Never one to hold back on outrageous (and often nauseating) cinematic excess, notorious exploitation and horror director Aristide Massaccesi (or Joe D'Amato as he is more commonly known) emerges as a director one either loves or hates. Often packing his horror films with excessive gore and debauchery at the expense of plot coherence (or any plot at all!), his oeuvre emerges as one of the more acquired tastes of European exploitation cinema. Included in his hit-and-miss filmography of simultaneously revered and reviled films is his 1979 necrophilia opus BUIO OMEGA (or BEYOND THE DARKNESS), the explicitly sexual and sickeningly violent EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD, his many EMANUELLE films starring Laura Gemser, and ANTHROPOPHAGUS, possibly his most famous horror film, starring George Eastman as a crazed cannibal.

And of course there is this film, D'Amato's "sequel" to Tinto Brass' original cinematic treatment of the notorious Roman Emperor. Brass may indeed have created a cinematic monster, as no less than half a dozen (or more) portrayals of Caligula's hedonistic exploits graced the foreign screen in the early to mid eighties. Not surprisingly, few were of any interest besides Brass' original and D'Amato's unofficial sequel. While even Brass' original could hardly have been called a historical triumph (or even a competent film), D'Amato's version sinks even lower into maddening historical inaccuracies and sloppy storytelling. But as any D'Amato fan will tell you, that's not the point. And indeed they would be right. For the director's films seem to work best when traditional storytelling is thrown to the winds in light of graphic shocks and stunningly graphic sexual excess.

And happily, CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY is positively brimming with both visceral savagery and explicit titillation. Packed into its 104 min running time are a gaggle of grisly tortures and murders, hardcore orgy scenes, and bestiality. One scene in particular manages to mold all these undesirables into one: a sickening orgy set piece with Roman gladiators dueling with spiked fists (spewing blood onto the moaning crowd), a mysterious "performer" who entertains the crowd with her exquisite abilities to please a horse, all wrapped around a menagerie of graphic and hardcore sexual acts and the flow of bodily fluids (including blood, semen, and vomit). In the first scene alone Caligula sees fit to dispatch an assassin (a young Michele Soavi, who would later direct his first film, AQUARIUS, with D'Amato producing) by slicing his tongue off and tearing his ligaments, relegating the assailant to a life of paralyzed agony.

Thankfully, the performances in CALIGULA are surprisingly serviceable, thanks to tight casting by D'Amato. David Brandon turns in a solid performance as the titular dictator, and seems quite satisfied with relishing his role's sadistic requirements (in one scene he takes great joy in skewering an entire family with metal rods). Thankfully Brandon's physique is more evocative of a fearful ruler, unlike an unconvincingly youthful McDowell in Brass' film. And D'Amato regular Laura Gemser (hot off the trail of a starring role in D'Amato's similar sex and blood epic EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD, not to mention her many roles as the kinky Emanuelle) is good as Miriam, Caligula's unlikely lover.

But if Brass' treatment had anything going for it, at least it attempted to be somewhat historically accurate. D'Amato (or "David Hills" as he is credited here) seems more willing to let the blood (and other fluids) flow freely with little attention given to the actual man and his descent into madness. In fact we are only suggested of Caligula's incestuous relationship with his sister Drucilla, and for all the hideous torture and depravity, it all seems for exploitation's sake, and we are never given a view into his madness. CALIGULA is thus cornered into being a horror/exploitation film, and it is only given a time to shine when the shocks come onscreen. This is a shame, as large portions of the film meander about with boring dubbed dialogue and an overly simplistic plot. And when D'Amato does try to elaborate the plot, it seems forced and unnecessary. Caligula's relationship with Miriam is exceptionally overindulged and grows tiresome as the viewer inevitably yearns for what they came for (namely sex and gore). But possibly D'Amato's insistence of molding Rome's most infamous ruler's exploits into a taut horror and sleaze package may not be such a bad thing. More than any exploitation director, D'Amato knew his audience, and knew what they liked. The director who freely admitted to making films for money has hit the visceral jackpot here. And in no other film of D'Amato's is his penchant for screen excesses more pertinent. It is to be commended that at the very least the film faithfully recreates what it very well might have been like in Caligula's grotesque reign. It is a pity though that CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY is not always faithful to its sensationalist roots and feels compelled to sporadically offset the horrors with more conventional cinematic standbys such as a coherent plot and developed characters.