Badasses, Boobs and Body Counts
Home
About
Badasses
Boobs
Body Counts
Everything Else
BBandBC Podcast
Upcoming BBandBC Shows
The Plot: Land of the Minotaur begins with a murderous ritual. Two unknown people, a man and a woman, are strapped to stone tables and are quickly executed by a small group of cultist, one which includes the evil Baron Corofax (Peter Cushing).
We next meet Father Roche (Donald Pleasence), who meets a couple friends and puts them up in his home for the night. While Roche is asleep, these friends sneak out of his home in search of a tomb in which they believe a couple of people have gone missing. While in the tomb, they find the bodies of the missing and encounter a large stone Minotaur, who scoots along the floor threatening them.
As the film progresses, Father Roche calls two more friends to help him search for the missing three. Upon searching the tomb themselves, they find the ritual room seen earlier in the film. At this point, Baron Corofax invites Father Roche and his friends over for a chat and we come to learn that this film is heavy on dialogue and clearly a paycheck for Pleasence and Cushing.
The Takeaway: Land of the Minotaur is a somewhat misleading title as is the original movie poster. If looking at the poster, one might think they’re getting ready to watch a fantasy film, or maybe even an Indiana Jones like adventure film, yet, the film is far from either of these. The original title would have better sufficed, The Devil’s Men , as the film is about a cult who worships a stone minotaur and sacrifices those who enter the minotaurs cavern. That being said, the film is a rather dull journey that’s heavy on dialogue and light on plot.
Film Facts: Land of the Minotaur (aka The Devil’s Men – a more appropriate title) was directed by Kostas Karagiannis and written by Arthur Rowe. The film was distributed by Crown International Pictures and was released in August of 1976. As a director, Karagiannis has 146 director credits on his IMDB resume, which most where produced in his native land of Greese. Writer Arthur Rowe has an interesting resume to say the least. Most of his work can be found in TV. He wrote for shows such as The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. (1966-1977), Mission Impossible (1966), The Streets of San Francisco (1972) and Starsky and Hutch (1975) to name a few. He also penned the screenplays for Zepplin (1972) and The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972).
Both Donald Pleasence and Peter Cushing where staples in cinema by the time they agreed to work in Land of the Minotaur . One year after this film, Cushing went on to play Grand Moft Tarkin in Star Wars (1977) but is often remembered as Professor Van Helsing or Baron Frankenstein (among many other roles) while working with Hammer Film Productions. Pleasence went onto play Dr. Sam Loomis in John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) and appeared in a total of 223 TV/Film productions over the many years he worked.
Thoughts In My Head: - Ahh, nothing like a human sacrifice to start a film - I have a feeling this will be classic, classically bad that is - People in this film like to stare blankly at each other - Laurie bathes like every 10 minutes, but we don’t get to see her naked, sigh… - This is a rather slow burn - Oh, the stone minotaur has a penis - This should have been called Land of the talking Minotaur - 5 more minutes left, yay - Bullets won’t stop these cultist, but a cross does the job
Favorite Badass or Badass Moment: Sorry kids, no badasses in this one Favorite Boobs or Boobs in a Scene: Sorry kids, no boobs in this one Favorite Death Scene: While there are deaths in the film, they’re nothing to write home about
Boob Count: 0 pair Body Count: 9
IMDB Rating: 4.0 / 10 My Rating: 3.5 / 10
Final Thoughts: Land of the Minotaur might be of interest for fans of Donald Pleasence or Peter Cushing. However, and aside from this, Land of the Minotaur is a rather dull outing as there are far better cultist sub-genre horror films to be had.
Google +1
Jonny Dead December 18, 2012 @ 10:33 am I actually really like this movie, and I don’t exactly know why. Perhaps it’s the atmosphere…or Cushing…or Donald Pleasence…who knows. It’s just one of those that I find myself returning to. As always a great review though Mike! Reply Mike December 18, 2012 @ 12:06 pm Thanks Johnny, I appreciate the kind words. For me, and despite the appearance of both screen legends, I’ll likely not revisit this one any time soon. Reply Jonny Dead December 18, 2012 @ 12:20 pm Haha and I wouldn’t blame you. I’ll consider it a guilty pleasure of mine. Mike December 18, 2012 @ 12:22 pm I have plenty of bad films I go back to as well. Maybe bad is the wrong word, but I think you get it. Jonny Dead December 18, 2012 @ 12:53 pm I definitely get it. Ain’t that what we’re all about after all?
I actually really like this movie, and I don’t exactly know why. Perhaps it’s the atmosphere…or Cushing…or Donald Pleasence…who knows. It’s just one of those that I find myself returning to. As always a great review though Mike!
Mike December 18, 2012 @ 12:06 pm Thanks Johnny, I appreciate the kind words. For me, and despite the appearance of both screen legends, I’ll likely not revisit this one any time soon. Reply Jonny Dead December 18, 2012 @ 12:20 pm Haha and I wouldn’t blame you. I’ll consider it a guilty pleasure of mine. Mike December 18, 2012 @ 12:22 pm I have plenty of bad films I go back to as well. Maybe bad is the wrong word, but I think you get it. Jonny Dead December 18, 2012 @ 12:53 pm I definitely get it. Ain’t that what we’re all about after all?
Thanks Johnny, I appreciate the kind words. For me, and despite the appearance of both screen legends, I’ll likely not revisit this one any time soon.
Jonny Dead December 18, 2012 @ 12:20 pm Haha and I wouldn’t blame you. I’ll consider it a guilty pleasure of mine.
Haha and I wouldn’t blame you. I’ll consider it a guilty pleasure of mine.
Mike December 18, 2012 @ 12:22 pm I have plenty of bad films I go back to as well. Maybe bad is the wrong word, but I think you get it.
I have plenty of bad films I go back to as well. Maybe bad is the wrong word, but I think you get it.
Jonny Dead December 18, 2012 @ 12:53 pm I definitely get it. Ain’t that what we’re all about after all?
I definitely get it. Ain’t that what we’re all about after all?
Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )
You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )
You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )
Connecting to %s
Notify me of follow-up comments via email.
Notify me of new posts via email.
@ tinybadass it's a great story, enjoy 37 minutes ago
@ Doug_Tilley lists are dumb 38 minutes ago
@ Reverend_Scott how about cock pics? Here's a picture of my giant cock http://t.co/K6KXWJhf 40 minutes ago
I'm watching Kung Fu Hustle goo.gl/71Eng #GetGlue #KungFuHustle 53 minutes ago
#kungfuhustle or #killbill ? Hustle for me! 56 minutes ago
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Join 482 other followers
Kung Fu Superman (1975)
BBandBC Podcast EP16 – Superman’s Ghost Rider
Land of the Minotaur (1976)
She Freak (1967)
BBandBC Podcast EP15 – Merry ‘Black’ Christmas
The Pom Pom Girls (1976)
BBandBC Podcast EP14 – The Legend of Bigfoot
Sugar Hill (1974)
BBandBC Podcast EP12 – Happy Thankskilling
Dogs of Hell (1982)
100 Years of Horror
After Movie Diner
Aloha Mister Hand
Andy Sidaris Dot Com
Back on Line Back on Duty
Beardy Freak
Blood Sucking Geek
CheesyFlix.com
Cinema Schminema
Cinematic Shocks
Devour the Podcast
EL GORE
Evil Episodes
Exploding Helicopter
Grindstone Grindhouse
Hard Ticket to Home Video
Head in a Vice
Isaac' s Picture Conclusions
Let's Sneak Into the Drive-In
Parlor of Horror
Promote Horror
Schlock Treatment
Strictly Splatter.com
The B-Horror Blog
The Last Dragon
The Projection Booth
The Timothy Carey Experience
Tim's Film Reviews
Trash Film Guru
Wafu FM
Wide Weird World Of Cult Films
Written in Blood
Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.