# Alright. Whats in Caligula that is so bad?!?!? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-whats-in-caligula-that-is-so-bad/86841 "2001-10-11T18:23:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-whats-in-caligula-that-is-so-bad/86841/61 "2002-10-11T10:02:42Z")
For some reason known only to themselves, our Office for the Classification of Film and Literature pulled the classification for _Salo_ a few years ago - meaning it is now effectively banned here. I’m amazed that it’s being screened on TV **anywhere**. While I agree with the “strong stomachs” warning, it is a truly excellent movie. ---
**Author:** ![effac3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@effac3d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effac3d)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-whats-in-caligula-that-is-so-bad/86841/62 "2002-10-11T12:51:19Z")
The only place i’ve even seen this movie is in divx form on kazaa,and i have a 56K so thats out. Where if anywhere can i rent the real version? And trust me it doesn’t sound so bad,but this is from an avid viewer of hard core porn so YMMV. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tiburon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e36b37/32.png) [@Tiburon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiburon)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-whats-in-caligula-that-is-so-bad/86841/63 "2002-10-11T13:01:00Z")
Well, I did eventually go rent the un-edited version. Eh. I wasn’t grossed out but I certainly wasn’t…uh…worked up. Boring! Worth it only to not wonder what was in it. Tibs. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-whats-in-caligula-that-is-so-bad/86841/64 "2002-10-11T17:39:32Z")
I’ve only seen the edited version, which should only be seen while wearing a seatbelt because the cuts in it will give you serious whiplash. But I thought that it was the best depiction of pure decadence that I’ve ever seen in a movie. As **bean\_shadow** said, the costumes and set design were truly brilliant. They created a world within the larger Roman world that was devoted to itself, an insane reality made possible by the wishes of an all-powerful autocrat. It was as perfect an illustration of the corruption of power as ever put on film. If only the foreground of the movie - the plotting, dialog and acting - matched what was implied by the background, this would have been a masterpiece. Who knows, maybe that’s what Vidal, who was capable of it, had intended in his original script. But what actually reached theaters had nothing of that brilliance. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-whats-in-caligula-that-is-so-bad/86841/65 "2002-10-11T19:46:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tiburon \* > \*\*Well, I did eventually go rent the un-edited version. Eh. I wasn’t grossed out but I certainly wasn’t…uh…worked up. Boring! > > Worth it only to not wonder what was in it. \*\* That was pretty much my take on it too, **Tiburon**. A friend of mine (who owns it on VHS) lent it to me, and I’m glad I saw it so that I know what all the fuss is about… not much. I wasn’t overly grossed out by it or overly turned-on by it. Both the sex and the violence seemed flat and pointless. Unless that was the point. Maybe. _shrug_ The only thing that bugged me about it badly was the scene at the end where the child is killed along with Caligula and her mother. Pretty brutal. The film, overall, is hardly the work of art its makers seem to think it is. It may have some points of accuracy (which are more attributable to Vidal and his good research than anything), but that doesn’t make it a great film. Far from it, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-whats-in-caligula-that-is-so-bad/86841/66 "2002-10-11T20:28:39Z")
In [this previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=92424), I had this to say: > [@](#): > > Now, as far as _Caligula_ goes, yeah, it definitely has a huge measure of notoriety. It’s one of those things that makes a film buff (or a porn buff) feel incomplete if s/he hasn’t seen it. So, despite how people like me will tell you that it’s not worth it, it’s boring, it’s stupid, it deserves at least part of its reputation because it’s a horrible film but there isn’t anything else to recommend it, you still feel, even in the face of all of this naysaying, as though you ought to watch it at some point in your life, and nothing in Heaven or on Earth will change your mind. When you’re done, you’ll shake your head and say everybody was right, it wasn’t worth it, and you’ll try to convince other _Caligula_ virgins of exactly the same things that you dismissed before you saw it. But even knowing this, you will be unable to resist the urge to watch it and see for yourself what the fuss is about. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. > > The logical extension of this, of course, is that everybody in the world will eventually see it. How pathetic is that? Based on the film’s persistent – and, IMHO, largely undeserved – reputation, it will never, ever lose its curious audience. ---
**Author:** ![Lear\_s\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@Lear\_s\_fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lear_s_fool)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-whats-in-caligula-that-is-so-bad/86841/67 "2002-10-14T05:17:37Z")
Despite a ton of sex and voilence this film only manged to only be gross and/or boring and it just went on for over two hours [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-whats-in-caligula-that-is-so-bad/86841.md?page=3)