Back during college in the mid-1980s, Caligula occasionally played some midnight showings in town and it became a "must see" for all us young perverts. I don’t feel quite sure why so many of us found it so compelling, but attend it in droves we did.

Unfortunately, I had to go home for the weekend when Caligula initially played our town, so I couldn't attend it with my friends. I didn't think it seemed like much of a loss until I heard them talk about it.

Caligula sounded like the most insanely obscene movie ever made. How could I miss that?

As such, I rented the movie on videotape, but felt sorely disappointed by what I saw. Where was all the smut and violence my friends had related to me?

That's when I discovered that they saw the unrated version, whereas I was stuck with an edited cut that dropped a whopping 54 minutes of lurid footage. No wonder I thought the movie stunk.

Happily, the uncut version appeared via another screening a few months later. At that time, my friends and I piled into the theater.

Even though Caligula seemed hilariously perverse and graphic, it still sucked. This felt like filmmaking at its worst.

With this “new” “Ultimate Edition”, we get a reassembled version of the film. Via the use of unused and alternate footage, it attempts to deliver a take on Caligula more in line with a serious drama.

Unfortunately, it can’t correct the sins of the past. The “Ultimate” Caligula becomes a bit of a snore.

Set in Rome circa 37 AD, Emperor Tiberius Caesar (Peter O’Toole) dies. His adopted son Gaius Augustus Germanicus (Malcolm McDowell) – commonly known as “Caligula” – ascends to the throne.

Paranoid and often delusional, Caligula reigns over a decadent empire. This tendency toward perversion and lunacy creates problems for the Roman Empire.

Caligula became infamous virtually as soon as it hits screens. A mix of controversies accompanied it, and its many explicit sex scenes stuck it with an “X” rating in the US.

The biggest issue stemmed from the movie’s basic messiness and lack of coherence. That said, I couldn’t call the film boring.

Well, not in its original incarnation, the one that so captivated my friends and me in college. As noted, this Blu-ray comes with a “new” version of Caligula entitled “The Ultimate Cut”.

Essentially, this one pares down the graphic content and attempts to give us a better structured and less smutty presentation. Don’t take that to mean “Ultimate” totally removes the sex and violence, though.

No, “Ultimate” still provides a fair amount of those components. However, it tones them down considerably.

For instance, take the infamous scene in which Tiberius forces a soldier to drink wine incessantly without the ability to relieve himself because minions tie off his penis. Once Tiberius decides the man had enough, he then guts and kills him.

In the more explicit version, we get a graphic sequence. In “Ultimate”, we lose most of the more disgusting footage, so though the basic elements remain, it lacks the same impact.

This becomes true across the board, as “Ultimate” attempts to rehabilitate Caligula as a straight dramatic effort. It succeeds from the POV that it no longer seems like a campy and over the top romp.

However, “Ultimate” substitutes the gleeful insanity of the 1980 cut with a lot of turgid and frankly dull material. Again, “Ultimate” doesn’t eliminate all the graphic content, but it minimizes these elements to emphasize a more traditional vibe.

Perhaps if the source material worked better, these attempts to cobble together a more credible Caligula would work. However, the footage just seems flat and without real heft.

This means that the “Ultimate” Caligula comes with an inherent lack of substance. Often fans of troubled productions believe that those flicks can be reworked to depict the filmmakers’ original intentions and thus “fixed”.

Unquestionably Caligula went through a lot of conflict during the shoot, as producer Bob Guccione, director Tinto Brass and screenwriter Gore Vidal all wanted something different from it. As depicted in the 1980 version, Guccione essentially “won” – what with the hardcore porn it included – but as noted, the final product became a goofy and incoherent mess.

To be sure, “Ultimate” makes a lot more sense than did the 1980 edition. It definitely offers a more complete rendition of the story as intended.

But it never turns into a more interesting take on the property. This feels like a silk purse/sow’s ear situation, as the source simply came with so many problems that nothing could truly redeem it.

I respect and admire all the work that went into this “Ultimate” cut of Caligula. Clearly a labor of love, all involved wanted to create a version of the film that delivered what Caligula could have been without all the problems during the production.

Unfortunately, those issues mean that the source simply can’t be rehabilitated to make an actual good version of Caligula. Interesting as an experiment, the “Ultimate” cut just never becomes an intriguing or compelling tale.

Caligula appears in an aspect ratio of 1.90:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The source limited the visuals but the image fared better than I expected.

Sharpness became a semi-weak link, but that stemmed from the original photography, as the cinematographer opted for a fairly gauzy vibe. Delineation nonetheless varied from acceptable to very good, so I thought the film brought positive accuracy.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering materialized here, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt light but adequate, and the movie suffered from no print flaws.

Colors leaned toward blues, ambers and reds. While these never dazzled, the Blu-ray reproduced them with more than adequate vivacity.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while low-light shots – of which we found many – delivered generally solid clarity. No one will view this as a visual showcase, but the image satisfied.

In addition, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 remix of Caligula seemed more satisfying than I anticipated. The soundscape tended to go for a subdued sense of atmosphere, so don’t expect theatrics.

This meant music broadened around the room, as did some general elements like crowds. Localization seemed adequate but the soundfield simply lacked a lot to do, so don’t expect more than a moderate expansion of the soundfield.

Audio quality held up nicely over the last 45 years, as speech appeared natural and concise, without any edginess or issues. The newly-composed music came across as full and warm.

Effects lacked much to impress, but these elements came across as accurate and without distortion. Expect a perfectly satisfactory track here.

This 2-disc Blu-ray set includes both the movie’s 1980 version (2:29:20) as well as the 2023 Ultimate Cut (2:58:17). I already contrast the two in the body of my review so I won’t dig into the differences here.

I will note that the quality of the 1980 version seems problematic. It seems much grainier and comes with ample source flaws as well as lackluster delineation and colors.

The monaural audio also appeared mediocre. While not terrible, it suffered from pops and general roughness.

To be sure, the 1980 presentation could fare worse, but it still became clear that version received no form of restoration. It appears as a historical artifact that I wish got better picture and audio treatment.

Alongside the “Ultimate Cut”, we find two separate audio commentaries. The first comes from reconstructionist Thomas Negovan and editor Aaron Shaps. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific view of production domains, the assembly of the “Ultimate Cut”, changes to the 1980 version, and their thoughts on the film.

When they stick with the work that went into the creation of the “Ultimate Cut” or reflections on the movie’s shoot, this becomes a useful chat. Unfortunately, Negoyan an Shaps devote too much of the discussion to general impressions of their version.

This means a fair amount of self-congratulation, which they even mention a few times. I think we find enough details about the massive amount of work devoted to this edition of the film to make the track worth a listen, but it does go astray a bit more often than I’d prefer.

For the second commentary, we hear from Thomas Negovan and writer Grant Morrison. They sit together for another running, screen-specific chat about basically the same topics as the prior discussion, albeit with more of a focus on story/characters and less on filmmaking choices.

Still, the two come across as similar enough that the Negoyan/Morrison piece feels pretty redundant. I hoped Morrison would bring more insights and interpretation of the film than he does, so this winds up as a moderately listenable chat but not one that seems especially useful.

On the same disc as the theatrical version, we find a featurette called The Guccione Scandal. It spans 19 minutes, 29 seconds.

“Scandal” provides a split-screen comparison between the film’s 1980 theatrical release and it longer/,more explicit “Unrated and Uncensored Imperial Edition” from 2007. Both feature sexually explicit content producer Bob Guccione shot of his own accord, and that material doesn’t appear on Disc One’s “Ultimate Cut”.

It seems mildly interesting to contrast the two. However, “Scandal” would seem more informative with commentary.

Disc One includes a Cannes 2023 teaser while Disc Two provides the flick’s original theatrical trailer.

With this modern ‘Ultimate Cut’ of Caligula, we find an attempt to turn a legendary stinker into something respectable. While it does create a more coherent and serious version of the tale, it can’t fix the mistakes of the past and it becomes a dull and dreary experience. The Blu-ray comes with generally solid picture and audio as well as a few bonus materials. I respect the efforts of those behind this ‘Ultimate Cut’ but they can’t redeem this bad film.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of CALIGULA