ma-cortes Quattro dell'apocalisse (original title) is a bloody Spaghetti Western with usual Mexican desperado Tomas Milian who steals the show as a merciless bandit and filmed , of course , in Almeria . An Italian production full of action , exaggerated characters, shootouts and lots of violence . For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how ¡ ... A group of misfit characters are taken prisoners by the Utah Sheriff (Donald O'Brien) but later they are freed . Four petty criminals, three men , a card player named Stubby Preston (Fabio Testi) , a drunk (Michael J. Pollard) , a crazy African-American (Harry Baird) obsessed with the dead and a pregnant prostitute (Lynne Frederick) , wander through the trackless terrain of the Wild West and are hounded by a hearless outlaw who rapes , slashes, ravages and murders each person involved in his attacks . The quartet looking for food, water is submitted a tempestuous trap by evil Mexican bandit and receive violent knocks, punches, kicks and wounds . The group sees the atrocity over a Mormon family and Stubby Preston executes a single-handedly revenge . He is relentless in his vendetta , deadly in his violence. The conflict is a simple one between avenger , swindler Stubby and oppressors, nasty bandits commanded by cruel outlaw named Chaco . It's an exciting and tragic western with breathtaking showdown between the protagonist Fabio Testi against the sadistic Tomas Milian and his hoodlums . In the film premiere attained bit success , nowadays is best valued and I think it turns out to be a good Spaghetti Western. The Cuban Tomas Milian as a cruelly baddie role is terrific , he is fine, he cries, ravages the screen , shoots, hit and run and kills . The film packs violence, gore, gun-play , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shootouts or stunts every few minutes . Appears S. W. usual support cast as Bruno Corazzari , Charles Borromel , Donald O'Brien , Lorenzo Robledo , all of them turn up in multiple Italian/Spanish Western productions . There are many fine technicians and nice assistants as Goffredo Unger, also secondary , habitual master of arms in numerous Spaghetti Western. Good production design creating an excellent scenario with luminous outdoors, dirty and rocky landscapes under a glimmer sun and a fine set on Austria , Desierto de Tabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain and Elios Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy (studio) . The soundtrack is full of sensible songs and sad ballads , furthermore haunting musical leitmotif . Striking cinematography in Eastmancolor by Sergio Salvati , Fulci's ordinary .The motion picture is realized by one of the most controversial filmmakers of terror movies , Lucio Fulci in his usual style with some flaws a but is professionally made because he is a skilled craftsman . He creates a strange Western that manages to be both scary , tragic and skilfully made . Reviewers are divided over booth the morals and talents of Fulci (1927-1996) who sometimes directed under the alias ¨Louis Fuller¨. For some critics many of his movies are gore-feasts that tried to be disguised itself under many other titles , were cruel and shockingly violent, yet their gory surface often conceals religious, social commentaries or intelligent issues. Whether he should be viewed as a cheap sensationalist or just a genius Fulci has a loyal fan base and undeniably has an important and unique influence on the terror genre , creating great works on a low budget and deserving its cult status such as proved in ¨ The black cat ¨, ¨Manhattan baby¨, ¨Gates of Hell¨, ¨Island of the living dead¨, ¨New York ripper¨ , among them. ¨Four of Apocalypse¨ is one of his more imaginative Western , Fulci also directed another Spaghetti as ¨white Fang¨, ¨Challenge of White Fang¨, and ¨Massacre time¨. It's just one passable Western and acceptable budget movie that still packs a punch for those who like to be entertained out their wits . This peculiar Western will appeal to Lucio Fulci aficionados .

Bjorn (ODDBear) Four unfortunate souls seek a better existence after narrowly escaping a town wipe out, each of them flawed in their own way. After a deadly encounter with a devil in human form they pursue their goal more scarred than before. The journey proves fateful and maturing for the only one left.I'm trying to be philosophical, although this is maybe not the best way to describe Lucio Fulci's "Four of the Apocalypse". Testi plays a card shark who gets saddled with a loony tune, a miserable drunk and a prostitute after being thrown out of a town that's just suffered some "righteous" massacre. On their way to another town they encounter Chaco, a vicious madman who leaves them for dead after looting them. What happens next is something I did not expect from Lucio Fulci.Although the dubbing here is pretty bad, the acting uneven at best (though I did think Testi did perform admirably) and the music score horrendous the film possesses a strange kind of charm with it's humane unexpected twists. I don't want to blow the ending but the film's philosophical tone really hits home. Ultimately this film is about Testi's maturing along the way, a lawless land that still possesses a good dose of humanity when it's required and a solid revenge/redemption theme as well. Again, not what I expected from Fulci, but then he continually surprises with each film I decide to check out.There are at least two somewhat horrific sequences that Fulci manages to squeeze in here but in the end that's not what stays with you after this film. I'm not a western freak at all but I really liked this film and those who are partial to Fulci will surely enjoy it as well.

andrabem I was expecting a lot from this film. On the back cover of the DVD is stated that "I Quatro dell Apocalisse" was the most violent western ever made, and as the film was directed by Lucio Fulci, I believed the hype. But it's not for the violent scenes alone that I picked up this film in the DVD rental store. What I like in many spaghetti westerns is their gritty and disenchanted atmosphere, mixed sometimes with a bizarre humor. The best spaghettis are dynamic - travellings, hand-held cameras, fast and good editing, and a haunting and/or ironic soundtrack give these films their unique flavour. But "I Quatro dell'Apocalisse" fell short of my expectations.In "I Quatro dell'Apocalisse" the camera is static. The camera is there to register the conversations of the characters and then there's some action, followed by another chatty scene. The acting is just average (when a film is more on the chatty side, the acting should be good), the dialogues are slightly witty and ribald (nothing remarkable about them), and the violence is nothing to boast about (anyway I've only watched half of the film). And here comes the question: Would you see an indifferent film just because of some violent scenes?In the DVD rental store I had picked up two spaghetti westerns: "I am Sartana, Trade your Guns for a Coffin" and "Four of the Apocalypse". The first that I watched was "I am Sartana...." and I liked it immensely. I was still under the spell of Sartana when I inserted the "Four of the Apocalypse" in the DVD player. I thought that as "The Four of the Apocalypse" had Lucio Fulci's signature, it would be even better than Sartana. Boy, was I mistaken! So I decided to write this comment. Well, you've been warned.

Andrew Leavold Prolific B-filmmaker Lucio Fulci made Four Of The Apocalypse just after his violent giallo thrillers like Lizard In A Woman's Skin and Don't Torture The Duckling, and before he kickstarted the Euro-splatter genre with Zombie Flesheaters in 1979. With a pedigree like that, you can tell that Fulci specialized in the darker side of human nature. In The Four Of The Apocalypse, when the blood starts to flow - and it seems to appear more often than necessary - Fulci rises to the task and is not afraid to show it.This is the West as rewritten by Leone, Peckinpah and company - lawless, brutal, and certainly no place for the righteous. Fabio Testi plays Stubby Preston, a super-suave card shark who rolls into town just as gambling is declared illegal. The sheriff (played by Run Man Run's sheriff Donal O'Brien, locks him in a cell with the so-called scum of the earth: the visibly pregnant woman of the night Bunny (played by the late British actress Lynne Frederick), an unnervingly upbeat African American named Bud, and the weird-looking cherubic Michael J Pollard, most famous for his role as the slightly brain-damaged CW in Bonnie And Clyde, here on his downhill career slide as Clem, the slightly brain-damaged town drunk.Hooded killers cut a swathe through the rest of the town in a display of gloriously slow motion wholesale butchery while sheriff plugs his ears - and this is before the end of the credits! The four cell mates hitch their wagon southwards, bickering and sniping at each other, all to Greek Chorus courtesy of an abysmal 70s West Coast pop group. Along comes the mysterious half-Indian Chaco, played with demented abandon by a very different Tomas Milian. He soon shows his true talents - hunting, torture and administering peyote like a crazed psychedelic priest.The harsh landscape suddenly becomes nightmarish and surreal, and the film frequently makes trips across the border into grand guignol territory, which is great news for lovers of Fulci's zombie quartet. But it's not all gloom; there are moments of genuine tenderness and heartbreak in the unlikely pairing of a gambler and a pregnant prostitute. And speaking of pregnant, you're going to need a cast-iron stomach to handle this one, possibly the last word in nihilist splatter westerns: the 1975 Four Of The Apocalypse.