The CGI work is expansive but not very distinguished (or convincing), yet the real culprit is the parchment-dry script by newcomer Ryan J. Before it's all over, our hero will battle Narnia's Aslan, throw a horse over his head and be forced to wear a beard made from the hair off a yak's testicles (at least that's what Johnson stated in interviews).

Based on Steve Moore's revisionist comic, this finds Herc and his posse (among them warriors played by Ian McShane and Rufus Sewell) working as mercenaries for a feeble ruler (John Hurt) who fears his kingdom will be conquered by an enemy army. It's unfortunate, therefore, to see him aping Schwarzenegger-as-Conan by starring in Hercules and turning the titular hero into nothing more than a lumbering bore. In picture after picture, Dwayne Johnson has proven to not only be a commanding screen presence but also a pretty good actor. The few instances of color-tinted items - the yellow from a flashlight, the red from a fire - in this black-and-white flick are a nice added touch.īlu-ray extras consist of audio commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith and the theatrical trailer for Lugosi's White Zombie. Was it the studio head (Alexander Carr)? The publicity manager (Lugosi)? The director (Van Sloan)? Or is the hopelessly inept studio security guard (Vince Barnett) pulling a Keyser Söze? The answer isn't as obvious as it initially appears, and it's fun to watch Drew repeatedly uncover clues, to the growing exasperation - but also appreciation - of the bumbling coppers. But her boyfriend, studio screenwriter Franklyn Drew (Manners), refuses to believe that, so he conducts his own investigation. The detectives on the case (John Wray and Wade Boteler) believe that the killer is movie star - and Myles' ex-wife - Marcia Lane (Adrienne Ames), since all evidence conveniently points in her direction. At the fictional Tonart Studios (filming was actually done on the lot of the Poverty Row outfit Tiffany Pictures), leading man Myles Brent (former silent film star Edmund Burns in an uncredited bit) has been murdered, and the suspects are plentiful. Three of the stars of the 1931 horror classic Dracula - David Manners (Jonathan Harker), Edward Van Sloan (Van Helsing) and Bela Lugosi (Drac, natch) - popped up the following year in this nifty little B flick that not only functions as an engaging murder-mystery but also doubles as a peek behind the scenes at a small-scale movie studio. John Wray and Wade Boteler in The Death Kiss

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