Conquest (1983)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Gino Capone (screenplay)
Giovanni Di Clemente (story)

Release Date:

6 April 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

In a place beyond time, comes a terrifying challenge beyond imagination! [USA theatrical]

Plot:

A young man, armed with a magical bow and arrows, embarks on a mystical journey through a mystical land to rid it of all evil and joins forces with an outlaw to take down an evil witch bent on claiming the magic bow for evil.

Plot Keywords:

Sword | Sword And Sorcery | Demon | Violence | Witch

Cast

Jorge Rivero	...	Mace (as George Rivero)
Andrea Occhipinti	...	Ilias
Conrado San Martín	...	Zora
Violeta Cela	...	Sacrificial Victim
José Gras	...	Fado (as Josè Gras Palau)
Gioia Scola	...	Girl Ilias Saves from Snake (as Maria Escola)
Sabrina Siani	...	Ocron (as Sabrina Sellers)

Also Known As:

Bárbaro, la conquista de la tierra perdida (Mexico)
La conquista de la tierra perdida (Spain)
Mace the Outcast (International: English title) (working title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Italy | Spain | Mexico

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Norway:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 (1992) | Finland:K-18 (cut version) | UK:18 (cut) (1983) | Italy:VM14 | Spain:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Canada:G (Quebec)

Company:

Clemi Cinematografica

Quotes:

Mace: When a man meets a man, you never know which one will die. But when an animal meets a man, it's always the animal that dies. I'm on the animals' side.
Ilias: Isn't this an animal you're eating?
Mace: [shrugs] I didn't kill him.
Ilias: That's a pretty strange law.
Mace: Not when you're hungry.

Don't ask... just dive in

"Conquest" is a typical case of a "love it or hate it" movie. The crossover which Fulci tried was: take some of the barbarian hero stuff popular in the 80s (Conan, Beastmaster), combine it with the splatter horror the director is well known for, and give this a psychedelic edge with blurred, constantly foggy visuals and haunting synthesizer music. Surely not everybody's taste, not even for many fans of Fulci's other works. However, if you are in the right mood, "Conquest" is an experience that compares to no other fantasy horror movie...except maybe Bava's "Ercole al centro della terra"! The story can be given in a few lines: Ilias, a young man from a comparatively civilized country, travels to a barbarian land of many terrors. He meets the warrior Mace, and together they fight an evil sorceress who claims to be responsible for the rising of the sun, and is worshiped like a goddess by everyone who believes her (surprisingly many).

Fulci doesn't give any explanations, but lets us dive in head first. Don't ask "why do those zombies exist in the swamp?", "why does Zora appear out of thin air?" or "how can Sabrina Siani be beamed from the mountain top into the cave without Scotty around?". This is not the point. What Fulci shows us is a dream where everything is possible. Meet the creatures that lurk in your nightmares, and when there are no more arrows for the bow, it shoots lightning beams. A dream does not require logic. Even death is not certain here. I perfectly understand when people don't like this movie, because it is opposed to what one normally expects from a movie. However, I don't see this as a dumb or sloppy script - to me it appears to be a purposeful experiment that did not succeed entirely, but is unusual and challenging. As I said at the beginning: love it or hate it.