★ 4 / 10
A pretty drudgy effort from all concerned. Peter
CinemaSerf
A pretty drudgy effort from all concerned. Peter Cushing is the sinister baron living in a castle in Greece when young people start to go missing. A priest…
A pretty drudgy effort from all concerned. Peter Cushing is the sinister baron living in a castle in Greece when young people start to go missing. A priest (Donald Pleasance) is soon hot on the trail and together with Kostas Karagiorgis discovers a coven (?) of pagan minotaur worshippers. It is odd to see Cushing playing the baddie quite this blatantly, and perhaps if he featured a little more then the film would be better. Unfortunately, it's all just a bit too procedural - lots of screaming, a fair bit of rather gratuitous nudity, and lots of thick, gloopy, tomato sauce - without the style of a Hammer production to underpin it. Watchable, though, if you like the genre - and there is a cracker of a song at the end that really doesn't fit at all.
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★ 3 / 10
Father Ted - The Early Years.
Prichards12345
I never knew Ted Crilly was working as a Private Investigator in New York until I saw this film! Ted, called in by the local Greek Irish Priest (Donald…
I never knew Ted Crilly was working as a Private Investigator in New York until I saw this film! Ted, called in by the local Greek Irish Priest (Donald Pleasance) who suspects a series of disappearences are down to a Minoan Death Cult (you find a lot of them about) soon brings over his girlfriend with him to investigate, who shall be formally known as Bird With No Acting Ability from here on in.
Ted's investigative skills are a bit crap: in fact he has trouble at least once opening a door the correct way (pull it out, mate, not in!). His dismisses Donald's theory of Devil cultists with ease, and flies out 5000 miles to tell him so face-to-face. Perhaps he borrowed Father Dougal McGuire's brain.
When it comes to action, Ted's fighting skills can best be described as 'Round House," or, in other words, they couldn't afford a stunt co-ordinator on this movie, The film crew somehow manage to make Greece look horrible. I shudder to think what they would have done with Watford on a wet afternoon.
There is a bit of narrative interest, for a while, before you start to riff on the movie. The Calor-Gas blasts out of a really poor Minotaur statue on regular intervals, which gives orders to cult leader Peter Cushing such as "All who enter the forbidden cave must die." Might be a good idea to stop bringing them there, then, including Bird With No Acting Ability.
Poor Mr. Cushing. He dons a red outfit that wouldn't have looked out of place on one of the ABBA ladies, and his cult are similiary attired in 70s Glam-rock Klan outfits.
At the end, Donald's priest turns out to have Indiana Jones level climbing skills, and he leaves Ted to take on the cultists at ground level - with predicatable results. Ted is soon tied to the sacrificial stones with his mates. But Donnie P saves the day by chuckjng holy water around like Arnold Swarzenegger, causing everyone, including Cushing, to explode. Christian symbols work well on Minoan Death Cults. For some reason.
Still, I hope Peter and Donald had a nice holiday out of it, and Father Ted survives to occupy Craggy Island...
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4%
AUDIENCE
· 50 ratings
4.3/10
2.2K
•••
It's a goofy, groovy mess of a lightweight gothic horror film (with Donald Pleasance and Peter Cushing doing their level best to keep from cracking up), but the blu-ray restoration is honestly kind of remarkable--very sharp images, nice colors, everything really shows off the Greek landscape and some creative camera work. You'd think the electro soundtrack from Brian Eno wouldn't fit at all, but it creates a strange, pulsing moody atmosphere that works. Not a masterpiece by a long shot, but definitely entertaining if you're into mid-70s schlock that takes itself too seriously.