Hexen geschändet und zu Tode gequält (1973)

... aka: Le streghe nere (The Black Witch)
... aka: Mark of the Devil 2: Witches
... aka: Mark of the Devil Part II
... aka: Torture
... aka: Witches
... aka: Witches Violated and Tortured to Death

Directed by:
Adrian Hoven

Likely prompted by the success of the then-controversial Vincent Price vehicle WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968), a slew of witch hunt / witch torture movies followed. One of those was MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970), a West German production starring the likes of Herbert Lom, Reggie Nalder and a young Udo Kier. Thanks to a memorable ad campaign, which claimed it was "Rated V for Violence" and banned in numerous countries, plus a notorious handing-out-barf-bags-to-theater-patrons gimmick, the film became a huge success. Hoping to cash in on the notoriety of that film was Hexen geschändet und zu Tode gequält ("Witches Violated and Tortured to Death"). It brought back Nalder in a similar role, was also filmed in Austria, was directed by the original Mark's producer, co-writer and (reputedly self-imposed) co-star and co-director and was re-titled as a sequel for numerous markets. For its American theatrical release in 1974, posters used the tagline "Exorcism Be Damned!" in an attempt to cash in on the previous year's hit The Exorcist... never mind the fact there is no exorcism to see here. To whip up additional controversy, the trailers proudly (and erroneously) proclaimed that it was "Banned in 19 countries!" Other alternate titles included The Black Witch, Torture and, simply, Witches.

When Count von Salmenau (an unbilled Hoven) stumbles upon some witch hunters trying to drown a woman suspected of witchcraft in an icy lake, a fight ensues and several people end up dead. Among those killed is the Count himself when Natas (Nalder) throws a dagger into his back. Now widowed and with a small son to raise, Countess Elisabeth (Erika Blanc) vows revenge against the religious hypocrites responsible. Unfortunately for her, after she barges into court to spill the beans she finds herself on their personal hit list. Led by sanctimonious, completely self-serving Balthazar von Ross (Anton Diffring), who whips out bible verses when they're convenient, the witch hunters set about gathering evidence that will incriminate the Countess as a witch so they can do away with both her and her young son Alexander (played by the director's real-life son, Percy Hoven), who they've dubbed "the devil's bastard." The noblemen first get their hands on the Salmenau's kitchen maid Marta, who is accused of making a "potion to rip men's trousers off" and is rolled across stones and stretched out on a rack until she's dead.

At a local convent, a sect of bald nuns also become involved. The insane, lesbian Abbess (Ellen Umlauf) aids in the witch hunt because she believes Elisabeth is a whore and sinner and doesn't like their family. A shy, friendly young nun named Clementine (Astrid Kilian) is forced to strip and gets whipped with a cat o' nine tails for even associating with the family. Then the Abbess hands her the whip and orders the naive nun to "Beat me!" while she screams "Yes! Yes! Yes! Harder! Harder! Don't stop!" Clementine continues to play with Alexander despite the Abbess' demands, which eventually gets her into hot water when she takes an injured Alexander to see Pompanne ("Rosy-Rosy" / Rosemarie Heinikel), a large-breasted "herb woman" who uses "the devil's mud" and other such outlawed plants in her treatments. The witch hunters barge in on them and drag them back to their dungeon for all of the expected scenes involving rape and torture.

The "torture master" (uncredited Joachim Hackethal) wastes no time twisting the wild woman's head around and then rapes Clementine while drooling all over her. She becomes pregnant because of the assault and is slated to die by being burned at the stake. Elisabeth shows up demanding they release her son and is almost raped herself by Balthazar, whose idea of pillow talk involves referring to her as "the devil's prostitute." Getting desperate, Elisabeth then goes to the governor in hopes that he'll pardon her son if she'll sleep with him. Instead, she's arrested, taken to the torture chamber, shaved down ("... especially the erogenous zone.") and stretched out on a rack. The corrupt religious leaders and witch hunters are actually mostly interested in getting her massive estate. The film ends on the day when Clementine, Elisabeth, Alexander and Father Melchior (Dietrich Kerky), a priest who falsifies documents in hopes of pardoning the innocent nun, are slated to be executed. A few will live (bet you can guess who), a few will die (there's a decapitation and a burning at the stake)... and, strangely enough, not all of the assholes you really want to see get it bad actually get what they have coming.

For the most part, this is pretty dreary and overly-familiar stuff, with much less gore and nudity than one might expect, but the production passably evokes the time and place, there are a couple of interesting tortures (the best being some fiery iron shoes being placed over one poor man's feet) and having talented actors such as Blanc (gorgeous as always here), Diffring and Nalder on board at least keeps the whole thing watchable. The supporting cast includes Jean-Pierre Zola as Blanc's uncle and Johannes Buzalski, reprising his role as a corrupt advocate from the first film.

Despite having a reputation as being vastly inferior to its predecessor (which was no great shakes itself), in actuality this is really just a slight notch below. Unlike the original, which has received numerous high-quality DVD releases over the years, this follow-up has completely fallen between the cracks. There's not only not an official DVD release, but the lone disc I'm aware of is a horrible bootleg VHS transfer. To my knowledge, all of the prints floating around have also been cut (judging by lobby cards that surfaced there was originally much more nudity) and some feature completely different soundtracks. The US VHS box also claims this is 97 minutes long but it's actually a little over 86 minutes.

★★

Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält (1970)

... aka: Austria 1700
... aka: Brenn, Hexe, brenn
... aka: Burn, Witch, Burn
... aka: Hexen
... aka: Satan
... aka: Witches Are Tortured to Death

Directed by:
Michael Armstrong
Adrian Hoven (uncredited)

Shortly after its 1970 premiere in West Germany, Mark of the Devil (originally Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält or "Witches Are Tortured to Death") was banned in its country of origin; a ban that would last until 2008! It also had issues with censorship in the UK and the very first public screening of the uncut version wouldn't occur until 2013 (!!) However, most of the film's true infamy was created by an effectively crude American advertising campaign in 1972. Distributor Hallmark Releasing Corp. whipped up a memorable poster which boasted that it was "Positively the most horrifying film ever made," claimed it was "the first film rated V for violence" and even promised it was "Guaranteed to upset your stomach." Not content to rest on just those self-implied lowbrow laurels, they then went a step further: "Due to the horrifying scenes no one is admitted without a vomit bag." And that's exactly what patrons received upon entrance to see this one. Morbid curiosity meant audiences just couldn't keep away and they turned this into a money-maker. Clearly made in response to the hit WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968) starring Vincent Price, Mark actually managed to out-gross that film by a considerable margin due to the effective marketing. Witchfinder director Michael Reeves was originally even lined up to direct this one, too, but was replaced by British director Michael Armstrong after his untimely death.

In recent interviews, Armstrong revealed he was first given a script by his agent called "The Witch Hunter Doctor Dracula," written by the film's producer, Adrian Hoven. Armstrong hated it and got permission to re-write the whole thing. Only keeping the witch hunting theme, he decided to highlight the religious hypocrisy, crass violence and corrupt political state of the era. The finished script ended up being credited to the pseudonyms "Sergio Casstner" (Armstrong) and "Percy Parker" (Hoven). Hoven apparently wasn't pleased by any of this and there was a lot of tension on-set between the two men. At one point, Hoven even went behind the director's back to film many scenes not in the new screenplay (featuring himself and two of his children) that ended up in the finished product much to Armstrong's chagrin.

Sensationalism is all over ever frame of the opening sequences as we bear witness to all of the expected things that occur when religion isn't kept in check. You know, things like a caravan of nuns being hijacked so that they can be raped and murdered. That's followed by some good Christian tortures that involve a man having his hand chopped off before being stripped, tarred and feathered and sent into a crowd of laughing, leering townsfolk who are instructed to chase him through the streets until he keels over. Next up, two young women are hung up by their wrists and slowly lowered into a fire, making sure to curse their executioners before being engulfed in flames. A title card then informs us that "In Europe between the 15th and 19th centuries, it is estimated that nearly eight million people were convicted of heresy and executed by fanatical witch hunters, in order to save their souls." [Later scholarly estimates based on available data are MUCH lower, usually placing the actual death toll somewhere between 35 and 70 thousand.]

Heading over all this torture, rape and murder of innocents is a nasty, sniveling, self-serving witch-finder named Albino (Reggie Nalder), who's involved in these bogus convictions, torture sessions and executions strictly for his own benefit and uses his position of power for money, sex and to satiate his own sadistic desires. Unfortunately for him, he's only a "local authority" and royalty has sent out a notorious state-appointed witch-hunter named Lord Cumberland (Herbert Lom) to clean up the countryside. Arriving in the small Austrian village prior to Cumberland is his naive, well-meaning apprentice Count Christian von Meruh (handsome young Udo Kier) and chief executioner Jeff Wilkens (Herbert Fux), who's "the most famous head-chopper in all of Europe." Fearing his position is being threatened, especially considering he's been bypassing official trials and heading straight to the torture fun, Albino coerces an advocate (Johannes Buzalski) to forge papers and up the amount of convictions and executions prior to the Lord's arrival.

Getting caught up in all this are a number of people, most notably feisty barmaid Vanessa Benedikt (Olivera "Vuco" / Katarina), who falls in love with Christian but finds herself high up on Albino's shit list after slicing up his face when he attempts to rape her. Vanessa is whipped, convicted of having "illicit intercourse with the Devil" and thrown into a cell to await her fate as a succession of others wrongly convicted come to join her. Expelled nun Deirdre von Bergenstein (Gaby Fuchs) is raped and impregnated by a high-ranking bishop and thus convicted of carrying the devil's child. Young Baron Daumer (Michael Maien), who's just inherited a great deal of money from his deceased father, is accused of being possessed but only because the church wants their hands on his fortune. A nobleman / puppeteer (Hoven) and his wife (Ingeborg Schöner) are accused of crafting "human dolls that speak" and are thrown into the slammer along with their two young children. In between all of the torture scenes, Christian starts to see the light about how diseased and corrupt his mentor and others claiming to do God's work really are.

Since this same exact story had just been told, and told better, the previous year by the aforementioned Witchfinder General, this depends almost entirely on exploitation elements to differentiate itself from the pack. The good news is that if you're into screaming, torture, blood and misery, this has plenty of that to go around. There are many whippings, bloody lashings and slashings, fingers crushed in vices, bodies stretched out on racks, severed arms, legs and heads and a man driven mad by a water drip. Some of the more interesting torture techniques include feet burned with a hot iron, a tongue getting ripped out and ass torture where a man is forced to sit on spikes and then a hot seat where a fire is lit right under his bum. During an eye gouging, a bizarre cartoon effect has been added. This also includes a dash on nudity courtesy of Fuchs (who went on to play the female lead in THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN) and Dorothea Carrera as a young woman surprised in bed with her lover. Some of that and some of the grislier violence (as much as ten minutes) were censored in many countries over the years. The full uncut run time is 97 minutes.

Mark is fairly well-produced, with solid production values, sets, costumes and locations, and benefits from a strong cast, with especially good contributions from Lom, Nalder and Fux. It also deserves a bonus credit for being an early exploitation shocker hit with a cleaver and successful marketing campaign. However, it's also dreary, slow-moving and just not as compelling or well-made or artful as some of the other movies it shares company with and thus pretty forgettable on the whole. The fact the director and producer weren't seeing eye to eye is also evident whenever this sidesteps into unnecessary subplots that add nothing to the film.

After the film proved successful, Hoven quickly churned out an official, now-hard-to-find sequel: Mark of the Devil Part II (1973), which brought back Nalder and a few of the other actors for more of the same. Other bogus "sequels" later popped up on home video here in America but all of these were simply re-titled European horrors that had nothing to do with the original. Mark of the Devil 3 was actually the Mexican shocker Alucarda (1977), Mark of the Devil 4 was the Paul Naschy film HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB (1973) and Mark of the Devil Part V was used for the original "Blind Dead" film Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972).

★★1/2