Caligula (1979)

Caligula is one of film's most notorious productions. "Penthouse" magazine publisher, Bob Guccione, transformed the film into his passion project during the course of the late 70s. He hired remarkable talent, bought a literate script, brought in a groundbreaking director in Tinto Brass and spent untold millions on sets and costumes. He also decided that the flick needed to feature some of his magazine's "Penthouse Pets." And why wouldn't he? So, plenty of uncensored and pointless sex was added to the script and what might have been intended to be a historical epic, magically transformed into a hard core porn movie with some serious acting talent and a ton of grotesque violence. It's a huge mess that's both mind- numbingly difficult to watch and unintentionally hilarious. Caligula is either the biggest inside joke in the history of film, or it's one of the biggest disasters.

Admittedly, I find aspects of Caligula to be pretty damn funny. Seeing Sir John Gielgud and Peter O'Toole try to get through a scene with countless numbers of fully nude models, some with prosthetic deformities, frolicking in the background is surreal, to say the least. Of course, this unintended comedy is short lived as the film falls more deeply into a disturbing pattern of shockingly demented violence and over-the-top sexual escapades. I suppose some viewers might approach Caligula as just another porn film with heightened production values. That's fine, but those viewers are bound to be slightly distracted by the morbid themes present in just about every sexual scene. There seems to have been an emphasis placed on showcasing many of the diseases and wounds that might have been present in the royal Roman court of the day. I'll skip the gory details, but it isn't pretty. In addition, whoever designed props for Caligula was clearly having a great time, so be sure to keep an eye on what happens in the background of many scenes; there's a lot of supremely bizarre stuff going on. Be warned, however, as this is an exceedingly violent film that takes great pleasure in being grotesque. I've never seen anything quite like the large execution device featured in Caligula; squeamish viewers should find this scene to be particularly vomit-inducing.

Caligula's themes are about as dark and disturbing as possible. Incest is a predominant component of the film's plot as is rape, brutality, torture and murder. Caligula's relationship with his sister, Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy), is one of the focal points of the movie. Unsurprisingly, the film is such a complete mess from a plot perspective that this supremely taboo theme comes across as intentionally exploitative. I don't expect a movie to present a moral argument or make apologies for being controversial. It would have been nice, however, if the filmmakers attempted to at least put the relationship into some sort of perspective. As it stands, the film is simply a collection of random plot points that are framed by sex scenes between Caligula and his sister. I'm not going to bother with trying to summarize the plot of Caligula; it would be pointless. With all the acting talent present in the film, those that are interested will probably be watching out of curiosity as to how they were all corralled into taking part in such a mess. I can't recommend Caligula; it's just that bad. As a curiosity, though, it's as bizarre and disturbing as anything ever put on screen.