#the devil's men

[weirdlookindog]

Luan Peters and Nikos Verlekis in The Devil's Men (1977)

[lobbycards]

Land of the Minotaur (aka The Devil's Men), US lobby card #1. 1976

[nemospecific]

WHOA HEY!

Land of the Minotaur (aka The Devil's Men) has been a pretty middling ride even with Donald Pleasance vs Peter Cushing as a priest vs a cult leader, but the last four minutes... again, whoa hey! I'll spoil under the break.

Donald Pleasance throws some holy water on the minotaur idol they've been worshipping, causing not only it to explode but ALL OF THE CULT LEADERS.

Full on Raiders of the Lost Ark over here, without any melting.

[whitewaterpaper]

Här på W2P har vi fortsatt att se högoktanig skräpfilm för att bevara någon form av ovett att uppskatta dagens holllywoodrullar.

Darby O'Gill och småfolket / Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) Charmig liten film med snygga special effekter och en ung Sean Connery i en av de bärande rollerna. Men ack så tråkig.

Devil's Men, the / Land of the Minotaur (1976) Skräck.

Disappeared, the / My Daughter Is Missing (2017) Helt okej thriller som kunnat bli fantastisk med mer kunnigt folk i registolen och bakom pennan.

Doors (2021) Nä. "Smal SF" som vill mycket och berättar lite.

Frozen Alive / Der Fall X701 (1964) Vetenskaplig SF som leker med vad man i framtiden kanske kan göra.

Ghost Walks, the (1934) "Skräck".

Jagad av Rebellerna / Moonraker, the (1958) När man vill göra en Robin Hood-film utan att göra en Robin Hood-film.

Kolossen på Rhodos / Il Colosso di Rodi (1961) [🔁] Har sett den tidigare, hittar den dock inte i filmdagboken så det kan ha varit medan datorn var på rehab. Små trevlig liten äventyrsfilm med fond i antikens Grekland.

Last Starship, the (2017) [👎] Kul koncept men nä.

Manhunt in Space (1956) [🆓] Charmig Rocky Jones-film som antagligen är en av höjdpunkterna denna vecka. SF från en oskyldigare tid.

Oro Arrowhead (2021) [👎🆓] Skattletaräventyr på Jysk-budget. Har sina positiva sidor, men inga värd att sitta av nästan 2 timmar för.

Robin Hood (1973) [👍🔁] Disneyklassiker.

Solum (2019) Inte så pjåkig "Hungerspelen"/"Battle Royale"-film från portugal. Vill lite för mycket. Men klart sevärd.

Speed Cross (1980) [👎] Motorcross action. Filmen är ungefär lika bra som kvaliteten på den italienska dubben.

Väktarens hämnd / Leprechaun (1993) Warwick Davies i högform. Jennifer "Rachel i Vänner" Aniston före Vänner. Resten av filmen lämnar en del att önska.

Jag minns inte exakt vilka som finns på tuben, några av dem iaf. I övrigt är det kanske bara "Solum" denna månad jag skulle säga kan vara värd att slå ett öga på.

[mariocki]

The Devil's Men (Land of the Minotaur, 1976)

"I'm worried, what's happened to Tom?"

"I think he... I think he's being held... captive."

"Captive?"

"By Satan. Mephistopheles, Lucifer; these are just three words for the same thing. A phenomenon that's older than mankind, a power without a face, a force that can make people do whatever it wants them to do. The devil, yes! Yes, Laurie! The devil. I believe the devil has taken possession of this village."

[sloshed-cinema]

Land of the Minotaur (1976)

Why are B-movies so good at stretching absolutely nothing out to feature length? I suppose it’s case in point that it’s easy to come up with a premise, but more difficult to turn it into a full-on idea. The opening two minutes are easily the best part of the British-Greek coproduction, aside perhaps from the campy bombastic fireworks of the finale. It honeypots the viewer with cult rituals and extravagant set design in some sort of grotto repurposed for pagan rites. People in troublingly Klan-adjacent garb, kids wielding knives stabbing randos, a minotaur idol with a whole dong situation… this is gonna fucking rip! Too bad the rest of this film is pretty much just people asking the locals the same five questions and getting the same responses, all while Donald Pleasence tries to figure out what an Irish accent sounds like. Spinning wheels in the mud for about 70 minutes to no avail. Thrills!

Perhaps redemption comes in a form in just how comprehensively inept the editing of the film proves to be: it’s just so bad as to be entertaining in its baffling nature. Everything that happens is apparently even more boring to the editor than to the viewer, as scenes almost without exception just end whenever the point has gotten across, and often several seconds before what might seem natural. Continuity and the 180-degree rule are completely out the window: when one woman’s bath is interrupted by black-hooded strangers, it would appear that this random inn bathroom has no fewer than a dozen doors and windows. Sequences intercutting a victim and a potential rescuer for suspense are rendered hilariously pointless when the victim just fucking dies well before they could possibly be saved even in the nick of time. And when the movie wants to generate some excitement? Well, it’s time to either snap-zoom to some shocked eyes or just randomly stutter-cut back and forth between two images. The final (literal) explosion is almost unearned because nothing has been remotely that bonkers, and we’ve had no hard proof prior that Fr Roche is actually some sort of badass exorcist/anti-Satan priest/whatever aside from his general curmudgeonly stubbornness. All the same, while this is no Halloween 6, it’s still some fun bonkers Pleasence. That he and Peter Cushing only get a couple of scenes together is a damn shame. This could have turned into an absolute goldmine if they’d been able to explore one another’s bodies even more than that one sacrifice scene.

THE RULES

SIP

The minotaur idol speaks.

Snap zoom on a face.

People in black hoods running.

Someone screams.

BIG DRINK

Owls!

Someone is sacrificed.

A creepy kid stares in a scene.

[lazylittledragon]

at the friday panel andrew wincott said raphael and astarion should go on holiday together and i can’t stop thinking about it

[emyryld]

Missing scene from X-Men97. We got to see a bit of her anguish, but make no mistake, this girl is grieving. That falling star? That's hope on the horizon, you mark my words. It can't rain all the time....

[tomwambsgays]

like a moth to a flame, he was drawn to him

[whereserpentswalk]

Angels are often depicted as all female. Meanwhile lucifer (a fallen angel) is almost always male presenting. Shoutout to our transmasc king!

[weirdlookindog]

Luan Peters in The Devil's Men (1977)

[lobbycards]

Land of the Minotaur (aka The Devil's Men), US lobby card #7. 1976

[cryinganabell]

porple

[bumzbumzbumz]

Paul Sturm by Ignazio Lozano

[notpulpcovers]

Marcia Eddington on the devilish cover of Sizzle v01n01, 1959

[youraverage-weirdo]

You can not look at me dead in the eyes and say they aren’t dating… LOOK 😭😭