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Four of the Apocalypse review
:. Director: Lucio Fulci
:. Starring: Fabio Testi, Lynne Frederick
:. Running Time: 1:44
:. Year: 1975
:. Country: Italy
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With its unhealthy atmosphere and its penchant for gratuitous violence and sadism, Four of the Apocalypse belongs more to 1970's horror cinema than to the western. This isn't that surprising since the director is none other than Lucio Fulci, one of the masters of Italian gore to whom we owe The Beyond and other "delicacies".
The title refers to the main characters, four "rejects" from society who travel the road together after escaping from jail. A professional gambler (Fabio Testi), a prostitute (Lynne Frederick) as well as a drunk and an African-American form this unlikely team that will be tormented by a cruel gangster named Chaco (Tomas Milan - Companeros).
With a disconcerting flatness which quickly turns to boredom, Four of the Apocalypse only deserves to be seen as the testimony of an era of excesses which witness a cinema in transition (from western to horror). The highlight of the film, if one can call it that, is the skinning of a prisoner's chest that then receives a sheriff's star. We are spared nothing since the film abounds in other treasures like a long sequence of the shooting of partridges, a rape, a naked guy running under the rain in a cemetery at night (a favorite ingredient of horror flicks), the massacre of a congregation as well as the general atmosphere.
In an allegory without finesse, the sadist Chaco who is dressed up as a hippie offers hallucinogens to his four prisoners. While the message is clear, it seems to confirm the disdain of Italian filmmakers of the era for the peace movement since Sergio Corbucci's The Specialist also draws up a not very flattering portrait of hippies.
Performances will not remain memorable, in particular because of Tomas Milan's overcharged acting going well beyond his character's excesses.
An unpleasant film, but certainly an experience.
Fred Thom
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