Caligula (1979) (The Imperial Edition)

[Blove23]

I was thinking about adding "Caligula" to my collection.I just wanted to know everyone's thoughts on this movie. I know its not going to be the best PQ because the movie was filmed in 1979. I just wanted to get some insight from those who are true movie watchers! Rumor has it Malcolm McDowell is pretty insane in this film!



Caligula Blu-ray

[#Darren]

A film from '79 can have incredible PQ, but apparently this Blu ray doesn't.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by Blove23

I was thinking about adding "Caligula" to my collection.I just wanted to know everyone's thoughts on this movie. I know its not going to be the best PQ because the movie was filmed in 1979. I just wanted to get some insight from those who are true movie watchers! Rumor has it Malcolm McDowell is pretty insane in this film!

I have seen this movie twice before once on VHS and then DVD and that was enough.Its not for everyone so be warn before you put the disc in.

[quirkmanly]

Originally Posted by Moefiz

I have seen this movie twice before once on VHS and then DVD and that was enough.Its not for everyone so be warn before you put the disc in.

I'd echo that sentiment. I'd would highly recommend you rent before purchasing in this case.

[bhampton]

What the heck... I'll rent it.

[P@t_Mtl]

Seen it once, when I was what 15 I think, rented it with some guys in highschool back in 1983 or something like that. Was enough for me. I would recommend anyone to rent it before buying it.

[demoni]

This is just plain fun for the whole family! Your ultra violence, grapich murders, hardcore sex, mayhem and chaos.

In other words; a must have.

[drobswim13]

Originally Posted by Blove23

I was thinking about adding "Caligula" to my collection.I just wanted to know everyone's thoughts on this movie. I know its not going to be the best PQ because the movie was filmed in 1979. I just wanted to get some insight from those who are true movie watchers! Rumor has it Malcolm McDowell is pretty insane in this film!

the picture quality is a piece of trash, does not look that much better than the DVD, which had terrible PQ as well

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by demoni

This is just plain fun for the whole family! Your ultra violence, grapich murders, hardcore sex, mayhem and chaos.

In other words; a must have.

LOL yep always wanted to watch this movie with my kids

[sfmarine]

The movie is pretty bad. I'm selling my copy if anyone wants it lol

[donaldheil]

Originally Posted by Blove23

Rumor has it Malcolm McDowell is pretty insane in this film!

Malcom Mc Dowell is WAY over the top in this one. Not a particular highlight in his career.

This is just a big budget porno flick (and not a good one in that sense).

Rent it, so you will satisfy your curiosity. Odds are you will never want to watch it again.

[AaronSCH]

This film graphically illustrates how even respected talent can demonstrate an incredible lack of judgement. It's such a complete example of poor taste that I just had to add it to my collection.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Blove23

I was thinking about adding "Caligula" to my collection.I just wanted to know everyone's thoughts on this movie. I know its not going to be the best PQ because the movie was filmed in 1979. I just wanted to get some insight from those who are true movie watchers! Rumor has it Malcolm McDowell is pretty insane in this film!

I think its perhaps the worst film I've ever seen. It's on par with Manos: The Hands of Fate in the sheer ugliness at its core, and the parade of pointless sadism is a desperate attempt to hide the fact the film has no real story. Its just a mishmash of improvised scenes with random brutality and degradation. Now, knowing Guccione was a producer on the film, you'd think walking in that its a glorified porn film.

Hardly. The "sex scenes" in this film, if they can be called that, are often as brutal and stomach-turning as the vilolence.

In other words, this is a film so awful and so rotten in its depiction of humanity, that it makes the porn industry look as virtuous as The Sound of Music.

[demoni]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I think its perhaps the worst film I've ever seen. It's on par with Manos: The Hands of Fate in the sheer ugliness at its core, and the parade of pointless sadism is a desperate attempt to hide the fact the film has no real story. Its just a mishmash of improvised scenes with random brutality and degradation. Now, knowing Guccione was a producer on the film, you'd think walking in that its a glorified porn film.

Hardly. The "sex scenes" in this film, if they can be called that, are often as brutal and stomach-turning as the vilolence.

In other words, this is a film so awful and so rotten in its depiction of humanity, that it makes the porn industry look as virtuous as The Sound of Music.

It's statements like these that really sell these kind of movies. If I had never seen the movie and read what you wrote, I would most definitely have bought this one.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by demoni

It's statements like these that really sell these kind of movies. If I had never seen the movie and read what you wrote, I would most definitely have bought this one.

Well, then here's some more free advertising...


Caligula

Release Date: 1980

Ebert Rating: Zero stars

By Roger Ebert / Sep 22, 1980



"Caligula" is sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash. If it is not the worst film I have ever seen, that makes it all the more shameful: People with talent allowed themselves to participate in this travesty. Disgusted and unspeakably depressed, I walked out of the film after two hours of its 170-minute length. That was on Saturday night, as a line of hundreds of people stretched down Lincoln Ave., waiting to pay $7.50 apiece to become eyewitnesses to shame.

I wanted to tell them ... what did I want to tell them? What I'm telling you now. That this film is not only garbage on an artistic level, but that it is also garbage on the crude and base level where it no doubt hopes to find its audience. "Caligula" is not good art, It is not good cinema, and it is not good porn.

I've never had anything against eroticism in movies. There are X-rated films I've enjoyed, from the sensuous fantasies of "Emmanuelle" to the pop-comic absurdities of Russ Meyer. I assume that the crowds lining up for admission to the Davis Theater were hoping for some sort of erotic experience; I doubt that they were spending $15 a couple for a lesson on the ancient history of Rome.

All I can say is that the makers of "Caligula" have long since lost touch with any possible common erotic denominator, and that they suggest by the contents of this film that they are jaded, perverse and cruel human beings. In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead , a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies.

You have heard that this is a violent film. But who could have suspected how violent, and to what vile purpose, it really is? In this film, there are scenes depicting a man whose urinary tract is closed, and who has gallons of wine poured down his throat. His bursting stomach is punctured with a sword. There is a scene in which a man is emasculated, and his genitals thrown to dogs, who eagerly eat them on the screen. There are scenes of decapitation, evisceration, rape, bestiality, sadomasochism, necrophilia.

These scenes -- indeed, the movie itself -- reflect a curiously distanced sensibility. Nobody in this film really seems to be there. Not the famous actors like Malcolm McDowell and (very briefly) Peter O'Toole and John Gielgud, whose scenes have been augmented by additional porn shot later with other people and inserted to spice things up. Not the director (who removed his credit from the film). Not the writer (what in the world can it mean that this movie is "Adapted from an Original Screenplay by Gore Vidal"?) Not even the sound track. The actors never quite seem to be speaking their own words, which were so badly dubbed in later that the dialogue never seems to be emerging from the drama itself.

The film even fails to involve itself in the action. "Caligula" has been photographed and directed with such clumsiness and inelegance that pieces of action do not seem to flow together, the plot is incomprehensible, the events are frequently framed as if the camera was not sure where it was, and everything is shot in muddy, ugly, underlit dungeon tones. The music Is also execrable.

So what are we left with? A movie, I am afraid, that may be invulnerable to a review like this one. There are no doubt people who believe that if this movie is as bad as I say it is, it must be worth seeing. People who simply cannot believe any film could be this vile. Some of those people were walking out of the Davis before I did Saturday night; others were sitting, depressed, in the lobby. That should not, I suppose, be surprising.

The human being is a most curious animal. often ready to indulge himself in his base Inclinations, but frequently reluctant to trust his better Instincts. Surely people know, going in, that "Caligula" is worthless. Surely they know there are other movies in town that are infinitely better. Yet here they are at "Caligula." It is very sad.

My friendly recommendation is that they see "The Great Santini," to freshen their minds and learn to laugh and care again in a movie. People learn fast. "This movie," said the lady in front of me at the drinking fountain, "is the worst piece of shit I have ever seen."

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...plate=printart

[Pondosinatra]

I found it to be painfully obvious which sex scenes were added after the fact. Very jarring and out of place with the rest of the film. It even looks different, like they used a different type of camera. Pretty sad attempt by Penthouse founder Guccione.

[Blu-ray Neo]

I've never seen this movie and with all of your comments, I wanna see it now.

Is it really as bad as people say?

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

You have heard that this is a violent film. But who could have suspected how violent, and to what vile purpose, it really is? In this film, there are scenes depicting a man whose urinary tract is closed, and who has gallons of wine poured down his throat. His bursting stomach is punctured with a sword. There is a scene in which a man is emasculated, and his genitals thrown to dogs, who eagerly eat them on the screen. There are scenes of decapitation, evisceration, rape, bestiality, sadomasochism, necrophilia.

SOLD!

[doctorsteve]

Originally Posted by Blove23

I was thinking about adding "Caligula" to my collection.I just wanted to know everyone's thoughts on this movie.

Very disappointed that I bought it. I thought it was looked down on for it's over the top sexual content and alleged deviance. But it's crappy in Sooooooo many other ways.

Originally Posted by sfmarine

The movie is pretty bad. I'm selling my copy if anyone wants it lol

I'd like to as well, but as it pretty much qualifies as porn, I'm not sure how I'd go about it.

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

Pretty sad attempt by Penthouse founder Guccione.

Agreed. Decadent for it's time probably... but *ugh*, I will be ditching this title if I can...

[demoni]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

SOLD!

HAHA, great! You gotta love trashy movies!