It's hard (sorry) to know how to review Caligula, especially in its full length (sorry again) version. I've seen lots of 10/10 reviews on other sites, but you can't help feeling (ahem) that they are actually reviewing the behind-the-scenes story. That of course is incredible, hilarious and tragic - all things that the film should be but isn't. It's swollen (cough), sloppy (cough cough) and gets itself into a proper mess (nurse!). Mark Kermode famously said that there was a great film in here waiting to get out, but surely that disappeared up its own rectum (OK that one's just a single entendre) when Brass started interfering (fnarr) with Gore Vidal's original script. You sense that even before Guccione began…

You know Caligula is going to be a special film when "Penthouse International Presents" appears at the beginning of it (Rosellini and Vidal couldn't obtain financing, so they contacted Bob Guccione, founder of Penthouse, to produce their film).
Caligula is a film that went through a lot of problems during its production. Problems with the actors, problems with the script and problems in post-production. Basically, it was a disastrous collaboration between the persons involved, with a project that ultimately became too big for them. And it shows. Because is bad. Pretty bad.

For staters, we have a lot of unnecessary and awkward sex, which was added in order to promote Guccione's magazine. Random naked people will pop-up in every scene…

DARK, DISTURBING, SICK OR JUST PLAIN WEIRD: Review No.8

*This review is for the Unrated version*

I first saw the cut version of this around 10 years ago. I was fairly unimpressed, it seemed to not make a lot of sense in places and i couldn't see what all the hype was about. This was my first viewing of the Unedited Unrated version and i've got to say, what a difference it makes. Now some 2.5/3hrs long, the film suddenly makes so much more sense. All loose ends have been tied up and i thoroughly enjoyed it!

This version is VERY explicit, at parts it's just like one huge porno orgy, it's dark, depraved, sexy and funny. From the moment…

Caligula is the charming tale of the four year reign and the rise and fall of Rome’s most infamously cruel Caesar, Gaius Germanicus Caligula. That’s the plot.
Caligula was directed by Tinto Brass. He specializes in borderline hardcore Italian sex movies featuring women with big round tits and asses. This is what I refer to as “doing God’s work”. Technically, Caligula is a horrible movie. The acting, by great actors, is terrible. Although Malcom McDowell, as Caligula, is pretty riveting throughout. Brass’s camera seems distracted and wanders away from the actors it should be focusing on in several scenes. I don’t really blame it. There’s so much weird shit going on everywhere. Brass also, like so many Italian directors in…

DARK, DISTURBING, SICK OR JUST PLAIN WEIRD: Review No.8

*This review is for the Unrated version*

I first saw the cut version of this around 10 years ago. I was fairly unimpressed, it seemed to not make a lot of sense in places and i couldn't see what all the hype was about. This was my first viewing of the Unedited Unrated version and i've got to say, what a difference it makes. Now some 2.5/3hrs long, the film suddenly makes so much more sense. All loose ends have been tied up and i thoroughly enjoyed it!

This version is VERY explicit, at parts it's just like one huge porno orgy, it's dark, depraved, sexy and funny. From the moment…

You know Caligula is going to be a special film when "Penthouse International Presents" appears at the beginning of it (Rosellini and Vidal couldn't obtain financing, so they contacted Bob Guccione, founder of Penthouse, to produce their film).
Caligula is a film that went through a lot of problems during its production. Problems with the actors, problems with the script and problems in post-production. Basically, it was a disastrous collaboration between the persons involved, with a project that ultimately became too big for them. And it shows. Because is bad. Pretty bad.

For staters, we have a lot of unnecessary and awkward sex, which was added in order to promote Guccione's magazine. Random naked people will pop-up in every scene…

It's hard (sorry) to know how to review Caligula, especially in its full length (sorry again) version. I've seen lots of 10/10 reviews on other sites, but you can't help feeling (ahem) that they are actually reviewing the behind-the-scenes story. That of course is incredible, hilarious and tragic - all things that the film should be but isn't. It's swollen (cough), sloppy (cough cough) and gets itself into a proper mess (nurse!). Mark Kermode famously said that there was a great film in here waiting to get out, but surely that disappeared up its own rectum (OK that one's just a single entendre) when Brass started interfering (fnarr) with Gore Vidal's original script. You sense that even before Guccione began…