Michele and I were both interviewed on Brenda S. Tolian and Joy Yehle’sBurial Plot Podcast. We are both super honored and flattered to be invited onto their show were we talk horror academia, the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference, our H. P. Lovecast Podcast, and much more. The episode can be streamed at the Burial Plot Podcast Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.
Earlier this month, Writerpunk Press released their sixth anthology called Taught by Time: Myth Goes Punk.
Looking at the table of contents, there is a lot of neo-peplum stories dealing with mythology:
AR DeClerck: “Drag Me Down” (A cyber/biopunk story inspired by the Greek myths of Hades and Persephone)
Nils Visser: “The Skirring Dutchman: A Sussex Steampunk Tale” (A steampunk story inspired by De Vliegende Hollander [The Flying Dutchman] by Piet Visser, 1901)
Lee French: “Little Red Riding Hood” (A cyberpunk story inspired by the European folktale of Little Red Riding Hood)
Phoebe Darqueling: “Making Bones” (A noirpunk story inspired by the European folktale of Cinderella)
Jeffrey Cook and Katherine Perkins: “Lured” (A steampunk story inspired by Grimm’s fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel”)
Rachel Brune: “H-Bomb Over Paris” (An atompunk story inspired by the various Greek myths of Helen of Troy)
Teel James Glenn: “Black Sails” (A biopunk story inspired by the legend of Theseus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses)
Virginia Carraway: “The Lost Princess Returns” (A steampunk story inspired by George MacDonald’s 1875 fairy tale novel The Lost Princess)
Rachel Brune: “Bea Wolf” (A dieselpunk story inspired by the Old English epic poem Beowulf)
Bryce Raffle: “Threads” (A dreadpunk story inspired by the Homerian myth of Althaea, Meleager and the Three Fates)
Carol Gyzander: “Dust to Dust” (A biopunk story inspired by the legend of Echo and Narcissus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses)
H. J. Lopez: “Corporate G.O.D.S.” (A nano/biopunk story inspired by Homer’s Odyssey)
H. P. Lovecast Podcast kicks off its King in Yellow August with a brand new episode. Live now is our deep dive into two short stories from the brand new anthology from Hippocampus Press, Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign: “The Yellow Crown” by Carol Gyzander and “Found and Lost” by Meghan Arcuri. The episode can be streamed on our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.
In other podcast news, Michele and I were interviewed by Brenda S. Tolian and Joy Yehle for their Burial Plot Horror Podcast. This episode will be published later on, but I strongly encourage a listen to their catalog of episodes which can be found at their Buzzspout website or via your podcast app of preference.
Exotica Moderne #12
The newest issue of Exotica Moderne is now out! This issue contains my write up of the video game The Touryst. So far, I have still be in all issues of Exotica Moderne, and I hope to keep it up.
The issue can be ordered from the House of Tabu website. The product page can be found here.
Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association Conference
I have been accepted to present a paper at the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association conference in November. My paper is titled “Victory over Valhalla: Violence via Vikings Sampling in Acylum’s Kampf Dem Verderb” and continues my research of industrial bands that sample peplum/historic epic texts into their music. This will be the first time presenting at MAPACA, thought I have presented many years at the SWPACA. I’m excited for the opportunity. Time to get to work on that presentation!
Gladiator Book
On the subject of industrial bands that sample peplum films, the Gladiator book that contains my essay about industrial bands that sample Gladiator, is looking to be published in early 2022. Cross fingers!
Recorded a short segment on Hercules Invictus’ Sword and Sandal Special on his Voice of Olympus program. I talk about the indie Kickstarted Pandemic Peplum comics, Band of Warriors #1 and Teoatl #1. It can be listened or downloaded from BlogTalkRadio.
Brand new episode of HP Lovecast Podcast is also online. This is our monthly Transmissions episode. In this episode we interview S. T. Lakata and J. H. Moncrieff. The episode is on our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.
Citation News
Just found out that my essay, “Permission to Kill: Exploring Italy’s 1960s Eurospy Phenomenon, Impact and Legacy” which appeared in Michele Brittany’s James Bond and Popular Culture: Essays on the Influence of the Fictional Superspy has been cited in Michael Guarneri’s book Vampires in Italian Cinema, 1956-1975.
Michele and I were on the Mythic Gaming special episode of Voice of Olympus. We discussed Minecraft Dungeons. The episode can be streamed/downloaded from BlogTalkRadio.
Next, for our monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time program, we discussed the film Hercules Against the Mongols. This, too, can be streamed/downloaded from BlogTalkRadio.
In HP Lovecast news, our news Fragments episode is online! In this episode we tackle Michael Mann’s The Keep. The episode is on our Buzzspout page and all major podcast applications.
Mike Mitchell has passed away at the age of 65. He was in Gladiator (2000), Braveheart (1995), Morning Star (2014), The Legend of Mordred (2019), and The Wilhelm Tell Saga (202x).
Messalina is a 1960 Italian toga and sandal film, directed by Vittorio Cottafavi (who directed many proto-peplum films in his career) and starring Belinda Lee as the titular character. A historic epic, Messalina tells the story of Valeria Messalina (Belinda Lee), the new wife to Roman emperor Claudius (Mino Doro), and her rise to power via her charms and schemes. The story also follows Lucius Maximus (Spiros Focas), a respected soldier who falls in love with Messalina but comes to realize her cutthroat ways. What follows are some general musings and observations about this film.
Toga and Sandal Genre Conventions
Messalina falls into sword and sandal subgenre called the “toga and sandal” film. While the “sword” in sword and sandal draws martial images and has strong connotations to combat (be it physical combat as when a strongman engages with an opponent with his fists, or when a soldier or gladiator fights melee with weapons), the “toga” in toga and sandal downplays the action aspect of these films. Instead, in a toga and sandal film, what is underscored are politics, with an emphasis on intrigue, espionage, strategy, scheming, planning, oratory and speeches. In these films, the loincloth wearing Herculean character is replaced by the well dressed solider or statesman, the gladiator replaced by the assassin, and the dangerous cavern or labyrinth replaced by the palatial court. These films also tend to be more grounded in realism and overlap with the historic epic genre.
That is not to say the toga and sandal film is completely void of martial content, it is simply not the primary focus. Messalina contains a peppering of traditional sword and sandal scenes: these include two strongmen fighting each other as part of the festivities and entertainment when Claudius officially takes over as emperor, and the ending contains a small battle of Maximus and his loyal soldiers fighting the corrupted praetorians who were sent to assassinate Claudius.
In a greater Italian cross-genre (filoni) sense, the courts of Claudius, full of food, wine, and entertainment (be it dancers,musicians, fighters, or all of the above), is akin to the bars of the spaghetti western and the nightclubs in the Eurospy film. Of note, early in Messalina, Maximus returns back from a military campaign and engages in a celebratory bar fight.
Lady Peplum
Messalina is one of the rare non-Cleopatra female-centric peplum films that came out of the golden age of historic epics and sword and sandal films. Decades later, peplum media would see a smattering of more female-led titles. Most of these were 1980s sword and sorcery flicks, such as Red Sonja (1985), Barbarian Queen (1985), Amazons (1986), and Hundra (1982), but also include the television show Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001), and the video game Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey with Kassandra as one of the two playable characters.
As a typical sword and sandal film focuses on a muscleman’s body, so too does Messalina emphasis the titular character’s body. Messalina makes use of veils to both obfuscate and draw attention to her form. Sequences of her taking a milk bath and when she disrobes, (the camera pans down her exposed legs), show no nudity, yet offer much in the way of titillation. Messalina also utilizes a great deal of seductive pinup poses: laying on her back, body stretched and tilted to showcase her lithe figure.
Messalina and the strongman both make use of their bodies as tools to overcome obstacles. While Ursus may singlehandedly lift a horse-drawn cart out of a pit, Messalina uses her body to seduce an assassin. Though her body is a great asset, Messalina also uses her intelligence, intimidation, guile, and charms to plot, scheme, and advance her agenda. In this regard, she is a multifaceted character, more than just her sex appeal.
Waterfalls of Monte Gelato
Towards the end of the film, there is an epic battle between Maximus’ men and the praetorian guards atop a waterfall. These are the Waterfalls of Monte Gelato.
Many other films have been shot in these waterfalls. Other pepla filmed here include:
Messalina straddles the line of acceptable and taboo, particularly in the representation of the sexualized Messalina (she doesn’t show nudity and there is no on screen sex, but the film comes really close to depictions of both with lots of not-so-subtle winks and nods).
During this period, Italy was under the Christian Democratic government, which held great influence over the film industry and could dictate what was able to be depicted on screen or not. Genre productions active through these decadeswere able to have their cake and eat it too by showcasing sex, (sometimes) nudity, violence, blood, and other taboo activities, so long as the film as a whole was able to affirm Christian Democratic morality: reward the righteous and punish the wicked.
For Messalina, her crimes, of course, is showing pseudo-nudity, engaging in affairs and sexual trysts, and (the greatest crime of all) being a successful woman. By the movie’s end, she is killed when stabbed through the stomach with a gladius. Her sexual proclivities are punished by death.
Maximus also must adhere to these provisions. Though he is the (male) hero of the story, he still falls for Messalina’s charms and becomes an agent of her when he forces Christians from their homes. His atonement comes with conversion: at the end of the film he takes the side of Silvia (Ida Galli) and travels with her to a new Christian land. Maximums has given up his love for Messalina, Rome and her wicked ways, and found a new (and subservient) love interest and perhaps salvation.
Miscellaneous Thoughts
History is written by the winners and it is no doubt that Messalina (the historic figure) has been portrayed in a hyper negative fashion by later, misogynistic historians, which of course has influenced her depiction in pop culture (such as this film). In the past few years, Medusa has seen a great shift in in perception and interpretation (from monster to victim), so it’s possible that Messalina will receive some reconsideration as well.
The big question that Messalina leaves viewers with is did Messalina truly love Maximus in the end? The romantic notions of the period, as depicted in other films, strongly hints that she did, for in the end, Messalina is still a love story, and in order to have a love story, there’s got to be a great love. Messalina, when she is in the embrace of other men, tilts her head away from them, so only the audience can see her facial expressions of disgust and revolt. She does not do this with Maximus, strongly suggesting that she truly loved him, but was not able to negotiate having his love and her power at the same time.
Friend, colleague, and AnnRadCon alumni Rahel Sixta Schmitz has their debut book, The Supernatural Media Virus: Virus Anxiety in Gothic Fiction Since 1990, being published by transcript Verlag.
Cover image from the publisher’s website
Schmitz’s book cites her essay, “Mapping Digital Dis-Ease: Representations of Movement and Technology in Jim Sonzero’s Pulse and Stephen King’s Cell” and Frazer Lee’s “Koji Suzuki’s Ring: A World Literary Perspective” both of which appeared in Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays. I am honored to be mentioned in the acknowledgments.
The book can be purchased at the publisher’s website or at any major online bookstore.
Exotica Moderne #12 Cover Reveal
Issue 12 of Exotica Moderne will be out soon! The cover of a Tiki Statue fighting a shark makes me recall Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2:
Exotica Moderne #12 Cover
This issue contains my write up of the video game “The Touryst” published by Shin’en Multimedia. Here’s an interview preview that shows a bit of my article:
I’ll admit, I’m proud of the pictures in this one, they were convoluted to get! I played the game on the Xbox One, which allows screen captures. However, I don’t have a Microsoft cloud storage, so I wound up posting screenshots to Twitter from the Xbox and downloading them from there.
The magazine will be able to be ordered at the issue’s product page at House of Tabu.
Black Ink Fiction has an open call for 2-5K neo-peplum short stories for an anthology called Shadows Over Olympus. Details can be found at the publisher’s website.
New episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online! In this episode we discuss “The Barrens” by F. Paul Wilson and “The Faces at Pine Dunes” by Ramsey Campbell both from the Arkham House anthology Cthulhu 2000. The episode can be streamed from our Buzzsprout website or your Podcast app of preference.
General Neo-Peplum News
Call for Peplum Papers
There are a few CFPs for peplum related conferences going on right now.
The first is from Dr. Jeremy Swist and Dr. Charlotte Naylor Davis on Heavy Metal and Global Premodernity. The CFP can be found here on Google Docs.
The second is from Michael A. Torregrossa on Medieval in Popular Culture Sponsored Sessions at MAPACA 2020. The CFP can be found at UPENN.
Rest in Peplum
Rest in peplum to iconic director Richard Donner! Director of many high profile and influential films, such as The Omen (1976), Superman (1978), and Lethal Weapon (1987), he also directed peplum adjacent fare such as Ladyhawke (1985) and Timeline (2003). He passed away at the age of 91.
Prolific character and genre actor William Smith passed away at the age of 88. His most iconic peplum role was playing Conan’s father in Conan The Barbarian (1982). He was also in Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961).
Michele and I had the honor to meet William Smith at a convention.
New episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online! This one is our monthly Transmissions episode, and we got three guests on this episode: G. A. Lungaro, Angela Sylvaine, and Rhonda Jackson Joseph. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or on your podcast app of preference.
The Podcast index page has not only been updated with this episode, but descriptors for upcoming episodes. They are:
7/4 – F. Paul Wilson’s “The Barrens” and Ramsey Campbell’s “The Faces at Pine Dunes” both from Cthulhu 2000.
7/18 – Fragments episode will be on Michael Mann filmic adaptation of The Keep.
7/30 Transmissions episode will have J. H. Moncrieff and others tbd.
August is our King in Yellow month were we will be looking at the brand new anthology Under Twin Suns, interviewing some of the contributors, and also looking at a graphic novel adaption.
Scholars from the Edge of Time
Another new episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is online! For this episode Michele and I talk about the 1960 peplum film Messalina. The episode can be streamed or downloaded at BlogTalkRadio.
General Neo-Peplum News
Final Call for Abstracts – Ancient World, Modern Music
A reminder: Dr. Swist has an open CFP called “Ancient World, Modern Music” for the Classical Association of the Middle West & South conference in March 23-26 2022 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina:
We are seeking abstracts for a panel on the reception of antiquity in modern music. 15-minute papers on the topic may discuss any genre of modern & popular music, including folk & country, rock & metal, hip-hop & pop, and theater & soundtracks, and may focus on lyrics, album artwork, music videos, live performances, or the music itself. We are particularly interested in questions of how musicians integrate ancient culture, myth, and art into modern medium, and how they read antiquity in response to the personal, the aesthetic, and the political.
Send 300-word abstracts & questions to Jeremy Swist (jeremyswist@brandeis.edu) by 10 July 2021. Potential panelists must commit to present in person if accepted.
On Thursday Michele and I had our monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time segment on the Voice of Olympus program. In this episode Michele discussed the mummy anthology Spirits Unwrapped while I talked about the classic peplum film Ursus in the Valley of the Lions. The episode can be listened to at Blog Talk Radio.
Peplum Ponderings
I’ve started a new series here at my website called Peplum Ponderings. This is reserved for after I’ve watched a peplum film and I’ve taken notes, as a venue for me to share my informal observations about the film. My first one is online and it is for Ursus in the Valley of the Lions. Expect one later on this week for Messalina.
HWA CFP Board
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) Academics/Non-fiction board has been updated with a few new CFPs:
NEPCA – Monstrous in Disney
NEPCA – Northeast USA contribution to Monstrous canon
Call for chapters for book on horror comics
Details for these CFPs can be found on the board. If you have a CFP yourself that needs to be added, please send an email to annradcon@gmail.com .
General Neo-Peplum News
Physical Release of Ancient Greece and Rome in Videogames
The physical version of Dr. Ross Clare’s Ancient Greece and Rome in Videogames: Representation, Play, Transmedia will be published next week! The New Peplum is cited many times in this book.
The electronic version is already out while the physical version can be found at the Bloomsbury website.
Band of Warriors #2 Kickstarter News
Samuel G. London has been sending out the Kickstarter rewards for backers of Band of Warriors #1 (which you can read my interview with London here). In a news update for backers, the script for issue #2 is being worked on and the campaign to fund the issue is likely to launch in September. However, there is a cover reveal for issue #2, with art by Federico Avila Corsini:
Follow London on Twitter for more information about this comics.
New Ex Deo Album
Canadian neo-peplum band Ex Deo officially announced on their Facebook page their next album, The Thirteen Years of Nero, will be released on August 27th. They released the first video of the album, “Imperator,” on Youtube.
Ursus in the Valley of the Lions is a 1961 Italian sword and sandal film starring Ed Fury as the titular Ursus, a strongman character in the same vein as Hercules. Ursus in the Valley of the Lions is an origin story of sorts, depicting Ursus as being raised by lions and eventually overthrowing the evil Ayak (Alberto Lupo) who usurped the kingdom from Ursus’ parents. What follows here are general and informal observations about the film.
In Chains
When Ursus is locked in Ayak’s dungeon, he is chained up in a fashion that mimic’s the iconic shot of Hercules (Steve Reeves) at the end of Hercules (1958): arms outstretched, chains pulled in opposite directions.
There is a major difference though: Hercules’ strength allows him to pull his chains and cause the pillars they are attached to to collapse. Ursus, on the other hand, is unable to break his bonds. Instead, Attea (Moira Orfei) frees him. This portrayl of Ursus diminishes the notion that the strong man in pepla are 100% independent and can rely solely on their body’s capabilities to best any situation. This dungeon scene, along with a scene later in the film where Simba the lion helps free Ursus from a cave, demonstrate that a strong man does, indeed, need the help of others. A better way to put it: as much as the strong man helps those in need, he, in turn, needs help when he is in need (and that is ok!).
Swordless and Sandals
Ursus doesn’t use a sword or any other melee weapons in the film. Aside from a few instances of improvisational weapons (such as the throwing of tables or other debris at attackers) Ursus relies entirely on fisticuffs in all his battles. This is exceptional, consideration a) his opponents typically have an arsenal of weapons (swords and nets) and b) being raised by lions he doesn’t really have a combat school to adhere to.
Tarzan and Romulus/Remus?
Some texts, such as the film’s Wikipedia entry and Barry Atkinson’s book Heroes Never Die! (pg 140) compare Ursus in this film to Tarzan in that both characters are considered feral children, with noble births, raised by animals (Ursus by lions and Tarzan by apes). Though the comparison is certainly apropos, it would be worthwhile to factor in the mythology of Romulus and Remus as well considering that many peplum films drew heavily from Grecian and Roman mythologies. Ursus’ upbringing, and eventual destiny, shares much in common with Romulus and Remus: as babies they represented threats to their respective kingdoms, they were raised by animals (lions/the she-wolf), and eventually go on to restore the throne to the proper heir. Echoes of Ursus (and Romulus and Remus) can also be found in episode four of the first season of the Netflix series Blood of Zeus where the character of Seraphim is also a baby that represents a threat to the throne and is eventually raised by bears.
The Revolt of the Slaves
The ending of Ursus in the Valley of the Lions shares similarities to The Revolt of the Slaves (1960). Both films end with rebels of sorts (Christians in Revolt and rebels proper in Ursus) being captured and put into an arena where many are burned alive for the amusement of others.
Depiction of Animals
As a low budget Italian genre film, it probably goes without saying that animals were, indeed, harmed in the making of this film. The beginning scenes showing Ursus trying to coerce a kiss from a lion who clearly didn’t want to give one, to the hyena pit, and the climatic end where elephants are forced down to their side. Of note when the film introduces an adult Ursus interacting with this lion family: any shots of Ed Fury’s face are close up with nary a lion in frame, while all instances of Ursus interacting with the lions are wide shots, with Ursus’ back to the audience. What can be inferred here is that these scenes don’t actually contain Ed Fury but an animal handler instead.
Some of the plot synopsis of Ursus in the Valley of the Lions claim that Lothar and his men kill all the lions (but Simba) by poisoning them. When Ursus finds the lions, they all appear to be on their sides in a drowsy state. Is can be surmised from the film that the lions were not killed, only tranquilized. Also, these are well kept lions and not dumb creatures, they can probably use their sense of smell to suss out that the meat they’ve been tossed is not consumable.
Ursus as a Hero and Political Leanings
Ursus is a hero with goals and motivations that seem to change throughout the film, which may be a combination of him adapting to the evolving narrative coupled with with his own naivety. The film implies Ursus is a feral child, raised by lions, however he contains a degree of civility, saying he has learned the language from caravans that pass by. The early scenes that show interactions between Ursus and the traveling slave trader convey that Ursus doesn’t know much about money or the value of objects (hence why he gives up his royal necklace so readily). However, there is a wink and a nod in the performance of Ed Fury that hints that Ursus knows more than he leads on, and is perhaps not as naive as the audience think he is.
Regardless, Ursus begins the film not as a hero and without a goal, save perhaps to make Annia (Mary Marlon) his love interest. When Annia is captured by Lothar (Gérard Herter) and his men, Ursus’ motivating goal is to rescue her. When brought before Ayak, Ursus’ goal now changes to vengeance, to kill Ayak. When finally freed and grouped with the rebels, Ursus states his revised motivation: “I didn’t come here to claim a throne, though your words touch me. I came for only one reason: to return all your lands to all of you, the rightful owners.”
As Michael C. Cornelius states in the introduction to Of Muscles and Men, one of the selling points of these peplum films is that (corrupt) empires topple (page 5) and certainly that occurs at the end of Ursus in the Valley of the Lions. Politically, the film is concerned with overthrowing overly maleficent dictators and warlords, but restoring the government back to one with a monarchy and landowners, probably a form of Feudalism.
Waterfalls of Monte Gelato
Towards the beginning of the film, Annia is swimming in a pool under a set of waterfalls. Later Lothar’s men attempt to capture Ursus here by throwing a net on him. These are the Waterfalls of Monte Gelato:
Screen capture from Alpha Video release.
Lots of other films have been shot in these waterfalls. Other pepla filmed here include:
