Caligula: The Untold Story

Original title: Caligola: La storia mai raccontata

19821982
UnratedUnrated
1h 32m

IMDb RATING

4.4/10

YOUR RATING

Action

Adult

Drama

Caligula's four-year reign and descent into madness are revisited through slanderous vignettes and blunt historical facts.Caligula's four-year reign and descent into madness are revisited through slanderous vignettes and blunt historical facts.Caligula's four-year reign and descent into madness are revisited through slanderous vignettes and blunt historical facts.

IMDb RATING

4.4/10

YOUR RATING

Director
- Joe D'Amato
Writers
- George Eastman(story)
- Joe D'Amato
- Michele Soavi(uncredited)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Photos60

David Brandon in Caligula: The Untold Story (1982)

Laura Gemser and David Brandon in Caligula: The Untold Story (1982)

Laura Gemser in Caligula: The Untold Story (1982)

Gabriele Tinti in Caligula: The Untold Story (1982)

Trivia
The film was shot in autumn 1981 under the working title 'Follia del potere'.

Alternate versions
The British Board of Film Classification granted an 18 certificate to 'Caligola: La storia mai raccontata' for theatrical release in 1984 in a version that had been pre-cut by the distributors to remove 14 minutes of hardcore footage and a bestiality scene featuring a horse, and then cut by a further 8m 42 secs by the BBFC. These included all footage of dildos, Caligula raping a virgin in a forest, a wife and child being slaughtered, a man's tongue being removed and closeups of sex scenes. The Board, however, rejected the same cut version for video 3 years later.

Connections
Edited into Caligola: Follia del potere (1997)

User reviews20

Review

Top review

3/10

Some stories are better left...untold

I'm probably one of the few people in the world who don't automatically categorize Joe D'Amato's film as 'worthless' or 'sleazy junk'. No, I actually support the opinion that he's a filmmaker with vision. With films like 'Buried Alive', 'Death Smiles at Murder' and 'Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals' he proved that he's capable of combining gruesome horror images and gore with a compelling script. This film, however, completely takes the edge off the above stated opinion. Caligula: The Untold Story is a very ugly and mediocre film about history's most notorious figure. Following Tinto Brass' controversial cult-epic, D'Amato focuses on the cruel and inhuman reign of the Roman emperor. This film particularly handles about a personal vendetta between a Moor-woman (whose friend got brutally killed) and the Emperor. She's torn between her personal feelings and her urge to take vengeance bla bla bla

Caligula is a non-stop series of uninteresting sleaze, lame gore, terrible acting skills and inferior production values. The film starts out well enough, with a great cameo from Michele Soavi (later the director of masterpieces like 'Dellamorte Dellamore') trying to kill Caligula but, after this, it all goes downhill. David Cain is an incredibly bad actor and even the gorgeous Laura 'Black Emanuelle' Gemser doesn't look sensual enough to keep you watching. This film reminded me a lot about history lessons in school. The substance is fascinating enough, but it's brought in such a tedious and dull way. You're way better of watching Brass' epic staring Malcolm McDowell.

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