Bow down to your remaster! We finally have access to the lost version of the most hardcore cult picture of all time with the new 4K transfer of Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, directed by Tinto Brass. Most of us remember this film, the most evil tape in the video shop, opening with Caligula (Malcolm McDowell) frolicking in a misty forest with his naked sister Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy). Here, the original cut opens much darker, with Caligula waking up covered in night sweats next to his naked sister, Drusilla.
His grandfather, by adoption, the Emperor Tiberius (Peter O’Toole), is deteriorating, sitting drunk in a pool while male and female sex slaves swim around. It is a bad time to be in the Caesar family due to the history of succession through murder. Tiberius knows full well it is in Caligula’s best interest to have him murdered, so he will do what he can to beat him to the punch. Tiberius takes Caligula on a tour through a grand-scale Roman orgy with tongue machines and arena freaks before offering him a poisoned chalice. The situation is so grim that longtime advisor Nerva (John Gielgud) slashes his wrists.

“Tiberius takes Caligula on a tour through a grand-scale Roman orgy with tongue machines…”
As Caligula’s bloody rise to power proceeds, his sister reminds him they cannot marry, as incest is not tolerated in Rome like it is in Egypt. So Caligula shockingly marries the most promiscuous woman in Rome, Caesonia (Helen Mirren), to the dismay of the Senate. Caligula further debauches the title of emperor with horrifying acts of brutality and sexual cruelty…
This cut is the original three-hour version from 1976 of what was, back then, the most expensive independent movie ever made. The film’s producer, Penthouse magazine publisher Bob Guccione Sr., held back the release until the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. At that point, everyone in the production found out that not only was the film radically re-edited, but also that Guccione had filmed additional scenes of graphic violence and hardcore sex that took the film to an XXX rating.
Suddenly, respected actors like O’Toole and Gielgud had porn credits, as well as famous author Gore Vidal for his screenplay. Despite the overt trashiness of the hardcore inserts, the film gained a reputation in the video shops as the highest-quality dirty movie ever made. Guccione made a mint selling copies of the VHS tapes for over $100 each out of his magazine for years to both stores and collectors.