Conquest (1983)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Gino Capone (screenplay)
Giovanni Di Clemente (story)
(more)

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:

Sensuality | Nude Woman Murdered | Funeral Pyre | One Word Title | Disembowelment

Cast

Jorge Rivero	...	Mace (as George Rivero)
Andrea Occhipinti	...	Ilias
Conrado San Martín	...	Zora
Violeta Cela	...	The Girl
José Gras	...	Fado (as Josè Gras Palau)
Gioia Scola	...	Cobweb Creature Leader (as Maria Escola)
Sabrina Siani	...	Ocron (as Sabrina Sellers)

Directed by
Lucio Fulci

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gino Capone		screenplay
José Antonio de la Loma		screenplay
Giovanni Di Clemente		story
Carlos Vasallo		screenplay

Produced by
Giovanni Di Clemente	....	producer

Original Music by
Claudio Simonetti

Cinematography by
Alejandro Ulloa		(as Alejandro Alonso García)

Film Editing by
Emilio Rodriguez Oses

Art Direction by
Massimo Lentini

Set Decoration by
Mariangela Capuano

Makeup Department
Carboni	....	wig maker
Luigi Contini	....	hair stylist
Mauro Menconi	....	assistant makeup artist (as Mauro Meniconi)
Rocchetti	....	wig maker
Franco Rufini	....	makeup artist

Production Management
José Antonio de la Loma	....	production manager: Spain
Pietro Innocenzi	....	production manager
Domenico Lo Zito	....	unit manager
Vincenzo Santangelo	....	post-production manager
Vincenzo Santangelo	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
José Antonio de la Loma	....	assistant director
Filiberto Fiaschi	....	assistant director
Roberto Tatti	....	assistant director

Art Department
Rodolfo Ruzza	....	props

Sound Department
Eros Giustini	....	sound
Maurizio Guarini	....	sound effects: voices
Ettore Mancini	....	boom operator
Romano Pampaloni	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Mario Bagnato	....	assistant camera
Piero Caputi	....	still photographer
Gaetano Coniglio	....	chief electrician
Federico Del Zoppo	....	camera operator
Matt Giordano	....	key grip (as Matteo Giordano)
Claudio Morabito	....	camera operator
Roberto Pizzi	....	key grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Alvaro Grassi	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Rita Antonelli	....	assistant editor
Patricia Innocenzi	....	assistant editor (as Patrizia Innocenzi)
Giancarlo Tiburzi	....	assistant editor
Vincenzo Tomassi	....	supervising editor

Other crew
Francesco Anniballi	....	production secretary
Costantino Di Clemente	....	administrator
Walter Marconi	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Clemi Cinematografica
• Clesi Cinematografica
• Conquest Productions
• Esme
• Golden Sun

Distributors

• United Film Distribution Company (UFDC) (1984) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Blue Underground (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Media Home Entertainment (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• VCL Communications (1984) (West Germany) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Bárbaro, la conquista de la tierra perdida (Mexico)
Conquista de la tierra perdida, La (Spain)

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.

A Trip

The atmosphere in this movie is like nothing I have ever seen. Absolutely bizarre, beautiful, and brilliant. The plot and acting are not important. Instead, they merely provide a stepping stone for Lucio Fulci's beyond-superb cinematography.

OK, the "atmosphere's plot" revolves around the pursuit of the sorceress villainess Ocron (Sabrina Siani) by an archer, Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti), and Mace (Jorge Rivero), a sidekick picked up along the way. Sabrina is more of a form figure than a person, and has a fluid gold mask. However, Ilias and Mace are regular homo sapiens. The setting is, you know, sci fi, caveman outfitted, medieval, monsters and wolfmen and zombies, and a few more people.

Funny thing, the silhouettes of both Mace and Ilias -- most notably, their hairlines -- give them a resemblance to Jim Morrison. When the facial details are observed, the comparison lessens, but one almost thinks a crossing of those details would bring a nearer result. Plus, like other animal forms in the movie, snakes are prominent. And you know, that scene in Oliver Stone's flick with "The End," is there more coincidence...

OK, enough of that. Ocron's efforts to eliminate her stalkers seeking to end her evil rule center around beast and wolfmen attacks, and there are various other graphic scenes. For those who dislike violence and gore, graphic imagery, this film has them, yes, but they are mitigated by the atmosphere. "Cannibal Holocaust" and "Jungle Holocaust" are real (very), "Conquest" is surreal (equally as very).

To communicate what the atmosphere is like, I might initially say something like "darkly impressionistic." But first of all, it's not dark as in nightworld -- not really dark, but somewhat murky; Fulci enlists fog, as a matter of fact. Besides, "impressionistic" applies only in the broad association of the word of nonreproduction of realism, not the narrower definition involving use of light and uneven depth. For what makes the cinematography so fantastic is the depth of the backdrop--colors and form, and the blending of the colors. Motley, variegated? But don't these terms perhaps imply brightness and individual definition? Yet the brightness in "Conquest" is subtly refined, filtered within the nebulous atmosphere. The effect is nothing short of a dazzling work of art, a real treat for the viewer. For your eyes only.

Fulci is very successful in his efforts with broad, elaborate images -- the sky, the sun and moon, the sea and earth and vegetation. But he is also good on detail in the living beings and their surroundings. And although the movie's tale is only silly, the scenes are presented skillfully, well crafted and well edited.

So inferior are the pompous, amorphous special effects that viewers are barraged with by modern Hollywood movies (Mummy II, etc.) when measured against Fulci's work in "Conquest" that they come out as nothing but a joke by comparison. I wish to point out that I am no particular fan of European movies, preferring Hollywood overall, but I must say that in certain genres some Italian flicks represent the best of the Old World, with their exploration of basic human desires and instincts, their depth and bite, sometimes great humor, and, as here, atmosphere. See references above, plus "The Good the Bad and the Ugly," "The Sensuous Nurse," "The Legend of Frenchie King," "Farewell Uncle Tom," "La Dolce Vita..." For atmosphere and visuals, "Conquest" is triumphant.