Mark of the Witch

"Mark of the Witch" is the prototype of a cheap and amateurish 70s exploitation/horror movie, and I can't possibly be too harsh on those. Yes, it's truly bad and becomes even worse when analyzing it more thoroughly, but the enthusiasm and goodwill of the people in front and behind the camera literally radiates from the screen. They can't help being utterly incompetent, right? This film has almost too many problems to list. For starters, even though the plot is nonexistent, it's still inaccurate, derivative and senseless! The story opens with the execution of a witch 300 years ago. Funny, I wasn't aware witches were hanged? And certainly not in Texas! Anyway, the vicious she-devil keeps ranting and ranting on before eventually putting the obligatory spell on the descendants of her prosecutor. Fast forward to present day on a Houston college campus, where the descendant - Mac Stuart - is a funky professor who throws occult seance parties for his class of dimwits. During such a seance, the innocent college cutie Jill becomes possessed by the spirit of the medieval witch! The biggest forte of "Mark of the Witch" is that they couldn't possibly had chosen a more saintly and purer actress than Anitra Walsh for the role of the supposedly evil witch. Walsh is looking so sweet and naive that the contrast with her vulgar talks and malevolent acts work surprisingly well! She causes for a parakeet to explode just to prove how evil she is, and then continues to seduce and murder her fellow students for no apparent reason. "Mark of the Witch" is so boring slow-paced that your thoughts too easily wander off. I, for instance, couldn't stop imagining that the film would work much better as an adult movie. Think about it! The male actors are ugly and sleazy enough to be vintage porn actors, especially Robert Elston, while the girls are ravishing and curvy. Given the subject matter, the clumsy production values and the lousy acting performances, nearly every sequence also fits perfectly into an erotic context. The satanic ritual dance, the naughty student seducing her professor, the lesbian encounter, etc. Alas we must settle for thick red 70s blood, laughable dialogues, weird camera angles and one brief but worthy topless moment provided by the lovely Anitra Walsh.

A witch that is hanged in the 1600s is inadvertently resurrected 321 years later at a Dallas area college by some nice students playing around with an old book of spells. The witch possesses a student and seems intent on getting revenge on the descendant of the man who executed her.

"Mark of the Witch" (1970) is a low-budget horror flick that's rather generic, but also effective in several ways. The overt satanic rituals were nothing new at the time as they were featured in earlier slicker films like "Masque of the Red Death" (1964) and "Devils of Darkness" (1965). While the movie was shot in 1969, the protagonists aren't hippies, but rather groovy-but-agreeable college students & their hip professor (Robert Elston).

The actress who plays the witch at the beginning of the film lays it on too thick and is exasperating. But the actress who plays Jill (Anitra Walsh) is impressive for a no-name. Actually winsome Anitra is one of the main reasons this movie is worth catching. She looks great in her blue mini-dress, etc. Unfortunately she died prematurely in 1980 at the age of 32.

The tame special effects are surprisingly proficient and the music is effectively creepy. Regrettably, the final act needed more oomph. But "Mark of the Witch" is a must to observe college culture in 1969 (styles, décor, vehicles, social customs, etc.).

The film runs 1 hour and 24 minutes and was shot in the Dallas area, including Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.

GRADE: B-

What I liked about this movie:

I don't know what film stock this was shot on, but it gives the movie a distinct look. Deep blacks and the colors haven't faded much, which is unusual for a 40-year-old movie. I assume it was done using the color process that preceded the one that was so prone to fading and that gave so many 70's movies their washed out look.

Some of the photography was quite nice, as when they're sitting around a table doing a ritual near the end.

The soundtrack, consisting of the ominous blips and drones of an analog synthesizer, was very effective, and the singsongy, a cappella piece done by Trella Hart over the opening credits was downright eerie.

The actress who played Jill (Anitra Walsh), even if I wasn't mesmerized by her performance, was a doll, which made her scenes a pleasure to watch.

On the down side, the acting was amateurish, going from the bad acting typical of low-budget movies to the two main female characters (Margery of Jourdemain and Jill) delivering overwrought monologues like they were in a stage play (good actors like Vincent Price can get away with that sort of thing in movies, but these two just came off like members of a high school drama club).

The woman who played Margery of Jourdemain (Marie Santel) was every bit as hideous as Anitra Walsh was gorgeous. With her botched nose job, she looked like Michael Jackson.

I found the story hard to follow at times and it seemed like there were holes in the plot (though maybe I missed something). I think the writers were trying to be clever by inserting unpredictable plot twists, but the execution was so poor that it just made the story incoherent. At times it seemed the filmmakers couldn't decide whether they were creating a horror movie or a comedy (a movie can be both, of course, but in this case the combination didn't work).

The movie was a mixed bag. It had good atmosphere but I had trouble getting into the story and characters. Overall, with a 5 out of 10 being the middle, I think this movie was more good than bad, so I'm giving it a 6 out of 10. I watch a lot of old horror movies and this one is more memorable than many, despite its flaws. Worth a look if it's running on TV or you see it for rent at a video store.

I got the opportunity to watch the recently unearthed R-rated version of this movie (the movie was cut for its original theatrical release in order to get a PG rating). So I was expecting the movie to be somewhat explicit in either gore or sexual material. But I was surprised. This original cut shouldn't have got an R rating back in 1970! The only sexual material is one (brief) scene of toplessness, and when it comes to violence there are only a few drops of blood and a couple of scenes of hangings directed in a restrained manner.

Still, despite this lack of exploitive material, the movie could still have been a decent supernatural shocker. But it isn't. It's very slow moving, and with a LOT of chitchat to pad things out. So I would say the PG version is the version to seek out if you really want to see this movie - because it's shorter and therefore easier to sit through.

This movie had potential in its storyline. Very enthralling basis about a witch who is summoned to the twentieth-century and wreaks havoc upon the descendent of the man who is her lover and persecutor centuries before. While this plot is fascinating, the film itself flounders with typical and hackneyed evil spells and tricks used by the witch, which make the true fiber of the story into a peripheral byline until the very end. I saw this movie in the early eighties and the fact that I can remember so much about the storyline is a testament to what this movie could have been. However, it is a big disappointment and you will kick yourself for having wasted your time to watch it.