Kirk Morris, as Maciste, uproots a haunted tree to access Hell in MACISTE IN HELL (1962)
In my opinion, this is the best Maciste film of the 1960s revival. Directed by Riccardo Freda, it creates an incredible tapestry of moments, images and a world rarely seen in movies. Not to my surprise, a lot of people hate it. I've come across many comments about it and a lot of it is negative. The US public domain print might be a reason, under the title THE WITCH'S CURSE, but I've also seen such comments from people in Europe. Regardless of what people think, it's a solid, unique film that seen in original widescreen format is something else. The film is replete with symbolism so that might be another reason why some hate it. In this scene, Maciste has access to Hell from a haunted/cursed tree that, among other things, stood next to where a witch was burned. Remarkably enough, there's a legend in Rome of a church cursed by a walnut tree filled with demons. Nero was buried there. It's the Santa Maria Del Popolo church.
"As the story goes, after his suicide Nero was buried in the mausoleum of his paternal family, the Domitii Ahenobarbi, at the foot of the Pincian Hill. The sepulchre was later buried under a landslide and on its ruins grew a huge walnut tree that "was so tall and sublime that no other plant exceeded it in any ways." The tree soon became the haunt for a multitude of vicious demons harassing the inhabitants of the area and also the travelers arriving in the city from the north through Porta Flaminia: "some were being frightened, possessed, cruelly beaten and injured, others almost strangled, or miserably killed." Source.
There's more to this story, including an exorcism. I think this scene was definitely inspired by the Santa Maria Del Popolo legend. I'll have more on Maciste in a future article on the many Maciste movies.
