Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum, is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget Hollywood historical epics of the time, such as Samson and Delilah (1949), Quo Vadis (1951), The Robe (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), Spartacus (1960), and Cleopatra (1963). These films dominated the Italian film industry from 1958 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by spaghetti Western and Eurospy films.
Aristide Massaccesi, known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres but is best known for his horror, erotic and adult films.
Ator 2 – L'invincibile Orion, a.k.a. English title: The Blade Master, is a 1982 Italian sword-and-sandal film directed by Joe D'Amato, and starring Miles O'Keeffe as Ator, Charles Borromel as Akronos, Lisa Foster as Mila, the daughter of Akronos, and David Brandon as Zor.
Miles O'Keeffe is an American film and television actor. O'Keeffe got his first big break playing the title role in the 1981 version of Tarzan, the Ape Man.
Antropophagus is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Joe D'Amato, who is also the co-writer along with George Eastman. Eastman also stars as a cannibal. The film also features Tisa Farrow, Zora Kerova, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Margaret Mazzantini and Mark Bodin.
Troll is a 1986 American dark fantasy comedy film directed by John Carl Buechler and produced by Charles Band of Empire Pictures, starring Noah Hathaway, Michael Moriarty, Shelley Hack, Jenny Beck, and Sonny Bono. It is the first installment of the Troll film series.
Troll 2 is a 1990 independent dark fantasy horror film written and directed by Claudio Fragasso under the pseudonym Drake Floyd. It stars Michael Stephenson, George Hardy, Connie McFarland, and Jason Wright. The plot follows Joshua Waits as he tries to save his family after the spirit of his deceased grandfather warns him that the town of Nilbog, where the family are spending their vacation, is inhabited by goblins who turn people into plant matter to eat them.
Black Emanuelle is a softcore sexploitation film from 1975 directed by Bitto Albertini. The film was set in Africa and shot mostly in Kenya. The music was composed by Nico Fidenco. Black Emanuelle was followed by a number of sequels, all revolving around the erotic adventures of Mae Jordan, a globe-trotting, hedonistic investigative journalist and photographer known to her readers as "Emanuelle". Her character has been described as "a strong and independent woman, sexually proactive, at the centre of wealthy young and old white men of power, and involved in any sort of depraved set and situation."
The Crawlers is a 1991 Italian horror film directed by Fabrizio Laurenti under the pseudonym Martin Newlin. Some parts of the film were also directed by producer Joe D'Amato, uncredited. It is the fourth installment of the Troll film series.
Eric Allan Kramer is an American actor. He is known to television audiences for his roles as Scott Miller on AMC's Lodge 49, Dave Rogers on The Hughleys, and Bob Duncan on the Disney Channel sitcom Good Luck Charlie. He was the first actor to play the Marvel Comics superhero Thor in live-action, in the made-for-television film The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988). He also appeared as Iron Mike Wilcox in the 2019 video game Days Gone.
Ator, the Fighting Eagle is a 1982 Italian adventure-fantasy film directed by Joe D'Amato. It stars Miles O'Keeffe, Sabrina Siani, Ritza Brown, and Edmund Purdom. The story follows the eponymous warrior setting out on a journey to bring his wife Sandra home after her kidnapping by the Spider Cult. It was followed by the sequels Ator 2 – L'invincibile Orion, Iron Warrior, and Quest for the Mighty Sword.
Absurd is a 1981 English-language Italian slasher film directed, lensed and co-produced by Joe D'Amato and starring George Eastman, who also wrote the story and screenplay.
Iron Warrior is 1987 film directed by Alfonso Brescia.
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, also known as Trap Them and Kill Them, is a 1977 Italian sexploitation cannibal film directed by Joe D'Amato. The film involves photojournalist Emanuelle, who encounters a cannibalistic woman bearing a tattoo of an Amazonian tribe in a mental hospital. Along with Professor Mark Lester, the two travel to the Amazon with a team to discover the source of the long-thought-extinct tribe that still practices cannibalism today.
Quest for the Mighty Sword is a 1990 Italian fantasy adventure film directed by Joe D'Amato. It is the fourth and final film in the Ator film series.
Sabrina Siani is an Italian film actress. She also used pseudonyms such as Sabrina Sellers and Sabrina Syan. She starred in numerous films, mostly violent cannibal films and sexy barbarian "sword-and-sandal" movies, and most of her films were made in a three-year period between the ages of 17 and 20. Siani retired from acting entirely in 1989, at age 26.
Joseph Mande is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor.
Porno Holocaust is a 1981 Italian sexploitation horror film directed and lensed by Joe D'Amato and written by Tito Carpi under the pseudonym "Tom Salina". The assistant director was Donatella Donati. Shot in and around Santo Domingo, it was one of the first cinematically released Italian films containing hardcore pornography. The title has been seen as a "riff" on Cannibal Holocaust.
Jessica Moore is a retired Italian actress who was active from 1986 to 1989, appearing mainly in erotic drama and horror films. She is best known for her role as the writer and libertine Sarah Asproon in the commercially successful films Eleven Days, Eleven Nights (1987) and Top Model (1988), both produced and directed by Joe D'Amato. In Italian productions, she is sometimes credited as Gilda Germano.
