Caligula: The Untold Story (1982) User Reviews (26)

Joe D'amato is at his usual game.

[Ky-D · 6/10 · 12 March 2005]

A fact I would never admit to people I want to like me, I am a fan of Joe D'amato flicks. Here he is up to his old tricks; offering over the top blood shed, pointless plotting and (depending on which version you have) some X-rated sex scenes.

If you know anything about history, then there is no point in going through the plot. For those unaware, Caligula was a Ceaser and emperor of Rome. He was also generally regarded as the most brutal, demented ruler the empire ever had.

Joe D'amato strings together a lose revenge tale around his favorite leading lady, 'Black Emmanuel' Laura Gamser (funny, she's Asian). Her friend is killed by the diabolical Emperor in a botched rape attempt and she goes undercover into the place to get vengeance. Along the way we see three-ways, four-ways, prostitute training, a man impaled on a spike, the list just goes on. The coup de grace is a party scene in which we are treated to gladiators killing each other, a horse (yes, I said horse) hand job, and a long (if you have the real unedited version, which to my knowledge is out of print) orgy with all the X-rated trimmings.

D'amato flicks are most certainly an acquired taste. Most will find this to be filth, but if you have the mind for it, then this is one of the sleaze master's best.

6/10

Magical filth

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 15 December 2021]

After the media excitement around the controvery of Tinto Brass' Caligula, there came - pun intended, always - plenty of ripoffs as is the Italian exploitation cinema way of life. They include the Bruno Mattei films Caligula And Messalina and Nerone e Poppea, Caligula Reincarnated As Hitler (AKA Cesare Canevari's The Gestapo's Last Orgy so it's a really Naziploitation and not Caligulaspoitation or even Roman Porno, which comes from Japan, not Italy), Bruno Corbucci's Messalina, Messalina! (AKA Caligula II: Messalina, Messalina and shot on the very same sets and using the same costumes as Brass' film with no permission), Lorenzo Onorati's Caligula's Slaves (a ripoff of the movie we've about to discuss), Jaime J. Puig's Una virgen para Calígula and this film, written by the unholy trio of George Eastman, D'Amato and an uncredited Michele Soavi.

Caligula (David Brandon, Jubilee, Stagefright) has been having nightmares of being stalked and killed by a man with a bow and arrow. This does not stop him from continuing his aberrant life, filled with murder, lust, mayhem and well, everything that makes a Joe D'Amato movie.

The film starts with Domitius (Soavi) attacking Caligula and beging beaten down and then ruined for life by having his tongue sliced off and the tendons of his legs cut. Caligula keeps him alive and tortures him with female slaves for most of the rest of the film. Our antagonist follows this by assaulting Livia in front of her new husband Aetius. After she commits suicide rather than be touched for one moment more, the crazed emperor kills her lover and blames it all on Christians, something the senators can't believe.

Meanwhile, as the couple is buried on a beach, Miriam Celsia (Laura Gemser) proclaims herself a priestess of Anubis and claims that the Christians must forget their God and turn to her god of vengeance, burning their bodies and setting off for revenge. She acrifices her virginity to Anubis in exchange for strength for her revenge and then somehow falls in love with Caligula and that's not how that's supposed to work.

But it does work - he ends up causing his own downfall, bringing the movie right back to its original nightmare.

The first two times this movie went before the rating board - which is absolutely hilarious that they were forced to watch this - it was kept out of theaters. 22 minutes of footage was removed, replaced by 15 minutes of tamer scenes - no more fellatio, no more real horseplay, no more nine minute orgy scene. Supposedly, there's a two-hour plus cut and when you think, "Hey this is 85 minutes," you can only imagine what was cut.

I always have a but with D'Amarto. Despite the sheer volume of manaical acts in this...but it's gorgeous. Seriously, he's making a film that looks as good - and at times better - than Brass' better known and more overblown film. He has no pretense toward being an artist or intellectual. He just wants to make a movie that makes money, yet he's talented in spite of himself, making a movie with underwater camera shots, effective dream scenes and huge tableaus of debauchery.

D'Amato used footage from this movie when he remade it in 1997 as the adult Caligola: Follia del potere. By that point, he wasn't making movies like this any more, even if he was making movies like this.

Severin is supposedly releasing this in 2023. Here's hoping they darken your blu ray player with this one.

Barely decent movie.

[dasa108 · 4/10 · 7 December 2022]

The director of this film is a favorite of eurotrash and an advance in the fact of presenting perfect films for the most universal male palate. In this sense, we have a work about one of the most popular Roman emperors with the support of a production superior to the rest of the work of Aristide Massaccesi and a cast that with great care makes us immerse ourselves in the thickest exploitation based on extreme trends. Of Caligula. The film is not suitable for all audiences but it is shorter than that of Tinto Brass and has less pretense, which makes it in a certain sense a little more tolerable. It is not a great film but for every fan of the director it is a must.

D'Amato was a man with a vision.

[Moshing Hoods · 11 January 2002]

If someone asked me if I was a fan of Aristide Massacessi, I'd probably laugh mockingly into their hurt faces. Yet when I look at the comments I've written for the IMDB, I've reviewed FAR more of his films than anyone else's! Say what you like about the man, but he really knows how to deliver utterly unpredictable and hilarious sleaze when you least expect it- which is probably why I keep finding myself attracted to his films!

CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY is a superb example of this. What possible commercial motivation (other than ripping off the original CALIGULA, obviously) could there be for a movie like this? Within the first few scenes, Michele Soavi has had his tongue graphically cut off, and the fun pops up at regular intervals from there. Unexpected hardcore sequences and yet MORE scenes of equine masturbation (what WAS Massacessi thinking when he thought such scenes could add something to his movies?), plus sleazy violence, come thick and fast. However, unlike Massacessi's other weird attempts at fusing genres (see EMANUELLE IN AMERICA, PORNO HOLOCAUST etc for examples), CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY is actually quite watchable. This is probably because he chose to throw the sleaze into a reasonably interesting (if hideously inaccurate!) historical story, rather than just into a flaccid soft sex film like he normally would.

I can't help but love this. Sure, it's not actually GOOD, but just when you think the film might be going downhill, you get a screen-full of a man being speared to death through his rectum. I have no idea what audience demographic Massacessi was thinking of when he made this, but I can assure you that it comes highly recommended.

Some stories are better left...untold

[Coventry · 3/10 · 12 October 2004]

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.

Unsuccessful C-Movie carbon-copy from a successful B-Movie

[t_atzmueller · 3/10 · 1 February 2013]

What would you expect from a movie that's titled „Caligula"? Well, if that is your cup of tea, you'd first of all think of the scandal-ridden 1979 film; you'd think of sadistic violence, mixed with plenty of nudity and the occasional inserted scene of un-simulated sex. In other words: you wouldn't think of Suetonius – you'd think 'pure exploitation'.

Need we mention that "Caligula" was a huge financial success at the box-office? It only took two years for infamous Italian schlock-maestro Joe D'Amato to try and fetch a few crumbs from this success and rip-off the formula of history, sexual depravity and cruel sadism.

"Caligula: The Untold Story" is exploitation in its purest form: yes, there is plenty of gore; there are porn segments (including bestiality and the infamous 'girl with a horse'-segment, similar to the one that D'Amato already used in "Emmanuelle in America"), and than there's more gore, more nudity and more un-simulated sex.

Now, don't expect an ancient Rome built with the budget of "Gladiator"; not even the budget of the original "Caligula". Think more along the set-design of "I, Claudius" (and, apart from playing in ancient Rome, that's all those two productions have in common), and props culled from other, possibly even cheaper Italian historic film.

David Brandon (here billed as David Cain) mimics the performance of Malcolm McDowells mad but charismatic Caligula, coming across as suitable creepy and psychotic, yet it's always clear: a real actor he is not. Laura Gemser goes to the limits of her acting abilities – namely showing off her well-proportioned bodies – and the rest of the cast are all extras from many other Joe D'Amato-films.

From this point in time, D'Amato began to drop all pretensions of producing "real films" and would sink ever deeper into the realm of porn, 15 years later "remake" his "Caligula" in pure XXX-form.

3 from 10 points should be suitably generous.

Worst

[Silitonga · 1/10 · 6 November 2013]

One of the most awful movie I've ever seen. The first Caligula already had a lot of its own issues, but this one was totally worse!

Caligula's character is more disgusting, but there is really no main character here. Somehow, this version just has a lot of supporting actors, with no REAL leads at all! One important thing, this REALLY is the untold story of Caligula...Except everything else is lost!

Caligula roughness, remarkable porn, erotics, and bravery. All I want to say is that this Caligula's grossness,......................... and courage. that in this UNTOLD STORY, Caligula really spills his guts!

There is no part of this movie that Registers as enjoyable!!!

Exploitation sequel offers sleaze and gore in equal measure

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 21 December 2015]

Part graphic horror, part cheesy romance, part sex film, this low budget sequel to CALIGULA is happy to rehash the same basic plot, only changing the characters and emphasising the violence and sex. The latter comes as no surprise when you realise that Joe D'Amato (hiding under the name of David Hills), directed and co-wrote (with George Eastman) this movie and his typical extremities are here explored to the fullest. Bloody, sadistic violence is interspersed with sweaty hardcore sex scenes (D'Amato later became a full-time porn director) and typical D'Amato perversions involving a horse. You won't have seen anything like it but it's not exactly what I call entertainment. Between the incident the film largely drags, hampered by a script in which nothing much happens to the characters and dragged down by poor acting from the supporting cast. The endless dream sequences are confusing as well as being dull and only serve to slow the film down further.

David Brandon (STAGE FRIGHT) takes over from Malcolm McDowell as the Emperor Caligula. Although I do like Brandon as an actor he simply can't repeat McDowell's disturbing portrayal of the insane tyrant, instead he plays it shouty and over-the-top as only he knows and the result is less impressive. Saying this, he still gives the best performance I've seen in a D'Amato flick and is miles ahead of the rest of the cast, so maybe that gives you some impression of what else is in store. D'Amato stalwart Laura Gemser (whose appearance almost turns the film into a kind-of Emanuelle in Ancient Rome, what with all the sex going on) appears as an oft-naked slave girl who begins a torrid romance with Caligula.

It's pretty hard to spot familiar faces in the cast, what with all the porn actors appearing, but there are a few. Fans of Alberto Cavallone's cannibal-caveman epic MASTER OF THE WORLD may spot Sasha D'Arc as Caligula's personal guard, then there's Euro-stalwart Gabriele Tinti as the deeply unlucky Marcellus Agrippa and Michele Soavi as an unlucky poet who gets the tendons in his arms and legs cut and his tongue sliced off in extra-graphic detail! Speaking of gore, D'Amato is in his element with bloody gladiator battles, a guy having a sword shoved somewhere extremely painful, decapitations, a baby being thrown to its death and the old gag of a scene where Caligula is dying and a senator says "I would offer my life in place of his" at which instant Caligula recovers and has said senator killed - this was previously used in the first CALIGULA. This one is for graphic exploitation freaks only.

Amusing on its own super-trashy level.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 5 November 2023]

In the aftermath of the notorious Tinto Brass cult-favorite exploitation-epic, filmmaker Joe D'Amato came up with his own answer of sorts, focusing on the brutal reign of the impossibly cruel and pompous young emperor, played to perfection by boyishly handsome David Brandon. A feisty Moor warrior, Miriam (cult movie goddess Laura Gemser) embarks on a mission of vengeance when Caligula has a friend of hers killed - only to develop genuine feelings for Caligula. He, in turn, seems to feel genuine love for her - a rarity for a man of his "character".

D'Amato does seem to take himself pretty seriously at times, actually focusing on the story as well as the behind-the-scenes intrigues, as various men plot to dethrone their evil ruler. However, all of that is thrown out the window for sequences that are 100% pure exploitation, complete with lots of oral sex and a memorable scene involving a horse. These scenes go on for an awfully long time before D'Amato returns to the story and shows us how Caligulas' feelings for Miriam lead to his downfall.

Utter trash like this is obviously NOT for all tastes, and, in truth, I found it a little uneven. It does have its moments, of course, and the supporting cast and the music are good. But the film goes on too long for its own good, as it insists on portraying just how decadent Caligulas' empire is.

There's sex, nudity, and graphic violence aplenty, as well as an effective opening in which a would-be assassin (played by future director Michele Soavi of "Cemetery Man" fame) is punished for daring to get rid of Caligula. The demise of another character is truly one for the ages, and similar to a killing in another Euro-sleaze favorite, "Black Candles".

While I found this to be fairly entertaining, I'd still have to go with "Buio Omega" as my favorite effort from D'Amato.

Five out of 10.

Caligula by D'Amato - if you know anything about either you'll know what to expect

[jaibo · 7/10 · 3 January 2009]

The critical derision heaped upon Tinto Brass' Caligula didn't stop that film from becoming a considerable box office hit which spawned a number of low-grade imitations. The best known of these is probably this entry from notorious Black Emmanuelle series director Joe D'Amato. He even ropes in the star of his best know films, Laura Gemser, to play the lead female role.

The "untold story" was hitherto untold because it didn't happen. D'Amato's film has as its main thread the story of a slave worshipper of Anubis (Gemser) who inveigles her way into Caligula's court and bed in order to exact revenge on the Emperor for his rape and murder of said slave's former mistress, a coy Christian maid, a crime which the Emperor has palmed off on the Christian sect itself. None of the historical records of Caligula's rein show him being bothered or bothering with the newly formed Christian religion, and it was not until his successor Claudius successor Nero that the Christians came in for persecution. So much for history. Yet one doesn't go to a film like this for an accurate history lesson. But what does one come to a film like this for? The story of the slave's revenge has little tension, although it turns potentially dramatically interesting when the revenger falls in love with her quarry. This means that, after various atrocities, we get a soft-focus, lushly scored "aren't we in love" sequence. Many year previously, Montiverdi had mocked romance by giving a beautiful love duet to Nero and Poppea, and whilst D'Amato's film doesn't quite reach the levels of sublime challenge that the maestro's opera does, it at least has a game or two to play with the idea of love conquering all. There ought to be dramatic potential in the slave's consequent quandary but sadly although Gemser is a fine presence on film and stretches her acting skills a little but further than she does in the Black Emmanuelle films, she hasn't got the range to carry complex emotions off.

The film begins with a prologue in which a poet tries to kill the Emperor, and has his tongue torn out and his arm and leg ligaments severed, so that he might "compose verses of hate in his head but never be able to speak or write them." A suitably lurid image of life under a tyrants rule.

The centrepiece of the film is an enormous orgy sequence, which holds up the action and loses sight of the lead characters but affords special pleasures of its own. It loses the leads because they are something like legitimate actors, and the orgy has its fair share of hardcore shots – masturbation, fellatio, vaginal intercourse – but it's the peripheral elements which shock. First we get a violent gladiatorial combat to the death, where two fighters pummel the hell out of each other wearing spiked gloves, spattering the orgiasts with blood; then we get the orgy itself, which is punctuated by such unappetising spectacles as gerontophilia and a man vomiting into his hand then, without wiping his mouth, turning to kiss his lady again. The sequence has the usual weird effect, well practised by this director, of suddenly springing hardcore sex onto the viewer when hitherto things had been raunchy but softcore – the effect of suddenly seeing erections, split beavers and meat-shots is quite disorientating, and really adds to the sleaziness of proceeding. Caligula's antics were unacceptable, and here's a film that is also somewhat unacceptable…

Caligula: The Untold Story is punctuated by dream sequences in which the Emperor is haunted by guilt and retribution for his crimes. Add these to the scenes of pornography, violence, sexual training and Machiavellian machinations, the film comes across as a weird hybrid of Bunuel, Pasolini (in Salo mode), the Brass Caligula and a cheap grindhouse porn epic. If that sounds to your taste, you should love D'Amato's film, which is as ever with him quite unlike anything likely to be made these days.

2 hours 5 minutes I want back

[Musicianmagic · 3/10 · 12 June 2023]

My expectations for this movie were low based on reviews & what friends said. This didn't even meet my diminished expectations. The story was very disjointed. I watched the supposed complete version yet it was as if there was missing scenes. I had to pause the movie several times to get thru. Usually there's at least one character you care about but none here. The acting was mostly mediocre. Even the hardcore which was basically limited to one orgy scene was disjointed and I found distracting from the rest of the movie and filmed (in 1981) like they handed someone at random a camera they told to film what they want. Just a total mess.

2 hours 5 minutes of my time I want back. 3 stars but probably way too generous.

Sleaze-King Joe D'Amato's Take On The Caligula Story...

[EVOL666 · 8/10 · 23 October 2006]

I have to say that D'Amato's take on the life and death of Roman Emperor, Caligula, was pretty much exactly what I was expecting. The storyline centers less around any real historical relevance and instead goes straight for the sleaze - which is just fine by me. I'd already sat through Tinto Brass's epic film about the depraved Caesar, I was fine with this entry being a lot "thinner"...

D'Amato's imagining of the emperor's life leaves out many of the actual details surrounding him, and instead wallows in long orgy scenes and some decent violence and torture. We get a pretty good look at the type of person that Caligula was, but there's very little history to be learned here. The bulk of the storyline is based around Caligula's "love" of a slave-girl named Miriam (played by super-smoker Laura Gemser) and her wish to betray him for the murder of one of her friends. Honestly - none of this really matters, you'd be better off resigning yourself to the fact that you're basically watching a mid-budget porn film...

Definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of D'Amato's other sleazy offerings like EMANUELLE IN America and EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD, just don't expect to pass any tests by using the film as a Cliff's Notes version of Caligula's life. I'm pretty sure that D'Amato realized that he'd never reach the heights of infamy or production value with his film that Brass enjoyed with his far more expensive and elaborate telling of the tale - so I figure D'Amato decided to just try to out-sleaze him - and it worked. Way more graphic sex including midget-sex and some more horse-masturbation (a la EMANUELLE IN America) - so fans of this sort of thing will be pleased. Not a perfect film, but sleaze fans will get a laugh out of the seriousness of such a blatantly trashy production...8.5/10

What A Vile Film

[CMRKeyboadist · 7/10 · 1 December 2005]

I am quite a Joe D'amato fan for such films as "Anthropophagus" and some of the Emmanuelle series so to my surprise I hadn't heard of this film until about a week ago. Naturally, I went through all the lengths to find the hardcore version of this movie and with luck did find it. This movie is in no way as good as Penthouse's "Caligula" but is in no way a forgettable movie. Anyone that knows the story of Caligula knows he was quite a sick man or should I say monster. This version of the film is definitely XXX and can be quite disturbing even to a person of my tastes. The movie starts off kind of slow except for the very opening scene where you see Italian director Michele Soavi get his nerves cut and his tongue cut out. The movie does pick up and about half way through the movie is an orgy scene that seems to just go on and on. This scene, for me, has some of the most tasteless moments in it. I am not even going to describe it other than there is a horrible beastiality scene which is just wrong on many levels. I think the most disturbing part in the movie is when Caligula finds out he is being conspired against. So naturally, he finds the conspirators and does one of the most horrendous things I have ever scene on film. And what happens to one of the conspirators family is unspeakable. So, if you are a fan of the original "Caligula" I say to check this movie out. Just expect a low budget movie with some horrible scene.

Don't say a word

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 24 December 2023]

I'll never tell - in case you have not seen the Michael Douglas movie I am referencing here (with my trademark no pun intended line). And why you ask am I even thinking of that? Because of the (I reckon one of the many?) title of course: Caligula 2: the Untold Story. Also the untrue story apparently! I could not have told or said so myself (would not call myself a history buff in that regard), but the screenwriter himself says so.

He was on the disc talking about the movie and about the political and other stuff in it. And I like the political and social commentary the movie has. Actually if it dug deeper into that - if it poked that instead of ... well other holes it fills (sorry had to) ... there would have been an even better movie.

I do not think that the "hardcore" stuff in this were necessary. I was surprised to see a scene with a horse here that I thought was exclusive to the Black Emmanuelle series of movies. I have not seen that movie were it is supposed to be in and maybe it is explicit in that one (because the version I saw here, did not show the horrible thing you may imagine - and I imagine for the better ... no pun intended).

But let's not get off that stuff ... no way let us get off that stuff. You know what I mean. The acting is ok, though there are so many different versions of this, I doubt any actor knew what was happening at all times. Which I guess makes the performances even better. Again, there is some really good stuff here and I like what the screenwriter had to say in his interview about the movie and about current people in power (or who were in power and try to get back in power)! There is some interesting stuff here.

But you really have to have a .... well hard skin? Is that how one would describe it? You can't be easily offended for sure - there is a reason you need to tell imdb show me all the titles to find this - or use a search engine of course to come ... to this page. Sorry for another pun - I doubt this will ... well arouse you in that way, but far be it from me to tell you what makes your day ... or doesn't.

After the original Caligula the movie had to up the ante ... there are some truly horrific stuff in this. The make up effects are quite good. Again not sure what version you might have watched or want to watch ... but you can check what you missed or buy the blu ray that is out and has almost everything in it - and if not it is in the deleted scenes. "Enjoy" may not be the right word ... experience more like it (or don't like it)

Maybe the most extreme Joe D'Amato Movie!

[ray-121 · 13 August 1999]

The fact is that Joe D'Amato pictures just aren't made for everyone's taste... once you accept this idea and IF you like italian exploitation flicks you won't be disappointed. Well, this film has been severely censored, but if you can get hold of an uncut copy you will see that the hype, for once, is absolutely true. Lots of graphic violence and hardcore sex (plus one scene with a horse...) make the uncut version of Tinto Brass' Caligola look like a tame R film. Truly disturbing, but D'Amato knows how to deliver the goods (and the performance of David Brandon is really good). Well, I'm not suggesting that anyone of you should go out and rent this film (if you can find it...), just those of you that are not easily offended by good bad taste. With Emanuelle in America one of the best D'Amatos ever! Rest in peace, Joe.

Commits a most lethal sin

[selfdestructo · 2/10 · 1 February 2023]

My fascination/repulsion with Tinto Brass' explicit trash epic, Caligula, has gotten the better of me. I actually sought out these exploitation knockoffs, made to cash in on the original's success. I started with Caligula and Messalina, which it could almost be said is as much of an "untold story" as this was. In that one, after rehashing events seen in Caligula (more than once!), they off him about 40 minutes in, and the story focuses on Messalina, and who can backstab their way to being empress.

The Untold Story also does some rehashing of its own, and features all sorts of Caligula-esque mayhem (sex/death). There is one torture/death scene I've never seen in a movie, and I'm a horror movie addict, that is particularly brutal and unpleasant... But just not enough to bring up my rating from one star. A 1.1 for that. There are a number of critical failures in this Severin release. Firstly, the story is paper-thin. Worse, it is insanely dull (I mentioned a lethal sin). There is a story about a slave girl Caligula falls for, who has nefarious intentions of her own. Cut to, just about the biggest slap in the face of a resolution any modern-day movie could have.

You want worse? This edition features an extended cut, 16 minutes longer than the US cut, so naturally I gravitated toward seeing that version. This movie's native spoken language is English. What you're saddled with here, with no options to change it, is a terrible Italian DUB, with subtitles. Yikes. And good luck with keeping up with these subs for 2+ hours, because they come and go quickly. I had to watch it in two sittings, because I thought it would never end.

This movie hobbles along for about 45 painful minutes, then (you can thank inspiration from Tinto Brass) devolves into a graphic, ceaseless orgy sequence, the length of which I haven't seen since Carlos Tobalina was still alive. Or maybe it just seemed that way (though it lasted at least 30 minutes). Assuming at least the bulk of the 16 minutes of padding can be found here. There's midgets, ED, elderly people, various unpleasantries (participants are sprayed with blood as there is a fight to the death going on in the meantime), and to cap it off, a rather unattractive looking woman manipulates a horse. And I thought the graphic donkey and horse scenes in Caligula and Messalina were over-the-top.

You're saying, oh, that sounds interesting. Until you slog through it. Funny thing, this is where I stopped the movie, to finish it another time. When graphic sex was onscreen, which I have no aversion to.

Anyway, once those fireworks (I'm using the term loosely) subside, it goes back to the non-story where Caligula enjoys torturing people, and having sex with his slave girl (in two identical scenes!). The Untold Story was one major swing and a miss for me, and I'm positive this terrible Italian dub did not help matters (knowing full well a proper English language version exists).

Sick and depraved. I liked it.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 18 December 2014]

If you thought the Tinto Brass movie about loony Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (better known to most as Caligula) was shocking, wait 'til you see what seasoned sleaze merchant Joe D'Amato does with the story.

Doing away with the kind of artistic pretencions that occasionally spoilt the better known 1979 take on the tale, old Joe (here working under the pseudonym David Hills) concentrates his energy on delivering tons of nudity and perverted sex (softcore and hardcore), some truly nasty gore, and even a little repellent animal action à la his infamous Emanuelle in America. The result may not be as visually impressive as Tinto's film, and it certainly hasn't got the novelty value of such a renowned cast (no Dame Helen Mirren or Peter O'Toole in this one), but it does take the sleaze to an even higher level.

D'Amato's favourite leading lady, Laura Gemser, plays Miriam, a slave-girl who vows to kill Caligula (David Brandon) after he rapes and murders her best friend. Securing a place as a whore at one of his lavish orgies, she manages to become the mad emperor's lover, hoping to strike when his guard is down (and his toga is up). But as she spends more time with crazy Cal, Miriam's feelings begin to change...

With Caligula II: The Untold Story, Italy's prolific master of exploitation manages to successfully meld his passion for porno with an interesting plot—something I felt he failed to do with Emanuelle in America and Porno Holocaust, the other XXX classics of his that I've had the dubious pleasure of viewing. However loosely based on history D'Amato's film is, it is still worth a watch simply because the central character—a tyrant who believed himself a god—is so fascinating.

Known for his extravagance, decadence, and cruelty, Caligula is the perfect subject for a sensationalist movie, and the makers of The Untold Story certainly do him proud. The following scenes have been unflinchingly filmed for your viewing pleasure: • a would-be assassin has his tongue cut out and his tendons slashed; • vestal virgins are 'deflowered-by-dildo' and then taught the art of fellatio; • sex-mad participants at an orgy (including a dwarf, who gets in on the action) witness a woman pleasuring a horse, and a brutal gladiator fight which results in blood spraying over the eager onlookers; • a baby is killed by being thrown against a wall; • and, perhaps worst of all, several men are fully impaled on spears (which emerge from their chest, having been inserted up their ass!).

Both sickening and sexy, Caligula II: The Untold Story is uncompromising movie-making which is certain to appeal to fans of sleazy exploitation and extreme cinema.

Brutal & fascinating portrait of a demented tyrant.

[Falconeer · 7/10 · 25 December 2011]

This re-imagining of Bob Guccione's "Caligula" turned out to be a lot better than I had expected. Thanks mostly to the performance of David Brandon as the demented Emperor of Rome. Ornate costumes and sets, as well as a lush film score help as well, as Caligula tears, slices and rapes his way through a large cast of slaves and Romans. The complete, uncut version runs to 125 minutes, and features a long and graphic orgy scene similar to the one in the Tinto Brass version from 1979. The film would be better if those scenes were shortened, as it takes the viewer away from the principal characters and storyline, but it is still a solid film. Here Caligula becomes obsessed with the slave girl Miriam, understandably so as she is played by the beautiful Laura Gemser of "Black Emanuelle" fame. Of course Miriam has other plans for the ruthless Emperor. Both Gemser and David Brandon are gorgeous and sexy, and they have many intense scenes together. The film is shot quite competently, and some shots are visually breathtaking, at least in the original widescreen format. Caligula speaks with a harsh, elitist English accent, and some of the dialog pops up in Italian with English subtitles, as a result of someone using multiple print sources to get the most complete version possible. The graphic violent and sexual imagery is what everyone talks about, but they distract from the fact that "Caligula: The Untold Story" is a legitimate, and fairly good historical epic. And this version even dared to show that Caligula himself was bi-sexual, whereas the earlier version avoided that fact. And truthfully the violent scenes, as nasty as they are, are few and far between. And between 20 minutes of graphic, hardcore sex, are 90 minutes of dialog-driven scenes, and even a little romance. Fans of cult cinema, and of the 1979 version should appreciate this one.

Very strange

[bbyfc98 · 12 June 2000]

I am a history buff, and have done quite a bit of research on late republic--early empire Rome. The funny thing about the film is that the only part that is really historically accurate (aside from Caligula being emperor) is the starting Narration, when an unseen narrator describes Caligula as a "Pervert, glutton, Paranoid, insomniac--this is his story!" After that, fiction takes over, making the movie (and the music) very third rate. Some parts are very disturbing, but gives you a view of the mental capacity of Romans before Christianity took hold of Italy. The acting was second rate. Most of the main players couldn't even speak English, and the 'voice in's' were horribly sequenced. But I must give two thumbs up for David Brandon (Caligula). He played the part so convincingly, with his arrogant, cruel, sadistic actions, that in my opinion, made the movie. <<by the way, does anyone know what David Brandon is up too these days?>> Since it's obvious that the film contains nudity, and many violent scenes, I thought I would focus on the merits (though few and far between). And I must say that the intimate scenes between Laura Gemser (Mariam) and DB are very enticing.

The Caligula you didn't see

[videorama-759-859391 · 6/10 · 23 December 2017]

The spinoff or this independent effort of our vile and merciless prince, is something of a sleazy indulgence, lasting over two hours. Highly pornographic, this movie is- be warned, one orgy scene involving c**ks*****g and there are other scenes, had me wondering at one point, if I actually had obtained the X version. Nasty violence doesn't go astray in this surprisingly well made film, where our dark skinned beauty (Gemser- Emmanuelle's Daughter) seeks revenge on the slaying of her girlfriend, an innocent beauty, at the brutal hand of our loathed and notorious prince. This is pretty hardcore stuff, and inevitably there will be those who'll be offended and shocked, and of course, this is what we perceive it as: something made for those two reasons, but it's a bit more than that too. The acting is very good, our Caligula here, one with a very distinguished and cruel face, though of course, it's not Oscar worthy. Our Caligula softens up in the last twenty minutes, but could it be too late to change his evil ways? With much appeal, this Caligula is much more engaging, than the original. You could say weirdly engaging, and our engaging beauty, Gemser, enhances the film's appeal some. An untold story, gladly told in all it's shock, frankness, and splendor, that redeems itself into much cleaner territory, in it's last twenty minutes.

just stick to the sex and violence and we could have been out in under 90 minutes

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 11 January 2007]

This is really pretty dreadful and runs, in this complete version, for over two hours! It starts well enough but D'Amato tries too hard here, both high and low. We have hardcore (including what must be a half hour hardcore orgy!) we have very wordy exchanges that suggest this might have been intended as vaguely serious and when finally Laura Gemser gets into position to kill the man, she falls in love! Even without the extraordinary scene with the fat lady having sex with the horse, or the anal tortures, or the oft repeated and fairly meaningless dream sequences this would make little sense. So why the protracted attempt anyway, just stick to the sex and violence and we could have been out in under 90 minutes but no Mr D'Amato had to imitate the Caesar and go just that big bit too far.

Not so sleazy as I expected

[Battledragon · 3 June 2003]

I bought Caligula -Untold story, because I'm huge D'amato-fan, and I've seen couple of other "sequels" to Cuccione's Caligula, like Caligula and Messalina and so on. However, this one wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I had read from many different sources about this D'amato flick, and I got the picture that it would be sleazy same way as Emanuelle in America or even Porho holocaust were. I can't say I'm disappointed of lack of hard core sex scenes in the movie, but it could have been better with them. Even thought, there are many sequences that someone may consider disturbing. Still, I prefer D'amato-flicks like whole Emanuelle-series, Buio omega, Porno holocaust and Erotic nights of the living dead. Even Gemser don't bring the glory in this one (although I must say I'm huge Gemser-fan too). Still Caligula -untold story is far more enjoyable and better all ways than other Caligula sequels.

**½ out of 5 as a movie, *** out of 5 in D'amato-o-meter

Actually more of the same sex & gore

[lor_ · 16 March 2023]

My review was written in October 1986 after watching the movie on Trans World Entertainment video cassette.

This exploitation film, made in 1981 in Rome for Helen Sarlui by the director of the "Ator" epics, delivers the same basic goods as the Giovanni Tinto Brass hit, but without the hardcore porn inserts Bob Cuccione added to "Caligula". Surprisingly serious in tone, pic is an adequate home video entry for strong stomachs.

David Cain Haughton has a tour de force in the title role, resembling French star Pierre Clementi, as he revels in power, decadence and general craziness until coming to his senses in an ironic finale. Much of the incidental material here is reminiscent of the Tinto Brass version, but without the lavish sets.

Main storyline has Miriam (sex superstar Laura Gemser) on a mission to kill Caligula after he rapes her girlriend, who kills herself. In dreamily romantic footage (at odds with the yucky violence of the rest of the film), Miriam gradually falls in love with the evil emperor and even gets him t o change his ways, just before he is assassinated in the final reel.

Sex is strong stuff here, but just inexplicit enough to escape the hardcore porn tag that was "Caligula"'s selling point Violence is extremely rough, especially in an impaling scene in which senator Marcellus at odds with Caligula (and played by Gemser's real-life husband as inevitable co-starf Gabriele TInti) gets caught from behind.

Haughton's acting carries the show.

Caligula

[Michael_Elliott · 29 February 2008]

Caligula 2: The Untold Story (1982)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Another notorious film from director Joe D'Amato, this one a cheap rip off of Caligula, although this one is actually a lot better. I watched the uncut, hardcore 125-minute version and this here featured over thirty minutes worth of additional scenes that aren't in the R-rated American cut. All of these scenes are dialogue driven stuff but this here actually slows the film down a lot. There's also a 20+ minute Roman orgy, which is where this film gets its notorious label. Everything from midgets to horses is on display here but this too slows down the action. The cast, including D'Amato regular Laura Gemser, is pretty good as are the sets and costume design. I doubt I'll bother tracking down any of the alternate versions but my guess is that they'd be a bit more entertaining than this longer cut.

Fans of Black Emanuelle might enjoy this...

[drkdrkniht · 26 May 2000]

If you are a serious film fan or you just like seeing a lot of T&A THEN WATCH OUT BECAUSE THIS MOVIE WILL GIVE IT TO YOU PLUS A WHOLE LOT MORE!!! This movie had some of the most disgusting scenes in it and just to think none of this was exagerated. From what I heard about Caligola he was a pretty insane ruler. The only problem I had about the movie is that there was no real story to it, it was just all about sex, rape, and orgys.

If you rent this movie, rent it strictly for the outrageous nudity and historical info it gives about Caligola's perverted twisted mind. However don't expect to get a good story out of this movie. Oh yeah I might mention Laura Gemser (Black Emanuelle) has a pretty intense love scene with Caligola.