Mark of the Devil is a movie that's reputation precedes it. I'd always had it on my radar due to its inclusion on the UK's Video Nasties list as well as some shrewd marketing by the flick's North American distributors calling it "the first film rated 'V' for violence" and handing out barf bags to the audience. I've always been pretty fascinated by the witch trials of the 16th century which is why it's surprising that I hadn't checked this out until the Arrow Video release hit my doorstep.

You pretty much know what you're in for when the opening credits contain an attack on a priest and some nuns that alludes to rape and has our man of the cloth being tarred and feathered in the town square before behind chased down by manic residents as well as one of the nun's being burnt at the stake. So, yeah, pretty pleasant stuff.

Under the rule of the incredibly brutal and ugly-as-sin Albino (Reggie Nadler) this small Austrian village takes their accusations and punishment of witches seriously. So seriously, in fact, that the monarchy has seen fit to send in Count Christian von Meruh (Udo Kier) to prepare them for the impending visit of Lord Cumberland (Herbert Lom). At first Christian is loyal to the church and its beliefs but after witnessing the plentiful torture, falling for the cleavage baring barmaid Vanessa (Olivera Vuco) that leads to a bizarrely out-of-place montage of them romping around while plenty of "la la's" play on the soundtrack, and seeing the studious Cumberland using the Bible as an excuse to accuse townsfolk of partaking in witchcraft he begins to question things. This leads to conflict between Christian, Albino (who isn't pleased his authority has been questioned), and Cumberland leading to a finale that tries for some large scale action only to be hindered by the films lower budget.

After I made my way through the somewhat dull first half-hour or so and was able to ignore the weak dubbing, Mark of the Devil actually becomes quite watchable. It's not going to help educate you about the witch trials due to its abundant level of sleaze (there's lots of whip lashings and some nastiness involving a tongue) and there's almost too much ham-fisted drama but damned if it didn't eventually win me over. There's also a moment set at a children's puppet show that was way more serious and thought provoking than I expected from this. I found that director Michael Armstrong throws in a lot of interesting, visually pleasing stylized choices (during the eye stabbing as well as spinning the camera wildly during a rape scene) and think his original ending that wasn't used - where Christian is dragged down in a graveyard by the undead - sounded cool, but I've also read he didn't quite deliver enough on the exploitation side of things causing producer Adrien Hoven (a veteran actor who appeared in lots of Jess Franco flicks and also has a minor role as a nobleman) to film more extreme scenes. Hoven would go on to helm the 1973 sequel which is apparently sleazier than this - and generally considered to be awful.

I'm so used to Kier, with his brilliant blue eyes and generally tough visage, playing villainous characters that it was surprising to see him in the conscientious hero role. This marks one of his earlier film roles and he handles it well making it easy to see how he's still working (be it on mostly B-movies) to this day. However, he's overshadowed by a couple of his co-stars as the commanding Lom (Spartacus, The Dead Zone) hits a fine balance between being a scholarly judge-type to outright lunatic and Nadler who not only has a memorable visage but also gives his all as the petulant Albino. They offer three solid performances in what is essentially a historically inaccurate wannabe period piece.

I'm really hesitant to call Mark of the Devil a horror movie. Sure, there are a lot of bloody torture moments and the whole witch angle is topical and fits the genre but I found it to surprisingly focus on the human conflict more than I was expecting. Which does make it an interesting effort and certainly worth seeing at least once. (Chris Hartley, 4/15/15)

Directed By: Michael Armstrong.
Written By: Sergio Casstner (Armstrong), Percy Parker (Adrien Hoven).

Starring: Herbert Lom, Olivera Vuco, Udo Kier, Herbert Fux.

Picture Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: I can't judge the 1080p transfer as we only received the DVD version but what's on display here looked really good for a flick that's 45 years old. Arrow usually delivers quality in this area.

Extras: There's the cool new box art to look at (it's reversable) and a booklet included but they've also gathered together way more material than the movie possibly deserves. Director Armstrong provides a commentary track moderated by Calum Waddell, there's a full-length documentary of the flick's production company, Fangoria's Michael Gingold looks at Hallmark Releasing who handled the North American release, there's a handful of old school interviews with cast and crew, a featurette on the film's locations, outtakes, a trailer, and (finally) an image gallery.

Let's just say that if you're a Mark of the Devil fan, Arrow delivers.