The Devil's Men (1977)

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Blistering performances.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

This is a very scary movie. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. This is one of very few horror movie that are scarier then The Exorcist. This not a 4.3 that is just underrating it. This is a 10. I do not why people do not like it. This is scarier then A Nightmare on elm street. And that is not easy to do. Donald Pleasence was one of the best actors of all time. Peter Cushing is also one of the best actors of all time. And this is one of the best horror movies of all time. I can not believe people do not like this movie. It is a classic.

Horror fans may understandably think that "The Devil's Men" (a.k.a. "Land Of The Minotaur") must be something special, because the film's producers were able to get not only Donald Pleasence but also Peter Cushing to be in their cast. But if they were to actually watch it, they would probably conclude that those two stars only accepted in order to get a working vacation in Greece. The Greek countryside does indeed look spectacular and eerie in some shots, but that's about the only positive thing I can find in this cinematic yawn. Pleasence and Cushing look absolutely bored, and it's no wonder - this is a slow-moving story with plot elements handled in dozens of other movies and TV shows before. It's all made worse by some shoddy production values - frequently it sounds like someone is blowing in the microphone recording the actors' dialogue! Only worth watching if you are curious as to why the British film industry was considered essentially dead in the 1970s.

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!

Low budget junk about bloodthirsty cultists in Greece headed by Peter Cushing. Its up to priest Donald Pleasance to stop them. Crown International released this crap in 1978, and it was "dog-of-the-week" on one of the episodes of Sneak Previews with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. I forget which of the two "dogged" it, but I see the point. Crappy movie has the worst Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance performances I've ever seen. There is a monster on the video box. No such beast exists in the movie. Instead you get a statue, but at least its atonomically correct. (Woo hoo!)The cultists look like the Klu Klux Klowns...if a group could exist. Skip it.