By DR. BENNY GRAVES
Starring: Andrea Occhipinti, Jorge Rivero and Conrado San Martin
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Story by Giovanni Di Clemente
Blu-Ray release from Cauldron Films
The sword-and-sorcery genre experienced a powerful resurgence after the release of Conan the Barbarian. A sprawling triumph, John Milius’ film was a violent and sensual journey through the savage world of might and magic conjured by Robert E. Howard. It helped that the vascular Cimmerian was played to stoic perfection by a charismatic and imposing young Austrian bodybuilder turned actor. The fare that followed included gems (The Sword & The Sorcerer), parodies (Deathstalker II) and genre fusions (Krull, shooting for a mix of the Hyborian Age and Star Wars).
Eye-trauma virtuoso Lucio Fulci was never a man bound by genre, and I thank him for it. Created in the wake of Quest For Fire’s success, Fulci’s CONQUEST takes place in a barbaric proto-world. It’s an LSD-drenched nightmare that posits a way of life where dismemberment is always a risk. Once again, thank you, maestro.
Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti) has left his idyllic homeland to explore the foreign lands beyond, armed for combat with a magical bow. The razed landscape he discovers is populated by subjugated tribes clinging to an uncertain way of life. The cause of their oppression? Ocron (Sabrina Siani), a masked sorceress with a boundless hunger for power and an army of brutal wolf-men. Having seen a vision of Ilias attacking her, Ocron makes it her mission to snuff out the prophesied threat. Ilias ultimately joins forces with the warrior Mace, and the two will need all their prowess to stand against Ocron and her reign of hyper-violence.
Shot in a perpetual haze, with a Vaseline-heavy lens, Fulci presents a genuinely dangerous otherworld. Marked with labyrinthine caves, painted bodies roam ever wary of Ocron’s wrath. Their fear is merited, as we witness the savagery perpetrated against those who earn her displeasure. Skulls are shattered, bodies are torn in half, and one of her own is seen ceremonially burned alive for his failures. Ilias traverses the land with Mace as a guide, the latter presenting the view that self-preservation is the only method of survival. There’s an arc in which Mace learns that uniting with the like-minded will create a safer world, but I’m really here for the laser bow and shots of wolf-men doing primordial cocaine. The scenes with Ocron evoke an erotic dream that threatens to turn feral at any moment. Naked but for a golden mask and a snake draped across her shoulders, she is a lethal vision. Whether she’s seated on a throne flanked by silent owls or writhing atop furs in a drug-fueled trance, these moments feel like a bird’s-eye view of forbidden magic.
Cauldron Films gave us a gorgeous release of the movie on 4K UHD and Blu-Ray in late April of 2026. Scanned and restored from the camera negative, this is the version that does true justice to Fulci’s vision and Claudio Simonetti’s propulsive soundtrack. CONQUEST is a boldly unique vision, an experience far removed from Conan’s pronouncement of what is best in life. And in that way, I respect it all the more. Fulci could have phoned in a (likely still very gory) take on a musclebound beefcake chopping wizards in half, but anyone familiar with his work knows that this vision was far more complex. Like a cavern hiding beasts that pluck flesh like flower petals, the mind of the maestro is baroque and pitiless.
