Mark of the Devil (1970)

There are few words that can sum up this movie then to say that it is just simply mean. It is mean towards everyone and in that meanness the real villains get lost. Now there is almost nothing in this movie that will make modern audiences think twice but what will make some look away is how the torture and meanness is used. If there is a message it is one that we already know and could have been told with greater potency.

If your confused about what I’m even talking about and have never heard about this 1970 movie about witchcraft, and those out to stomp it out. So grab my hand and let’s go to a time that wasn’t too long ago in the grand scheme of time.

So let us back up some and let me tell you what this movie is about. We have our main character named Christian, he is a local witch hunter for a town and who follows his boss named Lord Cumberland. While he starts to believe in the cause and the church he slowly comes to see that his mentor is after power, money and lust. People are tortured in endless ways that really drive home the idea that the real purpose of the witch trials was not to find witches but to break people. Break them and take all that they have. Be it money, land or in the case of women, their bodies. People are whipped, bodies burned, limbs stretched and tongues cut off, all in the name of God.

The plot doesn’t really matter. People are accused of being witches, shit happens to them while claiming to be innocent and they die. Rinse and repeat. I’m not sure how historically accurate this movie is, but in a voice over at the start of the movie, we are told that millions will die at the hands of those looking for witches. That number seems kinda high. The end involves the townspeople tired of the shit going on and revolt, with Christian executed and lord Cumberland getting away. Which is a bit of a downer on an already depressing movie.

I do not have trouble with a lot of what happens in this movie but it all becomes mean because we just don’t get anything of substance beyond the idea that those who accused others of witchcraft typically did it for personal gains. Fine, we get it, but give us more. I kept waiting for something deeper but after 3/4 of the movie I knew it wasn’t coming. And maybe that’s my fault for expecting more from the 1970 west Germany But that next level could have taken this movie from exploitation to greatness.

If you like horror then it’s a must see, for everybody else it’s gonna be too much.