Calibos is a fictional character created for the 1981 film Clash of the Titans, where he acted as the primary mortal antagonist of the young demigod Perseus. The monstrous creature was portrayed in live-action scenes by British actor Neil McCarthy, with stop-motion effects for the character provided by the legendary Ray Harryhausen [1].
Description[]
Once the handsome young son of the ocean goddess Thetis, Calibos's arrogance and lack of respect for the possessions of the gods incurred the wrath of mighty Zeus, King of Olympus. As punishment, Zeus transformed Calibos into a hideous monstrosity and banished him from the cities of men.
History[]
After killing all but one of the herd of sacred winged horses, Calibos was cursed by Zeus with a repellant form and forced to hide himself away. Furious at this turn of events, and unwilling to relinquish his bride-to-be Andromeda, he in turn lays a curse upon the princess, but the hero Perseus is able to overcome it, even managing to slice off Calibos's hand during the process.
Later, spiteful and determined to thwart Perseus in his quest to save his love, Calibos attacks Perseus's party - already set upon by a pack of vicious giant scorpions spawned from the blood of Medusa - and kills several of his friends, although Perseus slays the beast in return.
Trivia[]
- Unlike many of the characters from Harryhausen's mythological films, Calibos was created entirely for the screen by the filmmakers, and has no basis in any historical myths [2].
References[]
- ↑ Clash of the Titans at Wikipedia
- ↑ Calibos at Comic Vine
