WAR OF THE ZOMBIES / ROME AGAINST ROME (1964)

In an opening scene of rousing sword fighting, a group of Romans carting tribute gold from the town of Salmacia to Rome are attacked and slaughtered. Afterwards, some grungy people in robes sneak in and cart the dead bodies off. Needless to say, Rome is pissed off, blaming the lack of gold on a Salmacian cult who indulge in magic and human sacrifice. The senators send Gaius (Ettore Manni) off to find their gold. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Aderbad (John Drew Barrymore, pictured), the head of the cult of the Goddess of the Night Star that has taken over Salmacia, with even the town's leader Letitius and his wife Tullia under Aderbad's thumb. The cult's plan is to resurrect the dead Roman soldiers as ghost warriors to fight against Rome. In the temple cave, the goddess is embodied in a huge statue of a woman's head with a third eye (reminding me of the way that the Wizard of Oz manifests himself in the 1939 film).that periodically lights up to shoot a ray of destruction. Gaius is captured by the cult but is released by Azer, a disillusioned cult member. Gaius makes contact with Letitius, and does not escape the wandering eye of Tullia. It's another woman, however, who attracts Gaius: the lovely slave girl Rhama who is under the hypnotic influence of the cult but wants to break free. She applies a magical healing balm to a sword wound on Gaius's arm, but soon Gaius winds up trapped in a cage in the temple, with frozen dead soldiers standing against the walls of the cave. The blood of dead soldiers resurrects these soldiers (I'm a little lost about this detail but it makes for a nifty scene) and Aderbad can conjure up damaging fire and wind in the cave, though he soon finds out that the balm that Rhama applied to Gaius has rendered him invulnerable to any magical damage. Now things really get strange. Tullia, mad because Gaius prefers Rhama to her, plots to kill her husband and blame it on Gaius and Azer (remember him?). We see another village attacked by cult members as savages dance around. Aderbad creates a snowstorm out of the blue, which leads to him finally conjuring up his dead soldier army, who are, despite the movie's title, not zombies but ghosts in psychedelic colors. Gaius saves the day by stabbing the goddess statue in her third eye, causing cascades of blood to rush out, and also somehow blinding Aderbad and causing an earthquake and the disappearance of the ghost army.

Whew! That’s a lot of plot for a 90 minute movie, and I'm not even sure I have all the details right as the English-dubbed print I saw on YouTube had several chunks of untranslated French dialogue throughout. My theory is that the English dubbed version was cut down and the French bits were added from another print to lengthen it. At any rate, like THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS, this is a crazy mix of genres (peplum, fantasy, horror) and it largely works if you give yourself over to its weirdness. Most critics credit John Drew Barrymore (father of Drew) and his over-the-top performance for the film's appeal. Though I think he's fine, he mostly controls his mustache-twirling villainous self until he goes whole hog camp near the end. He looks and acts much more modern than most peplum bad guys which adds to the appeal. Unlike most peplum heroes, Ettore Manni is not especially muscular and never shirtless, but he manages to convey a confident heroic aura. Ida Galli is good as Rhama, but most everyone else fades into the background. There is a bit of slogging in the middle, but the final attack is pulled off effectively, if cheaply. Favorite line: Aderbad to Tullia: "Revenge is love." Its alternate title, ROME AGAINST ROME, makes more sense. [YouTube]