It's really fascinating to see the difference in production values in these low budget 'epics'. It really demonstrates how filmmaking, in the right hands, is an art form. One movie is an embaressment the other would make Cecil B. DeMille green with envy.
To be fair there are movies that embrace their low budget origins and make the best of what they have, even if all they have are cardboard boxes, shipping pallets, and a warehouse to use as sound stage. Despite the obvious flaws you can see the effort put into movies made by people who have a real love of cinema but who may have lacked the technical skill or funds to execute their vision.
Then there are movies like. .
Gladiator Eroticus is a tongue-in-cheek 'sex comedy' (and this week's new
movie review at Mise-en-Scene Crypt) that's neither funny nor very sexy. It's the sort of move you'll either love or hate. There's very little room for middle ground. In fact you may think this is just plain junk, especially when compared to low budget movies produced in the 70s and 80s. Movies like. .
War Goddess is an unusual movie. Unusual not because it was a joint production of three different countries, had a budget for real costumes, and appears to have had twice again as many theatrical/ video versions but because it pulls no punches where nudity or blatant Sapphic overtones are concerned. That's perhaps not unusual in exploitation films, especially from the seventies, but when viewed today it's quite shocking to see how matter-of-fact the nudity is. It becomes part of the background like a tapestry.
However most shocking of all is the fact War Goddess has a plot. Surprising in the way The Arena, despite it's low budget, manages to be a more a interesting movie than Gladiator. Granted Pam Grier may have had something to do with that. ;)
We've probably all made fun of the Sci-Fi channel's "original movies" at some point, desperately trying to articulate our consternation, but looking at these two low budget sword-and-sandal flicks it's plain to see the level of effort put into the end product is just not the same. It may not be entirely fair to compare Gladiator Eroticus, a chinsy T&A skinemax flick, to War Goddess, a low budget epic, but the more I think about it the more I find myself wondering if the problem isn't that filmmakers don't care like they used to?