It seems that when it comes to Director Lucio Fulci people can become extremely forgetful. Although best known for his gory horror outings, there's much more to Fulci. Whether it's a Western, gritty Crime Drama, or whacked out Fantasy, this guy's been around. Today, we'll take a look at Four of the Apocalypse Fulci's middle entry in the Western Genre.

Four strangers are brought together through some unconventional circumstances. A pregnant prostitute Bunny (Lynne Frederick), a traveling gambler Stubby Preston (Fabio Testi), the town drunk Clem (Michael J Pollard), and a crazy man (Harry Baird) who "see's dead people" are thrust out when their town is attacked by outlaws. During their travels, they meet Chaco (Thomas Milian) a vigilante who wants to join their clan. Chaco seems like a nice guy, and an experienced hunter, but looks can be deceiving. Chaco eventually turns on his new friends, tortures them, and rapes Bunny. The four manage to escape, and we rejoin them on their journey. They manage to avoid Chaco, for a while, until Stubby eventually comes face to face with Chaco, one final time.

Four of the Apocalypse is not your by the numbers Western. It's gritty and violent, but it also reeks of a character study, and at times, screams of sensitivity. Not something you'd expect to see in a balls to the wall western, but in this case it works. Ultimately, this proves once and for all that Fulci truly was a talented director, as he flawlessly brings it all together. The relationship between Stubby and Bunny works. When the mood switches from violent gunfight, to sensitive love story, one doesn't mind. The characters are well developed and most importantly, interesting to watch.

Anchor Bay does a fine job bringing this rarely seen Western to the DVD format. Containing scenes never before dubbed into English, they've been inserted back in (in Italian), and contain English subtitles, so don't be alarmed. The print is not free from damage, as the occasional scratch pops up here and there. Film grain is not completely absent either, and the transfer is a bit soft (probably inherent in the source material). Colors for the most part do seem bright and stable and I doubt we could've expected this film to look any better. Sound is crystal clear with no distortion considering the mono soundtrack. There are some really bizarre soft rock interludes, that are demanding a 5.1 remix, but alas, mono will have to do. I do intend to track down this soundtrack, at all costs, pure gold!

Extras include a decent theatrical trailer, a few bios, and a cool short documentary, Fulci of the Apocalypse. The featurette contains interviews with Thomas Milian and Fabio Testi, and is thoroughly entertaining. The only complaint that I have is that it's way too short at only 17 minutes. Don't forget to look for the easy to find easter egg, for more from Milian.

Overall I say kudos to Anchor Bay once again. They continue their streak of quality DVDs that I thought would never see the light of day. I do consider this to be one of Fulci's best non-horror films and am pleased to be able to add it to my DVD collection.