Whoever coined the old saying "you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear" couldn't have known that this saying would be blown out of the water by Italy's master craftsman of the fantasy world, Mario Bava. Throughout his career, Bava fashioned low-budget, imaginative gems working from the flimsiest of scripts in some of the most maligned genres, and Fantoma Films, the folks behind the excellent Coffin Joe box set, have captured Bava's gifts in a great-looking DVD of the maestro's first color picture, Hercules in the Haunted World.

No genre has produced more cinematic cheese than the cycle of Italian "sword-and-sandal" epics that showcased the adventures of Hercules, Atlas, Goliath and any other mythic figure that could be played by a bodybuilder. Following the worldwide success of Bava's directorial debut, Black Sunday, producer Achille Piazzi hired Bava to direct one of these fantasy epics, and cast (then two-time) Mr. Universe, Reg Park (who was, incidentally, the fellow that most inspired a certain future governor of California to become a bodybuilder) as his Hercules and legendary horror star Christopher Lee as his nemesis.

One of the first things sharp-eared horror fans will notice about the movie is that Lee's unmistakable baritone has been dubbed by another (unbilled) actor. While there has been speculation that Lee was embarrassed by the final product and thus refused to redub his voice for the English version, the fact that Lee worked with Bava multiple times, with nothing but high praise for the director's imagination and constant creativity working within limited means renders these rumors ridiculous. What is more likely is that the distributor in charge of dubbing the film into English didn't want to pay extra for Lee's services and hired a voice actor they already had under contract.

The plot of the film follows Hercules and his pal Theseus (Perseus must have been honeymooning with Andromeda at the time and thus unavailable) venturing into Hades to steal a precious gem that will restore the mind of Hercules' beloved, the princess Deianara (Leonora Ruffo), who unknown to Hercules, is under the mind control of the evil King Lycos (Lee). One thing that links this film to the others in Bava's filmography is the endless parade of gorgeous women, and Miss Ruffo, as well as Ida Galli, who appears in the film as Persephone, hold up this tradition admirably.

Directed by masked sorceress Medea to find the golden apple of the Hesperides so that he can survive the passage into Hades, Hercules embarks on the first of several tasks that, while noted are beyond the abilities of mere mortal men, are dispatched by ol' Herc in just a few minutes of screen time. While doing this, however, Theseus and their pal Jocasta (Ely Drago) is captured by the stone monster Procrusteus and Hercules has to bail out his friends. The stone monster's suit in the movie is one of the film's little treasures of creative design, a mess of stalactites that resembles a stiffened version of the Swamp Thing. Hercules destroys the monster and soon he and Theseus are ready to go into Hades.

While the film seems to have been made with some fairly elaborate sets for a low budget movie, Tim Lucas, in the essay that is the DVD's only substantial extra, points out that Bava created all the film's sets by simply re-arranging a few pieces in different variations, creating several different worlds using only a few pillars, fake trees, and stones, with one smooth stone backdrop and another rockier backdrop to provide the backgrounds. It's a testament to Bava's ingenuity that you never notice this while the film is going on.

While in Hades, Theseus falls into a lake of hot lava, miraculously surviving and hooking up with Persephone, the daughter of Pluto (one thing that sharp mythologists may find entertaining are the way that the Greek and Roman names of characters are both used in the story). Persephone, like any hot-blooded young daughter, wants to get the Hades out of daddy's house, and so instructs Theseus on how to use the golden apple to get out of there, on the condition that he takes her with him. Because Theseus has the amusing character trait of falling for anything with nice legs and a healthy set of mammaries, he heartily agrees, falling in love with Persephone faster than Hercules manages to accomplish yet another seemingly impossible task (stealing the power crystal from Hades).

Once back from Hades (Hercules is now literally a guy who will go to hell and back for his woman), Hercules uses the crystal, Deianara is restored, and the movie could have ended here .. but Bava has something else up his sleeve.

You see, it turns out that King Lycos has a taste for human blood. In particular, he has a jones for the blood of Princess Deianara (Princess Dei?), which he must drink during an eclipse of the full moon to achieve his plan of world domination. He'd ask Theseus for help, but unfortunately, Theseus is under the thrall of Persephone, and when Hercules informs him that her father wants her back in the underworld, Theseus makes the unwise move of trying to kick Hercules' ass. However, being a basically decent daughter of the underworld, Persephone agrees to go back and her last kiss with Theseus robs him of any memory he may have had of their affair.

However, now Hercules must face King Lycos alone and, in the signature Bava sequence of the film, Lycos' ghostly hordes rise from their crypts and begin attacking Hercules. And the full moon is being eclipsed. And Deianara is unconscious on a slab in front of the thirsty vampire king. Will Hercules be able to stop the vampires and save his beloved?

Fantoma has provided an excellent widescreen transfer of the British cut (which sports the title of Hercules in the Center of the Earth, thus continuing a tradition of Bava DVD's in which the onscreen title differs from the title on the box). The colors, which are masterfully used throughout the film by Bava, are reproduced here with amazing fidelity. Tim Lucas' liner notes (which no Bava DVD is complete without) give us a concise overview of the film and its making, and we also get the theatrical trailer and a stills gallery. Also included is the Italian soundtrack, which, somewhat surprisingly, comes across just as dubbed as the English language track.

Fans of Mario Bava, or folks who love watching these cheesy Italian fantasy epics from the 50's and 60's, will be pleased with this DVD. The film is one of the best in that particular cycle of Italian imports, due mainly to the genius of the unpretentious fellow who sat in the director's chair. If you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, Bava at least created a well-made Times Square knockoff that you'd be hard pressed to tell wasn't the real thing.