Rating: 
Summary: Uneven, nihilistic, sentimental, riveting
Review: This is a strange film. It's a dreamy, hypnotic Western, and Fulci was evidently developing the weird dream aesthetics that permeated THE BEYOND and HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY. There are some brilliant sequences: the opening massacre; Chaco's torturing of a lawman; the travelling through the desert sequences, and others are a marvel. But the film can't sustain this. Sentimentality ruins the film. There are too many extended death bed scenes and too much gushing warmth. The sequences of dread are far more convincing. The film takes a massive detour into sentimentality and takes ages to get back. But the final showdown between Stubby and Chaco is brilliant: the penultimate image of Stubby's shattered narcissism is unforgettable.The dvd is fine. Picture is excellent, and an interesting interview with the film's stars: the brilliant actors Tomas Milian and Fabio Testi. Overall, an interesting film, one that I wish was the masterpiece that it could have been. You'll like it, but you'll wish you could like it better.
Rating: 
Summary: What a film!
Review: This is great. Don't read this, buy the film. For Fulci fans and Spaghetti western lovers. Thick on atmosphere and lyricism. A magical film.
Rating:
Summary: weird and bloody
Review: This isn't your typical spaghetti western - you know the sort - lot's of glowering faces, silly dialogue and violent action that crops up every five minutes or so. This operates on a slower, more pretentious level. The dialogue is still silly, the glowering faces are still there, but instead of numerous action sequences, Fulci gives us a slow, pretentious - almost dreamlike - affair. It's supposed to be one of his personal favourites, and it does have that air of "the director doing his thing" about it. Lots of "meaningful" but somehow unrelated sequences strung together to give an incoherant whole. The violence, when it comes, is pretty strong stuff: there's an opening massacre that has no bearing on the plot whatsoever, a scene where a sherrif gets skinned alive (while the heroes stand by doing nothing, for some strange reason), a rape, cannabalism and torture. But it's not the stuff of westerns - it belongs more in the realm of horror films or thrillers (in fact, compare this film with Fulci's earlier western, Massacre Time, and you can see that Apocalypse is really a precursor to his ultra-bloody and silly horror flicks of the 80s, where long bouts of inactivity and inane dialogue are punctuated by extreme gore). Apparently, in order to woo audiences back to a dying genre, the spaghetti westerns became increasingly explicit in their depiction of violence (it didn't work - this was one of the last westerns made). For a better example, check out Majanna. So why 3 stars? Well, it is a strangely haunting film. Maybe it;'s the cinemaphotography, or Tomas Milian's over-the-top performance as Chaco (the DVD features a great interview with him and Fabio Testi), or even the out-of-place 70s style soundtrack. Or maybe it's a combination of all the above (and the gore, of course). But be warned. If you like your spaghettis fast and furious, stay away.
Rating:
Summary: A Film of Great Depth~Gore Fans Will never Get It...a shame!
Review: This truly is a movie of great depth and beauty. Gore Fans will surley tear this apart. This film possess to much class for the gore fanboy. What a shame that some Fulci fans criteria for a good movie is a high body count. For open minded film buffs this film is a must.
We are blessed to hear a soundtrack that is very unique for a western. Some critics complain about the soundtracks music in reviews, making it out to be quaint seventies fare. What would they prefer? The standard spaghetti western music? Today's computer generated techno refuse?
The music works very well with this film. It is a little like America or Pink Floyds Meddle--Obscured by Clouds period, but it has its own unique voice.
This film can stand on it's own compared to "Once Upon A Time In the West", "For a Few Dollars More". It does not have the shear sprawling power created by Sergio Leon or groundbreaking Morricone soundtrack, but it makes up for it in its focus on friendship and heartfelt emotion. The Camera work is very impressive. Fabio Testi does a great job! No wonder he is so big in Italy.
Too bad Fulci pandered to gore fans in his later work, but it may have been the only work he was given, futhermore, he most likely needed to eat.
The picture looks great on a Hi Def 16x9 monitor! The use of a diffusion filter is very noticable in this film, the effect was quite common for the mid-seventies.
Give it a try!
Rating: 
Summary: Four of the Apocalypse
Review: Three hippies and a brother run away from a bad scene in a lawless town. They meet Charlie Manson in the desert, who turns them onto some peyote. The trip turns into a bummer and Charlie Manson turns cruel.
Only the names were changed, baby. There are four refugees and one requisite Bad Guy in FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE, a rambling yet entertaining spaghetti western from the Italian Lucio Fulci, who is best known for directing such Italian horror classics as A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN and DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING.
The Manson reference comes from something Tomas Milian, who plays the evil Chaco, said. (All bad guys in Italian westerns never have a last name, or much of a first name, either.) Milian said he took a make-up cue from Charles Manson, who had notoriously carved a swastika in his forehead, and drew a blood red cross beneath each eye. Constrained by time and driven by Method, it seemed the thing to do, and it works.
Chaco is a brutal character, and he's involved in a couple of grisly scenes, cut from the original English release, that have been restored with subtitles on the dvd. The scenes may have been a little much for audiences in 1975, but they're unlikely to raise many eyebrows three decades on. A little skin flayed here, a little cannibalism there. Been there, done that, excuse me while I stifle a yawn.
The characters in FOTA, a gambler (Fabio Testi), a prostitute (Lynne Frederick), a town drunk (Michael J Pollard), a mentally challenged mortuary assistant (Harry Baird) and a few plot points may have been ripped from current headlines, but the movie also borrowed heavily, with attribution, from the works of Bret Harte. Most of act three, which is by far the strongest and most coherent section of the movie, is taken directly from Harte's "Luck of the Roaring Camp."
FOTA is cobbled together and not all the pieces fit. As Milian tells us, he was available for only six days of filming, so his character sort of drifts in and out of the movie without undue rhyme or reason.
I liked FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE, even though I feel compelled to admit, sheepishly, that it's not a very good movie. The plot is all over the place and the climatic revenge theme should have been torn down and rebuilt from scratch. On the other hand, the acting was a notch above that found in most spaghetti westerns and I found myself involved with and caring about the characters. Also, from the parched deserts to the snowy mining camp, this movie looked good. With reservations, a moderately strong recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: A western I can stand.
Review: To begin with, I hate westerns. Westerns continually bore me. But I love the films of Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, Zombie). So I thought I would give it a try. It turned out to be one of the greatest gambles I ever made ... It was a beautiful movie from start to finish. It is definitely Fulci down to the last drop. A lot of details are paid to the violence. And there are some scenes that were banned from America the first time and for good reason. If you have a weak stomach, Fulci might not be the director for you.
Normally, I don't appreciate the voices used when selecting voice-over dubs. But the voice they got for the black guy was very expressive and emotional. The movie is filled with poignance. And you have to admit the scene in the mining town when the miners are gambling over what the gender of the baby's gonna be, and then he is born and every miner stops and faces towards that little building is one of the most beautiful of all time. There's some nudity, disturbing scenes, graphic (and I'm not kidding) violence.
If you have a strong stomach and love westerns or well-written stories, Four of the Apocalypse is definitely for you.
Rating:
Summary: MIGHT BE A FOUR STAR FULCI WITHOUT THE GORE
Review: YES FULCI HAS MADE A NON GORE MOVE THAT WORKS AS A FILM ON ITS OWN BUT FULCI FANS WILL BE KICKING THEMSELVES FOR BUYING IT CAUSE ITS FULL OF FALSE ADVERTISEMENT ON THE COVER HOW IT WAS NEVER RELEASED UNCUT AND STUFF TO MAKE IT SOUND GREAT. IT IS A GOOD FILM AS WESTERNS GO NOT FOR FULCI GORE FANS THOUGH CAUSE THERE IS ONLY TWO SCENES OF CUTTING PEOPLE WITH KNIFES AND THEY ARE TAME ON THE FULCI SCALE BUT IT HAD A NICE STORY AND ON ITS OWN IT STANDS WELL AS A CLASSIC WESTERN
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