Four of the Apocalypse

Lucio Fulci's spaghetti western, adapted from Bret Harte, following four petty criminals, a gambler, a pregnant prostitute, a drunk and a madman, who survive a massacre and cross a brutal frontier together. It is grim, strange and unexpectedly moving, with a sadistic bandit named Chaco who is pure Fulci cruelty.

It sits at the melancholy, hallucinatory end of the cycle, closer to a road film than a shootout picture, and the fates of its outcasts are affecting. A late, underrated entry from a director better known for gore.