UNSUNG HORRORS HORROR GIVES BACK 2023: Rome Against Rome (1964)

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Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year they will once again be setting up a fundraiser to benefit Best Friends, which is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across America, giving pets second chances and happy homes.

Today’s theme: The undead

Also known as War of the Zombies, Rome Against Rome was the second to last film from the Galatea production company (some of their other films include Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, Mill of the Stone Women and Ghosts of Rome). It was directed by Giuseppe Vari, who used the name Joseph Warren, and also made The Last Killer, Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead, Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why?, Sister Emanuelle and Urban Warriors. Its story came from Ferruccio De Martino (who usually was a production manager) and Massimo De Rita (Violent City, The Valachi Papers, Street Law) with a script from Piero Pierotti (who directed Hercules Against Rome and Marco Polo) and Marcello Sartarelli.

In a remote part of the Roman Empire, cult leader Aderbad (John Drew Barrymore, Drew’s father) is working with the governor to create their own land using the corpses of Roman soldiers brought back from the dead. Centurion Gaius (Ettore Manni) is sent to protect the interests of the senate.

Most of the production money probably went toward making Aderbad’s secret rooms look like something out of Bava, because the actual fight scenes are taken from Hannibal. Susy Anderson (Black Sabbath, Thor and the Amazon Women) and Ida Galli (The Psychic, Arabella: Black Angel, The Sweet Body of Deborah, The Whip and the Body) are also on hand.

American-International Pictures played this movie as a double feature with Senkichi Taniguchi’s Samurai Pirate, which they named The Lost World of Sinbad. When it was time for Rome Against Rome to air on TV, it was renamed the completely incredible title Night Star: Goddess of Electra.

I wish that there was more to recommend this movie than just as a curiosity. Peplum was giving way to the western, so anything was being tried at this point. According to Mondo Esoterica, two other horror and sandal hybrids are Goliath and the Vampires and, of course, Hercules in the Haunted World.