Review for The Devil's Men

Releasing this set under the 'Best of British' banner could well be cause to sue under the trade descriptions act. Sure, it's a horror in the mould of Hammer and Amicus's fag-end of the seventies output, and yes, it does feature Peter Cushing, but …and it's a big but in the context…this isn't a British film. Well, not 100% anyway as it was 50% co-funded by the Greeks, and location sequences were all shot there with, principally Greek crew.


It's a lackluster affair, strangely old fashioned for the year of its release (1976), desperately straddling the space between sixties Hammer and the horror wave of the seventies ('The Omen' et al). For Cushing completists, it's probably a welcome release, though this is not its first outing on DVD in the UK. It was previously issued in 2005 and, apart from the booklet, may differ little from that.


It may be worth noting at this early stage that, surprisingly, the score here is composed and recorded by Brian Eno, a couple of years on from Roxy Music and post his trio of vocal LP's as well as his early forays into ambient minimalism ('No Pussyfooting' with Robert Fripp and the seminal 'Discreet Music' issued a year before this film). It's an unremarkable affair, and little noted by Eno himself. I'm quite a fan and was blissfully unaware of this soundtrack work until recently.


The film itself is a tale of devil worship where young couples are kidnapped as human sacrifices. Here the devil takes the form of a Minotaur, with smoke and flames unconvincingly jetted out of its black nostrils.


In the US the film was released as 'Land of the Minotaur' and the lobby posters suggested that the beast comes to life, pursuing its victims. Well, I can assure you it doesn't. It's a statue.


Donald Pleasance plays an Irish Priest who is something of an expert on ancient religions (actually a fairly convincing performance) who suspects something is amiss and sets about finding out where young people are disappearing to. He enlists the help of an ex-pupil turned private eye, the American Milo. (Costas Skouras). He's shaggy haired, groovy and as far removed from Philip Marlowe as you could get, and unfortunately fairly unconvincing on all counts, looking as bored his eventual audience.



Peter Cushing is somewhat better, playing the part of Baron Corofax, a very serious gentleman who secretly heads up the 'coven', though by this phase in his career, it really is 'Cushing by numbers', which is not necessarily a bad thing.



Whilst the story fairly plods along, some of the Greek countryside is diverting enough. There are also occasional flashes of nudity to titillate the mid-seventies cinema goers who had proven to have a penchant for such things.

The dubbing (all post-synched) gives the film a disjointed air, with Greek actors getting bland American accents throughout.

Picture quality is certainly acceptable, though never stunning.



This film will be a delightful curio for those who enjoy sixties and early seventies 'British' horror, though it really doesn't deserve either the 'Best' or the 'British' of its collection title. Pick it up if you must, but be prepared to be mightily underwhelmed.