despite be release on dvd by blue underground some five year ago and i have never come across this italian sword and sorcery item on late night italian tv and and now that i have see it for myself and i know exactly why . not because of it director typical predilection for extreme gore ( of which there be some example to be sure ) or the fact that the handful of woman in it parade topless all the time ( it be set in the dark age after all ) it be and quite simply and very poor stuff indeed . in fact and i would go so far a to say that it may very well be the bad of it kind that i have yet see and and believe me and i have see plenty ( especially in the last few year i. e. follow my excursion to the 2004 venice film festival ) . read about how the film failure at the time of initial release be believe to have lead to it director subsequent ( and regrettable ) career nosedive into mindless low budget gore and i can see their point represent i may prefer fulci earlier giallo period ( 1968 77 ) to his more popular stuff horror ( 1979 82 ) myself but and even on the latter and his commitment be arguably unquestionable . on the other hand and conquest seem not to have inspire fulci in the least seeing how he decide to drape the proceeding with an annoyingly perpetual mist and sprinkle it with incongruent character ( cannibal vs. werewolf and anyone . ) and irrelevant gore ( we be treat to a gratuitous and nasty cannibal dinner just before witness the flesh eating reveler have their brain literally beat out by their hairy antagonist . ) and even some highly unappetizing intimacy between the masked and brain slurping villainess ( do not ask ) and her slimy reptilian pet . for what it be worth and we have two hero for the price of one here represent a young magic bow carry boy on some manhood affirm odyssey ( andrea occhipinti ) and his ramble muscle bound companion ( jorge rivero i. e. frenchy from howard hawk rio lobo [ 1970 ] . ) who and despite be call mace ( short for maciste and perhaps . ) and seem to be there simply to drop in on his cavewoman from time to time and get his young protégé out of trouble ( particularly during an exceedingly unpleasant attack of the boil ) . unfortunately and even the usual save grace of such lowbrow material come up short here a ex goblin claudio simonetti electronic score seem awfully inappropriate at time . fulci even contrives to give the film a laughably hurry coda with the survive beefy hero go aimlessly out into the wilderness ( after defeat one and all with the aid of the all important magic bow so much for his own supposed physical strength . ) onto his next and thankfully unfilmed adventure .