meeting. She finds Hercules who has escaped the pit and fought a Moon Man. They head to the meeting.

Queen Samara orders her general to capture Hercules and go after the rebels.

Your majesty, don't get on Hercules's bad side...I'm just saying. Samara's sister, Phyllis wants to marry Derix.

The cityfolk are worried about the upcoming sacrifice. Hercules arrives and inspires them to plan the attack.

Samara orders Derix off on a mission. He's unaware that she's planning to have him assassinated on the road. Hercules is told about Derix's mission and realizes it's a trap. The soldiers have wounded Derix and things look bad until Hercules rides to rescue him.

That night, the soldiers are starting to gather up the youth for the upcoming sacrifice.

Soldiers are taking the captives to the Mount. Hercules head to save the youth but gets netted and captured.

Princes Phyllis learns that she is to sacrificed for reanimating the Moon Men's Queen. The Moon Men reminding Samara she must kill Hercules if she wishes to rule.

Agar finds Hercules in the dungeon. He's staying until he learns where Phyllis is. Samara moves him to an iron maiden so the muscled Hercules can demonstrate his strength which of course he does.

Hercules is taken to Samara's quarters. She tries to spike his drink with a potion that will turn him into a mindless slave. He is able to spot it and prevent from drinking it. Samara learns that Derix is alive. She banishes Agar who heads out to warn Derix. The soldiers follow her and capture Agar and Derix.

Agar and Derix are brought to Samra and the slave-Hercules. He claims those 2 should be slowly executed. Samara reveals how she's working with the Moon Men. Hercules reveals he was faking to learn about Phyllis.

The soldiers want to join the cityfolk's rebellion.

The cityfolk rebel as Hercules goes out to save Agar and Derix.

Samara heads to Mount Death. The Moon Men aren't happy with her and crush her to death.

How can a Moon Man not look like he's wrapped in tin-foil? The Moon Men prepare Phyllis to be used to reanimate their Queen Selena.

The cityfolk are heading to the mountin to rescue the city youth but must endure a terrible sand storm on the way.

Hercules reaches the mountain and to break through the sealed door. Inside he has to handle the Moon Men and collapses on the passage.

"I wanna Rock..." As Queen Selena starts to awaken, Hercules pulls Phyllis from the altar which automatically ages Queen Selena.

Later, Hercules prepares to ride off. Agar rides off with him as he goes off to save the world more.

What I say:

Hercules and Hercules Unchained were the Steve Reeves Hercules movies which opened the realm of Italian peplum movies into the USA from European filmmaking. A number of the heroes like Maciste and those other heroes only needed a couple of dubbed names to turn them into either Samson, Goliath, Ulysses, Hercules or his son like Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules. We've seen what bad dubbing can do to other more famous Hercules movies...*Ahem...* Hercules in New York

A meteorite hits a mountian and years later, the kingdom has been having to give up their teen children to be sacrificed to the monsters in the "Mount of Death". An evil queen has an alliance with aliens from the moon and is letting her people be sacrificed by them. Of course, where is the hero to save the day? Why Hercules is coming to the rescue. Every dubbed Hercules movie with an evil queen is easily wooed by Hercules(who needs to either become an amnesiac or fakes the memory loss).

Somehow, get the impression that the movie was originally not mentioning Moon Men. One of the earlier titles refers to it as Maciste vs the Stone Men, the stone men pop up near the end. They definitely look rock-like. Just have the one alien which offers a little advice and a few commands a couple of times that look different than the stone men.

Typically, in these movies, the cityfolk don't want to rebel at all. However, nearly, from the beginning here, they have the torches and look like they're ready to ransack the castle. Granted, near the middle, most the rebels have decided to quit. They do come back without the obligatory Braveheart awe-inspiring speech before the battle. The soldiers who finally want to join the townsfolk have at last realized that their families could be taken to be sacrificed as anyone elses have. Near the end, the movie starts to pad the runtime when the cityfolk are slowly walking through the sand storm to "Mount Death".

Most of the Herc movies: Hercules and the Masked Rider and Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon aren't going to be known for plot or a far more believable movie resource: action. If you're expecting Hercules to do much in the action department here, you'll be disappointed. Action-wise, Herc seems to do more just trying to get from point A to point B than the Steve Reeves Herc would.

Trying to keep any sort of continuity between these Hercules movies is more confusing than the narration on the Dune miniseries. It still has a few good things. What you may ask? Hercules could show Captain Kirk a few things about women. Why? Every Herc movie has at least a couple of women throwing themselves at Herc and the next movie will have Herc (probably a different actor) with another woman.

With a title like Hercules Against the Moon Men, no one should expect it to be thought provoking. After titles Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, anyone would a have an almost Spidey like sense of movie titles...For the typical 1960s Italian peplum movies, you can't expect much. This is pure B-movieness which isn't as entertaining assome of the others like Evil Dead 2 or Snakes on a Plane.

Quotable Dialogue
"As a boy, you weren't vary convincing."
"He'll be back seen and you'll live happily ever after."
"Come Hercules to drink to our friendship."
"And as for Hercules, I want him taken alive. He'll pay dearly for the trouble he's caused me."
Morals of the Story
Moon Men love Greek food.
People want to charge towards any guy who is swinging a 20 foot tree around.
Moon Men resemble Lord of the Rings Orcs.
Long distance soldier throwing into barrels should be a sport.
All Hercules movies require him to be stuck between columns, Iron Maidens, etc...
All evil queens love bodybuilders.