365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 180 - Double Feature: Mark Of The Devil

My parents were pretty liberal about what movies I was allowed to watch when I was a kid. Occasionally my mom would take out a copy of The Long island Catholic and tell me that a film I wanted to see was rated "morally objectionable" or even worse, the dreaded "condemned". But my mom is also the one that took me to see The French Connection when I was 11and allowed me to go see The Godfather when I was  13. But I know even my mother would not have tolerated me seeing Mark Of the Devil when I was just 10 years old.

The film proclaimed to be the most violent film ever made. They declared  themselves the first film rated "V" for violent. It advertised that no one would be admitted without a special barf bag. With that kind of marketing it's a film every red-blooded boy would want to see.

It was playing at the Pequa Theatre, in Massapequa and I went to see it with my two brothers. Unfortunately we were turned away at that box office because we were under age. Then out of the blue and older man in line told the ticket seller we were with him and we were allowed in.

To be honest, other than the incident at the ticket booth I really didn't remember anything else about the movie. I had vague recollections of witches being burned at the stake and someone having their tongue pulled out, but that was it. So screening it was like watching it for the first time.

It's a German film that has been over dubbed into English, so most of the voice and dialogue don't match up. It's stars Herbert Lom as a nobleman and witch hunter in Austria. His witch hunting apprentice was played by Udo Keir. The film also features Reggie Nalder (The Man Who Knew Too Much, Salem's Lot).

Set in Austria it tells the story of 18th century witch hunts. Women were tortured and burned at the stake for being witches. The film features very graphic torture scenes. Women are beaten, burned, racked, branded and in one gruesome scene a woman has her tongue removed for blaspheming against the church.

The movie takes everything seriously, while still being extremely exploitative. Realism is achieved by filming in the Bavarian countryside and using a real castle. Costume and period details, including the torture instruments are quite realistic. The film condemns the activities of witch hunters and shows them to be nothing more than rapists and thieves who hid behind the Church to steal and plunder.

The special effects and editing to depict the brutality are pretty good for their day, though none of it compares to the splatter porn that is popular in today's movies.

Mark Of The Devil is a relic from a time when extreme violence was still new to films. 

At The Movie House rating ** stars