The April episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is online.
In this vidcast Michele and I take a small break from talking about the films of Bella Cortez and talk about the 1985 Spanish sci-fi/fantasy film, Star Knight. The episode can be watched on YouTube.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
New Sword and Sandal Book Acquisitions
Two new tomes have been added to the sword and sandal/pop culture library.
The first is Helen of Troy in Hollywood by Ruby Blondell. This book cites The New Peplum, which is wicked cool (I always gush when my work gets cited). I don’t know too much about Helen of Troy mythology and I have not seen too many films based on her, so this book will definitely fill that knowledge gap. A few years ago Michele and I watched/did a Scholars from the Edge of Time episode on the film The Lion of Thebes (1964) [listen to it here]. Looking at the index of this book, The Lion of Thebes doesn’t appear to be mentioned. So, perhaps a future essay idea to apply Blondell’s work to that film?
Second up is the Cult Epics book The Films of Tinto Brass. I’ve been a huge Tinto Brass fan for years, probably due to his emphasis on stockings – he’s like an Elmer Batters, but for Italian erotica. Aside from all the hosiery-focused films, Brass did the most infamous porno peplum ever, Caligula (1979), which there is an entire chapter dedicated to in this book.
This book was funded from a crowdfunding campaign, so I have my name listed in the back, which is always fun. Cult Epics also published the Sylvia Kristel book a few years back, which you can read my review here. As soon as I can clear my review plate off I’ll try and do a write up of this book.
Though The Films of Tinto Brass was a crowdfunded endeavor, the book is readily purchasable from Cult Epics which comes with some exclusives such as a disc of trailers, a poster, and an autograph from Nico B.
New Sword and Sandal DVDs Acquisitions
An opportunity to pluck of Princess Warrior (1989) presented itself, so I had to go for it.
I had never heard of this film until I saw a RedLetterMedia review on it, and it looked bad (and by bad I mean awesome). It’s an 80s sword and sorcery film, with maybe a little sword and planet element thrown in. It mostly has the heroine traveling to Earth where the plot is akin to The Terminator combined with an extended a wet t-shirt contest.
Autograph Treasures
Karen McDougal, 1998 Playboy Playmate of the year, is in the news related to the trial of Trump falsifying business records in violation of campaign finance law (among other things). So, I’ll take advantage of the news to show off my autographed copy of The Arena (2001) in which she starred in.
The Arena is remake of the Pam Grier 1974 version of the same name. The 2001 version is directed by Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, who did the amazing film Night Watch (2004). Bekmambetov would revisit the neo-pelum genre in 2016 with another remake, this time of Ben-Hur.
I had the honour to meet McDougal at Glamourcon in Long Beach, November of 2011, where she signed my DVD of The Arena. It’s been over a decade since I last watched the film, but I remember enjoying it, so time to revisit it!
CFPs
Simon Bacon has a new CFP on Folk Horror and UFO/Alien Narratives:
I’m putting something together on a prospective project on the intersection of Folk Horror and UFO/Alien narratives. This could include, but not limited to:
The intersection of Folk Horror and Cosmic Horror
Lovecraft, Hope Hodgeson, and Folk Horror
Texts (films/games/lit/comics/etc) that use historical alien visitations as the basis of folklore/cults
Summonings that turn out to be alien entities
Alien encounters/visitation texts that use Folk Horror tropes
Examples of alien planets that feature their own versions of Folk Horror
Human/Alien futures that see past versions of humanity as sources of Folk Horror
Folk Horror and series such as Star Trek, Dr. Who, Star Wars, Dune, etc.
At this stage it’s just ideas/abstracts I’m needing (final essays wouldn’t be before end 2025). If interested contact me at: baconetti@gmail.com
I Am a Barbarian
Stock of Thomas Simmons and Mike Dubisch’s graphic novel, I Am a Barbarian is getting low, so if you want a copy – especially a limited edition one with an autographed book plate, scoot over to the Edgar Rice Burroughs website.
I had the honor to interview Simmons and Dubisch about their work, so check that out here, and then consider checking out their work proper.
I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found here and it is a major WIP.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Chopping Spree Re-release
Angela Sylvaine’s novella Chopping Spree is getting a re-release by Dark Matter Ink this upcoming autumn. Here is its sporty new cover:
Here is a collection of calls for papers/proposals for pop culture studies I want to help proliferate. If you have a CFP you need help proliferating and want me to add it to my news roundups, shoot me an email and I’ll get it added.
The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies
Deadline for abstract submissions: 24th May 2024 Editors: Lorna Farnell and Carl Wilson
The editors have already commissioned a substantial number of chapters for The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies and are seeking the last few essays that specifically consider the following topics:
Superhero tourism (including Disney parks)
Merchandise and toys
Superheroes in the Global South
Superheroes and refugees
Superheroes and the Anthropocene
Digital superheroes
British superheroes
Counterculture superheroes
Superhero narratives 1930-1970s, and offshoots/adaptations
Superhero origin stories
Superhero animations (including the X-Men, BTAS, She-Ra, He-Man, magical girls, and more)
Creators and the creative process
Fan communities
The editors invite abstracts of around 300 words on any of the above topics.
Final essays will be 5500 words in length, including references, and will be due two months after a provisional acceptance has been made.
Please email your abstracts (together with a short bio, 100 words max) for consideration to both editors: Lorna Piatti-Farnell, lorna.piatti-farnell@aut.ac.nz and Carl Wilson, carl@carl-wilson.com
The Cursed Archive: Dangerous Texts, Deadly Communications, and Gothic Media
A popular trope in horror and speculative fiction is a cursed archive: a textual communication that is dangerous, forbidden, or contagious. Medieval grimoires and alchemist treatises were early examples of such cursed or forbidden texts. However, in the age before widespread literacy, the cursed archive was limited to a few banned or heretical books. The trope came into its own with the rise of popular literature when the issue of dangerous ideas disseminated through mass media became a cultural and political concern. Early examples of cursed archives centered on printed or written texts, as in H. P. Lovecraft’s imaginary Necronomicon or G. K. Chesterton’s story “The Blast of the Book” (1933). But with the explosion of media technologies, contemporary cursed archives encompass haunted websites, contagious cellphones, entrapping video games, monster-infested TV sets, and killer movies. In this collection, we want to probe the implications of the cursed archive; its connection to the issues of censorship, book-banning, and freedom of expression; the notion of “contagious” ideas; the differences and similarities between the forbidden book and the dark web; and electronic media as a pandemic. The topics we want to address include, but are not limited to, the following:
The history of the cursed archive (early examples of book-banning or book-burning by the Church or other religious institutions).
The cursed archive and the rise of mass media.
Demonic books in Gothic and horror literature (Lovecraft’s Necronomicon; James Blish’s Black Easter; and similar texts).
The cursed archive and censorship.
Horror at the movies (Clive Barker’s “Son of Celluloid”)
Haunted media (such as video games in the Ring series; Stephen King’s Cell; dating apps in Jason Arnopp’s Ghoster).
Social media as contagion (including use of social media in crime fiction, such as novels by Ruth Ware and Matt Wesolowski)
The library as a gothic space (Borges’ “The Library of Babel”; Korner-Stace Archivist Wasp, Scott Hawkins’ The Library at Mount Char)
Alien communications as transforming or erasing humanity (Arrival; Cixin Liu’s Three-Body Problem).
Gendering the cursed archive.
Cross-cultural examples.
Cursed writing, languages, symbols.
Cursed means of recording such as tape cassettes, video cassettes, photos, paintings, vinyl records, databases, performance, choreography, etc.
Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words to Simon Bacon (baconetti@googlemail.com) and Elana Gomel (egomel@tauex.tau.ac.il) by June 30, 2024.
Deep State Conspiracies and the Gothic
This focuses on the intersection of recent conspiracy theories and horror/folk-horror/gothic texts featuring hidden societies /corporations (John Wick/Blade/Resident Evil) or secret cabals/cults (Hereditary/Empty Man/Paranormal Activity) whose aim is control/takeover/cause the end of the world. Ideally in any media, across cultures, since 2000 but historical perspectives welcome.
If interested send a 300 word abstract by end Sept 2024 to: baconetti@gmail.com
Oleg (Victor Mature) and his army of Vikings pay a visit to Togrul (Folco Lulli) and his Tartar men at their camp in the steppes of eastern Europe/western Russia. Initially a friendly visit with Oleg bringing gifts of pelts, it turns turbulent when Togrul asks the Viking leader to join forces and attack the Slavs, a group of peoples the Vikings are friendly with. Oleg refuses. Angered at being rebuffed, Togrul attempts to kill Oleg, and a melee breaks out between the two forces. During the skirmish, Oleg axes Togrul and commands his men to retreat back to their Viking fort. In the process, Oleg’s brother, Eric (Luciano Marin), becomes smitten with Togrul’s daughter Samia (Bella Cortez) and kidnaps her.
DVD of The Tartars from the personal collection.
With Togrul slain, his brother, Burundai (Orson Welles), becomes Khan of the Tartars. Burundai has aspirations of great conquest of the West, starting with the obliteration of the Viking fort. Meanwhile at the Viking fort, Eric becomes more smitten with Samia and makes advances on her. He is initially rebuffed, but eventually Samia gives in. Oleg, fearing a Tartar attack, sends his wife Helga (Liana Orfei) away by boat back to Viking lands. En route her boat is attacked by the Tartars and she and her handmaidens are abducted.
Sword dance sequence.
Brought back to the Tartar castle, Burundai tortures one of the maidens for information about the Viking numbers and begins to lust after Helga. That night the Tartars host a lavish party with dancers wielding scimitars and mock-battling each other. During the feast Burundai poisons Helga’s drink. Incapacitated, she is taken to the Khan’s quarters where he rapes her.
Furious at his wife’s abduction, Oleg agrees to a hostage exchange at the Tartars’ castle: Samia for Helga. The meeting does not go well for the Vikings: a drugged Helga falls from the castle parapet, fatally injuring herself, and the group of Viking warriors are then attacked by the Tartars – Burundai having no use of having Samia back.
Because he is going against tradition and beliefs, Burundai’s advisor Ciu Lang (Arnoldo Foà) leaves him, only to be captured and beheaded by the Kahn. Meanwhile an enraged Oleg wants to execute Samia, but Eric intervenes and declares his love for her and proclaims that she is carrying his child. Oleg puts the duo before a court made of Viking leaders, each casting their votes via axe tossing. The final vote comes down to Oleg, but before he can do so the Viking settlement is attacked by the Tartars. Oleg releases Eric so they can all join in the battle. As the Vikings are greatly outnumbered, the Tartars breach their walls and storm their court yard. Oleg and Burundai battle it out one-on-one, with Oleg victorious after he drowns the Khan in the river. Oleg’s victory is short lived as a Tartar archer shoots him in the back. Oleg’s final act, as his fort is overran, is to wave goodbye to Eric and Samia as they flee from the siege on their boat.
Samia and Eric flee the overran Viking fort.
Commentary
The Tartars is a 1961 sword and sandal film directed by Richard Thorpe. A deviation from the Greco-Roman antiquity setting, The Tartars takes place in Eastern Europe in the early Medieval period. Like many low budget costume films of the period, The Tartars is multi-national in its production: filmed in Italy and Yugoslavia, helmed by an American (Thorpe), with American (Mature and Welles) and Italian (Orfei, Marin) actors, and an Italian crew. The film features many stalwarts of peplum cinema: Mature from Samson and Delilah (1949), The Robe (1953), The Egyptian (1954), and Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954); Orfei from Hercules in the Valley of Woe (1961), Damon and Pythias (1962), The Avenger (1962), Hercules, Samson and Ulysses (1963); Marin from Goliath and the Barbarians (1959), The Giants of Thessaly (1960), War Gods of Babylon (1962); Cortez from The Giant of Metropolis (1961), Vulcan Son of Jupiter (1962), The Seven Tasks of Ali Baba (1962); Foà from Barabbas (1961), Damon and Pythias, and War Gods of Babylon (these actors and actresses appear in a plethora of other historic epics, the examples here are limited for brevity’s sake). Thorpe is also no stranger to the genre having directed epics such as The Prodigal (1955) and Knights of the Round Table (1953).
Oleg and Helga embrace.
Despite being such a vanguard actor of pepla, Mature feels out of place in The Tartars. His slick backed hair is more fitting for a Roman character than a Viking and he lacks chemistry with Orfei who plays his wife Helga. His kissing scenes with her are comical rather than romantic. It is the twilight of Mature’s career and his enthusiasm may not all be there.
Burundai during the sword dance feast.
Welles, on the other hand, has dialed his over-the-topness to eleven. His character, Burundai, is realized via yellow face that borders on Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) levels of offence: Welles’ eyebrows are painted at 45 degree angles and he is constantly squinting. Despite the racist depiction, Welles owns the performance as he nails a warlord being creepy and lecherous, yet also extremely cunning. Welles must have been allowed to either improvise or rewrite his dialogue because there are many long, verbose sequences in the film that mirror what Welles was known for when doing talk show appearances.
Samia at the Viking fort.
Cortez’s Samia does not have much to work with in The Tartars. She plays the role of the damsel and is pretty much confined to the bit due the writing and lack of screen time. This is unfortunate because Cortez has a lot to offer. For example, in Vulcan Son of Jupiter (1962), she does get captured, but her character has much more agency: she talks, plans, banters, bellydances, battles the goddess Venus with a whip, and much more.
Eric forces himself onto Samia.
Samia only falls in love with Marin’s Eric because the script forces her to. There is zero chemistry between the two, after all Eric and the Vikings killed her father Togrul. Eric’s character is a product of 60s male sexism, exhibited by forcing himself onto Samia who eventually relents. If better realized, the relationship could be attributed to Stockholm Syndrome, yet The Tartars is trying to be earnest in that their romance is true.
Helga and her maidens captured by the Tartars.
The Tartars is notorious for bringing up plot points that it does not even follow through on. The movie begins with the Tartars asking the Vikings to band together to attack the Slavs. After being rebuffed, Oleg sends notice to the Slavs about the Tartars’ intention, yet nothing becomes of this. At the climatic battle at the end of the film one might expect the Slavs to show up and save the day, much like Henry the Red and his men in Army of Darkness (1992), but this never happens. Another plot point dropped is the abduction of Helga and her three handmaidens. Helga has a rescue attempt, but her three cohorts are never mentioned again and are forgotten by the Vikings.
The death of Oleg.
Despite the aforementioned criticisms, The Tartars is fascinating because it goes against every possible grain of the peplum genre. Almost all strongmen-centric pepla are lighthearted, with a Hercules-esque character performing heroics and going on adventures, beaming with optimism. The more serious toga and sandal films have the heroes/protagonists win at the movie’s end. The Tartars, however, is dour, dark, and bleak. The good guys – the Vikings – are annihilated at the film’s conclusion. Even though the main antagonist, Burundai, is slain, his men ultimately win: the Viking fort is burned, Oleg the leader killed, and only a handful of Vikings escape.
The Tartars openly embraces both consensual and nonconsensual sex, which is fairly avant-garde for a non-exploitation film of the era. Many pepla have simile scenes for sex, such as having a belly dancing sequence stand in for intercourse. In The Tartars, Oleg leads his wife Helga to a curtained area of their house before fading to black. Later in the film, Helga is abducted, drugged and then raped by Burundai, indicated by another cut away and fade to black moment.
Samia and Eric on trial.
Mature’s Oleg is the opposite of what to expect in a heroic protagonist: he is a terrible leader for the Vikings and their downfall can be partially attributed to his incompetence. For example, at the end of the film Oleg focuses his attention on bringing his brother Eric and Samia to trial rather than develop a stratagem to deal with the Tartars. It is during the court scene that the Tartars attack, catching the Vikings not fully ready to repel them.
Oleg and company at the prisoner exchange.
Another sequence of Oleg’s terrible leadership occurs earlier in the film during the prisoner exchange of Samia for Helga. Instead of suggesting a neutral location to rendezvous with the Tartars he agrees to meet with them right outside their castle gate, where they are, unsurprisingly, attacked and forced back to their fort. Overall, a poor leader, but it makes for an interesting portrayal of an extremely flawed character and central protagonist.
Burundai leads his men into battle against the Vikings.
While Oleg falters at being a leader, the villainous Burundai excels. At no point in the film does Burundai not hold all the cards in his hands when dealing with the Vikings. Oleg considers having Samia in captivity his ace up his sleeve, whileBurundai could care less about having her back, much to the chagrin of his advisor Ciu Lang who believes Samia is prophesied to marry a great Khan. This does lead to an interesting scenario: Ciu Lang believes Burundai to be the great next Khan and wants Samia back to marry him, but at the end of the film Samia flees with Eric, the interpretation being that Eric could be the next great Khan, or at least a great leader, though his character exhibits no traits of greatness in thenarrative.
The competency and the civilizedness of the Tartars is the opposite of what is typically showcased by villains in other pepla, especial other sword and sandal films that takes places in Eastern Europe/western Russia. Such a counter example can be found in Hercules Against the Mongols (1963), where the three sons of Genghis Khan and their men are shown to be more barbaric when compared to their disciplined counterparts in The Tartars.
The steppes of Eastern Europe where the Tartars are camped.
Aside from these cases of taking the peplum genre in different directions, The Tartars does have traditional genre traits that it proficiently executes. The setting of steppes of Eastern Europe/western Russia are awesome to behold and make great backdrops for the films horse and cavalry sequences. The Tartars bring an exotic, larger than life element to the film, with their lavish ornate castle and elaborate sword dance routine that is the film’s most standout sequence. While there are no strongmen characters to bring a larger-than-life element to the film, the Vikings try their hardest to do over-the-top actions to add extra spectacle to the film, such as calibrating their catapults by firing them at each other, and the aforementioned axe throwing to denote yay or nay in the trial sequence. The battle sequences that bookend the film are spectacular with horseback riding and swarms of swordplay.
Tartar archers during the climatic battle.
If there is a takeaway from The Tartars it is that there is not much of a difference between the titular Tartars and the Vikings. Both are fairly ruthless peoples that result to kidnapping women and adhere to internal codes of conduct and prophecies. The leaders of both, Oleg and Burundai, both die at the end: Oleg from his incompetence and Burundai probably from his over confidence due to his ambition – he was going to win the battle due to his overpowering strength in numbers, so there no reason to rush into battle, except for the cinematic reason to have a one-on-one duel with Oleg. While the movie falters with its writing and casting choices, it is overall fascinating and accomplishes expanding the sword and sandal boundaries with its darker tone and subject matter.
Honoured to be a guest on a recent episode of the Fan2Fan Podcast to talk about one of my all time favorite films, Ark of the Sun God.
Sincere thanks to Bernie and Pete for having me on to talk about this cult Euro film that borrows heavily from both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Roger Moore-era James Bond. You can listen to the episode via the embedded player below, at this link here, or through your podcast app of preference.
And just for fun, how much do I love Ark of the Sun God? Why, I have four copies of the film, one of them autographed by Edoardo Margheriti!
My very first academic presentation was also on this film at a SW/PACA Conference way back in the late aughts.
“Dance or Dēcēdere” Citation
My essay, “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling” from A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, has just got its first citation!
Humbled that Ksenija Ševcova has cited the essay in her essay, “Music As a Means of Resistance: Rhetorical Analysis of Three Ukrainian Wartime Songs” which can be read online here.
Scholars from the Edge of Time
March’s Scholars from the Edge of Time vidcast is online!
Michele and I continue our dive into the filmography of pepla starlet Bella Cortez and discuss her film, The Tartars. The Vidcast can be watched on YouTube here.
I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found here and it is a major WIP.
Note: Light in the Attic is doing pre-orders for the Emmanuelle 2 soundtrack on vinyl (see image above). I’ve got my copy preordered! Here is a link to their product page. The description as follows:
This French masterpiece is the second adaptation of Emmanuelle Arsan’s novel “Madame Emmanuelle,” widely acclaimed as a global box office success. Francis Ray composed the music, and lead actress Sylvia Kristel’s appearance in Japanese commercials sparked a social sensation. The theme song, a popular French Lolita tune sung by Kristel herself, carries a melancholic yet captivating melody. The sensual jacket faithfully reproduces the original Japanese release, capturing the essence of that era.
LITA Newsletter from 2024-04-02
Miscellaneous Tidbits
By The Gods! Issue #2
PeplumTV has their second issue of By The Gods! out now!
The magazine can be readily purchased at MagCloud. If you have not checked out issue one, that is also available for purchase at this MagCloud product page link.
Brand new, hot off the presses, article up at my website!
As yall know, I love it when the world of industrial music and sword and sandal collide and I jump on any chance to write about them. Twenty years ago the industrial-ambient-experimental compilation XII Caesars was released. An opportunity presented itself to interview both Post Scriptvm and Murderous Vision, so I leapt on it and churned out this retrospective of the compilation. Some great insight from both projects – please check it out here!
Tracie May-Wagner in Passion and Romance: Double or Nothing (prod. by Alain Siritzky)
I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found here and it is a major WIP.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Michele on the Fan2Fan Podcast
Michele recently appeared on a two-parter episode for the Fan2Fan Podcast to talk about the City Symphony genre of silent films.
Awen returns to New York after 17 years! There will be an intimate concert in Brooklyn on May 5th with Murderous Vision and Autumn Brigade. This will likely be the only Awen concert this year, in celebration of the new album This World And Its Spirits!
Tickets are available now in limited numbers and it’s recommended that you not wait too long, as the venue has limited capacity.
I’ve done a couple of articles about Awen before that I need to migrate to this website. You can find my review of their album, The Hollow in the Stone, at this link.
Twenty years ago can seem like ancient history when looking at both pop and underground culture, a feeling that becomes compounded when a textual artifact from the past is an examination of ancient history proper. Industrial music typically does not dive into the world of antiquity, (usually staying in the realm of post-modern concepts), but the inherent experimental nature of the genre occasionally pushes a music project or release to explore topics related to ancient history. The 2004 compilation, XII Caesars, released by the long since defunct Somnambulant Corpse, is one of those outlier releases where industrialism and antiquity collide. Twenty years later, the release deserves to be unearthed and re-appreciated, not only for its contribution to the industrial genre, but as a time capsule of the underground scene in the aughts – a literal aural artifact.
XII Caesars Cover Insert.
XII Caesars is a concept compilation with a specific focus on Julius Caesar and the first eleven emperors of Ancient Rome as detailed in Suetonius’ influential text, The Twelve Caesars. Each track focuses on a specific Caesar and are presented in chronological order of each emperor’s reign with two exceptions: four emperors share track seven “Year Of Four Emperors (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian)” and the last track is the epilogue “Ultor,” a reference to Mars Ultor, an iteration of the god of Mars during the period of Augustus.
The first track, “Julius Caesar, Dictator,” is by the ambient-industrial project Exsanguinate. The background drone of the song feels like one is being shaken or rattled, with distorted wailing appearing halfway through the track. There is a chilling, 4-beat rhythm that adds a catchyness to the track, giving listeners something to latch onto during the song’s duration.
“Augustus” by Tugend is the album’s second track. An ambient song with some neo-classical and borderline dungeon synth elements, it sounds like the music one would hear from a church belonging to an apocalyptic cult, with the latter half of the track bringing a fire-and-brimstone drumming to it.
Card of Tiberius / Murderous Vision.
The third track is the ambient “Tiberius” by Murderous Vision. The song begins with a repeating sample “Hey, Caesar” with the background giving way to other, garbled, sampled voices. The gives the track an effect of hearing whispered plots and schemes, and a general uncomfortable vibe, no doubt recreating the feelings of Tiberius’ paranoia.
“Tiberius” is followed by “Gaius (Caligula)” by Bestia Centauri. A droning track with some atonal electronics, it would easily be at home on the Cryo Chamber label.
Card for Claudius / Post Scriptvm.
Post Scriptvm’s “Claudius” is the compilation’s fifth track. An experimental soundscape, the song is sample heavy of crying, weeping, animal baying, and water rustling. The samples sit atop a 1-2 beat that flows through the song, making the song unnerving and ominous while at the same time accessible and easy to latch onto.
The minimal-ambient “Nero” appears to be the only song ever released by The Great Despisers.
Survival Unit brings the power electronics genre to XII Caesars with their “Year Of Four Emperors (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian).” The track is both burbling and bombastic, peppered with muddled samples of speeches and screeches. It is volatile track, definitely mimicking the period of civil war in the Roman Empire.
“Titus” by Önd is an extremely minimal, experimental song, bordering on a single note being held through the entire duration.
The last of the twelves Caesars, Domitian, is the compilation’s penultimate track and composed by Axone, the project of Somnambulant Corpse’s owner Chris Donovan. An industrial soundscape song, “Domitian” feels both windswept and grating, like traversing stone tunnels constructed by giant bees.
The final track on XII Caesars is “Epilogue (Ultor)” by Marspiter. An industrial-ambient composition, the song feels like gazing upon a ruined city in the middle of a desert under a dark sky, a last glimpse of what once was.
Insert Back.
CD in tray.
The cover of XII Caesars shows the busts of the twelve emperors in a small, 3×4 grid, with a faint, dark, modern cityscape as the background. Inside the booklet shows a gladius while the CD proper shows the pillars and buildings of Ancient Rome aflame. The presentation proper is akin to the imagery used by VNV Nation during their Empires-era (late 90s/early 2000s). Included with the album is a series of large, double sided postcards, housed in a ziplock bag, each depicting a rendition of different Caesar in a hand drawn style. The entire package evokes both the ornateness and DIY philosophy expressed by small, extreme music labels of the aughts.
Complete packaging of XII Caesars.
Though ten industrial/ambient/noise artists are showcased on XII Caesars, only a three survive to the present day: Murderous Vision, Post Scriptvm, and Survival Unit (though Exsanguinate appears defunct, the project’s mastermind, Thomas Garrison, continues on prolifically as Control). Post Scriptvm and Stephen Petrus from Murderous Vision have graciously shared their experiences and thoughts about their tracks, providing incredible insight not only into their craft, but of industrialism of the period.
What is your relationship with antiquity, classics, or (in the case of pop culture) the sword and sandal genre? Are these topics that interest you or influence you in any way?
Murderous Vision: Outside of an affinity for the Jason And The Argonauts film as a child, I don’t have a notable interest in the genre. I do, however, have an interest in all things historical. So, when creating my Tiberius themed contribution, I tried to keep his rule in mind. Something sounding epical, orderly and underlying dread were the things I attempted to execute.
Post Scriptvm: The name of my project, Post Scriptvm, as well as its specific spelling, is inspired by the mid-1970s BBC series I, Claudius, which portrays the early Roman Empire and is narrated by Emperor Claudius. Although my project has consistently been influenced by the ideas and aesthetics of Russian art and literary movements at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly Russian Futurism, I opted for this Latin name because, to me, it implies fin de siècle or the end of an era.
Murderous Vision, photo courtesy of the artist.
Outside niche subgenres such as neofolk and martial industrial, industrial music generally doesn’t dabble in pre-1900s history, let alone antiquity. From your perspective why do you think that is?
Murderous Vision: I think it may be related to the actual sounds of these genres. The instruments used and song structures involved evoke the way one thinks music sounded in these periods. With standard industrial music, the instrumentation is very clearly of the 20th and 21st centuries, and might be sonically incompatible with these historical periods. Authenticity and effectiveness reign.
Post Scriptvm: Many industrial music artists that I particularly appreciate, such as Bad Sector, Werkbund, Internal Fusion, SPK, Inade, among others, find inspiration in ancient mythologies. To me, this makes perfect sense. A 20th-century art critic once observed that the avant-garde serves as a continuation of classical art within modern contexts—an intentional continuation of an ideal that has been lost and ruined. For me, industrial music, particularly its more extreme, dark variety, has always served as a soundtrack to a civilization in steady and catastrophic decline. We primarily grasp, value and interpret antiquity through its ruins entombed within the sterile museum morgues, while a minuscule portion of surviving texts suggests an expansive realm of ideas forever beyond our reach. Industrial music, in parallel, reflects the decay of modern civilization, frequently finding inspiration in the ruins of ancient cultures. By referencing ancient ruins to depict the downfall of our own society, we are essentially shaping our own antiquity.
Post Scriptvm, photo courtesy of the artist.
What was the genesis of your involvement of the XII Caesars compilation?
Murderous Vision: At the time I had a close relationship with Chris Donovan and his label Somnambulant Corpse. I had previously been involved with the label on his Lovecraft themed compilation [note: The Outsider], and released a split CD with his personal project Kuru, called Blood-Brain Barrier. Both of these were released by Somnambulant.
Post Scriptvm: I received an invitation to contribute to the compilation from the owner of the Somnambulant Corpse record label. A couple of years prior to XII Caesars, Somnambulant had issued my debut album [note: Guaze], and I had previously contributed a track to the label’s earlier compilation dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft.
Did you get to select your emperor or was one assigned to you?
Post Scriptvm: The label actually had assigned each artist a Caesar to dedicate a track to, stating that the compilation’s subject matter necessitated a somewhat dictatorial approach.
Murderous Vision: It was assigned to me, based on his personal feeling of which emperor he felt suited the sound of each project he chose to include.
Your track on the compilation, was it an untitled song you had in your repertoire that you submitted or was it a song composed exclusively for the release?
Murderous Vision: It was composed exclusively for his compilation.
Post Scriptvm: For this compilation, I created an entirely new track, incorporating samples from both I, Claudius and the 1979 film Caligula, another one of my favorites.
How did you go about capturing the theme of your respective Caesar and conveying it in your composition?
Murderous Vision: I started by reading what I could online about the history and life of my Caesar. In drafting the sounds I kept in mind that I wanted to use reverbs that would evoke vast marble halls and open ancient stadiums. I recorded everything with a degraded VHS copy of Caligula playing on the TV in the background.
Post Scriptvm: Apart from incorporating samples from the mentioned films and submerging myself into both The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius and The Roman Empresses by Jacques Roergas De Serviez prior to recording the track, I did not deviate from my typical approach for composing Post Scriptvm tracks at the time. As an undergraduate student back then, I had only rather primitive, rudimentary equipment at my disposal, which, in my view, was well suited for interpreting the ambiance of the ancient Roman Empire.
Going back in time to 2004, what do you recall the reception of the XII Caesars was like?
Murderous Vision: I don’t think it was widely circulated, but deeply appreciated by those who did get one. I seem to remember some favorable reviews circulating.
Post Scriptvm: The reception was very positive. Despite being a DIY homemade CD-R release, the compilation was sold all over the United States and Europe and received several positive reviews in the underground press. The early 2000s marked the pinnacle for underground industrial music artists and small independent record labels like Somnambulant.
What are your thoughts on the compilation as a whole, from the presentation to the other contributions?
Murderous Vision: I was quite proud of my involvement. The label pulled no punches in the presentation, using high quality artwork and paper stocks to present the art panels, and professionally produced media sealed the deal. Every other act contributed great sound materials. It was a stellar compilation from a golden era that was known for stellar compilations.
Post Scriptvm: It is certainly of its time both in terms of sound production and its distinctly DIY presentation. It’s a wonderful testament to the era when underground experimental music flourished, showcasing the passion and dedication of the record label and every artist involved. Regrettably, the record label and the majority of the artists are no longer active.
Reflecting on your song for the compilation, are there any changes you would’ve made for it? Any thoughts of updating, remastering, or remixing your song and giving it a second life?
Murderous Vision: I think the track was a nice representation of the sound of Murderous Vision in that era. I think it stands as a good representation of both the band and the theme. The version that appears on there was truncated by the label for whatever reason he had at the time. The full, unedited version did, however, appear in 2006 on the Murderous Vision retrospective Ghosts of the Soul Long Lost Volume 1 [Note: listed as “Tiberious (Full Version)”].
Post Scriptvm: If I were to reinterpret that track now, it would have a completely different sound. I prefer directing my attention towards the future rather than dwelling on the past. Nonetheless, having to revisit it would provide me with a compelling reason to reread The Twelve Caesars and The Roman Empresses and to rewatch Caligula and I, Claudius.
Finally, what are some upcoming project news you’d like to share?
Post Scriptvm: My new LP titled Eisstoß is now available on Tesco Organisation, and I have a cassette EP titled Секта set for release in April on DumpsterScore Home Recordings.
Murderous Vision: This year will be another filled with activity. 2024 actually marks thirty years since the inception of the project. Among things that will happen this year are a performance in May supporting longtime friends Awen in NYC. There are a couple special surprises planned for the gig, but one must attend to see what they are! This year will also see the release of a new full length album called Pestilent Black Breath on Germany’s excellent label Dunkelheit Produktionen. Work is also well underway on a retrospective book of reflections on thirty years of Murderous Vision that will be packed with photos, flyers and ephemera from the beginning to present times. The machine chugs on…
Sincere thank you to Stephen Petrus and Post Scriptvm for their time and answers. More information on their projects can be found at the below links:
I take a look at the debut issue of Hearteater, a NSFW erotic pirate adventure comic. It can be read here.
HP Lovecast Podcast
A new episode of HP Lovecast Podcast is also online!
We have a returning guest, David Rose, on the show talking about his short story collection of Lovecraftian military fiction, Monsters in the Bush. The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout page, via the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.
The February Scholars from the Edge of Time vidcast is now online.
Michele and I start our retrospective of the peplum films of Bella Cortez with Vulcan, Son of Jupiter. I’ll be typing up my notes as a “Peplum Ponderings” article later this month.
The episode can be watched on YouTube. Stay tuned in March for the next Bella Cortez film we tackle which will probably be The Tartars (1961).
I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found hereand it’s a major WIP.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Recent Peplum Acquisitions
I never heard the term “spear and fang” before as a genre, I just kinda called them “prehistoric peplum,” but alas, it’s a term and it has its roots in a Robert E. Howard story of the same name (story found here).
Coincidentally, at the same time of learning about “spear and fang” I had ordered such a film from Amazon. I never heard of it before, but it is called Alpha (2018). I learned of it while researching my In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds write up in that both films star Natassia Malthe).
I’ve never seen it, but it looks tough. I also know the poor pupper is not going to make it.
In the mood for some new peplum music to write to I plucked up off discos the soundtrack to the Conan TV series of the 90s.
This was a series that was greenlit to capitalize on the success of the Hercules/Xena shows. Conan managed to slip by me growing up, so I’ll have to hunt down the boxset of it to watch (but it’s way OOP). It does star Ralph Möller who is always bad ass, from Universal Solider to Gladiator. He looks like a good Conan on the cover of the album.
The music is fun – great background music to write to.
On the subject of Möller and music, I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up his guest appearance in the E Nomine song “Schwarze Sonnne” which has Möller wielding a sword in a post- apocalyptic city while fighting tech ninja. The song slaps hard:
Next up is In The Name of the King 3: The Last Mission.
After seeing Two Worlds, I felt obligated to complete the trilogy. I hope in this one they actually lean into the modern day soldier/merc doing stuff in Medieval times. If you want to read my thoughts on In the Name of the King 2: Two World, click here.
Also procured is Damon and Pythias (1962), another classic era sword and sandal I have not seen.
I’ve been trying to get the Warner Archive releases of sword and sandal films when I can. I heard scuttlebutt that Warner was going to wind down their production of physical media, which would be a shame because they actually took care of their films so their peplum releases actually look decent on home video.
I don’t know how I stumbled across it, but it was random on Discogs, but I had to have a copy of Inferno’s The Roman Empire.
Someone on a Sword and Sorcery Discord I go to said the cover looks like Encarta barfed all over it (they’re not wrong!). I am going to try to hunt down all the pictured that where used in the collage work on this album. I’ve identified one: The chariot and horse scene near the top left is from the Hercules Unchained poster (see bottom right):
The music is early 90s Eurodance style. It’s campy, but kinda catchy and fun. If I can find more image sources I’ll do an article proper on this album.
Kimona, better known as the Hearteater, is an adventurous pirate lass, who along with her talking raven companion Zephyr, have had their fair share of encounters with treasures, riches, and near death misses. Their newest adventure brings them to Port Harmony, where a magical voice compels Kimona to rescue Finn, a handsome scoundrel of a thief, sentenced to be hung at the gallows. After getting intimately acquainted with each other during the night at an inn, a mystical bell that Kimona wears around her neck begins to glow, signifying a new adventure for the trio.
PDF Cover.
Hearteater is crowdfunded, erotic pirate comic set during the Golden Age of Piracy. Published by the women-owned Laguna Studios, (an offshoot/successor of Unlikely Heroes Studios), the comic is written by Laurie Foster (The Surgeon, Super!), with Cari Salviejo (Xenogeist, Hypergeist) on line art, Patty Arroyo (cover artist for Bombshell & Atomica,Roseblood Manor) on colours, Saïda Temofonte (Number of the Beast, DCeased) on lettering and Brian J. Lambert (Wingless Comics founder) and Sarah White (The Surgeon) as editors.
Genre waves come in cycles: rising, cresting, and retreating every few years. The pirate genre is no exception. After a period of cooling from the numerous Pirates of the Caribbean films, the last few years have seen pirates remerging in all corners of media: television (Our Flag Means Death), video games (Sea of Thieves, and Ubisoft’s freshly released, though somewhat maligned Skull and Bones), music (Visions of Atlantis), and comic books (The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl). Laguna Studios’ Hearteater definitely contributes to the pirate genre canon while overtly embracing the erotic angle promised by tales of swashbucklery.
Kimona is a fun character, who knows what she wants and is always on the prowl for the next promise of adventure, be it by the sword or between the sheets. She is also a liberated character, both in race and gender, which gives her the agency and mobility to do her pirating deeds. Her raven familiar, Zephyr, acts as her voice of reason, but Kimona is the type of character who does not always give into reason.
Issue one of Hearteater is fairly short, there is no seafaring or sword fighting to be found, but there is an escape attempt and a steamy love scene. Kimona proper gets her character foundtations fleshed out and it is easy for readers to latch on to her.
While the narrative sets up the chess pieces as is traditional in first issues of a new series, the art of Hearteater tells a different story: great characters but forgettable backgrounds.
The expressions and details on characters such as Kimono and Zephyr are great.
The characters, especially Kimona, in Hearteater, look great. Kimona has the best facial expressions that compliment her speech bubbles and make transparent her emotions. Her seductive poses are sultry (with some breast jiggle onomatopoeia thrown in for good measure) while her other depictions show her in command, perhaps with air of mystery as readers are learning more about her.
Opening panel of the comic.
The background art, on the other hand, falters a bit. The opening shot of the comic, designed to lure readers in right from the get go, is an aerial shot of Port Harmony, filled with nondescript, featureless, flat buildings. Hearteater may actually be aware of this limitation because subsequent panels focus on closeups of Kimona and other characters, rather than have backgrounds shown in detail. It’s a shame since in the pirate genre, setting is important as readers want to be whisked away to tropical islands and port cities. The look of the characters nails it, but the world proper needs a bit more love.
Hearteater’s Kickstarter campaign concluded in the autumn of 2023 with backers receiving their rewards in February 2024, a pretty quick turnaround. As with many crowdfunded comics, Hearteater sported a variety of alternative covers – both in normal and risque formats – and came with a handful of extras from meeting stretch goals.
Zheanhmeart risqué cover – personal copy.
Artists who contributed covered are Cari Salviejo, Ian Richardson, KodiArt, Dravacus, Zheanhmeart, and Katy Rewston. All the covers are great, making choosing one a difficult process. Salviejo’s cover though, showing Kimona surrounded by green tentacles, hints at the eldritch elements stated in the Kickstarter campaign but not shown in issue one (something to look forward to in the next issue).
Rewards for the campaign included a metal bookmark and a chibi-esque sticker of Kimona.
Backers also received both digital and physical prints done by Mike Watson and Veronica Smith.
Pirates are awesome and Hearteater is looking to be fantastic as well. The erotic elements are definitely sexy, Kimona and company look to be fun characters to invest in and see their adventure continue, especially if it might venture down into Lovecraftian/Eldritch horror territory while maintaining the pirate atmosphere. A Lovecraftian-Erotic-Pirate story? Yes, please!
It’s been almost 2.5 years since my last “Peplum Ponderings” (which was on Messalina [1960]), so hoping 2024 is a good year to bring that series back.
Starting off with a “Peplum Ponderings” of the 2011 Uwe Boll film, In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds. Check it out here!
The next few “Peplum Ponderings” will probably be on the pepla of actress Bella Cortez.
Scholars from the Edge of Time
And, coinciding with the above article, Michele and I talked about Two Worlds on the January episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time, which can be watched on YouTube.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Marx Warriors of the World
In early February Michele and I attended the AZToyCon over at the Mesa Convention center. The con was 90% Funkos, but there was some neat stuff here and there.
One of the things I spotted was a vendor with a Tupperware full of CIB of these late 50s/early 60s plastic figures form a company called Marx. The line was “Warriors of the World.” I had never seen or heard of these before, but I loved, loved the vintage box art on them. There was a handful of Viking ones, but quite a few Roman solider ones, so I plucked up three of them.
Look at those boxes!! Are they not awesome? I wanted to open all three, but I didn’t want to risk accidentally tearing a box, they have older style flaps inside. I did manage to open Tiberius:
There’s the box, a little card with a bio, and the figurine proper, all handprinted. It’s about the size of a classic green plastic army man. But I really dig it! Once I get a proper curio cabinet in my office, I’ll open all three boxes and put these bad boys on display.
Autographed Stuff
Ship of Dreams
In early January iconic horror writer Brian Lumley passed away. He and Gary Myers are probably the two most important authors at shaping Lovecraft’s Dreamlands after Lovecraft has passed away. We have not had a chance to discuss Lumley’s work on our H. P. Lovecast Podcast, but we hope to in the near future.
One of Lumley’s Dreamlands entries is the book Ship of Dreams, which I have this awesome, limited edition, autographed copy.
The cover art by Allen Koszowski is spectacular. Here is the back cover:
Friends’ Stuff News
Neverending Streamer Substack
My friend Travis has a new article at his Neverending Streamer Substack. It’s about episode 4 of the Marvel streaming series Echo. Subscribe and check it out here.
Bible Films Blog
Matt Page has a new article at his Bible Films Blog called “Which Bible Films Celebrate a Significant Anniversary in 2024?”. There’s a lot of films on the list with movie birthdays so check it out here.
Angela Sylvaine Short Story Collection
Angela Sylvaine will be having her first short story collection published this spring by Dark Matter Ink. It is called The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls and is already available for pre-order at the Dark Matter Ink Store.
Of course, Angela has been on our HP Lovecast Podcast twice: talking about her novella Chopping Spree and talking about her debut novel Frost Bite. Click the links to have a listen and then consider supporting her work!
Granger (Dolph Lundgren) is a retired special forces soldier who runs a martial arts gym in Vancouver, Canada. Sometime in the past he lost his squad during a battle, and each anniversary since then he sips a whisky in their honour. While partaking in his yearly ritual in his home office, he is assaulted by black robed assailants – Dark Ones – which he dispatches with his fists and firearms. In the midst of the skirmish, warrior-wizard Elianna (Natalie Burn) appears, summons a portal, and takes Granger back in time to the ancient kingdom of Ehb. When they manifest by a lake, Elianna is stabbed by a Dark One. After Granger kills the foe, he is besieged by the king’s right hand man, Allard (Aleks Paunovic), who knocks Granger out and takes him to the forest fortress. There Granger meets the king (Lochlyn Munro), who tells Granger he is a chosen one and part of a prophecy where he is to slay the Holy Mother (Christina Jastrzembska), an evil witch who has brought a plague upon the land.
After being tended to by healer Manhattan (Natassia Malthe), surviving an assassination attempt by a wench (Michaela Mann), and consulting a blind fortune teller who lives in a tree (Elisabeth Rosen), Granger is briefed again by the king and sets off into the forest on his quest. Though wanting to go solo, Granger is joined by Allard, Manhattan, and a small squad of the king’s soldiers. Granger and company are ambushed twice by the Dark Ones, with the second time Allard sacrificing himself to allow Granger and Manhattan time to escape.
While fleeing, Manhattan injures her leg, so Granger leaves her in a safe area by a stream and sets off alone to the Dark Ones’ camp. He deduces the Holy Mother wants him alive, so he strolls into the camp unimpeded and gains audience with the Holy Mother who informs him that the king is actually an alchemist named Raven, who is the real villain in the kingdom. He unleashed a plague that killed off many and took over the throne. Granger is actually a child from the prior royal family that the Holy Mother took to the future to hide from Raven, and now that he is back he needs to fulfill the prophecy: find the “catalyst” and defeat Raven.
The Holy Mother, who turns out was one of the Dark Ones who assaulted Granger in his house, passes away, leaving warrior Dunyana (Heather Doerksen) as the new leader of the Dark Ones. She and her men escort Granger to the outskirts of the dark forest where he is supposed to venture in to search for the unknown “catalyst.” Before entering the forest, Granger uses his new kingly abilities to make Dunyana the new leader of Ehb.
Granger enters the forest and encounters a dragon. As he is about to fight the dragon, Manhattan appears and throws a rock at the beast. The two escape and encounter a squad of Raven’s men, who are quickly dispatched by the dragon that was in pursuit. Granger and Manhattan flee the forest and run into Raven and his small army who take the two captive and back to the forest fortress where he intends to execute them. Just as he is about to kill the duo, the dragon arrives and starts attacking the fortress. Dunyana and her men, who have been waiting in hiding nearby, deduce that the dragon is the catalyst, and charge into the battlefield.
Raven makes his escape with Granger in pursuit. Arriving at the lake, Raven opens a portal to the future where he intends to unleash his alchemy plague. Raven and Granger hop in and find themselves in Granger’s house. Granger easily dispatches Raven by drowning him in his bath tub and stuffing his vial of plague solution into his mouth. Granger returns to his home office to do a new toast to his new fallen comrades. While doing so, an amulet given to Granger by Manhattan begins to shimmer.
Commentary
In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds (2011) is a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court-style neo-peplum and the second film in Uwe Boll’s In the Name of the King trilogy. As of 2024 it is the second to last video game inspired/adapted film that Boll has directed, the last one being In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission (2014). Like the first film in the series, the only connection Two Worlds has to the Dungeon Siege PC games of the aughts is being set in the kingdom of Ehb.
Two Worlds can be best summarized as diet Army of Darkness (1992). Both are low budget affairs that involve a time traveler unwittingly thrown to Medieval times, being part of a chosen one prophecy, having to kill an ominous villain (Bad Ash/Holy Mother), and questing to procure a “thing” (Necronomicon/the catalyst [a dragon]). While Army of Darkness has gone on to enjoy decades of cult film appreciation, Two Worlds is fairly run-of-the-mill. There are two primary issues with Two Worlds that hold it back from being a better film: Lundgren (and how he is portrayed/portrays himself) and the writing.
Lundgren is a proper action star, from bigger budget, A-list, popular films (Universal Soldier [1992], Rocky IV [1985], The Expendables [2010]) to direct-to-DVD fare (Diamond Dogs [2007], Icarus [2010], Silent Trigger [1996], etc.). In 99% of Lundgren films a viewer will know exactly what to expect: Lundgren bringing the martial arts, fisticuffs, and gunplay. Sadly, Two Worlds falls into that 1% category where Lundgren is not on his A-game.
Per IMDB trivia there are two reasons in tandem that are throwing off Lundgren: that this is a paycheck role and that he injured himself early in production. Paycheck roles are not bad per se, they can be fun or elevate an otherwise unremarkable film. Paycheck gigs can be an indicator of enthusiasm for the actor in some instances, with some going through the motions to collect their salary (see the advent of geazer teasers), while others still take their part seriously (such as Nic Cage during his financial troubles, he still brought “Nic Cage” to everything he did).
However, coupling a paycheck role along with Lundgren injuring himself and you have the performance of an actor who definitely does not want to be there. Lundgren must have been in some serious pain because he looks uncomfortable in every shot he is in. This is not the uncomfortable of a fish out of water scenario, (which is what should be going on in this time travel tale), but of someone in legit pain. Because of this, it can be assumed that Boll had to drastically alter the film’s action scenes to accommodate Lundgren. He has one scene in the forest where he punches, kicks, and spears soldiers part of an ambush, but a good chunk of the film shows Lundgren resting, sitting, or laying down. Narratively, the film tries to justify Lundgren’s lack of physical performance by showing scars on his back, that he was previously wounded in battle, and still takes medication to combat his lingering injuries. It is, pun intended, only a bandaid for the film. For these reasons, it appears Lundgren is not able to bring his full Lundgren-ness to Two Worlds, especially since he is no stranger to fantasy roles having played He-Man in Masters of the Universe (1987), but commendable for him sticking it out.
The second major fault with Two Worlds lays with its writing, specifically in two arenas: the film does not lean in to its main, unique feature, and the film has no narrative stakes and will unfold the same way regardless of the presence of the Granger character or not.
Firstly, Two Worlds does not take advantage of its premise: that of a special forces person thrust into Medieval times. This movie should have had multiple scenes of Granger using his special forces expertise to dispatch enemies, infiltrate camps, and gather intel. Army of Darkness leaned into this attribute with the character of Ash (Bruce Campbell), even though that character is a normal person: he trains Arthur’s army, has a shotgun, uses a chemistry textbook to make explosives, outfits his car with a giant rotor and so on. The character of Granger exclaims he wants to sneak into the Holy Mother’s camp, but the king instead outfits him with a squad of soldiers, ruining an opportunity for modern day covert activity action. There is one sequence where Granger sneaks up on an unsuspecting soldier as they are cooking and then stabs them. Granger then proceeds to walk into the Holy Mother’s camp unimpeded, as he is expected, rending his stealth kill unnecessary. Movies such as The Final Countdown (1980) and G. I. Samurai (1979) narratively take advantage of modern tech/skills in historic times, Two Worlds does not.
Secondly, this is a film were the events that unfold do not “count,” like a movie that ends with everything being a dream, lowering the narrative stakes. If Granger had not time traveled back to the era of Ehb, the movie would end in the exact same way as if he did: Raven may or may not attempt to kill the Holy Mother, but regardless he will still take the time portal and – surprise – end up in Granger’s house. At that point, the movie would end in the same fashion of Granger defeating Raven as he would be an intruder in his home. The only reason for Granger to travel to the past is because the prophecy of him being the chosen one dictates it. Unfortunately, the plot of the film leans too heavy on the chosen one prophecy as it is used as hand-waving justification of why the movie unfolds the way it does. Why does Granger need to head into the woods? Who knows – prophecy. What is he questing for? Who knows – prophecy. Why do the Dark Ones, if they are the good guys, attack Granger in his own home? Who knows – prophecy. And so on. It’s a panacea for bad writing.
Boll, to his credit, salvages what he can with an injured actor and a script that was no doubt in flux. The woodland battles look good and the use of sweeping shots of tree-covered mountains give the film an epic quality to it. The choice to film in winter is an interesting one. Everyone in this film is obviously cold, with their breath visible in every shot, but this cold factor adds a gritty element to the film.
As a neo-peplum film, Two Worlds is sword and sorcery in the post-Lord of the Rings vein. There is not an emphasis on bodies in Two Worlds as one would find in 80s barbarian films. Like a peplum strongman character, Granger primarily uses punches and kicks to dispatch his foes. He is given a sword towards the film’s final act, which he unsheathes when he encounters the dragon, but he does not actually engage in combat with it.
Aside from the brief shot of his back in his gym at the beginning of the film, Lundgren/Granger’s body is never on display in Two Worlds, so no Ivan Drago shots to be found. Though he is not portrayed as a traditional strongman character, Granger does share some characteristics with Conan in that they are both orphaned very young and grow up learning how to fight (Conan as a gladiator and Granger as a special forces member). In a related observation, the kingdom of Ehb is similar to Conan’s Hyborian Age, a prehistory fantasy setting that allows wiggle room for magic and history proper.
There is a genre meta reference when Granger asks Allard if he is into “swords and sweaty sandals.” However, the jab sounds like it is trying to ape Airplane’s (1980) “Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?” except it comes off as needlessly homophobic in Two Worlds. The reference is welcomed, but it could have been delivered in a non-derogatory manner. In fact, this is another missed opportunity in that Granger could have brought up pop culture references of fantasy and peplum films to help him make sense of his time traveled predicament.
Boll has a reputation for making bad movies, particularly video game adapted films, but In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds is one of his better works. The movie proper is competent and scratches an epic fantasy itch. If Lundgren had been able to perform at his 100% his presence would have elevated the film to a more memorable status and provided a much needed wink-and-nod to make the greater narrative more digestible.
