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Caligula (1979)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 2.9/10
Reviews Counted: 28
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 22

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 3

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Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 9,999

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Movie Info

This lavish big-budget epic was the pinnacle of a uniquely Italian subgenre, the historical hardcore gore/porn extravaganza. The star-studded cast, perhaps lured by the high-profile involvement of producer Bob Guccione and screenwriter Gore Vidal, includes such luminaries as John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, and Helen Mirren. Director Tinto Brass, whose similar treatment of Nazi Germany in Salon Kitty won him the job, did his best with the mammoth enterprise, but numerous production problems and

R, 2 hr. 30 min.

Drama, Classics

Directed By: Tinto Brass

In Theaters: Jul 14, 1979 Wide

On DVD: Oct 2, 2007

Analysis Releasing

Cast

Critic Reviews for Caligula

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (27) | DVD (22)

Such established names as John Gielgud and Peter O'Toole will have to be seen to be believed.

December 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

Caligula is sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash. If it is not the worst film I have ever seen, that makes it all the more shameful: People with talent allowed themselves to participate in this travesty.

December 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comments (14)

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

For sheer camp RBI, this Tinto Brass-Bob Guccione freak is the World Series played, won, and paraded.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Village Voice

| Comment

Michael Atkinson

Village Voice

Top Critic

Not so much the culmination of '70s porn-chic cinema as its purposefully degraded last hurrah

November 16, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion

| Comment

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

But in its thoroughly remarkable badness it's actually kind of fascinating...the perfect movie for at do-it-yourself Mystery Science Theatre 3000 afternoon.

March 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Playback:stl

| Comment

Sarah Boslaugh

Playback:stl

More infamous for its widespread ineptitude than for its artistic innovation... [Blu-ray]

January 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews

| Comment

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews Source: Groucho Reviews

A classic in the coolest sense of the word

September 5, 2008 Comment (1)

Clint Morris

Moviehole

Sublimely ridiculous thesp-filled porno-togarama.

April 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

Unpleasantly violent, often dull, and only intermittently sexy.

December 8, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

It ended up almost as infamous and notorious as its subject... and that's not a compliment.

November 3, 2007 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com

| Comment

Will Harris

Bullz-Eye.com

I suppose certain college fraternities could make screening it part of their hazing rituals.

October 24, 2007 Full Review Source: Flipside Movie Emporium

| Comment

Rob Vaux

Flipside Movie Emporium

The three-disc 'imperial edition' DVD set is far more impressive than the movie it contains.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide

| Comment

Brian Webster

Apollo Guide

Simply a curiosity, a laughable relic of a failed effort to bring explicit sex movies to the masses.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide

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Brian Webster

Apollo Guide

Despite the movie, the highlight of this three-disc set is the often hilarious commentary.

October 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com

| Comment

Kent Turner

Film-Forward.com

Excess for excess sake, or just bad taste: Caligula is a messy, bloody film that fails on any level, even as porn and camp.

October 15, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

The real reason to buy this version are the star commentaries. They're pretty amazing.

October 15, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

Like Satyricon gone slightly sour, or Salon Kitty where bare-assed Mediterraneans substitute for nude Nazis, Tinto Brass' ballsy, overstuffed Caligula is not some manner of forgotten masterpiece.

October 1, 2007 Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com

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Bill Gibron

DVDTalk.com

All in all it's a dreary shambles.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Time Out

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Audience Reviews for Caligula

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Okay, this was a hard one for me to review, but actually, shockingly so, not that hard to watch considering the filth that is the film's contents. All right, the cinematography is a weird mixture of cheap and well-executed shots. And knowing the turbulent history surrounding the production of the film, I was able to

September 27, 2011

Matthew Roe

Super Reviewer

Now i Believe for a fact is that my dad saw Caligula when it first opened here about 1981, And despite it he really didn't think much of the film like many... He only regreated stadning in those long lines to see this Box Office and record breaking film. But like many the only question he did ask was "Is it really

October 16, 2010

Keiko Aya

Super Reviewer

Caligula Quotes

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1. Caligula: Caesar cannot be a fool!
– Submitted by Michael M (14 days ago)
1. Caligula: I have existed from the morning of the world and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night. Although I have taken the form of Gaius Caligula, I am all men as I am no man and therefore I am... a God.
– Submitted by Yanti A (13 months ago)