MarkoftheDevil

Mark of the Devil (1970)

This is one of those movies that has always fascinated me and managed to elude me. When I finally saw that Blue Underground had put it out on DVD it went to the top of my wish list. Mark of the Devil shows the terror that innocent people were put thru by the witch hunters and how the hunters abused their power. You have an older hunter named Lord Cumberland (Herbert Lom) and the young man he is mentoring Christian von Meruh (Udo Kier). As the story unfolds we see Christian fall in love with an accused witch and become more disillusioned by the minute as he sees Lord Cumberland abuse his position and the innocents he arrests. In the end Christian tries to set free the unjustly accused and set things right. Unfortunately his change of heart comes far too late to do much good.

To be honest I was disappointed a bit in this movie. The plot is really thin and only exists to setup the torture scenes, which come one after the other. Though I have a hard time faulting the movie for it’s weak plot because it is advertised to be all about the torture scenes and delivers. They are very well staged and gruesome, even by today’s standards. If you think about it that is pretty damn impressive for a movie that is nearly forty years old! I guess maybe with the whole so-called torture porn cycle that we have just gone thru in the horror genre that I’m just burned out on movies like this. Now I have way more respect for Mark of the Devil than I do the latest incarnations of the genre. But this really is nothing more than a series of set pieces with a weak witch hunter storyline connecting them. One of the things that I did love about the movie was the cast. I’ve always been a fan of Herbert Lom, who is excellent here in the role as Lord Cumberland. Also can anyone do creepy better than Udo Kier? I don’t think so, which is probably why he is so good as Christian, the witch hunter who grows a conscious. Heck I even think that all the supporting actors do a wonderful job and in the case of some (Reggie Nalder as Albino for example) look the part.

When it comes to the special effects this movie really blew me away. I always try and keep in mind the era a movie was made in when I judge something like special effects, because it isn’t fair to judge old movies by today’s technical standards. Even with that caveat Mark of the Devil has several effects that hold up very well. The hot iron to the foot is simple, but executed perfectly. Also the iconic tongue scene is just as good as anything you will see in a movie today. The best part is that all of these effects are practical, which of course I’m a big fan of. I can only imagine how an audience in the early 70s reacted to such a brutal and nasty movie.

Before I finish I did want to talk a bit about the special features on the Blue Underground DVD that I’m reviewing. There are four short interviews ranging in length from 7 to 13 minutes. The first is with Udo Kier, who I honestly think is an arrogant creep. Nothing about the interview here changes my mind on that point. There is also one with Herbert Fux that is all right, but nothing special. The best two are with Gaby Fuchs of tongue pulling fame and Ingeborg Schöner, two of the female victims in the movie. They have the best stories and are the most interesting interviews.

While I didn’t love Mark of the Devil I have a lot of respect for a movie that delivers what it promises. Plus the special effects are amazing for a movie from the early 70s. It boggles my mind that this movie isn’t better known in the States. If you dig European cinema of the early 70s then this one has to be at least a rental. Check out Blue Underground’s website at http://www.blue-underground.com/ for more information on this DVD.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer