MARK
OF THE DEVIL (1970)Director: Michael Armstrong
Blue Underground
MARK
OF THE DEVIL (1970)When
distributed in the U.S. in 1972 by Hallmark/American International, MARK OF THE
DEVIL was a huge smash, especially at well-attended drive-ins crammed with teenagers
seeking cheep thrills. You see, lucky patrons were bestowed "stomach distress
bags" that read, "This VOMIT BAG and the PRICE of one ADMISSION will
enable YOU to SEE... the first film rated V for violence." With an ad campaign
like this, the film became legendary and notorious, sometimes being double-billed
with Wes Craven's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. MARK OF THE DEVIL was one of the first
DVD releases from Anchor Bay in 1998, and now Blue Underground has unleashed a
new edition with a fresh transfer and more supplements than you could stick a
hot poker at!
Produced by former Jess Franco cohort Adrian Hoven (who actually helmed a few scenes, co-wrote it, and acts in it as well), and co-written and directed by English lad Michael Armstrong--whose previous assignment was Tigon's HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR--the film was produced in wake of the recent success of Michael Reeves' witch-hunting classic, THE CONQUEROR WORM (WITCHFINDER GENERAL). Taking place in Austria, 1700, the film commences with the exploits of Albino (played with repulsive gusto by Reggie Nalder), a sinister pervert who likes to accuse everyone and their grandmother of being a witch. Albino's authority is soon challenged as Christian (a very young Udo Kier who here resembles David Cassidy) comes to town to announce the arrival of his mentor, Lord Cumberland (Herbert Lom). Christian opposes Albino's methods, and one of the accused happens to be a beautiful, busty servant girl (Olivera Vuco), whom he falls madly in love with. Christian soon detects that Cumberland is a charlatan, torturing individuals for personal gain and raping women, despite the fact that he is sexually impotent.
MARK
OF THE DEVIL is a real hit or miss, as genre fans seem to either hate it or love
it. It does have enough going for it: great period costumes; authentic Austrian
landscapes, castles and houses; and a reliable ensemble cast that includes veterans
Lom and Nalder, as well as the lovable Herbert Fux as an executioner who mistreats
prisoners while snacking on chicken legs and making a marionette out of a bunny
rabbit. The scenes of torture are still quite unsettling. Victims are burnt at
the stake, pricked in the face or stomach, stretched on a rack, branded on the
foot, not to forget the infamous tearing out of Gaby Fuch's tongue. At times the
film is hard to take seriously as it seemingly exaggerates the excessiveness of
the European witch-hunts. For one thing, many of the sequences would fit right
into a Monty Python skit. If you know the way the British comedy troupe mocks
various historical events, you'll know exactly what I mean. Also, the dialog suffers
in bad dubbing. Even though it was filmed in English and Lom and Nalder dubbed
their own voices, the English language version offers lines like "Now a good
shampoo..." while someone is tarred and feathered (this is supposed to be
1700).
Blue Underground's new transfer presents a vast improvement over the old Anchor Bay one. Taken from the original film elements, the source material is in perfect shape and the picture is sharp with very bright colors and nice detail. Letterboxed at 1.78:1 and given anamorphic treatment, skin tones are also served better here. On the old transfer, they suffered an overexposed glow to them: no problem here, the image is terrific. The Dolby Digital mono sound (including the joyfully Germanic theme music that would fit right into a Rankin and Bass Christmas special) is nice and clear, presenting the post-synched English dialog, the unsettling soundtrack noises (fingers crunching, bodies being stretched, rattling chains, squeaky prison doors, Chinese water torture drops, etc.) all to great effect.
The
extras give us great insight into the film, and are more than anyone could have
asked for. There are four separate interview featurettes. Fear and Loathing
in Austria (7 minutes) features an interview with star Udo Kier, sitting in
a café and showing his sense of humor while he talks about the film and
his role in it. The Devil's Torturer (13 minutes) is an interview with
star Herbert Fux and is the best featurette of the bunch. Fux claims that when
he signed on, Michael Reeves was supposed to direct, and Fux was apparently a
big fan of his WITCHFINDER GENERAL. He discusses his character and the intenseness
of the film's torture scenes, and reveals a fun anecdote about one of the gory
effects he had to enact. Burn, Gaby, Burn! (7 minutes) is an interview
with star Gaby Fuchs who of course talks about her nude and torture scenes (exclaiming
that Hoven directed most of her scenes), and the infamous tongue-ripping--don't
worry, hers is still there as she sticks it out at the end of the interview! The
Devil's Assaulted (7 minutes) is an interview with star Ingeborg Shöner
who plays the beautiful heroine of the film, the wife of Adrian Hoven's character,
who is raped by Lord Cumberland. Shöner is the only one of the four who speaks
in English (the other three speak German with English subtitles), and although
she detests violence and horror, she seems enthralled by the film's popularity
and has a lot of nice things to say about Herbert Lom. These interview segments
are really well done, and you'll enjoy seeing your favorite MARK OF THE DEVIL
stars marveling at the gimmick barf bag!
A first-rate commentary with director Michael Armstrong is moderated by Jonathan Sothcott, which was originally conducted for the recent British Anchor Bay release. This was Armstrong's second film as a director, and he has a very clear recollection of the production and seems to have not seen eye to eye with Hoven (as Armstrong explains, the film was originally conceived as something like "The Witch-Hunter Dr. Dracula," but he thankfully changed that). The commentary stays on focus, with Sothcott asking good questions and making parallels to other genre films of the time, especially WITCHFINDER GENERAL, so the talk is very entertaining and very worthy of the film. Armstrong also discusses his original ending (which was shot and then reportedly had its negative destroyed by Hoven) which involved the dead coming back to life, and rare shots of this lost segment can be seen in the incredible, lengthy still gallery (which also features a ton of rare behind-the-scenes photos, poster art, etc.). Also included is a theatrical trailer and radio spots from the American release. Another excellent job by Blue Underground! (George R. Reis)