Forgotten Sword, Sandal and Sorcery Fantasy- CONQUEST, 1983. A Gamer's Film Review by Xerxez

CONQUEST

1983

Director: Lucio Fulci

Producer: Giovanni Di Clemente

Soundtrack: Claudio Siminetti (of Goblin)

Starring

Andrea Occhipinti

Jorge Rivero

Conrado San Martin

Sabrina Saini

Violeta Cela

If you're looking for some inspiration for a new adventure or in designing a fantasy world setting for your games, or even just a new region in your existing setting for your players to explore...or if you simply want to watch a bare-breasted, big chested swords and sorcery movie for the sheer entertainment, then Lucio Fulci's Conquest from 1983 might be worth an hour and half of your time.

When we do a film review here at the Mazes, the purpose is to both comment upon the film and to use it to infuse your games with some fresh ideas that can make for great adventures for players. Therefore, after a brief synopsis, we will discuss both the background and key concepts of the film and then suggest game elements.

So, with that in mind, let's look at Conquest!
 

 

 

 Conquest begins with a hero named Illius, depicted in ethereal form, standing upon a beautiful rocky shore set against the wide sea, gathered with other ethereal figures, men and women, in dress of Greek style.

 An old man, his father, watches as maidens ritually dress Illius in leather armor- the old man then reminds Illius of a hero ancestor who once rid the world of evil creatures in ages past by using a bow, a bow of power that the Sun infused with arrows of magic light in the moment the ancient hero ran out of arrows and was near defeat. With the help of the Sun, the hero triumphed.

Illius, it seems, must now enter the mortal world as a test of his bravery and strength, and to help once again rid it of evil monsters, which have returned over the course of time. He is granted the magic bow and told that if he proves himself, the same power of the bow will aid him in a similar fashion. Illius promises not to fail and then boards a reed boat to voyage to the world of men.

What Illius finds when he lands is indeed a brutal world. 

There is no civilization to speak of- only a Neolithic culture of cave dwelling humans, hunter gatherers dressed in furs, and without any  laws, unlike the Platonic paradise from which Illius has come. These people live in fear and subjection under the rule of an undying Witch Queen named Ocron, a sorceress who has convinced these superstitious people that she commands the rising and setting of the sun. For this, she demands a tribute of the flesh of young men and women, in particular, their severed heads.

Ocron is aided in her dominance by an army of both willing human warriors and her loyal elite phalanx of Beast Men-- strange, intelligent shaggy warriors with the heads of wolves and superhuman strength and dexterity.

Ocron herself goes about wearing only a golden mask, a small spiked loin plate, and a serpent which is almost always entwined about her. She seems to use some power of her own primeval sexuality as much as her sorcery and cunning to bear rule over her terrified subjects and minions.

Illius meets up with an older warrior named Mace, who rescues him from an attack by Ocron's minions, not for any concern over the life of Illius but because Mace is regaled by his impressive bow, a weapon which is unfamiliar to his world.

Illius and Mace become traveling companions and Illius quickly learns that Mace has no love of any humans (except willing and nubile young women) but shares a deep affinity with animals of any kind. This affinity is later shown to be somewhat along the lines of a telepathy or empathy with animals which results in animals coming to the warrior's aid at times. 

Mace lives as a thief (one who does not hesitate to kill to take his living) and a carefree wanderer, a life he extols even as Illius tries to tell him the virtue of a land of laws of peace.

Illius and Mace form an unlikely friendship and take to the open road, but they are in constant peril because Ocron has leaned through dreams and visions that she can be killed by a faceless warrior from a distant land and so she has sent out her army of Wolf Men to hunt down the hero and bring him to her to kill, and to devour his "Temple of Secrets"- his brain.

There are are all sorts of adventures as Ocron's servants wreak havoc in the Lost World in the course of their evil mission, hunting the pair of heroes.

Mace is persuaded to guide Illius to the border of Ocron's dwellings but argues that since she does not bother him personally,  he does not bother her, and has no wish to fight the Witch Queen. Mace tires to persuade Illius to abandon any idea of killing Ocron and ending her evil reign. At one point, Illius is tempted to turn back. 

Courage prevails, though, and Illius and Mace press onward, battling many strange monsters and even a strange demon who is clad in powerful armor and a masked helmet. However, an ultimate destiny awaits both of them, and not one foreseen by any. 

In the end, Ocron will meet with the Faceless Warrior of her dreams and have a final confrontation to determine who shall be ruler of the Lost World! The end result is a film which I can best describe as if someone made a live action prequel to  the Bakshi/Frazetta animation film Fire and Ice with unrelated characters.

Thus is the plot and central characters of Conquest. If you read further in this review, there will be spoilers- be warned!

Lucio Fulcio was born in 1927 and entered film making in the early 50's after abandoning medical school to pursue his art interests.

He worked in several genres, including documentaries and comedies, but he is best known for his "giallo"works, mostly centered around zombies, cannibalism, murder and graphically depicted scenes of gore.

He is noted by cult fans and historians of Italian cinema for films like "Don't Torture a Duckling" (1971),  "City of the Living Dead" (1980) ,  and"The House by the Cemetery" (1981)", to name only a few. He also worked with Dario Argento in the 90's on "Wax Mask" (1996). He has quite a lengthy filmography, but was apparently surprised to learn that his films had a popular following among horror fans in the U.S. I've watched a handful of his movies and I like them as late night fare, even though I'm not much of a gore hound.

In the early 80's, a pretty good time for fantasy themed films, Luci accepted the offer of directing Conquest from Italian producer Giovanni Di Clemente.

It appears that Conquest was a story concept of Di Clemente's, and no less than three writers worked on a screenplay for it.

The movie was filmed at locations in Spain, Italy and Mexico, and by all appearances they had a tight budget. It was released in 1983 in Italy (as Conquest of the Lost World), and also in Spain and Mexico. The following year it would see release in the UK and the US. 

It did not do well at theaters, but it was not universally condemned by critics. I will not quote them here, but there seemed to be a general consensus that while it was highly derivative of more popular mainstream films like Conan and Beastmaster,  and had a somewhat low production value, it has a surprising ability to maintain interest, alongside many compelling fantasy elements, a few good acting performances, and other entertainment value. 

That's pretty much where it remains. While researching the movie online, I can't say that I saw much evidence online of any great cult following for Conquest on the order of Fulci's more noted works. It did see a video cassetter release in the mid 80's by Merlin Video.

As of this writing, the movie was posted ( in very poor quality) on Youtube, but can also be viewed on streaming services; I watched it on the streaming channel Full Moon, and it was slightly more quality there than what I have seen on Youtube. 

Now we shall leave the film itself and discuss it as gamer food. Once again, there are SPOILERS AHEAD! If you have not seen it first, I recommend you do as it has a few surprises up its sleeve. You are warned!

 What does Conquest have to offer to the thirsty Dungeon Master?

How about running a region or shore, perhaps arrived at by shipwreck, where the players encounter a Neolithic culture ruled by a Witch Queen like Ocron? Iron is scarce and a rare art in possession of only the With Queen's minions. Stone and wooden axes, spears, and nets are the most common weapons.

There are a number of monstrous races to be found in Conquest. 

1. Evil wolf headed shaggy humanoids who believe implicitly in the Witch Queen's solar control but would probably serve her anyway because they are sadistic and cruel. Let's call them THE VOG! Their normal means of dispatching special sacrificial victims is for five of them to pull a person apart limb from limb and and deliver the head to Ocron so she can split their skulls with a stone dagger and eat their brains out of the back of their heads, ostensibly to gain their  thoughts and memories as well as for snack value.

2. A strange race of beings who dwell on rocky shore lines and look like hairy white apes but are wrapped up in bizarre cobwebby or membranous coverings and shelter in crevices and cracks of the rocks. They seem to do the bidding of the Witch Queen and ensnare travelers. They have a warrior caste which captures people in nets and the usual fate of a worthy victim is to be tied to an X shaped cross  and pushed into the sea from a high cliff to drown, perhaps as an offering to a sea deity. I shall name this species THE KELPAR!

3. Strange plants which are hidden among swamp rushes that fire volleys of spiny arrows. These arrows are the size of barbecue skewers and when they strike they deliver an infectious poison which causes, in short order, fever, delirium and purulent boils and sores at the entry wounds which can kill within a day or two if not treated by magical or herbal remedies. Let's call them JAVELIN STALKS. And since the Javelin Stalks are so defensive, perhaps underneath them in the marshy terrain is some sort of sack or cluster which contains something of value or an embryonic mandrake shaped being who is born of such plants to develop into a creature of the DM's devising.

4. A race of cave dwelling shaggy humanoids that are troll sized, covered in thick black fur with claws like those of bears and having great round heads with bulbous luminescent eyes. They appear of low or animal intelligence but are incredibly agile for their size and possess a leaping ability. Let us call them GROLLS!

5. Undead swamp zombies-very reminiscent for me of the Tsoggu in Tekumel. Then again, they might have been something along the lines of the Swamp Thing, but smaller in size. These creatures sleep in the fetid waters of bogs  and rise from the mists to slay and feed upon unwary travelers.   We shall call them simply BOG DEMONS.

6. The nature of Ocron is unclear from this movie and it's vague plot, but the Witch Queen is unmasked at the end right before her demise, and it is clear that she is not human. Though her body is exquisite and would make a sinner of any saint, her head, once unmasked, looks like one might envision a lich face or perhaps some kind of reptilian headed race, or creatures with faces like the monster from Black Lagoon. Her golden mask of a woman's face was evidently her way of hiding from those around her what she was, and given her taste for brains, I was reminded of an Illithid by her.  Then again, she could have once been human and the loss of her face was the price she paid for near immortality and sorcery powers. She is able to use divination and spells of summoning and conjuration so whatever she is, she is definitely a magic user or possessed of psionic abilities. If she was a non human, I would call her a MINDEATER. Not hugely original, I know.

7. Zorah! Zorah is a spirit summoned by Ocron when all else fails her to help her defeat the Faceless Warrior. Zorah appears as a man but one unseen, as he is covered in some sort of plate mail from head to foot. He is masked,  so his exact physical nature is unknown, but what Ocron offers him for his service is her body and soul, forever. Zorah can fight as a warrior but also seems to command beings beyon the Witch Queen's control. When Mace and Illius are taken by the Grolls, and they succeed in killing Illius' physical form and deliver the head to the Vog, this is accepted by Ocron as a success of Zorah. Like any good demon, though, when this gambit fails to work, and things go badly for Ocron, he abandons her by simply de materializing. Fuckin' Zorah!

These are some of the settng and monster ideas that sprang to my mind from a few watched of Conquest.

There is also very much the Eternal Warrior theme going on in this film, and I am fairly certain that the producer Di Clemente, who is credited with the overall story, was massively influenced by Joseph Campell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces".

Here is told the tale of the Hero who leaves honor and safety to battle mankind's monsters (and himself) to deliver a boon to mankind, in this case, the magic bow that can slay monsters with arrows of the Sun. The arrows are of blue laser light instead of fiery orange or yellow, but it functions otherwise on the level of Hank's Bow from the 80's Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. You pull the string back and an arrow of light magically appears. The arrow, once fired, splits into numerous smaller arrows that fan out and hit evil monsters by the droves, apparently like a magic missle spell. Perhaps a Bow Of Magic Missles would be a worthy magic item!

However, the bow only works its magic when a hero decides to risk his life for the cause of good! Illius unlocked this power when he overcame his fear and returned to rescue Mace from the Kelpar and Mace, in turn, gained it's use when he overcame his own selfishness and confronted Ocron and her minions on behalf of mankind.

Although Illius dies physically, his soul is transferred into the body of Mace, making him a Two Souled Man. Thus the cynical, aged warrior is reborn after a fashion by his union with the soul of the Deathless Hero. Perhaps Illius is a demigod- there is the implication that he will regain some new form in the Blessed Isle from which he comes, and perhaps Mace will awaken in that place upon his own death. I think some of these Campbellian ideas were seeds of the story of Conquest, even if the film never succeeded in delivering them full formed.

Perhaps there can be an Isle in the DM's setting which is somewhat like the heights of Mt. Olympus, a dwelling place for ascended souls in some sort of Greek Nirvana. Since Illius invites Mace to return there with him at one point, it is implied that it can be physically accessed by the living in some fashion. I think I am spot on in my analysis of the shore of Illius as being some kind of Elysium, since A. People are shown to be ethereal there B. He opens the eyes of his own decapitated head when Ocron goes to munch his gray matter, something a mere human cannot do, and, C. His spirit lives on to communicate both with Mace mentally and with his family back on the mysterious shore.

As for Mace, throughout the film, he demonstrates a power and friendship with animals, both land based and aquatic, that are nearly like those of Dar, in the Beastmaster, except that he does not summon animal help- the animal world just seems to show up to aide Mace when he needs it most in some sort of return for his kindness and healing which he shows to beasts. He would be something on the level of a Warrior Druid- one without the slightest priestly or spell casting powers but having the Druid's usual affinity with animals, although there is nothing Celtic about the Lost World. It is much more Stone Age than that. Shoot, add some dinosaurs and you have a great setting for fun games.

One tidbit I found in researching the film is that Jorge Rivero, who plays Mace, was born in Mexico, is a lifelong bodybuilder and held a degree in Chemical Engineering before going into acting. He is still living at the time of this article, having been born in 1938! Good going Jorge!

Sabrina Saini, who plays Ocron the Witch Queen, is a number of B movies which also showcase her spunk and her undeniable womanly charms. Several are fantasy films, but Conquest manages to rise above most of them, even if it is no masterpiece. It is highly fun, exciting and memorable.

Well, hopefully I have stirred some interest in you to see this B-Movie of higher aspirations, and given you some seeds for adventure, monster or setting ideas.  

I highly recommend it to people who like Conan, Hawk the Slayer, Krull and other movies of this ilk.

Now go forth and game!