Hercules Against the Moon Men

Alpha Video's release of Giacomo Gentilomo's Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964) is one of the most unusual in its library, containing not only an original trailer (which looks very grainy), but also a gallery of lobby cards and posters. It's a pity they couldn't find a better source for the film itself, which is faded and marred by graininess (especially in its opening section) and occasional scratches (most notably at the reel-change points). Even when the color recovers somewhat, the image is never sharp and there's a roughness to the whole piece which makes it difficult to treat this disc as respectfully as the producers have with their extra efforts on the bonus features. There's a degree of graininess all throughout the movie and the music manages to blare without even being mastered at an especially high volume. Parts of the movie retain their intended eeriness, but otherwise this is a release for serious sword-and-sandal enthusiasts only. The six chapters standard to all Alpha releases are almost irrelevant in a release like this, though one has to give the company credit for trying to load up the value on the bonus end.