Mark of the Devil - Will's Review

I was quite looking forward to the week's movie; it's a reader recommendation (via our Facebook Page), and it has Udo Kier in it!

Our last Reader Request was Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, while Naziploitation isn't my favourite genre, Ilsa was one of the better examples.

Sadly this weeks movie is, in all but the trappings, a run of the mill naziplotation movie. Swap out Nazis for the church, the SS for witchfinders, Jews for peasants, and the Camp for a small village, and it's the same old same old.

The acting is terrible, save for Keir; who doesn't exactly give a career best performance himself, and spends most of the film in trousers so tight that an interested observer could probably narrow down his religion.

Against the stock background of people (mostly women) being tortured is the story of the Witch-finder general's student/protégé/apprentice (Kier) realising that his beliefs are not all they're cracked up to be.

Aside from that its a fairly standard 70s/80s torture movie; nothing to write home about, but not terrible either.

Mark of the Devil - Lisa's Review

*** Spoilers ***

I'm not going to spend a long time on this one.  For me the high point was that it had Udo Kier in it!  A very young Mr Kier, but the intensity is still there.

If you think Witchfinder General with gore and tits and you've pretty much summed this one up.

The movie basically centers around the torturing and murder of what seems any attractive young person, both male and female (but mostly female) who is suspected to be a witch.   These acts are ordered by an evil Lord Cumberland, all under the guise of religion and god.  We also have one of the most horrid men I've ever set eyes on - Albino, who concocts acts these poor women are supposed to have carried out (all untrue) just so he can brand them as witches and rape and torture them.

Udo plays a very young apprentice/pupil Count Christian Von Meruh.  He is the supposed 'good guy'... well as good as you're going to get in this movie.  Kier inevitably falls in love with one of the accused young women and starts to question the practices and what is going on.

Mother of Tears - Will's Review

And so, we bid farewell to the Three Mothers Trilogy - Meh.

Sorry for the delay by the way - I've been struck down with a nasty (and rather persistent) cold; In fact, I have been toying with the idea of giving this one a second watch-through before reviewing it, feeling I may have missed something. On reflection though, looking back at the other two films in the trilogy  a clear head is likely to have made little difference.

Suspiria - Will's Review

Argento; primary colours, Goblin soundtrack, beautiful set pieces, and a paper-thin plot (that doesn't make much sense anyway).

This time, an American student (The impossibly cute and perpetually surprised-looking Jessica Harper) has travels to Europe to join an exclusive Ballet school... Which turns out to be the front for a much more sinister operation.

As this is one of the 'Three Mothers' trilogy you've probably figured out by now that (Mild spoiler) it's witches.

Head witch is the Directoress of the school, who is allegedly away on business, but (bigger, but not huge, spoiler) we soon learn that she is still in the school when (I shit you not) one of the students recognises her snore!

Like I said, the plot is pretty much bobbins, but it has to be forgiven as parts of it are a joy to watch - in particular a scene in which a winged creature attacks someone off-screen - we never see the beast, only glimpses of it's shadow, but it's one of the most effective 'monster' scenes I've seen in a while!

For its visual busty, I'm leap eared to overlook the nonsensical / scarce plot, and give this one a thumbs up - it's no more than I did for Fuluci's "The Beyond".