Natas (Reggie Nalder) is the local witchfinder and torturer. He and his backer, Balthasar von Ross (Anton Diffring) spend most of their time accusing women of being witches and torturing them until they confess. Then the broken women are burned at the stake. One day, while Natas and his men are dunking a woman in an icy river, they are interrupted by Count Alexander von Salmenau (Adrian Hoven), who is out with his wife, Elizabeth (Erika Blanc) and their young son, Alexander (Percy Hoven).
The Count kills the minions that were aiding Natas. As he goes to leave the Count is stabbed in the back with a dagger thrown by Natas. Elizabeth tries to get justice for her slain husband, but Balthasar has more pull with the king than Countess Elizabeth. To save their necks, Natas and Balthasar accuse the young Alexander of being the son of Satan.
Alexander makes friends with a young novitiate nun, Clementine (Astrid Kilian). The two young people play together running through fields pretending to fly. Natas and Balthasar jump on this and accuse the nun of also being a witch and trying to learn how to actually fly. The abbess (Ellen Umlauf) tries to get the local priest, Father Melchior (Dietrich Kerky) to help. The priest also is arrested and deemed a witch.
The accused are tortured in various ways until they confess to whatever crime is required of them. After that they are carted off and burned at the stake.
“Mark of the Devil II” AKA “Hexen geschändet und zu Tode gequält” was released in 1973 and was directed by Adrian Hoven. It is a West German horror splatter movie. The film is a sequel to the movie “Mark of the Devil” 1970.
I’m not sure why this is a sequel. It does have torture and it does have Reggie Nalder as the insane witchfinder but other than that the movies are mostly different. Even Reggie’s character is different, just as evil and sadistic, but still different. The plot is mostly innocent people, mostly women, being raped and tortured before being killed. Although the sequel has torture as its main focus, the actual tortures are a little less violent than in the first film.
If you’re looking to find the sequel the same experience as the first film, you may be disappointed. Although it is violent and gross, it’s not as violent as the first film. It’s still exploitative and unsettling, just not as in-your-face about it.
Adrian Hoven, and his son Percy, play father and son characters Count Alexander von Salmenau and Alexander von Salmenau Jr.