Movie Review: Conquest (1983)

Movie Review: Conquest (1983) directed by Lucio Fulci

Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti) has come of a man’s age, so it is time for him to leave his peaceful homeland on his walkabout. To aid him on his quest, Ilias is given the bow of his ancestor Kronos, which can shoot arrows of light once the bearer reaches full manhood. Ilias’ wanderings bring him to a barbaric wasteland dominated by Ocron (Sabrina Siani), a sorceress who claims to control the rising and setting of the sun. Ocron begins to have dreams of being slain by a person with a bow, and since Ilias happens to be the only person in the wasteland with a bow, draws the obvious conclusion.

Ilias is unaware that Ocron even exists until her beastman minions attack him. He is saved by Mace (Jorge Rivero), who claims to be an enemy of all men (he has a mark on his forehead that allegedly proclaims this, but is never further explained) and only stepped in because he wanted a closer look at Ilias’ foreign weapon. Despite Mace’s misanthropy, the two men bond, save each other’s lives repeatedly, and become friends.

Frustrated by her minions’ failure to kill Ilias, Ocron summons the powerful spirit Zora (Conrado San Martin) to aid her in exchange for her fealty. Zora is a much more threatening opponent, and finally the fight must be taken to the sorceress and her allies.

This fantasy adventure movie falls between director Lucio Fulci’s giallo thriller period and his gore-soaked horror flicks period. It’s an Italian-Spanish-Mexican co-production, and I am going to guess that most of the outdoor scenes were shot in Mexico. It can be hard to tell, thanks to the heavy use of fog and soft focus.

The cinematography does give this film a dreamlike quality, which helps make the lack of explanations for most of what’s going on more palatable. On the other hand, during some of the slow scenes at the beginning, it tends to lull the senses, making this a poor movie to watch when tired. The special effects are decent for this time period and budget, but the beastman makeup could have used more work.

Our protagonists are a good pair for an adventure story. Ilias is a decent young fellow, and brave, but kind of naive, which gets him in trouble. Mace is more cynical, but is friendly with animals (they help him out a few times) to the point where he will not kill them. (He sees nothing wrong with eating meat of animals other men have killed, to the point he will kill the other person to get their meat.) Mace initially warns Ilias that he’s not a people person, but he’s clearly lonely and ready to make a connection.

Ocron wears a golden full-face mask/helmet, a front loin guard, and nothing else. She is fond of snakes, and likes eating brains. Between her twice-daily sun rituals, Ocron mostly lolls around her cave doing drugs with her minions or having prophetic nightmares. Nothing is revealed of her past or overall motivations. As is often the case with precognition, every step Ocron takes to eliminate Ilias as a threat only makes her destruction more certain. Zora is even more enigmatic, though he appears to enjoy making people suffer.

Content note: gore (a woman is torn in half and her brains eaten early on), female nudity, offscreen extramarital sex, body horror, torture. The DVD version I watched was “Not Rated”; I am told most VHS versions have a bit cut and an R rating.

Overall: Certainly not a movie for the whole family. The story is thin, so it’s more of an experience than anything else. But when it’s clicking, a fascinating watch. I’d recommend it most to movie fans who really care about cinematography and the details of directorial choices.