Did you ever think there would be a movie that even the great Peter Cushing, the always-reliable Donald Pleasence and the busty Luan Peters couldn't save? Well, you'd be right. Despite their usual efforts THE DEVIL'S MEN (aka THE DEVIL'S PEOPLE) known as LAND OF THE MINOTAUR in the U.S. falls flat as so many 1970s horror films do. After THE EXORCIST, studios couldn't help themselves in flooding theater screens with devil-worshipping stories, and nearly every one of them a yawner. Even one of my favorites from early on in that Satanic-panic period, THE MEPHISTO WALTZ (1971) teetered on the brink of mediocrity and had the slightly tainted look of a TV movie.
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| U.S. theatrical release poster. |
The only thing unique about this film is that it was shot in Greece, otherwise it's the familiar story of young people getting abducted and sacrificed to a cult of minotaur-worshipping crazies. Even the nudity was cut from the U.S. version. The same consideration should have been made for Paul Williams' end title song, "The Devil's Men". Hard to believe this is the same composer who gave us the marvelous movie soundtrack for PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE just a couple of years earlier. Rating: two out of five pitchforks.
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| UK theatrical release poster. |
CONTINENTAL FILM REVIEW (January 1976):
LOBBY CARDS:
THE DEVIL'S MEN/LAND OF THE MINOTAUR TRAILER:
THE DEVIL'S MEN/LAND OF THE MINOTAUR FULL MOVIE:
PAUL WILLIAMS' END TITLE SONG:
EXTRA!
From the same issue of CONTINENTAL FILM REVIEW, this short piece on David Cronenberg's SHIVERS.
