The Devil's Men

Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance are legendary actors, and director Kostas Karagiannis was the man behind the successful Greek Giallo-esquire thriller Death Kiss in 1974; and yet when you combine the three talents, all you get is this complete load of drivel! God only knows what drove the likes of Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance to star in this cheapie devil worship flick, but I really do hope they were well paid as neither one deserves something as amateurish as this on their resumes. The story focuses on a group of devil worshippers that kidnap some kids, leading another group to go after them. The pace of the plot is very slow and this ensures that the film is very boring. The plot is also a long way from being original and anyone with even a passing interest in the horror genre will have seen something a bit like this, and no doubt done much better. The obvious lack of budget is felt throughout and the film doesn't manage to overcome this at any point. This really is a depressing and miserable watch and not even a slightly decent ending manages to up the ante enough to lift this film out of the very bottom of the barrel. Extremely poor stuff and definitely not recommended!

"The Devil's Men" (aka "Land of the Minotaur") is by no means a masterpiece, but very few horror films are. While there are good ones and bad ones, ultimately they're nothing more than *fantasies*--they ask you to suspend your disbelief. Horror films are not (or should not be) judged according to the same criteria as "Citizen Kane". Think "The Devil's Men" is bad horror? See "Ghost Story" and learn how the genre can be reduced to a pathetic cartoon (despite a big budget and a good cast). Think this is a low point in Peter Cushing's career? See "The Blood Beast Terror". This film actually has a lot going for it: strong performances from Cushing and Donald Pleasence (Cushing is particularly great in one of his few downright villainous roles), an eerie synthetic score by Brian Eno, and fine cinematography. It does get a bit dull in spots, but I haven't seen many movies that didn't. Director Kostas Karagiannis knew how to establish the proper mood for a film of this kind: witness the scene in which Pleasence, as the village priest, walks from his living quarters to the church to pray. He's a small figure in the immensely old, pagan landscape of Greece, which seems ready to swallow him up (and Eno's cue for the scene underscores this threatening feeling). Young horror auteurs, take note: it's little things like this that give the viewer a sense of unease. If, on the other hand, you just want to make the viewer feel sick or laugh, you'll bombard him with severed limbs and intestines. "The Devil's Men" is no award winner, but it's a creepy little film that's fun to watch. Its reputation as a bomb is undeserved.

A pretty drudgy effort from all concerned. Peter Cushing is the sinister baron living in a castle in Greece when young people start to go missing. A priest (Donald Pleasance) is soon hot on the trail and together with Kostas Karagiorgis discovers a coven (?) of pagan minotaur worshippers. It is odd to see Cushing playing the baddie quite this blatantly, and perhaps if he featured a little more then the film would be better. Unfortunately, it's all just a bit too procedural - lots of screaming, a fair bit of rather gratuitous nudity, and lots of thick, gloopy, tomato sauce - without the style of a Hammer production to underpin it. Watchable, though, if you like the genre - and there is a cracker of a song at the end that really doesn't fit at all.

The Devil's Men. A Satanic cult led by horror legend Peter Cushing are committing human sacrifice to a Minotaur figure in rural Greece and it's down to priest Donald Pleasence (another horror legend) and his friend from New York to put an end to it. I've read mainly negatives about this movie and it certainly has flaws. For a start Cushing looked to me like he was merely going through the motions. Pleasence played an Irish man but his accent kept slipping. Having an interest in the occult I felt that there was a lack of information about the cult, it's beliefs, origins, etc. And the finale was rather sill, but entertaining. However, on the positive side it is visually very good, plenty of colour and great use of Greek locations. The musical score, by Brian Eno, is effectively menacing. Some reviewers found it boring but I did not. Being a 1970's Euro horror movie we get some nudity, plus a fair amount of blood and gore. It's really not too bad.

The presence of Donald Pleasance and Peter Cushing two players well schooled in the horror film make Land Of The Minotaur an endurable feast. Speaking of feasting these two guys digested well a complete diet of ham to get through this film.

Pleasance plays a priest and Cushing a local nobleman by day, but by night he's the leader of a cult of devil worshipers. The object of their veneration is the ancient Greek monster the Minotaur who according to this film is really just another name for the Christian Satan.

The cult has captured some visiting young tourists and are using them of course for their own nefarious purposes. So if you can't figure out where this is going you haven't been exposed to too much the work of the two British players.

Location photography in Greece helps also, but mostly watch it for these two thespian legends.