A studly young man named Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti) embarks on a quest to vanquish evil. He's soon joined in his travels by Mace (Jorge Rivero), a Conan type lone wolf who saves Ilias' ass at one point basically because he admires his weapon, a magical bow. Together they fight the minions of evil witch Ocron (Sabrina Siani), some of them looking like bargain basement versions of Chewbacca, among other creatures.
There's barely a coherent story here, but people who just adore the trashiest and cheesiest of low budget fantasy features aren't going to mind very much. Celebrated Italian director Lucio Fulci puts his indelible stamp on this genre, completely saturating it with surrealism and atmosphere. Viewers will love all the details, especially the fact that Siani, although masked, plays her role almost completely nude, and sometimes has a snake slither over her body. Claudio Simonettis' score is simply perfect for this sort of entertainment. The soft focus photography by D.P. Alejandro Ulloa won't be to everybody's taste, but everything is filmed on some attractively exotic locations (Sardinia, Italy). The performances are appropriate to the occasion, with Rivero and Occhipinti as moderately engaging heroes, and sexy Ms. Siani, and Conrado San Martin as her equally diabolical associate Zora, functioning as amusing villains. The special effects are enjoyably laughable in their incredible tackiness. There's some wonderfully mean spirited gore here, supplied by Franco Rufini.
There's a lot of buildup here to a finale that is over a little too quickly, but "Conquest" does deliver the sleazy goods for those that like their fantasy as R rated (or unrated, as the case is here) as possible.
Fulci fans will recognize the mark between Maces' eyes.
Seven out of 10.
There's barely a coherent story here, but people who just adore the trashiest and cheesiest of low budget fantasy features aren't going to mind very much. Celebrated Italian director Lucio Fulci puts his indelible stamp on this genre, completely saturating it with surrealism and atmosphere. Viewers will love all the details, especially the fact that Siani, although masked, plays her role almost completely nude, and sometimes has a snake slither over her body. Claudio Simonettis' score is simply perfect for this sort of entertainment. The soft focus photography by D.P. Alejandro Ulloa won't be to everybody's taste, but everything is filmed on some attractively exotic locations (Sardinia, Italy). The performances are appropriate to the occasion, with Rivero and Occhipinti as moderately engaging heroes, and sexy Ms. Siani, and Conrado San Martin as her equally diabolical associate Zora, functioning as amusing villains. The special effects are enjoyably laughable in their incredible tackiness. There's some wonderfully mean spirited gore here, supplied by Franco Rufini.
There's a lot of buildup here to a finale that is over a little too quickly, but "Conquest" does deliver the sleazy goods for those that like their fantasy as R rated (or unrated, as the case is here) as possible.
Fulci fans will recognize the mark between Maces' eyes.
Seven out of 10.