Non-Horror Explotation: Conquest (1983)

Unexpectedly Conquest turned out to be another fantastic Fulci movie. I have not seen much of his work outside the horror genre (apart from the great western Massacre Time and the poor sci-fi movie Warriors of the Year 2072), but Fulci definitely proves he's capable of making good movies outside the genre.

Two warriors are determined to kill of evil goddes Ocron. They have to fight their way through many grotesque monsters though.

You guessed it, the plotline is pretty thin. The two warriors are beefcake Mace (played by Mexican Jorge Rivero) and Ilias (played by Andrea Occhipinti, ''known'' for his roles in The New York Ripper and A Blade in the Dark). Our evil goddes Ocron is played magically by Sabrina Siani, who walks around topless and with a creepy golden mask for the entire movie. It's safe to say that the plot isn't the movie's strongest point. The brilliant atmosphere however is.

Conquest feels very surreal and lugubrious. The monster and costume designs are perfect. The pace is unlike any other movie. Scenes where there's no fighting for more then 3 minutes are pretty much nonexistent. It also helps that Fulci included some nice pieces of gore during these fightscenes. It's definitely not a horror movie, but there is gore in galore. The score, done by master Claudio Simonetti, is absolutely brilliant as well, although not known to many. It definitely adds a little extra to the movie.

Unfortunately I'm not as happy with the visual side of the film. The over the top usage of smoke machines might be a little cheesy, but still looks great. It gives the movie a very desolate feeling. Unfortunately the ligting of the movie sometimes lacks, not to mention the strange haze that seems to lay over the screen. Therefor it's sometimes a little hard to see what's going on.

Conquest is definitely another great one by Fulci. It's totally different from movies like Zombi 2 and The Beyond (films which I so far consider to be his best work), but definitely deserves to be named among them. A magnificent atmosphere, great gore and a furious naked goddes. You've got me!