aka I quattro dell'apocalisse
As the majority of my readers know, I'm a huge fan of Lucio Fulci. He is one of my all time favorite directors, but even I can admit, although the man was a mad genius, not every one of his films were great. Though even at his worst, I can usually find something redeemable in his films, and the somewhat forgotten Spaghetti Western, FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE is no exception. This film, which seems to have no real plot or direction, a god awful score (rare for a Fulci flick), and a criminally anticlimactic ending, also features some great character performances (minus one extra terrible one), and some very dreamy cinematography that would come to be a Fulci trademark. That being said, great cinematography, and terrific performances can’t help this movie from being a disappointment in my eyes.
The aimless story of FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE starts with a poker playing conman named, Stubby Preston (Fabio Testi), returning to his hometown only to be thrown in jail immediately by the sheriff before he can even get a shot of whiskey at the local saloon. Seems the sheriff is cleaning up the town of all the riff-raff, which means a lynch mob showing up, and killing off all the undesirable townsfolk. In the sheriff's prison, Stubby meets a beautiful prostitute named Bunny (Lynne Frederick), a drunk named Clem (Michael J. Pollard in a great role), and a black simpleton/crazy named Bud (Harry Baird). The next morning after the lynching’s, the sheriff decides to let the four go as long as they never come back to town; so the four pack up, and head out by stage coach--to...somewhere.
The rest of the film consists of the four's trip to nowhere, where they meet all sorts of characters along the way, including; an Amish-like religious sect; a maniacal bandito named Chaco (played with great intensity by the always awesome, Thomas Milian, who seemed to be channeling a mixture of Eli Wallach and Charles Manson for the role); and a town consisting of all men. Fulci throws in some great imagery, blood, sex and even some cannibalism, but the film's pace and overall pointlessness, stop it from succeeding. The lame score, which sounds like post-flower-power-hippie music a la Seals & Croft is just crappy icing on the shitty cake. I believe Fulci was trying to do something new with the Spaghetti Western genre, and I applaud his attempt, but the saying goes "If it's ain't broke, don't fix it".
If the absolutely horrid score doesn't upset your stomach, the performance by Lynne Frederick as Bunny just might. Holy fuck is she bad, almost so bad that she could have single-handedly killed the film if it wasn't already deeply flawed by the plot and score. In an interview on the DVD, Testi actually praises her performance, but I think Milian was more honest--when he's asked about Frederick's performance he asks "Who?". Speaking of the DVD’s supplemental features, the interviews with Testi and Milian alone are worth checking out if you're a fan of 70's Italian cinema--Milian is a riot!
I can't leave out the great performance by character actor (and very underrated), Michael J. Pollard. Some horror fans may recall him as Stucky from the opening scene of HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES ("Little Dick Wick, played with his prick, don't his smell just make you sick?"). He plays a pathetic drunk, and just goes for broke! He even lets Milian's character dribble whiskey into his mouth when he's so desperate for a drink--he also crawls on all fours, and barks happily on Chaco's request. Speaking of Chaco, Milian owns this film--too bad his part consists of about 25 minutes all together (he comes in about a quarter into the film, and at then not again till the very end)--Chaco is the most entertaining, and intriguing character, and we only get a small taste. Testi is awesome as normal, but I couldn't help feeling he wasn't right for the part--plus he just doesn't look like a 'Stubby'. If the film had been all about Milian’s character, you’d be reading a different review right now.
With all its problems, the film did manage to keep my attention all the way through, which made the "Really? That's it?" ending, seem even lamer. It's like, "I sat through this fucker for that? C'mon!" The funny thing is, Blue Underground restores the 'deleted' scenes (a beautiful transfer as usual), and it's the two best gore scenes in the film, which also includes a bulk of the final scene--I couldn't imagine a crappier ending to the film, but I guess there's an edited version out there on VHS somewhere, with an even crappier one.
Overall, the film is just too flawed (IMO) for even the most die-hard Spaghetti Western fan--a die-hard Fulci fan may enjoy it on a different level, but if you skip this one, you're not missing much. Then again, I hear it praised all the time—so it is all just a matter of taste possibly. When it comes to Fulci and westerns, for my money I prefer MASSACRE TIME w/Franco Nero.
