Youthful hero Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti) goes on a quest, helped by a tough outlaw named Mace (Jorge Rivero), in a land terrorised by warriors following the orders of villainess Ocron (Sabrina Siani).

Lucio (ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS) Fulci’s foray into the sword and sorcery genre, hazily lensed with filters and fog that constantly softens the image, boasts his trademark gore moments, 80s Italian synth score and a madcap lack of coherence.

Wolf-headed warriors, a magical bow that fires laser arrows, rock-dwelling beings covered in what looks like spider webs, several snakes and a topless, mask-wearing villainess (who is finally revealed to have a hideous ghoul-face) add a lot of colour to this yarn.

Fulci’s sadistic side comes to the fore with a woman getting split in two, bloody head-bashings, a wolf-headed warrior being roasted slowly on a red-hot boulder and lots of close-ups of festering pustules that start to cover a character’s body.

Well-shot footage of sunsets and landscapes, some crude special effects (a deluge of darts fired from foliage seems to have been created by simply scratching lines on the film stock) and odd moments like the part where the hero is saved by dolphins (!) make this a diverting, cheap, cheesy hodgepodge of scenes in search of a plot.

CONQUEST is certainly no classic. It is rather plodding at times, but this dreamy, dirgy, disjointed fantasy flick has its moments. I especially liked the scene featuring the fight with swamp-dwelling zombies and there’s also a surprising demise of a main character.

Here’s some colourful artwork for the film…