Devil's Men / Terror [Import]

Both movies ROCK!!! The Devil's Men is about a cult of evil doers who worship a Minotaur (a Satanistic statue). The leader of the cult is Peter Cushing. His arch nemesis is Donald Pleasence who plays a weary priest. Some greek guy aids Donald Pleasence against the evil doers who are on a mission to sacrifice the young swingers on a town. This movie is surprisingly cool. This is the first time this movie is available on dvd and after seeing it I was wondering why it took so long for an official albeit double feature release. It was made in 1977. A year before big D made one of the ultimate horror flicks of all time in Halloween. This movie was evenly paced and very interesting. I love Peter Cushing. He is the most polite villain ever all while cutting your jugular at the same time. The next movie is Terror. It was first released years ago on a double feature along with Satan's Slave. This movie is very awesome with really good kills and a fun knife through the foot scene. All the kills are good and it is a 70's slasher that was ahead of the 80's slasher onslaught. It is from 1978. Damn good movie if I do say so myself. This is about the cheapest Katarina/Scorpion release there is and these are probably the two best movies released by that company. So I say go for it. You definitely get your money's worth and a whole lot more.

Although there is little for bonus material, you get 2 decent movies and some fun hosting out of Katarina. These dvd's are really good and it is nice to see something like this come along. The extra care that is given to these releases makes them worth buying. Most really do offer you behind the scenes and interviews/commentaries (except when the cast is dead) they also offer uncut versions and clear picture, unlike some other bare bone releases by other horror hosts...

I will start by saying that, silly me, I confused "Devil's Men" with equally odd (if memory serves) "Incense for the Damned" aka "Bloodsuckers" also with Cushing. So that was one disapointment. The other is that, with the best will in the world, I cannot be as enthusiastic about these 2 films as some of my fellow reviewers. Take "Devil's Men" first...It is basically a Greek film with Greek Crew and "actors" with the weirdest performences from Cushing (who sadly looks so ill) and Pleasance (whose "Oirish" accent definitley comes and goes), both actors that I admire and like greatly, but even they cannot make anything of the script which is awful. The direction, by Costa Carayiannis, is virtually non exsistant so much so that I fast forwarded several times. It says "Uncut" proudly but I can't help wondering what the U/K censor would have wanted to cut. The dubbing is bad but I will say the print here isn't too bad. The greek scenery is lovely, the girls are pretty and the only other English actor Luan Peters tries hard. Cushing is good, and does his best as he always does, with what he is given, but the Greek actors are all bad including the "hero" who is as thick a hero as I have seen for a long time... TERRROR the 2nd film is directed by Brit Norman J Warren, and is, for my money, just about the better of the 2. Again poorly acted (Whois/was John Nolan?), but at least it has a bit of life and some surpringly well attempted shock/horror moments, but done on a small budget they don't work too well. The print here isn't bad but I suspect the original wasn't too hot. NOW Here's a thought. All reviews are obviously subjective and you will see I am kind of in the minority (Just), so, if you are horror fan and like to seek out the obscure...the price is good, it's a Double Bill, you have Katarina to look at (the intros aren't bad), so..Take the proverbial chance. You haven't much to lose, and you make think my opinions are rubbish...and who knows....