Mark of The Devil.
Set in Austria in 1700, Lord Cumberland(Herbert Lom) and his young apprentice(Udo Kier) arrive at a village to sort out the local witch problem. But Udo Kier starts to lose faith in his master when he eventually discovers that witchfinding is just an excuse to kill and torture women for pleasure and for the church to steal peoples money. things get more complicated as well when Udo falls for the local busty wench Vanessa who gets accused of being a witch too.
although not quite up there with Vincent Prices Witchfinder General, i did still find this very entertaining. The torture and burning scenes, including brandings, tongues ripped out, head choppings, etc, still pack a punch eventhough the gore effects have dated a lot.
and the whole theme of the film, that it's all done in the name of God is quite chilling and frightening. and also quite laughable too when a couple are arested for simply putting on a puppet show and the witchfinders think the puppets are possesed by the devil.
Herbert Lom in particular is very effective and chilling as the hypocrital witchfinder, and Udo Kier as well as the niave student. Reggie nalder the creepy looking chap from Bird With The Crystal Plummage is also good too as Albino the sadistic local witchfinder who pisses Herbert Lom off by calling him impotent.
very good film overall, and with a beautiful haunting score similar to Cannibal Holocaust, i think Ruggero Deodato ripped this off
81 out of 100.