The Devil's Men (1976)
"They were possessed!"
Plot
A group of tourists visiting a Greece archaeological site are abducted by a strange cult, intent on providing their God, the Minotaur, with sacrifices. Anxious priest Father Roache enlists the help of an old private detective friend to find out what has happened to them.
A horror film in the guise of an end-of-era Hammer horror or low key Amicus production, The Devil's Men could easily be mistaken for a weak entry into the Anglo-horror cycle of the 50s-70s. But this was a jointly made Greek production, no doubt cashing in on its high profile casting of seasoned genre veterans Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance to tap into an established, albeit dwindling, fanbase. Alas, The Devil's Men is nothing more than another lacklustre devil worshipping flick in a decade where devil worshipping, the occult and Satan became the flavour of the month for the horror genre and were being churned out an alarming rate. The film also looks and feels strangely old-fashioned for it's time of release when the horror genre had been given a proverbial kick up the rear end by the likes of The Exorcist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
There's nothing in The Devil's Men you won't see in any better flicks (notably something like The Devil Rides Out). There's a sacrificial chamber complete with burning torches. There's chanting and recitals. There are hooded cultists. There are bloody sacrifices. You'll see exactly where the film is heading right from the get go and you're right, all the way up to the rather unsatisfying finale inside the chamber. The trouble is that it takes an eternity to get there. Director Kostas Karayiannis hasn’t got a clue about pacing and fails to generate any sort of excitement, suspense or tension throughout the majority of the proceedings. Films about the occult should never be this boring as there is a gold mine of material that he could have included to keep things interesting. But all the characters seem to do is sulk around villages, hang around in bars and generally do anything apart from anything remotely exciting.
This film was re-titled The Land of the Minotaur for its US release but don't expect any men in monster suits or stop motion effects - the only Minotaur you'll see here is a concrete statue which breathes fire and continually repeats the line "Those who enter the forbidden chamber of the Minotaur must die!" I'd have been happy to see a cheap-looking guy in a suit running around here but alas that's not the case. The inclusion of the Minotaur clearly seems to have been a ploy to create a kick-ass sounding title and suggest that the creature would come to life. The reality is that the script could have substituted any manner of mythological or Satanist names and it would have served the same purpose. What the cultists worship is of little consequence to the plot aside the fact they perform human sacrifices. Even this isn't fully fleshed out.
The Devil's Men is your basic good versus evil film with Donald Pleasance playing the role of Father Roache for the forces of good and Peter Cushing relishing another nasty role as the sinister Baron Corofax leading the cult. The two men share a few great scenes with each other but apart from that, this won't be too high on their list of favourites. Pleasance struggles with an Irish accent but is his usual slightly-oddball self. Cushing, whilst good in his sporadic appearances, gets little more than a cameo role and he is in total cruise control – not a bad thing considering Cushing’s cruise control was infinitely better than most people’s full speed! I’m sure that the holiday to Greece to film was the thing which attracted both men to starring. Cushing does look utterly ridiculous in his robe, babbling on about the old customs, and dying a little bit inside with each utterance.
The other cast don't particularly thrill either, with Costas Skouras making a bland hero, absolutely useless and inconsequential to the plot (perhaps he was part of the contract to receive Greek financing). Luan Peters and Vanna Reville providing little more than looking extremely attractive in some really short and very tight pants. They’ve all been dubbed by American actors too and so receive bland emotionless American voices. An interesting side note is that the voice given to the police inspector was that of Robert Rietty, an actor whose voice would be instantly recognisable to anyone familiar with the James Bond films - he dubbed Largo in Thunderball, Tanaka in You Only Live Twice and Blofeld in For Your Eyes Only - as well as dubbed roles in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Valley of Gwangi, the narrator in Hawk the Slayer and so on. He had a prolific career!
Final Verdict
The Devil's Men isn't a complete dud because it's still got enough going on to warrant a watch for fans of cult horror and Cushing completists. Unfortunately, it's just too bog standard and generic to really go anywhere with the material and actors present. The film is leadenly paced, not that much happens and it's not very exciting. Aside from that, it makes for a great tourist promotional video!
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The Devil's Men Also Known As: Land of the Minotaur Director(s): Kostas Karagiannis Writer(s): Arthur Rowe (screenplay) Actor(s): Donald Pleasance, Peter Cushing, Luan Peters, Kostas Karagiorgis, Fernando Bislani, Anna Matzourani, Christina, Nikos Verlel Verlekis Duration: 88 mins |  |
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