A free translation for "Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält" would be something like - witches bloodily tortured. The English title "Mark of the devil" is much weaker and lead us to believe that we will see another traditional film about witches and inquisition.
But "Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält" offers something more - it's a hybrid - a mixture of exploitation and historical film. It's based loosely on real facts. The action takes place in the 18th century Austria and describes the proceedings of the inquisition. This film is much stronger than "Witchfinder General".
"The Witchfinder General" is a good film (it features Vincent Price, as the witchfinder), but it's completely predictable. We know from the beginning that eventually the good will defeat the bad, and love will, of course, prevail. On the other hand "Hexen..." tries to show the terror spread by the inquisition witchfinders at the time, and their abuse of power - they don't hesitate in using all means possible to achieve their private goals (all in the name of God) - rape, torture and murder are used for satisfying their lust and enriching themselves and the Church. The torture scenes are shown in detail - burning, stretching, bleeding, crushing, ripping out of body parts (for instance, tongues). But don't let me mislead you, the torture scenes in "Mark of the Devil" are tame by today's standards (if you compare them with what some films made in Hong Kong, Japan or elsewhere show nowadays). Still some of these scenes are grizzly enough - The girl that is tortured, bled, and has her tongue ripped off and is finally delivered to the flames! Her muted face, after so many tortures, is already resigned to fate, her tied body is lowered down to the fire and the flames consume her body. All in the name of God!
"Mark of the Devil" is an exploitation film, so the girls tortured are all of them pretty and are shown (of course!) naked. By the way, men are also tortured in this film. Check out the water-drop torture! Still I would like to see a film that showed the inquisition in more depth. "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Poe proves that through imagination we can relive the horrors of the inquisition. One should try to get more inside the torturers and tortured, and show their fears, hopes - in short, their lives (inside and outside). But for this would be needed the powerful imagination of Poe or the erudition of Aldous Huxley (The Devils of Loudun).
Anyway "Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält" is a good offering and, in my opinion, better than the contemporary "Witchfinder General" (1968)that is OK but it's just a harmless entertainment, while "Hexen.." (Mark of the Devil) is more crude and less well-behaved, and leads you to think.
A sweet melody (that reminded me Riz Ortolani's one in "Cannibal Holocaust") appears and reappears constantly in this dark film. Curiously, it enhances the film. The sweet comments on the sour.
But "Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält" offers something more - it's a hybrid - a mixture of exploitation and historical film. It's based loosely on real facts. The action takes place in the 18th century Austria and describes the proceedings of the inquisition. This film is much stronger than "Witchfinder General".
"The Witchfinder General" is a good film (it features Vincent Price, as the witchfinder), but it's completely predictable. We know from the beginning that eventually the good will defeat the bad, and love will, of course, prevail. On the other hand "Hexen..." tries to show the terror spread by the inquisition witchfinders at the time, and their abuse of power - they don't hesitate in using all means possible to achieve their private goals (all in the name of God) - rape, torture and murder are used for satisfying their lust and enriching themselves and the Church. The torture scenes are shown in detail - burning, stretching, bleeding, crushing, ripping out of body parts (for instance, tongues). But don't let me mislead you, the torture scenes in "Mark of the Devil" are tame by today's standards (if you compare them with what some films made in Hong Kong, Japan or elsewhere show nowadays). Still some of these scenes are grizzly enough - The girl that is tortured, bled, and has her tongue ripped off and is finally delivered to the flames! Her muted face, after so many tortures, is already resigned to fate, her tied body is lowered down to the fire and the flames consume her body. All in the name of God!
"Mark of the Devil" is an exploitation film, so the girls tortured are all of them pretty and are shown (of course!) naked. By the way, men are also tortured in this film. Check out the water-drop torture! Still I would like to see a film that showed the inquisition in more depth. "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Poe proves that through imagination we can relive the horrors of the inquisition. One should try to get more inside the torturers and tortured, and show their fears, hopes - in short, their lives (inside and outside). But for this would be needed the powerful imagination of Poe or the erudition of Aldous Huxley (The Devils of Loudun).
Anyway "Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält" is a good offering and, in my opinion, better than the contemporary "Witchfinder General" (1968)that is OK but it's just a harmless entertainment, while "Hexen.." (Mark of the Devil) is more crude and less well-behaved, and leads you to think.
A sweet melody (that reminded me Riz Ortolani's one in "Cannibal Holocaust") appears and reappears constantly in this dark film. Curiously, it enhances the film. The sweet comments on the sour.