Ah, the good old days, when men were men, and women were witches. Mark of the Devil takes place in Germany during the time of the Inquisition, when as many as eight million people were killed as heretics, in order to save their souls. Of course the dearly departed usually had land which was then taken by the church for practical reasons. Cumberland(Herbert Lom) is the chief inquisitor, and his ambitious assistant, Christian(perfect name), travel throughout the land, picking out nubile girls for torture on the rack, and other imaginative entertainment, such as brandings and burning at the stake. Being a man of the flesh causes Cumberland to lust after Vanessa, a beautiful peasant girl he meets on his journey. She is stamped with Satan's mark and attempts to run away from the lunatics in charge. Grade B is an accurate description of Mark, and I kept waiting for Vincent Price to appear. Lom is sufficiently nasty enough to keep the movie interesting enough to watch to the end.

We find ourselves in a fictional European country where the people's names are a mix of German or English but which is obviously countryside of Austria. The witch-madness is at its height; people are being arrested, tortured and killed for the most flimsy reason, like having the suspicious birthmarks or being puppeteers. Young nobleman Christian von Meruh (Udo Kier), foster son and apprentice of the local witch hunter Lord Cumberland, is a dedicated follower in the fight against witchcraft but upon falling in love with a fiery inn maid, he begins to question the sincerity of his tutor. Cumberland seems reasonably and benevolent at first but soon enough reveals himself as bigot and, plagued by his impotence, a sadistic pervert.Let's face it: the film is exploitation in its purest form. We're talking hardcore torture, disembowelment, tongue-tearing, amputation of limbs from little toe to head and a lot of beating, whipping and burning. However, it's very tasteful exploitation and doesn't have to shy the comparison to Michael Reeves groundbreaking "Witchfinder General", upon which heel this was filmed. Similar to cult horror-film "Cannibal Holocaust", the soundtrack plays a key role; atmospheric but, in stark contrast to the violence, beautiful and similarly unforgettable as Riz Ortolani's haunting score. .About the cast: no broomstick-riding hags with warts on their noses, actually, all the witches are remarkably pretty. As protagonist, Udo Kier isn't yet at the prime of his skills and, for the sake of argument, seems miscast as a young witch finder-apprentice. Herbert Lom, a master of his trade, plays the villain; he manages to appear very father-like, even trustable until revealed as the symbolizing the hypocrisy and corruption of this era. Olivia Vuco (Olivera Katarina) shines in her role of love-interest and very fiery damsel in distress; unfortunately it would remain her only starring role in Western European cinema. Perfectly cast: character actors Herbert Fux as torturer (never was a role cast more aptly), German trash legend Johannes Buzalski (or "Count Porno" as he's known by his fans) as treacherous advocate and the excellent Reggie Nalder, who's unique facial features would have him cast forever as a villains villain. American's might know him best as vampire Mr. Barlow in the first TV-adoption of "Salem's Lot".Is it as good as "Witchfinder General"? No, it cannot quiet conjure up the same cold, dark atmosphere, it didn't have a brilliant director like Michael Reeves (although it can be felt that director Michael Armstrong was familiar with Reeves style and methods) and was much more geared toward fans of hard exploitation flicks. Yes, you'll have to have a certain morbid taste for medieval torture but don't expect some cheap smorgasbord of blood and gore, like you would expect from contemporary films like "Saw" or "Hostel". "Mark of the Devil" stands far above that sleaze and, within its own subgenre, is only matched by Michael Reeves masterwork.

When I recently took my trip to Romania for Halloween, I noticed a lot of weird things, nothing of the supernatural sort but odd. One that stuck in my mind was the distraught face of a woman who missed a local tour bus as it was j u s t taking off. I understand that feeling well, and what stuck in my mind is how fast the woman ran but still missed. Perhaps had she not carried so much luggage she would have made it.1970's 'The Mark of the Devil' is like that, it reaches far but just misses. One of the many sleazy witch-burning films that sprang up in the wake of Michael Reeves's swansong 'The Witchfinder General', 'Mark' surprisingly has lot going for it than most of the other rip-offs. It's certainly not the classic that a few have made it out to be, but it's also not as shamelessly bad as some reviewers have said(it IS pretty shameless though, with one of the worst musical scores of all time).In 16th century Austria a busty tavern wench named Vanessa(Olivera Katarina)resists the advances of disgusting wench--I mean witch hunter Albino(Reggie Nalder)and summarily finds herself accused of witchcraft. Thankfully one of the witch hunters, Christian(Udo Kier, who really puts the pretty in pretty boy)has some compassion for her, and unlike Albino actually genuinely believes in what he is doing and is not in it for the profit, but it complicates matters that he DOES suspect her of witchcraft. This causes an obviously budding romance between them to develop much more slowly, and much more realistically than in other films. Things are further complicated when renowned witch-hunter Count Cumberland(Herbert Lom)arrives in town after hearing allegations of Albino's corruption. Will he be our young couples Saviour? Or will he be even worse?At first, the distant but apparently kindly Cumberland seems as far from Vincent Price's Matthew Hopkins as you can get. He lets several people go free and it's clear that Christian respects him and sees him as a father figure, and the feeling is mutual. We get the feeling that Cumberland is just a misguided but noble man and that he can eventually be swayed to see the light just as Christian was and that he will emerge as the hero of the piece.That is until it becomes clear that Cumberland is bat sh*t insane and even more dangerous than Albino at his worst. Our young couple is screwed.Herbert Lom gives what is possibly his greatest performance as Cumberland. This apparently kindly but pigheaded man's gradual revelation as a completely irredeemable and evil monster is genuinely horrifying. It may be one of the best portrayals of understated evil ever portrayed on the screen. Even the hardened murderer and rapist Albino cannot compare to Cumberland's madness. He recognizes Cumberland for what he is and is soon snuffed out. He may be a rapist, murderer and all-around sleaze bag, but at least he admits it to himself. Nalder is a sickening joy to watch in his scenes with Lom. Udo Kier is a bit stiff as Christian, but his gradual transformation from a deluded but honest man to a freedom fighter as he realizes his mentor is mad is excellent. The fact that his years of friendship means nothing to Cumberland, as well as his futile attempts at redemption as he realizes that he is just as responsible for the executions as anyone else is brilliantly portrayed. It's a harrowing portrait of a man forced to compromise his beliefs as everything he knows comes crashing down. It's a compelling contrast to 'Witchfinder' where the film's likable, level-headed hero Marshall; starts out as a noble freedom fighter and gradually compromises his morals until he becomes every bit as bad as his nemesis and no longer can relate to his friends and loved ones. Here, the hero starts out identifying with the villain before compromising his BAD morals and reforming, but whereas in 'Witchfinder' our hero lives to become corrupted, here he dies to reform(he's not named 'Christ' for nothing). Olivera Katarina is also great as Vanessa. In some ways she too is similar to Marshall, her blind quest for vengeance against Cumberland is what causes the death of her lover, until she too has a led a mad 'witchhunt' which has mostly harmed the innocent and destroyed any chance at happiness she had.So what keeps 'Mark' from becoming a classic? Well, the film has plenty of problems, from an unbearable, unfitting, awful musical score that will cause you to want to harm small animals and children, to awful dialog, to cinematography which ranges from laughably amateurish to Oscar-worthy(sometimes in the same scene!)but what ultimately kills it is it's attitude. The film is attempting to be a sensitive, intelligent historical epic but feels more like a sleazy exploitation film(probably because it IS a sleazy exploitation film). The T & A shots are gratuitous, there are several lame attempts at humor and the films marketing campaign made it clear that the film's primary objective was shocking people, as the film was rated 'V for Violence' by the filmmakers, and marketed with 'Free barf bags!!', making it clear the gore scenes were meant to be the centerpiece. So much for art.(Did I mention that the score sucked too?)With better direction, a more mature approach and a better score this could have been a genuine classic. But it JUST misses. Still, compared to the other 'Witchfinder' rip-offs, it certainly could have been worse.~

I hadn't seen the British/German coproduction "Mark of the Devil" since its initial release in 1970, and could only recall one image from this now infamously violent film: an accused blonde witch having her tongue slowly pulled out. For us kids back then, this was enough to guarantee the picture an enduring rep. Having just watched the film again, almost 40 years later, I am now stunned that we kids were allowed to watch this movie in 1970 at all, featuring as it does not just that legendary tongue yank, but also whippings, burnings, a tar & feathering, thumbscrews, beatings, Chinese water torture, skewers, branding, a spiked chair, beheadings, an eyeball impalement, stretchings on the rack, and several rape sequences, all in fairly realistic detail, and all carried out in the name of the Church in the furtherance of exposing disciples of Satan. (No wonder free barf bags were famously given to all the film's theatre patrons back when!) Today, these exploitative shock elements strike me as being somewhat of a distasteful necessity, as the filmmakers are purportedly endeavoring to expose the cruelties of the age. Taking place in an unnamed locale in what seems to be the early 18th century, "Mark of the Devil" has lots more going for the adult horror fan than just these scenes of gruesome torture. Herbert Lom is quite excellent as Lord Cumberland, the impotent chief witch-hunter (the viewer must gather that if Viagra had been available 300 years ago, many hundreds of women might have been spared!), baby-faced Udo Kier very fine as his apprentice, and Olivera Vuco extremely sensuous as Vanessa, an accused hotty. The picture has been beautifully shot and handsomely produced and, perhaps best of all, features a gorgeous score by Michael Holm that will likely be running through your head for days afterward. This lovely melody is all the more striking, given the ugliness so often shown on screen. A nasty piece of Euro horror, to be sure, and most certainly not for the kiddies, the film is superbly presented here on this great-looking DVD from Blue Underground, loaded with so many extras as to make your tongue hang out....