Conquest (1983 film)

Conquest
USA theatrical poster
Directed by	Lucio Fulci
Produced by	Giovanni Di Clemente
Written by	Gino Capone, Carlos Vasallo, José Antonio de la Loma, Giovanni Di Clemente
Starring	Jorge Rivero, Andrea Occhipinti, Conrado san Martín and Sabrina Siani
Music by	Claudio Simonetti
Cinematography	Alejandro Ulloa
Distributed by	Clemi Cinematografica
Release date(s)	1983
Running time	88 min
Country	Italy/Spain/Mexico
Language	Italian

Conquest (Italian: La Conquista) is a 1983 fantasy-horror film by Lucio Fulci.

Plot

The film opens on a long strand of beach, where several people in white robes gather around a young man named Ilius, adorning him in a vest of leather armor, while an old man hands him a bow and a set of arrows, summoning it to fly to them. The old man tells Ilius the tale of an ancient warrior god named Kronos, who once wielded the bow, and how when he ran out of arrows, the sun itself seemed to vanish from the sky, transferring itself to his bow, making arrows out of pure sunlight. After telling Ilius this tale, the old man and his people depart as Ilius wordlessly departs down the beach.

We are then introduced to a powerful sorceress named Ohkren, a woman whose entire head is adorned in a golden mask as she recites a magical chant to make the sun rise before a large gathering of cave-dwelling people. However, it turns out that Ohkren is a sadistic, cruel witch who commands a savage army of wolfmen who quickly invade the caves of these people, slaying their leader, and grabbing a young woman who attempts to flee, and is graphically torn into quarters as Ohkren cracks her severed head open, seemingly devouring part of her brain.

In a strange, dreamlike sequence, Ohkren and her wolfmen partake in hallucinogenic drugs when suddenly, a young man devoid of any facial features charges into their chamber, and quickly dispatches Ohkren and the wolfmen with the same magic bow that was given to Ilius. It is then revealed that this was all part of a vision, as Ohkren fears a lone wanderer shall come to slay her.

In a fog-filled murky swamp, a lone girl with skin covered in ash, is collecting water from the marshes when she is suddenly attacked by a group of masked men. But they are suddenly killed when Ilius arrives with his bow and arrows at the ready. Unfortunately, he is quickly devoid of arrows and tries to flee when a group of Ohkren's wolfmen attack him, but just when it seems that Ilius will die, he is suddenly saved by a lone muscular man who easily fends off the attackers with a rock attached to a sling. The lone man reveals his name to be Maegs, as Ilius offers to show Maegs his bow in exchange for saving his life, as Maegs has an interest in the bow.

Ohkren is quickly informed of her warriors' failure to kill Ilius, and she resolves to have him dead, no matter what it takes.

Elsewhere, Maegs has developed a bit of talent with Ilius' bow as Ilius has offered to join him in his travels. They soon take shelter in a cave for the night, but as they sleep, Ohkren's wolfmen trap the two heroes inside, blocking all the entrances with burning bushes. Ilius and Maegs quickly make an escape into a hole in the ground, but once again find themselves trapped. Fortunately, Ilius notices a snake on the ground slithering through a small hole in the cave wall, knowing there's a way out. The two quickly break through the thin stone wall as they quickly flee, as Ohkren's soldiers fail to see them escape.

But this failure is quickly noticed as Ohkren is still haunted by these visions of the faceless warrior killing her, and as punishment, she tortures the leader of her wolfmen to death, and quickly summons a being dressed in plated armor and a plated mask, who swears that he shall kill the wanderer for her.

As Ilius and Maegs continue their travels, they soon find a small cave with a tribe of the cave people, who are apparently familiar with Maegs, and invite them in for the night. During the feast they hold, Ilius recognizes one of the girls in the tribe as the girl he saved in the swamps, who has taken a strong liking to him. In the dead of night as the others sleep, the girl takes Ilius to the outside of the cave in an attempt to have sex with him, but Ohkren's warriors have tracked down Ilius and Maegs and viciously slaughter the girl and all her people, and Ilius is dragged away by the attackers as Maegs is knocked out in the attack.

When he awakens, Maegs resolves to rescue Ilius, as he has come to accept Ilius as his one friend. He quickly manages to find the band of Ohkren's warriors with Ilius in tow as they have all made camp for the previous night. Maegs quickly dispatches several of the warriors as he frees Ilius, who manages to grab his magic bow and help Maegs slay the rest of their enemies. Knowing that more might arrive soon, the two quickly flee.

At this point, Ilius finally explains to Maegs that he is on a quest to slay the evil sorceress Ohkren, and put an end to her reign of terror over the people of the land. Although Maegs tries to convince Ilius to go back to his land, as Ohkren is too powerful, Ilius refuses to go home until his task is complete. Maegs eventually decides that he shall aid Ilius in any way he can, but he still feels that this is a fools errand, as no man has ever managed to slay Ohkren yet.

When travelling through an open field, Maegs quickly notices that more of Ohkren's soldiers have arrived and set up an ambush, laying down a massive rain of arrows in order to kill them. Ilius manages to take down a few as he and Maegs try to run to safer ground. They soon reach a small beach with an abandoned raft on the sand, but Ilius is suddenly shot in the leg with a small arrow, which was coated with an extremely deadly poison which manifests itself in boils that ooze blood and pus.

Maegs quickly brings the raft to a small island, where he explains that there are some special plants that grow that could be able to heal the ailment, but Ilius has quickly grown too weak to join him as the poison quickly flows through his body. Maegs rushes off to the heart of the island where he soon enters a dark and foreboding swamp, where he quickly finds the plant. But as he makes his way back to Ilius, he is attacked by a large band of zombies which he soon manages to kill through multiple means of impalement. Back on the beach, Maegs returns to Ilius, who begs him to hurry and end his pain, but to his surprise, Maegs grabs a large rock, preparing to kill him with it, but he is suddenly attacked by another Maegs. The two warriors clash until one Maegs manages to pin the other to the sand with a large branch. The pinned Maegs laughs and reveals himself to be the plated-masked spirit that Ohkren had summoned, just before he disappears into thin air. Although shaken by the encounter, Maegs quickly makes the healing plant into a paste through the night and quickly administers it to Ilius' wounds, effectively terminating the poison from the arrow.

With Ilius fully recovered, he decides to continue on his journey to kill Ohkren, but this time, Maegs refuses to go with him, as he is not willing to die for a task that cannot be done. Although disappointed, Ilius' decides to respect his friends' wish and allow him to leave, but he then offers his bow to Maegs as a gift, but he refuses, stating that the bow has brought too much pain and death to too many people since their adventure started. Ilius then rows off to sea with the raft as Maegs departs back the way they came.

Maegs is soon seen travelling through a desert plain in the middle of a sandstorm, but he is quickly ambushed by a band of white furry creatures, who demand him to tell them where Ilius is. Meanwhile, Ilius continues rowing the raft down to where Ohkren is, but he then remembers a line said by the old man from the very beginning of the film, who explained that a true hero aids his friends, inspiring Ilius to turn around for Maegs.

Ilius quickly returns to the seaside desert that the creatures dwell in as Maegs is seen tied to a wooden cross on top of a cliff, as the creatures continue to ask him where Ilius is, but Maegs still refuses. Ilius quickly attacks the creatures with his magic bow, harnessing the sun arrows power at last as he is no longer afraid of the dangers that await him, unlocking his true potential. However, he is unable to prevent one last survivor of the creatures from pushing Maegs off the cliff into the sea below.

Maegs sinks to the bottom of the sea and is unable to free himself as he is tied to the cross, and nearly drowns, but he is suddenly saved by two dolphins who push his unconscious body to shore, where Ilius finds him and resuscitates him. In gratitude for saving his life, Maegs agrees to stay with Ilius for the remainder of their journey.

When night falls, Ilius and Maegs are sleeping at their campfire, but Ilius is suddenly dragged underground by unseen creatures, losing his bow in the fall, but his screams for help wake up Maegs, who quickly jumps into the hole after him. The dark is too powerful for Maegs to see clearly, but he still manages to fight off a few of the creatures, until he is overpowered and thrown into a small pit. Maegs soon awakens a horde of bats inside the cave, and in the madness of their whole swarm flying around him, Maegs notices a blue bat who seems to guide him through a small tunnel that he can use to escape. But when he reaches the exit, he notices drops of blood dripping onto his vest, and when he looks up, the rays of sunlight from outside show Ilius hanging upside down from the ceiling of the cave, decapitated.

The plate-masked figure is then shown fading into Ohkren's chamber, carrying Ilius' severed head in his hand, as Ohkren rejoices at having destroyed the one who would kill her. But her victory is cut short when she has another vision where Ilius still opens his eyes, showing her that she is not yet out of danger.

Back in the caves, Maegs has built a funeral pyre for Ilius, as he lights his body aflame. As he stands at his side, Maegs hears Ilius' voice, telling him that with his death, he passes the powers he inherited from Kronos unto Maegs. When the fire dies down, Maegs rubs the ashes of Ilius onto his skin, personally resolving to finish Ilius' quest, and to slay Ohkren for him.

On the cliff where Ohkren was first shown raising the sun, she is once again reciting the sun chant, surrounded by her remaining soldiers and the plate-masked figure, but she is suddenly interrupted by a distant Maegs, who announces that he has come to avenge Ilius, to avenge his friend, and that this day, the sun shall rise without Ohkren. Stretching out his hand, Maegs is now able to summon forth the bow just as the old man did in the beginning. With newfound resolve and courage, Maegs easily slaughters the rest of Ohkren's soldiers, as the plate-masked spirit fades away, leaving Ohkren to die. She quickly flees by teleporting into her chamber, however Maegs is unshaken. He slowly raises the bow and fires one last sun arrow, that goes right through the stone of the mountain, and impacts with Ohkren's mask, breaking it in half.

When Maegs arrives in Ohkren's chamber, the sorceress rises, revealing her face to be that of a rotted zombie, but apparently blinded as she is unable to find Maegs. Knowing Ilius' task is close to an end, Maegs fires one final arrow into Ohkren's heart, slaying the sorceress forever. The cave people, and the people across the land take notice of the change brought on by Ohkren's death, and the film ends as Maegs departs from the cave, walking off into the distant sunrise with Ilius' bow strapped to his back, finally at peace that he has avenged his friend, and finished what he started.

Production

Conquest was part of an early 80s cycle of Sword and Sandal films inspired by the success of Conan the Barbarian. This features many of the trademarks of that genre; muscled warriors, masked villains, a nameless, primeval setting. It is, however, a lot rougher than most of the other films of the genre, due to Lucio Fulci's trademark gore and nudity.

A notable feature of the film is the cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa, which uses filters, soft focus, and fog in an attempt to give the film a dreamlike atmosphere. The look of the film has received mixed responses from critics. A young 20-year-old Sabrina Siani appeared nude in this film, shocking the 1983 viewers.

Reception

Conquest was a box-office flop on release, and is seen by some to mark the point in Fulci's career where the quality of his films started to decrease. Fulci later stated that he did the film strictly "for hire".

External links

• Conquest at the Internet Movie Database
• Conquest at the Internet Movie Database