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.
"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."
Or, maybe it should be the other way. I was confused when I went looking for some trivia on this one and the Wikipedia article matched the name that I had, but IMDb had The Devil's Men.
Turns out I got the 86 minute US cut and not the 94 minute original European version in this box collection :c
Surprised I could even find gifs of this one. Guess we wait a while longer before I run out.
Peter Cushing makes a teen girl sacrifice two people before the title card which is probably the most metal opening I've witnessed thus far.
I wish I had the longer version to see what got cut. My version didn't even have end credit music, which apparently rocks hard in the original so now I'm really missing out.
Of the movie I did get to see, it was simple fun in a kinda cheesy 70's B-movie way. Close-ups of overexpressive faces, sudden screams, and wonderfully unsettling locals being weird. It feels like it would be at home nestled in the filmography of MST3K in the 90's.
I'm not sure if it's just my experience at having seen how crazy Donald Pleasence got in the Halloween sequels, but something about the way he plays his priest character just always feels a little unhinged. Even when he's completely vindicated in his satanic theories- he's always just a little bit more down for murder than he probably should be.
Which, honestly, works perfectly for a character that hears some of his parishioners haven't returned from a vacation to Greece and immediately jumps to the conclusion of Satanic sacrifices done by Greek pagans.
Sure, he's right, but it's still wild just how this guy never misses a chance to tell his investigating party that the island is crawling with filthy pagans.
Specifically, immortal Minoans, led by an English Baron, worshiping a Minotaur statue that shoots fire out of its nose and demands human sacrifices aligned with specific moon phases.
A Minotaur statue which Donald Pleasence exorcises with holy water, causing every adult cult member (presumably on the island) explode in a flurry of smoke and meaty chunks! But it's okay, 'cause all the children were spared because they're too innocent to be blamed for what they did under the command of the adults.
That island belongs to the children now, and since all pagan deities are just Satan in disguise, there is 100% assurance of no evil presence anymore :)
I wish I had gotten to listen to that end credits music, I need to find it somewhere...
I have just watched what Roger Ebert calls "Peter Cushing's worst film". A big claim but yes indeedy, he may well be right. It's 1976's truly awful The Devil's Men/Land of the Minotaur...
It takes a lot to put Donald Pleasance and Peter Cushing in a film and end up with something this bad. Unfortunately Peter Cushing's evil baron is so beige and barely in it that they might as well have spliced him in from other films. I warmed to Donald Pleasance's Irish priest but he loses screen time to a truly bad detective who I guess is there to do the (terrible) action sequences.
The plot is... something about a Minotaur cult killing young tourists but doesn't really develop.
BUT BUT BUT GUESS WHO DID THE SOUNDTRACK! Only flipping Brian Eno. And it's pretty atmospheric with lots of unnerving humming that definitely set me a little on edge.
Oh, and I quite liked the Scooby Doo-esque set up...
The Minotaur is a little...silly...
This particular scene in which our young heroine is chases by evil cultists? Our detective who is supposed to be investigating the cult, meets her at the edge of the wood and literally dismisses it as "probably a cow that got loose in the woods". One of the many times he refuses to investigate anything.
So yeah, pretty terrible film all round. Boo.
Apparently the director, Kostas Karagiannis, directed over a hundred films so he must have had an inkling about how to shoot a movie. Goodness knows what happened with this one.
Petition for Daedalic to revive their canceled 2D adventure game The Devil’s Men!
https://www.change.org/p/daedalic-entertainment-revive-the-devil-s-men
