Caligula and Messalina
a.k.a. Caligula et Messaline / Caligola e Messalina / Caligula's Perversions
1981 · Directed by Bruno Mattei, Antonio Passalia, Jean-Jacques Renon · Italy / France
Caligula and Messalina (1981) is Bruno Mattei’s cheap cash-in on the notoriety of the Bob Guccione-produced Caligula. Mattei pads his film with sword-and-sandal stock footage around his story, where Messalina is a gladiator set to win the attention of the unhinged Emperor.
Not as explicit as its more notorious namesake, it has elements of the same incidents that are meant to be historical. The shortfalls in production are evident throughout, and it becomes tiresome very quickly. For Mattei completists, but best skip past this one for casual viewers.