WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Thehibikiew Not even bad in a good way

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

tomgillespie2002 Michael Reeves' horror classic Witchfinder General made an impressive turnaround at the box-office in spite of its modest budget. Following the witch-hunting exploits of Matthew Hopkins in 17th century England, the movie was disturbing, gruesome, and neatly disguised as a history lesson in an attempt to dodge the censors. The success of Witchfinder naturally led to more witch-trial horror films, most famously being Ken Russell's The Devils, although he denies he was inspired by a film he called "nauseous." It was a big hit in Germany, and their own stab at the folk horror sub-genre came in the form of Michael Armstrong's Mark of the Devil. Using clever marketing (posters warned of a V for Violence certificate and theatres handed out vomit bags to the audience), it was a runaway success, although it has spent the past few decades caught up in the video nasty storm and hacked to pieces in the editing room.In a small town in early 18th-century Austria, residents are routinely treated to public executions of those accused of dabbling in the dark arts. In charge of finding the witches hiding in their midst and torturing them to confess is Albino (Reggie Nalder), an ugly man who accuses any unfortunate young woman who spurns his advances of performing witchcraft. Albino enjoys and abuses his position of power, until the dashing Count Christian von Meruh (Udo Kier) arrives in town, quickly catching the eye of beautiful, buxom barmaid Vanessa (Olivera Katarina). He is there to announce that famed and highly-respected witch hunger Lord Cumberland (Herbert Lom) will soon be joining him to put an end to the folly carried out by Albino and his cronies. But when Vanessa stands accused of false charges of baring the 'mark of the devil', the Count starts to question his master's methods and motivations, as well as that of the Church.Mark of the Devil is one of those few horror movies that actually lives up to its reputation. While it certainly isn't the most horrifying film ever made and won't upset your stomach (as the poster claims), it revels in the many scenes of torture and death. Joints are ripped from sockets, digits are squashed, a tongue is removed, and many are burned alive, and almost every torture device imaginable is employed. These scenes initially have the desired effect, but the narrative quickly falls into a repetitive cycle of violence and badly handled love scenes between the Count and Vanessa frolicking on the grass, made all the worse by some atrocious dubbing. It does make a legitimate point however, and points a finger at the hypocrisy of an institution who torture and murder 'by the book' while looking down on the likes of Albino for doing the same for sexual gratification. It would be difficult to admit to 'liking' Mark of the Devil, but it sits as one of the more intriguing entries into the short-lived sub-genre.

ferbs54 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....

Witchfinder General 666 "Mark Of The Devil" of 1970 must be one of the most gruesome and disturbing exploitation efforts ever brought to screen. I watch lots of ultra-violent Horror/Exploitation films, and I can assure that even trained fans of gruesome cinema will have a hard time watching this at times. But while the film is incomparably gruesome and not easy to stomach, it is definitely not pointless. Sure, when it was released, "Mark Of The Devil" was mainly advertised by its gruesome reputation. The film bears the notorious aka. title "Hexen Bis Aufs Blut Gequält" ("Witches tortured to the blood"), and when it was released in theaters, barf bags were handed to the audience. What is sometimes labeled as (and was marketed as) pure sadistic Exploitation cinema is actually a disturbing and very realistic portrayal of the insanity and horrors of a dark and horrible period, when innocent people were persecuted, tortured and heinously executed due to the absurd and obsessive belief in witchcraft. The film was probably mainly made to cash in on Michael Reeves' masterpiece "Witchfinder General" of 1968 (starring Vincent Price!), and even though it does not reach the brilliance of this British Horror milestone, "Mark Of The Devil" is an essential exploitation classic itself. The film is indeed repulsive, and unpleasant to watch. But how could a realistic film about witch-hunts not be? It is uncompromising, and gruesome like hardly another, and the violence is always shown in an extremely disturbing and unpleasant manner. Even people who are used to watching violent films will have a hard time watching this at times. The film contains horribly scenes of torture in shockingly explicit detail, but this is how witch-trials took place. I can understand people who dislike films of the kind, and do not want to watch film, but the violence in this film is anything but superfluous. It is shocking and disturbing, yes, but not certainly not pointless.The film's gruesome nature aside, "Mark Of The Devil" easily surpasses most low-budget early 70s exploitation efforts in quality. The performances, for example are way above 70s exploitation standards. Especially the great Herbert Lom is excellent and incredibly evil in the role of Lord Cumberland, the merciless witch-hunter who, in order to gratify his own greed and perversions, tortures and burns innocent women in the name of God. Reggie Nalder, one of the ugliest and weirdest-looking actors ever, is equally repulsive in another villainous role, and Udo Kier, positively Germany's most sinister actor alive since Kinski passed away, delivers a very good performance in one of his early roles as a follower of Cumberland, who begins to doubt the justice in his mentor's actions. The recently deceased Austrian actor Herbert Fux has the role of the executioner, a role that fits him very well. Beautiful Olivera Vuco also makes a nice female lead. The female cast members are entirely beautiful, but that is impossible to enjoy regarding the atrocious cruelty. The settings are excellent, and the score is very good, especially Cumberland's theme is great and contributes a lot to his evil appearance."Mark Of The Devil" is a film that should be definitely avoided by those who are easily offended. The film is extremely gruesome and incomparably shocking in its depiction of atrocities, but, as mentioned above, the acts of violence may be incredibly disturbing, but they are not pointless. The claim that it is based on real documents from witch-trials is probably fictitious, but the film still does a great effort to deliver a disturbing portrayal of the madness of a gruesome time. This film is not for everyone, but to lovers of exploitation cinema and cineastes with a strong stomach, it is a must-see.

Scarecrow-88 Herbert Lom is truly terrifying as hypocritical witch-finder Lord Cumberland who secretly rapes and humiliates women(..this is only shown once, but elaborated on by a local witch-finder he murders when his impotency is thrown in his face, damaging his ego), although he isn't quite adequate enough to finish his despicable deeds due to his impotency. He hides behind his stature as a magistrate towards dishing out punishment, through his "soldiers of God", with a menace brooding underneath the surface..through Lom's powerful presence, you can see the cold eyes of evil brimming to the camera lens. Udo Kier is his equal as his student, Christian, a young man who looks at Cumberland as a fatherly mentor whose ways are just. Their relationship becomes strained and complicated when Cumberland begins to torture innocent people convicted of crimes they did not commit, because of embarrassment due to his men's negligence. Christian has also fallen in love with a village waitress named Vanessa(Olivera Vuco), a voluptuous commoner convicted of witchcraft by the local sadist Albino(Reggie Nalder), for whom she wouldn't put out to. Albino takes offense to Cumberland's entering his region taking over as the head witch-finder, and soon their butting heads leads to his death. Christian sees the murder and his relationship with Cumberland deteriorates, especially when an aristocratic couple, and their son & daughter are arrested for witchcraft for merely having puppet plays for the village children, saying that the wooden toys were being given voices from the Devil. Soon Christian will mutiny against his master, releasing Vanessa who will, in turn, cause a revolt urging the people to stop the unnecessary torture haunting their village.Using the name of God, to exact torturous methods of cruel violence towards innocents, using labels such as "witch" and "sorcerer" is the heart of this depicting of events from a horrifying period of history. We get all the ugly details particularly when one woman is stretched, burning, and whipped as those torturing her seek a false confession admitting to the preposterous accusation of having been impregnated with Satan's child(..her claiming accurately that a Bishop molested her causing a pregnancy for which she aborted). When she doesn't admit to what they desire, her tongue is pulled out as blood pours profusely from her mouth. A very wealthy prince is gruesomely run through the ringer as the church wishes for him to hand over his inheritance to them. We also see what they do to him seeking to "release the demons from his body"..all he has to do is sign over what is rightfully his to the church and be freed from the supposed evil plaguing his being. They lock his feet while having the poor young man sitting on spikes. He's sliced and burned on the ass as well. We get plenty of sadistic insights into their notorious ways of tormenting people hoping, they say, to cleanse their souls."Disturbing" or "unpleasant", perhaps even "nauseating" fits the bill when describing this film..at any rate, the film creates an unflinching view of how witch-finders and their soldiers of torture mutilated and maimed their suspects. While I can not really call it entertaining, unless you find pleasure in seeing people tortured endlessly and gratuitously, I certainly found it enlightening. Lom deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Vincent Price when we talk about performances as witch-finders. Their cold and calculating approach in how they do their jobs, without remorse, is chilling. Powerful and seems realistic enough. Grim and tragic ending to quite a terrifying chapter in a barbaric, simple-minded period of man's existence.