Inquisición

The great late Paul Naschy (aka. Jacinto Molina) was doubtlessly one of the most influential figures in European Horror/Exploitation and Cult Cinema, and while the majority of his movies may not be brilliant masterpieces, they all have a very specific charm to them that (for me) is impossible not to love. Naschy is probably best known for playing the Werewolf Waldemar Daninsky in 14 HOMBRE LOBO movies, but his filmography includes many other demented, macabre, often sleazy and sometimes (wonderfully) trashy gems, for which he often also served as writer and director.

INQUISICION (aka. INQUISITION) of 1976 was the first movie for which Naschy is credited as director (he wrote the scripts to some of his earlier films). A typical example for the Hexploitation sub-genre, INQUISICION follows the tradition of films like Michael Reeves's 1968 masterpiece WITCHFINDER GENERAL (starring Horror-deity Vincent Price in his most diabolical role) or the notorious 1970 Exploitation Classic HEXEN BIS AUFS BLUT GEQUÄLT (aka. MARK OF THE DEVIL). While INQUISICION is not nearly as disturbing, impressive, serious or notorious as the aforementioned movies, it once again has the specific charm to it that can only be found in Spanish Horror productions from the time, and in Naschy-flicks in particular. The main difference hereby lies in the fact that INQUISICION focuses on sleaze and female nudity rather than the more serious WITCHFINDER GENERAL and the ultra-brutal MARK OF THE DEVIL which is known for its grisly torture scenes.

Naschy plays Witchfinder Bernard de Fossey who comes to a French village inhabited by somewhat exhibitionist beauties, whom the religious fanatic proceeds to interrogate, torture and burn at the stake... until he falls in love with one particular beauty...

The story is somewhat similar to that in MARK OF THE DEVIL, only cheesier. Still, this is one of the more serious Naschy flicks, and while sometimes cheesy, it is uncompromising as a film about the topic should be. There are some rather grisly torture scenes, the victims being beautiful young women. The burnings mostly happen off-screen, which is probably due to the budget which must have been spent for gory torture effects and actresses willing to engage in the sleaze taking place on camera. Naschy is awesome as always, and the female cast consists of stunning beauties all of which seem to be very keen on taking their clothes off. Overall, INQUISICION is a sleazy yet rather serious period piece, which is brutal and quite suspenseful at times. Recommended to all Eurocult lovers, and not to be missed by my fellow Naschy-fans.

Euro-horror star Paul Naschy (a.k.a. Jacinto Molina) made a creditable directing debut with this gruesome and exploitative tale, packed with gorgeous women and pervasive Old World atmosphere. He also stars as Bernard de Fossey, magistrate and witch hunter in the 16th century. He and his cohorts arrive in the Peyriac region of France, determined to seek out sinners and transgressors. He meets a stunning young woman, Catherine (Daniela Giordano), who bewitches him. She loves another man, but when that man dies under suspicious circumstances, she's willing to align herself with Satan to see justice done.

"Inquisition" is not for the squeamish, what with its unflinching shots of torture. It doesn't dwell on these scenes any longer than unnecessary to make its point, though. Still, many viewers will wince at the sight of a girls' nipple getting twisted right off her breast. And there are some very fine looking young women here, showing off their birthday suits to great effect. Naschy did know how to please the exploitation loving crowd.

Of course, he also delivers what is considered to be one of his best films (if not THE best). He cannily captures a historical period of great ignorance, superstition, and fear, when innocent people could be persecuted, and confess to acts of witchcraft just to get the torture to stop. At the same time, there is at least one dissenting voice: the local surgeon, who dares to venture the opinion that people like De Fossey may be acting hastily.

Naschy gives one of his finest performances as the tormented De Fossey, and also gets to strut his stuff by playing The Devil and The Grim Reaper as well. Giordano is a stunner, and does a convincing job of portraying righteous indignation. A standout supporting performance comes from Antonio Iranzo as the resentful, one eyed manservant Renover, who gets back at those women who spurn his advances by accusing them of being witches.

Overall, this is a solid film notable for some ambiguity and a lingering, grim nature.

Seven out of 10.

A trio of witch hunters arrive in town to ply their trade.While this is happening,the daughter of the magistrate agrees to sell her soul to the devil for the ability to take vengeance on the man who killed her lover."Inquisition" is a fine directing debut of Paul Naschy.There is plenty of gratuitous nudity and the torture scenes are fairly nasty and shocking.Scenes such as a rotating,spiked gyre approaching the bared breast of a female victim and the obscene pulling of another unfortunate victim's nipple are as unsettling and savage as any scene from competing films such as Adrian Hoven's classic 1969 witchcraft flick "Mark of the Devil".Naschy's portrayal of the devil is fantastic as is his performance as a witch hunter Bernard.Give this one a look,if you are a fan of Jacinto Molina or Spanish horror in general.8 out of 10.

Inquisición was written by, directed and stars Paul Naschy. I would imagine that he was starting to get tired of starring in the often less than brilliant Spanish horror films that he made a lot of prior to 1976 and decided to make something a bit more serious; probably taking influence from Vincent Price in the excellent Witchfinder General, and this film is the result. While the film is of a higher quality in terms of acting and content than most of Naschy's filmography; it's also rather dull and unfortunately has nothing on the earlier Vincent Price film. The film takes on a period setting and, as the title suggests, focuses on the Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition is out hunting witches; and Bernard de Fossey is leading the hunt. However, a local girl takes offence at him and his compatriots hunting down the local townsfolk and decides to take action by hooking up with Satan himself to make the leader of the Inquisition fall in love with her, and thus leaving the leader with a personal crisis to negotiate.

As mentioned, Paul Naschy takes the lead role; and as usual, he is one of the best things about the film. Naschy obviously enjoys playing the lead role in his own film (actually this is the first one he wrote and directed) and the role is somewhat different and more involving than his previous ones. One of my main problems with the film is that the style of it is very bland; Spanish horror is more famous for its stunning Gothic locales and this film is severely lacking in this area. The plot moves very slowly and there is little in the way of distractions from the lead character's plight; which in truth is not all that interesting. To the film's credit, it does feature some very good torture scenes, some of which are quite nasty; a nipple removal scene is a highlight in that respect. Naschy does take tentative steps to lift the film by showing us pictures of some of Satan's minions (apparently the Dark Lord has quite a hierarchy set up!) but not enough is made of it. Overall, this film might be of interest to Spanish horror or Naschy completists; but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to track it down.

Following the success of "The Conqueror Worm", and the "Mark Of The Devil" films, Naschy steps up, and adds another "monster" to his resume, with "Inquisition".

'Tis a bad time in this part of the world. The tyrannical rulers, are draining the public, there is little sustenance for the poor, and witchcraft is blamed for many troubles. Naschy enters as the resident witch hunter, and is soon torturing confessions out of many locals. In the dubbed, American version, there is a surprising amount of nudity, and many of the local women cluster together, as the girl who Naschy fancies, sells her soul, to catch a glimpse of the face of the man who killed her lover. There is reasonable 70's gore, and nudity, but this is no "Mark Of The Devil", though it ends much the same. When they shave Naschy's head, and burn him at the stake, he looks uncannily like the final immolation of "the mole", in Jodorowsky's "El Topo", yet seems prescient of Brando, in "Apocalypse Now".