Color, 1983, 89 mins.
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Jorge Rivero, Andrea Occhipinti, Conrado San Martin, Sabrina Siani, José Gras Palau
Cauldron Video (UHD & Blu-ray) (US R0 4K/HD), Code Red (Blu-ray) (US RA HD)/ WS (1.85:1) (16:9), Blue Underground (DVD) (US R0 NTSC) /
WS (1.78:1) (16:9)
Following the 
incredible run of films for producer Fabrizio De Angelis from Zombie through Manhattan Baby that 
would cement his reputation, director Lucio Fulci found himself in the wilderness a bit as the entire Italian film industry started what would prove to be a rapid decline. The first film after that cycle, Conquest, was a box office misfire at home and abroad but did score some extensive home video exposure at the time; the Italian-Spanish-Mexican co-production was clearly aiming for the sword and sorcery crowd with its hallucinatory blending of Conan the Barbarian and Quest for Fire, tying it with Yor, Hunter from the Future as the craziest Euro-fantasy film of 1983. After this Fulci quickly shifted gears in 1983 to harder sci-fi with the dystopian Warriors of the Year 2072 before retreating to safer ground with the flashy giallo Murderock, all films that have risen in estimation considerably in more recent years.
When he sets out on his own after reaching adulthood, Ilias (The New York Ripper's Occhipinti), armed with a magic bow that fires glowing arrows, appears as a faceless threatening vision to the evil, tyrannical, and always topless Ocron (2020 Texas Gladiators' Siani), the gold-masked leader of a group of marauding monsters. Ilias teams up on his vision quest with Mace (Mexican drive-in star Rivero), a master swordsman. Various captures, rescues, and creature encounters ensue as the two men journey together and separately with an increasingly desperate Ocron making a supernatural pact in a bid to stop them for good.
If there's one 
thing Conquest is famous for it, it's the aesthetic Fulci and cinematographer Alejandro Ulloa adopted for the famously difficult production. Filters, fog, dark lighting, and other tactics were taken to give it a hazy, dreamlike feel, accentuated by a spacey, 
new-agey electronic score by Claudio Simonetti at the beginning of his solo career around the same time as The New Barbarians. There's barely any traditional plot holding things together here as our two heroes wander through a mythical landscape of furry monster outfits and sights like rescue dolphins, a wishbone disembowelment (cut from initial U.S. releases), bad wigs, and the naked Siani covered in a boa constrictor. Rivero and Occhipinti don't get much of an opportunity to act here, instead proclaiming their lines as solemnly as possible and staring off in the distance. It's a truly unique film for Fulci, one that fanzine writers had a hard time wrapping their heads around back in the '80s and '90s when everyone was shouting the praises of The Beyond or Don't Torture a Duckling. Even Fulci himself dismissed the project later due to the unpleasant experience he had on the set, though of course that would pale in comparison to what awaited him soon with Zombi 3.
The look of Conquest has been a major challenge on home video, with those notoriously blurry VHS editions delivering migraines more than any kind of cinematic enjoyment. Things improved in 2004 with the DVD debut from Blue Underground, which was uncut and featured the familiar English stereo track (which is surprisingly active and effective for a Euro genre film at the time). Extras include the U.S. and international trailers, four galleries (posters, lobby cards, promo booklet, home video releases), and a Fulci bio. In 2019, Code Red issued the film on Blu-ray (with English 2.0 stereo audio) featuring a commentary by yours truly and Troy Howarth (for the first time, for the record), a new video 
interview with Jorge Rivero (23m8s) and a bizarre hidden 
extra chat (8m39s) with him and the label's Banana Man, and the U.S. trailer. Image quality was a step up from the DVD with much better black levels than the rather pale, lifeless contrast seen before.
In 2026, Cauldron Films upgraded Fulci's film to UHD as part of a four-disc(!) set also featuring two Blu-rays and a soundtrack CD (in the limited edition only), with 15 tracks clocking in at 38m9s. It's the first expanded presentation of the score ever on CD and sounds better here than the iffy 2016 vinyl pressing from Rustblade with the same tracklist. (A 9-track version was released on CD in 1998 by Beat Records on a disc with Aenigma and You'll Die at Midnight, recycled again a few times as a bonus with some German home video releases including some highlights with Manhattan Baby.) Obviously the idea of bestowing an HDR10-compatible Dolby Vision grade on a 4K scan from the negative of this film might seem like a head scratcher, but this is a case where the results in motion definitely look better with more finely resolved film grain and, as far as it creeps though, detailed textures. The UHD has deeper blacks and a somewhat richer, duskier look than the Blu-ray, but both are fine options and as good as this film could probably look. The DTS-HD MA audio options include English 2.0 mono (if you want to relive the tape experience) or 2.0 stereo or Italian 2.0 mono with English subtitles. All of them sound fine, but the English stereo track has always been the best way to experience the madness of this film at full intensity. Also included is a new audio commentary by Eugenio Ercolani and Nanni Cobretti who deliver a thorough assessment of the film's box office misfortune and the questionability of its timing, as well as the state of Fulci's career, the nature of Italian crossover productions with other countries, and much more.
Wisely the film itself occupies the UHD and first Blu-ray all by itself for maximum bit rate breathing room, with the second Blu-ray housing all the video extras. "Jorge the 
Outlaw" (10m43s) is a new chat with Rivero about his positive working relationship with Fulci, the similarities between Spanish and 
Italian that made communication possible, the off-season shooting in Sardinia, and his admiration for the filmmaker's creativity. In "A Catalan Wolfman in Sardinia" (33m15s), actor José Gras looks back at his experiences working with Italian crews on this and Hell of the Living Dead, the challenges of acting when you're completely covered in fur, Fulci's hard work ethic, and the wolfmen actors not bonding much with the stars. Then in "Post-Goblin Conquests" (23m56s), Simonetti covers the importance of Goblin's work, the dissolution of the original lineup in 1978, his move into Italian dance music which segued into Tenebrae, the advances in soundtrack technology, the importance of film editors, and his work on this film exclusively with the producers without exchanging a word with Fulci. "Cavemen Talk" (18m21s) with writer Gino Capone goes into his upbringing on Italian comedies, his entry in theater, the unique nature of writing this script without too many words, and working with noted directors like Ruggero Deodato and Fulci, including the overhauls his scripts underwent on some occasions. "More Than Just a Name" (23m12s) features cinematographer Paco Marin Andreu talking about Jose Antonio De La Loma, the original writer of this film and intended initial director whose teaching and career had a significant impact on the Spanish arts.
In the visual essay "The Arsenal of Fantasy" (14m32s), Heather Wixon surveys the genre trends in Italy in the '80s and how this film slots in with the fantasy boom of the era against Hollywood films like Excalibur, Clash of the Titans, and Dragonslayer with Fulci doing this as part of a two-picture deal that was never completed. Then in "Conquering Occhipinti" (12m55s), Pier Maria Bocchi looks at the Italian actor-turned-producer's refusal to look back at and discuss his work, his wild and busy output over his fairly brief acting career (which also included A Blade in the Dark, Bolero, and Miranda among others), in line with other reluctant figures like Edwige Fenech (or Mimsy Farmer, Laura Gemser, etc.). In "Fulci Beyond Conquest 1983-1988" (29m15s), Mike Foster covers the post-De Angelis Fulci output in the '80s which essentially continued the little side projects he had thrown in earlier like Contraband or The Black Cat while his health became an insurmountable challenge with Sodoma's Ghost and Touch of Death far removed from where we started. Then you get the Conquest-inspired short film Serurta (42m55s) with a 10-minute intro by creators Merlyn Roberts and Steven Lyonsonquest; this is essentially a remix of Fulci's film with a fur-clad warrior stalked through the woods by a horde of decapitating, face-painted savages, before encountering a masked naked woman and indulging in some trippy pagan rituals. Also included are the U.S. trailer and the battered "grindhouse" version of it from the earlier Blu-ray. The limited edition slipcase release with art by Justin Coffee (plus a completely NSFW Johnny Ryan sticker sheet) also comes with a booklet featuring essays by Michael A. Martinez and Andrea Meroni assessing the film's positives, its appeal to initiated Fulci-ites, its odd place in the fantasy film canon, and the symbiotic relationship between Spain and Italy including the former's technical crews and locations.
Cauldron (UHD)
Cauldron (Blu-ray)
Code Red (Blu-ray)
Blue Underground (DVD)
Reviewed on April 27, 2026
