Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World.
'Why don't you stick to your own job and stop telling me how to do mine.'
Even if they’re in inferior films, it’s always a pleasure to see a pair of horror icons face off.
and Land of the Minotaur has...
Donald Pleasance and...
Peter Cushing.
‘Are you a real baron?’
Is he a real baron?
‘I am Baron Corofax’
The film seems to draw on the Blind Dead series with a hint of the Wickerman,
and the Exorcist on holiday in Greece.
'There’s something terrible going on here’
With the help of Pleasance’s father Roche, 2 archaeology students make an amazing discovery on a Greek island .
‘A secret entrance’
Hidden from generations of archaeologists by this thin layer of leaf mould.
But inside...
‘Those who enter the forbidden chamber of the minotaur must die’
Their female companion, who had other stuff to do...
‘Don’t do that, who’ll do the cooking?’
also vanishes shortly after.
And another student turns up to look for the 1st three.
'Taxi!'
Which is probably where the film should have started.
Now Father Roche feels he needs more help and it’s back to the airport.
Okay, has everyone taking part in the story got here?
'I’m just a simple private detective’
No idea why Roche called this guy as the priest is convinced this is supernatural.
‘Everything required for the well-equipped devil hunter, eh?’
and detective Milo isn’t...
‘Thank God it's you.'
'Who did you think it was? Old Nick?’
Now Peter Cushing’s chauffeur comes to get them.
‘Get in – please’
and off they go, leaving the girl, Laurie who doesn’t even know they’ve gone.
‘We’ll wait for you downstairs’
But I’m sure she’ll be safe, just cos everyone has been attacked doesn’t mean…
Later in the film they leave her again and…
It’s almost as if abandoning someone defenceless is a bad idea.
‘I don’t want to insult you father’
Okay, let’s hit some basics, firstly; being kidnapped by a Minotaur is not being kidnapped...
‘By Satan, Mephistopheles, Lucifer’
That’s cultural appropriation. Secondly, the Minotaur has one goal
‘Father Roche must die’
What’s stopping him?
‘I believe the devil has taken possession of this village’
He’s right, the entire population is in thrall to the minotaur.
‘And where the devil did the whole village disappear to?’
So why not just kill him?
Peter Cushing has him at gunpoint and it’s not like anyone’s going to tell the police on their cult leader.
‘I could cut you in half with this and everyone would swear it was self-defence’
doesn’t pull the trigger.
The only real attempt is this...
But as the car speeds away.
'You lousy son of a b...'
He’s still alive. Surely the cultists hold all the cards.
Except…
Nice to see Peter Cushing on the other side of a cross for once, but… this is all it took.
And take a look at the effect of holy water…
That’s it, that’s the big conclusion. He splashed them.
Why not do that earlier? Like before these two got sacrificed.
Land of the minotaur is an odd film.
‘Odd?’
Calling in Milo to help makes no sense at all and yet at the end
‘Maybe I’ll need your help again’
What help? He’s done nothing.
But the main issue remains Father Roche...
‘You’re probably right about one thing’
At the start he tells the students where to find the hidden tomb.
‘I should never have told them the thing existed’
Even though he knows previous visitors have died.
‘If those children have disappeared it won’t be the first time it’s happened in your village sergeant’
Even though he knows about the minotaur,
even though he could so easily have said,
‘if you don’t mind holding off a day or so I just need to pop down there with a supersoaker full of holy water, then it’s all yours’
‘It’s as if you haven’t understood a word I said’
Of course it’s good to see Cushing and Pleasance face off
‘This isn’t the last time we’ll meet’
But maybe stick with The Flesh and the Fiends.
'Excellent, I'll give you 7 guineas'
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land of the minor tour takes a Greek myth and
Appropriates it to a Christian context what other films take the myths of one culture and use them to serve stories from another
Let us know in the comments below