If there's any movie Lucio Fulci made that inspires equal love and hatred, it must be this, the director's lone fore into the Sword and Sorcery subgenre. The general opinion of its detractors seems to be that "Conquest" marked the beginning of Fulci's descent into both commercial and artistic mediocrity, and while the former may be true, I'm not understanding the latter. In light of what Fulci's work aspires to be, "Conquest" can in many ways be seen as a culmination of his style, and if your best criticisms of the movie are that it's "plotless and cheap," I wonder why you're watching a Fulci movie in the first place.Sure, the plot is a rudimentary blob that in the end amounts mostly to characters wandering back and forth as an excuse to get them into perilous situations involving traps and monsters, but Fulci's visual sensibilities are positively ON FIRE here, so much so that the limitations of the story become pretty much inconsequential. They take a back seat to the otherwordly mythic fantasy environment that Fulci is able to create with the most frugal materials. It is the foreboding fog-shrouded swamps, ancient stone temples, grotesque creatures and lurid-colored alien skies that will linger in the mind as the work of an artist who clearly has an eye for distinctive visuals. You could only accuse this of being a movie derivative of "Conan the Barbarian" if you completely ignored this aspect of it, because I can't think of another film that looks anything like this.Other aspects of "Conquest" work to its advantage in subtle ways. The spare, monosyllabic dialogue helps to create the sense of a primitive and brutish world and the minimalist pulses of Claudio Simonetti's electronic score mesh well with the stunning visuals. Bizarre details - the villainess' gold mask and fascination with snakes, the enchanted bow that glows blue, the dolphin rescue - border on the surrealistic. The effect achieved, at least to this viewer, is hypnotic. I find myself wondering how so many filmmakers today, when they are given all the resources in the world and can't give us one interesting thing to look at, can be treated so leniently by critics who would jump on the bahnwagon to slam Fulci without a second thought.

I must apologize all sword and sorcery fan's, but this films sucks! And i must say that is a pity. Im a fan of fantasy\sword and sorcery movies. But "Conquest" is on one of the most boredom sword and sorcery flicks i ever seen (when i say that, i don't even refer flicks like "Gunan il guerriero", "Wizards of the Demon Sword", "Ator 1 and 2" or even "Deathstalker" sequels, because after all, we must say that "Conquest" its much better movie!), the plot is horrible, the soundtrack is really, really annoying, the sound design (no comments), the narrative losses completely along the film. Yes, i known that the budget is really, really, really low, but sometimes is no excuse to do such bad plots and nonsensical narratives, that are so terrible in most of the "B" and "Z" sword and sorcery movies. One thing i must say, Lucio Fulci creates a great ambiance, he capt beautiful landscapes that emanate a strange mystic atmosphere, that sends us too a dreamlike fantastic world. But unfortunately is very few, and the rest of the movie fails completely. If you like this one i recommend: "The Sword and the Sorcerer"(Albert Pyun - 1982), in many ways have a similar aura.

I have noticed that "Conquest" is one of those divisive films that the viewer will either love or hate. Before watching, it is important to remember that this film was not done on a big budget, nor is it meant to be seen as anything more than a fantasy film. It is not realistic, as so many of Fulci's other films are.Fulci achieved an ambiance of cosmic proportions with "Conquest." The fog and the monsters and the creatures are fantastic, I think. Is it cheesy? A little, maybe. But it's not unlike a dream you wake up from and think, 'what the hell was that?' He treats us to more than you'd expect amounts of gore in "Conquest," more than any fantasy film I've ever seen. People getting ripped apart, bludgeoned, etc.Another thing I really like about "Conquest" is the music and the setting. I think they work so well together. I wonder where he filmed it, and how he achieved the overall darkness. It's like he only filmed on hazy days.Anyway, I recommend this to Fulci fans. Other people won't get it or appreciate it. It's too ahead of it's time.8 out of 10, kids.

Adults deserve to have their fairy tales & fantasies too, and I'd say Lucio Fulci cooked up a pretty potent adult pulp fairy tale here. I'll leave it to others to describe the plot: My first indication that this wasn't going to be your average CONAN ripoff when the four guys dressed up like Smokey the Bear rip a cave girl babe into quarters, snort drugs with a nude sorceress witch babe with a body from hell who then copulates (R-Rated style) with her companion python while having a vision of someone shooting her with TRON's bow & arrow. Talk about weird!The film is an interesting combination of opposites that aims right at the atavistic, adventure-loving 14 year old with a desire to see bared breasts in all of us. While the narrative is somewhat confusing in your typical Fulcian kind of way the visuals are just as striking, with costume design by Mad Max and Larry Flynt, including oddball touches such as the Dog Men, the Gauze Men, Ape Guys and that far-out sorceress. She really is the focus of the film: The two guys out gallivanting around saving each other from imminent doom are more sort of there to give the film an excuse to have such an outrageously sexy harlot as it's force of evil, complete with a bestial contingent of half men half animals to do her evil bidding.But seriously, if you go into this expecting anything other than complete dreck the movie *WILL* annoy you. For fans of be-headings, clever escapes, back-flips, fights to the death, mystical snake babes, ferocious howler guys, Atari era computer graphics, ridiculous cornball dialog and equal amounts of beefcake and cheesecake, this movie should be your priority rental next time you're in the mood for something other than a Global Warming movie. CONQUEST may not change the world, win any elections or even be that good, but I'd rather be confused by something that knows it's garbage & has fun with the idea than snookered by ideology disguised as entertainment.7/10, even if it doesn't make much sense ...