Review of Mark of the Devil

The wicked Lord Cumberland (splendidly played with venomous aplomb by Herbert Lom) tortures and murders various hapless folks who have been accused of witchcraft in 18th century Austria. The vicious Albino (the strikingly ugly Reggie Nalder in peak nasty form), naive young pupil Count Christian von Meruh (a solid performance by a really young Udo Kier), and sadistic executioner Jeff Wilkens (a perfectly hateful Herbert Fux) assist Cumberland in his savage crusade. Director Michael Armstrong presents the bleak story in a grimly serious and straightforward manner, creating a glum, hopeless and despairing humorless tone which in turn makes the plentiful foul and disgusting violence displayed herein that much more horrific and disturbing. Moreover, Armstrong certainly doesn't flinch from pouring on the nauseating brutality with shocking ferocity: women are burned at the stake, tongues are torn out by the roots, people are repeatedly stabbed, a nude man gets placed on a chair made out of spikes, and one unfortunate guy is subjected to agonizingly prolonged water torture. Poor Michael Maien as Baron Daumer in particular gets severely mistreated by his cruel tormentors. Among the lovely young ladies who are grossly manhandled are Olivera Vuco as fiery peasant girl Vanessa Benedikt, Gaby Fuchs as beautiful blonde Deirdre, and Ingeborg Shoner as the luscious nobleman's wife. Worse yet, all this ghastly depravity has a depressing basis in historical fact. Both Michael Holm's lush, melodic score and Ernst W. Kalinke's pretty, polished cinematography serve as sharply ironic contrasts to the incessant parade of horrendous on-screen atrocities. For all the admitted vile sensationalism, this picture does offer a scathing indictment of the hypocrisy and debauchery committed by evil men doing God's work in a time when fear and superstition were the repressive norms. A harsh and unsparingly revolting ordeal of a film that definitely lives up to its notoriously sick reputation.