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From the fertile imagination which brought you the irresistible HERCULES (1983), comes its even more preposterous (read goofier) sequel: right off the bat, we get another unwieldy "beginning of time" prologue which even contrives to completely contradict these same events as set up in the first film!; a condensed montage of highlights from same is soon followed by a SUPERMAN-like scrolling credits sequence. Narrative-wise, here we have four rebellious gods who steal Zeus' seven all-important (but poorly animated) thunderbolts – a crime which, for one thing, sets the moon careening on a collision course with Planet Earth! Faster than you can say "nepotism", Zeus (once again played as a white-haired bearded man by the relatively young Claudio Cassinelli) sends his champion – who has now rightfully taken his place among the elite thanks to, one presumes, the almighty tasks performed in the first film – to find his blooming thunderbolts and avert the calamities in store.

No sooner has Hercules (Lou Ferrigno – as if you didn't know) touched the earthly surface that he comes in contact with two attractive damsels (Milly Carlucci and Sonia Viviani) in need of his getting them out of distress!; the former (who would go on to become an Italian TV personality) seemingly has the ability to talk with the Little People(!) – which look uncannily like the tiny sisters from GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA (1964)!! Just so they can swindle as much unutilzed footage from the first film as is humanly possible, the divine quartet of villains resurrect good ol' King Minos (William Berger again) from his skeletal slumber and pit him once more against his eternal enemy. Typically, Hercules is made to encounter a number of potentially deadly foes including a Gorgon – an awfully underproduced sequence which ought to have led to a surefire plagiarism suit had the film-makers behind the much superior CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981) bothered to watch this flick (complete with the same "reflection in a shield" come-uppance and preceded by the muscleman letting the audience in on his tactics before executing them as if to show us how clever he is)!! And just to make it crystal clear that he wears his influences on his sleeve, Cozzi has Hercules and Minos turn into a cosmic version of "King Kong vs. Godzilla" for one of their battles and later still, Hercules gets to grips with a large snake, an encounter lifted straight out of the classic 1933 original. I swear it: this is the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

As had been the case with the first film, the cast is full of old reliables like the afore-mentioned Berger, Cassinelli and Venantino Venantini (as a sorcerer with a truly bad hair day) and up-and-coming starlets – not just Carlucci but also Maria Rosaria Omaggio (as a younger Hera!), Serena Grandi, Pamela Prati and, once again, Eva Robbins (whose costume here easily outcamps her appearance in the first film); for what it's worth, Pino Donaggio's score for this one is recycled from musical cues featured in his soundtrack for the previous film. If you have stuck with this review so far, you must have realized by now that this is one of those movies that is so unbelievably bad that a reviewer is forced to choose which course to take: either dismiss it in one unflattering sentence or spend an undeserving amount of time dissecting its flaws. I'm sure I've left out some of its ineptitudes but I wouldn't forgive myself if I failed to mention the single greatest laugh-out loud instance in the whole movie which almost made me fall off my chair (yes, it even surpassed the afore-mentioned animated titanic duel for me), namely the décor of the rebellious gods' lair which is in the shape of a giant marble…kettle!!

At this stage, one might well wonder why I gave this film (and its predecessor) a rating instead of a (not entirely unjustified) BOMB; in the past, I've had various protracted online discussions on whether one's star rating of any particular film should reflect the overall artistic quality or its sheer entertainment value… but these are two instances where I deemed it necessary to be consciously influenced by the latter in settling on my final rating. I don't know: maybe it's because I'm in a "sword-and-sandal" state-of-mind at the moment (with some 10 more respectable examples scheduled for the coming days!) but, after all, uncharacteristically for me, I decided to add these two films to my DVD collection simply based on the fun I had with them in this recent revisit – and that alone must count for something, no?

The first "Hercules" (1983) by Luigi Cozzi was a completely incomprehensible psychedelic disjointed mess, unrivaled by any swords & sorcery outing at the time (though I have to admit Lucio Fulci's "Conquest" comes mighty close). In 1985 the unthinkable happens: "Hercules" gets a sequel. And fans of the first one will not be disappointed, because it delivers the same brand of incoherent over-the-top extravagant entertainment as the first film did. You'll be scratching your head numerous times once again with what all kind of adventures our muscular mythical hero gets into this time. Between all the mind-boggling shenanigans, a fairly simple plot can be spotted: The gods send Hercules (once again played by Lou "Hulk" Ferrigno) back to earth again, for he has to locate & reclaim the Seven Thunderbolts, which have been stolen by other more evil gods. Hercules never really has to search for them; he's simply lead on one "mission" after another, battling various creatures (amongst them some fierce & ridiculous-looking mud-zombie things and even one of the Gorgons, a sister of Medusa) alongside two beautiful babes. Every time he defeats a creature, he'll find one of the Seven Thunderbolts within. For some reason the villainous King Minos (William Berger, reprising his role from the first film) gets resurrected by the evil gods too, only to decide he wants those Seven Thunderbolts for himself. Or well, something like that. Or just see him blabbering on about science being the way of all things. The final battle between King Minos & Hercules (in space!) has to be seen to be believed (lots of flashy animated effects, including a giant gorilla vs. dinosaur). If I wouldn't know any better, I'd say both "Hercules" movies were conceived & produced under the influence of some very strong LSD, because that's what they look like: a wondrously cuckoo fantasy trip on acid. Italians making films in the '80s; you gotta love 'em.

This cheap-jack follow-up to Luigi Cozzi "Hercules" is just as goofy and tacky, maybe even more than its predecessor. Actually it is. No doubts. Again the clunky sci-fi elements (for science!) finds its way into the Greek mythical adventure… which means good times ahead ("He uses science against godly powers"). That's belly-laughs. Lou Ferrigno returns as Hercules, again bringing the fitting qualities for the role and also being resurrected is King Minos who's played with even more energy again by scene chewing William Berger. Their final climatic showdown has to be seen to be believed… it might be lousy in the outcome, but the light-show (filled with a snake, dinosaur and gorilla) it bestows is bewilderingly stupid. But in the end, this is its charm.

Simply the story follows Hercules being sent to earth to retrieve the Seven Thunderbolts of Zeus, which have been stolen by renegade gods. There he must face certain challenges, while also dealing with an old nemesis King Minos and racing against time as the earth and moon are on a collision course.

Everything here is junky and ludicrous with vividly low-rent set designs, clumsy, but bright optical effects with trip-out side-effects, lame sound effects and eccentric plotting with devious scheming. It's one set-piece after another, as monsters and obstacles enter the fame throughout the journey. Some of these challenges are not much of one, but others are more so. However there's always a laugh there either way. Be it the encounters with the cheap make-up FX, random dramatics and the funny, no frill dialogues. The short running time makes it easier to enjoy, Pino Donaggio composes again by chipping in with another barnstorming music score and director Luigi Cozzi's ham-handed, but physical approach really outdoes itself.

"Great deeds make us immortal." - "We can't all be so fortunate." Indeed, so this didn't help anyone's career, I presume. Assisted by two young ladies (Milly Carlucci, Sonia Viviani), Hercules looks for the lost 7 thunderbolts of Zeus. One for example is hidden inside an electric fire monster he must hit on the head to cause a short circuit. Hercules flies around in space a lot (this is after all a movie by the director of "Star Crash") and beats monsters painted by a five year old: Rotoscoping at its worst. The only thing I missed in the 80s video game look was a "Game over" text insert. The gods are beamed to Earth in a flash of green light with a squeaking electronic noise. Glowing shapes that reminded me of advertising for washing powder (cleaning ghosts or something like that) attack Hercules, men in rotten rubber costumes do the same - the adversaries look a lot cheaper than those in the first movie which was already abysmal. This sequel is less fun because it is less ambitious. The huge pathos of the first movie, trying to be monumental, is what made it so funny. Here, it's just a quick rehash, much less entertaining.

I have never seen a movie spend so much time trying to explain the incomprehensible story and still not make any sense. Just like the first movie they constantly talk about science, yet the movie has nothing to do with science. I doubt they even get any of the mythology right. Zeus is a god who has no powers without his thunderbolts. Which can easily be stolen by just about anyone. What is a thunderbolt? The sound that lightning makes has bolts? The only way this movie might be any fun is if you watch at 1.5x speed and take a shot every time someone says "Wait for me".

More cheesy badly-dubbed greatness from Cannon. This sequel to the classic Hercules has our hero and his humongous pectorals out to recover Zeus' stolen thunderbolts. To do this he must fight guys in ghillie suits and creatures created with poor computer and stop-motion effects. A full day's work for Herc.

Lou Ferrigno is certainly a physical sight to behold and his stone-serious facial expressions at all times makes the movie that much more hilarious because it does not deserve to be taken seriously in the least. Unfortunately, sexy Sybil Danning does not return from the first movie but there are still some scantily-clad Italian babes to feast your eyes on. The special effects are cheap but charmingly so. Love the obsession with neon. The stop-motion Medusa appears to be made from Play-Doh. Lots of bad but quotable lines coming from voices that are clearly not those of the actors. Look, it's glorious garbage of a movie but there's a good deal of fun to be had laughing at it. I'll take unintended entertainment over no entertainment any day.

Lou Ferrigno returns once again in this demented sequel to Luiggi Cozzi's earlier film; And believe it or not, this one is even more brazenly stupid than its predecessor! - Yes, I kid thee not! This time, our hero Herc is called back to earth on a perilous mission to retrieve Zeus's seven magic thunderbolts which have been stolen by some renegade Gods. Aiding our hero is a pretty, busty heroine who bears an uncanny resemblance to pop princess Kylie Minogue(!) - so much so in fact, that during one particular scene, I could have sworn I was watching the video to 'I should be so lucky'.

Um....anyway, in order to collect each of the thunderbolts, our man must first slay each of the monsters 'housing' them. But by gum, if this wasn't bad enough, Herc only has a limited amount of time to complete the task for, due to the cosmic imbalance caused by the absence of the thunderbolts in the heavens, the moon is now on a collision course for earth!!! Yes, the pressure is very much on and wouldn't you know it - just to add EVEN MORE to problems, King Minos from the first film is resurrected - a villain with an especial grudge against our hero after he defeated him previously.

Like its dopey forerunner, this effort makes the monumental mistake of combining ill thought out sci-fi elements with Greek myths - the end result being a bizarre mess and one rife for ridicule. Having said this however, such ridicule is of course the very reason to watch this in the first place; Yes, this is a gloriously bad film which goes down well with excessive alcohol intake.

Best/worst scenes? God, there's so many to poke fun at but undoubtedly the daftest is the final fight between Herc and Minos which takes place in space(!) and during which, both combatants transform themselves into cosmic manifestations i.e. poor looking animations! Bizarrely for reasons best known to himself, Minos transforms into a dinosaur(!) to which our hero immediately responds by transforming himself into a cosmic gorilla(!) Words sadly can't do this utterly ridiculous scene sufficient justice - you simply have to see it to believe it.

Yes, this is a truly terrible film, no two ways about it, but it is however quiet a hoot and is essential viewing for all self respecting bad movie lovers.

This movie is pretty awful. Not like the old Steve Reeves pictures were not great cinema to begin with, but at least they made some semblance of an effort to at least vaguely resemble the mythology on which they were based. The Ferrigno pictures, on the other hand, don't even bother at all for the most part, other than using the names of characters from Greek (and some Roman) mythology. Instead this picture takes a 'Star Wars' + video game sort of route, creating a nonsensical farrago of cruddy-looking back-projected setpieces and some of the lamest fight sequences you'll ever see (Ferrigno moves like a ground sloth on quaaludes and, consequently, all the people he fights have to be sure and not move any faster). The climactic animated neon showdown between Minos (a character who predated the Hercules of mythology by at least a generation and in no way resembled the fellow in this film) and Hercules is the pinnacle of Italian cheapjack cinema. Utter crap.

Boy, do I strongly disagree with the other commentators on this movie! This is a terrific example of a film that is so over the top, so loaded with wacky ideas, so determinedly wrong, that it is thoroughly entertaining. The outrageous dialog, deadpan or hammy acting and glowing tinker toy special effects alone make it worth watching; add outlandish costumes, a story that makes no sense, and references to (one might uncharitably say rip-offs of) everything from "King Kong" to "Star Wars", and how can you lose? When I watch a sword and sandal movie, I want beautiful babes, a musclebound hero, and monsters: "The Adventures of Hercules" has all of this and so much more! Lou Ferrigno may not be Steve Reeves or Gordon Scott, but as Hercules, he's vastly preferable to Kevin Sorbo. So, I have to give this unacknowledged classic an "8". If you liked "Hercules Against the Moonmen you'll love this!

This is still enjoyable especially with the new Blu Ray release. Lots to see but the story is old and has been used many times over. During the opening scenes you can clearly see actor Brad Harris in the crowd, even though He isn't listed in the official cast. Larry Anderson

The Adventures of Hercules (1985) is a childhood favorite that I recently watched for the first time in a long time on Tubi. The storyline follows Hercules return to Earth after Zeus' 7 thunderbolts are stolen and spread across the globe. Upon returning to Earth Hercules and a team of adventures set-out to obtain and return Zeus' cherished thunderbolts.

This movie is directed by Luigi Cozzi (Hercules) and stars Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Milly Carlucci (Tomorrow I'm Getting Married), Carla Ferrigno (Black Roses), William Berger (Devil Fish) and Claudio Cassinelli (The Good Thief).

These movies have a classic 80s feel to it and actually reminded me of the Superman films from this era. The soundtrack, opening credits and hero sequences were all classic 80s, as are the special effects. The cast is very good and aligned to the characters to perfection. Ferrigno was an awesome Hercules. The attire, clay animation, props and sets were cool too as were the monsters Hercules fought.

Overall this didn't age well but still provides solid entertainment value for those with 80s nostalgia. I would score this a 4.5-5/10 and recommend watching it once.

As awesomely bad as the 1st movie was, I did enjoy it. Not at all the case for Hercules 2. This borders on unwatchable for me.(which means for normal viewers, it may be preferable to get a root canal as an alternative to watching this!) With an extremely low budget, it's obvious that this was made extremely quick. This production makes Red Sonja(a personal favorite, by the way) look like Ben Hur. The story is lame, the execution of what's on the screen is inept. The Adventures Of Hercules is D level schlock that has less to do with Greek mythology and more to do with someone's weird acid trip that was called a script. I'm all about having a good time watching a cheesy flick, but this is well beyond idiotic. As I said before the 1st Hercules film was bad, but I found enough about it to enjoy it. This is just crap and a big waste of time.

Aya! If you are looking for special effects that are 10-20 years before its time, this is it. The glowing lightning bolts, fireballs, etc. look like they came from a cheesy 70's sci-fi flick. And yes, Hercules really grows; he's not being pushed on a cart closer to the camera!

Looking for a REAL super bad movie? If you wanna have great fun, don't hesitate and check this one!

Ferrigno is incredibly bad but is also the best of this mediocrity.

Producers Golan and Globus should have been ashamed to release this piece of trash publicly. I know this is gonna sound cliched, but compared to this, the first "Hercules" of 1983 looks like a mature and exciting epic! This "sequel" is moronic, cheap, unredeemable, childish, phony, inept and BADLY ACTED. A landmark in bad cinema, and one of the few, few movies I've seen that REALLY deserve the lowest possible rating: no stars!

This movie kept reminding me of those old Saturday Morning kid's show's in the 1970's that I watched back in the days when I grew up. I have a great fondness for those charming and goofy shows so this movie found a warm place in my heart. It is indeed both charming and goofy. I don't want this review to sound condescending because that's not my intention at all. I genuinely enjoyed this movie. That's why I gave it a solid "7". I was entertained all the way through.

I'm not going to discuss the plot. Everybody has already done that. Why do it again?

This movie is a mix of classic movies from the past. Everything from King Kong to Star Wars to Tron. Now this is not as good as those, but it's still a lot of fun.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Hercules II; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.50 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.25 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00

TOTAL: 5.25 out of 10.00

Sequels are seldom as good as the originals, and with Hercules II, it's hardly surprising since it wasn't intended to be a sequel: Hell, to begin with, it wasn't even a Hercules story. But this only shows how flexible the writer and director, Luiggi Cozzi, could be.

The story isn't as loaded with storylines as the original, and it hurts the film a little. There's not so much transpiring on Earth or The Gods Home, the Moon, which gives the viewer extra time to find fault with the ones on offer. The main one is the theft of Zeus' seven thunderbolts. Had Cozzi been allowed more time to structure this scenario better, then it would have been superb: However, it felt a tad rough and rushed. There's no reason why the thunderbolts manifest themselves as monsters. Once Herc defeats the creatures, they dissolve away to reveal the bolt. Suddenly we're in the next scene, and we don't see how the bolts get back to Zeus. Had we had answers to these, the story would have been stronger. Cozzi also brings back the Evil King, who believes in science over mythology. But for some reason, science equates to chaos, which is the real motive driving King Minos. But everybody knows that in chaos, nobody is king, and that makes this plot point a tad silly. It would have been better to have Minos pursuing only science, which is more understandable because even in the 80s, religion was losing out to knowledge.

Luckily Cozzi keeps the style and panache of the original movie. Once again, employing lighting techniques and feature colours to create the relevant moods in the film. And he keeps his quick cutting and gripping camera angles when shooting the action sequences. Though the story might not be as good, the direction lives up to the original.

As do the cast, a few of them have returned with Lou Ferrigno from the original movie. Sadly, I believe it's the script that has let them down this time around. Though they all give a hundred percent, if they have to speak some terrible lines, well, those lines remain terrible, no matter the speaker. In particular, King Minos ranting about chaos is pretty risible. It isn't William Berger's fault, though he does appear to be hamming up these scenes.

Not as good as the first movie, and therefore I would only recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Hercules. Even then, I'd advise watching it only if you'd exhausted your movie watchlist. Once again, it wasn't a bad Sunday Morning Crumpet Breakfast view, though I probably won't rush to watch it again.

Please feel free to visit my Obsidian Dreams and Holding Out For A Hero lists to see where I ranked Hercules II.

Take Care & Stay Well.

The Adventures Of Hercules is the sequel to 1983's Hercules, a cheesy movie infamous for being negative reviewed (this film even has some scenes from the film shown during the opening credits, with Hercules fighting robots, which adds to the cheese factor). The Greek hero, once again played by Lou Ferrigno (which is more well known as The Incredible Hulk), leaps back into action as Zeus' seven mighty thunderbolts have been stolen by four jealous gods, resulting in chaos as the moon is on a collision course. Hercules is sent back to Earth to get them back, as the gods plan to revive King Minos to defeat Zeus.

Yes, this movie is just a cheesy as its predecessor. The special effects (like the lightning bolts and the fire monster) look like something drawn on a computer, and the costumes for some of the monsters look like they were made on a low budget (just look at the slime people costumes. They look like mummy costumes from the dollar store repainted). Another annoying thing is when Hercules lands a punch, the screen cuts to a quick flash of lights as a way of making it less violent (at the cost of causing seizures to those who have epilepsy). However, the story is okay, and the actors all do a neat job. Recommended for those who like cheesy or bad films.

I really love this kind of movie, even agreeing with mostly IMDb's reviewers about this sequel, l enjoy every minute, Lou Ferrigno is really a bad actor as showed in Hulk series without talking a word, imagine he is talking, all special effects are outrageous funny, but the girls light up the scream, in final the producers used a footage from George Pal's Atlantis the Lost Continent, at least they shooting in several old Roman ruins during the picture, so bad and so delightful, the old FX tricks is a shame and laughable, but everyone has to admit this fully is already expected!!!

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First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 5