THE BLOODY JUDGE

(A.k.a. IL TRONO DI FUOCO; NIGHT OF THE BLOOD MONSTER; THE WITCH KILLER OF BROADMOOR)

Michael Reeves’ WITCHFINDER GENERAL caused such a stir upon its late-60s release that rip-offs seemed almost inevitable. While the most famous is possibly Michael Armstrong’s MARK OF THE DEVIL, Jess Franco also got in on the action with this West German-Spanish-Italian co-production from 1972.

Like its predecessors, the film exploited the particularly brutal finer details of witch-hunting in 17th Century England while employing the services of a respected actor to front the mayhem. GENERAL had Vincent Price, DEVIL had Herbert Lom. THE BLOODY JUDGE has Christopher Lee in the lead role of Judge Jeffries.

The year is 1685 and the country is in political disarray. Jeffries takes advantage of this time of confusion and unrest, relishing in his appointment as King James’ chief justice-provider and tasking his men with the job of hunting down ‘witches’.

Among the latest batch of sexually active women to be rounded up and thrown into a BLOODSUCKING FREAKS-type cage in preparation of Jeffries’ judgement, is pretty brunette Alicia (Margaret Lee). When Alicia is put to trial in front of Jeffries, a public gallery – including her sister Mary (Maria Rohm) – learn that she is charged of witchcraft. Her voluptuous curves and stories of her open displays of affection with her lover are enough to convince Jeffries that she is indeed a witch, and must be tortured into confession of such.

As Alicia is dragged away to be tortured mercilessly by executioner Jack (Howard Vernon), Mary visits Jeffries’ private quarters and begs for her sister’s life. But the judge is remorseless: "the laws of this land will be upheld" he bellows as he condemns Alicia to a fate of burning at the stake.

A month later, and Jeffries is still musing over the spirit shown by Mary. He visits his friend Lord Wessex (Dennis Price), as he knows the sisters lived near him. Wanting to know more about Mary, Jeffries is alarmed to discover she is courting Wessex’s son Harry (Hans Hass Jr). This is of particular concern to Jeffries, as he’s aware that Harry is close to a rebellious young outlaw named Barnaby (Pietro Martellanza).

When Harry discovers that Jeffries’ men have abducted Mary on suspicion of witchcraft, the scene is set for a showdown … but not before more atrocious dubbing and set-pieces of "wenches" being tortured.

THE BLOODY JUDGE is a surprisingly well-shot and handsomely lit film from the prolific Jess Franco. The cast all perform well, and the historic detail – costumes, set design, locations – are unexpectedly accurate. Another highpoint of the film is Bruno Nicolai’s stirring, memorable score.

Lee gives a typically stern, shouty performance. His presence is undeniable and Franco is wise to utilise him in most scenes. Rohm has charisma too, and is undeniably easy on the eye. The prize for most enjoyable over-acting goes to Vernon, while this already impressive cast is ably backed up by the likes of Margaret Lee and Dennis Price as Lord Wessex.

The script, co-written by Franco with Enrico Colombo, Michael Haller and Anthony Scott Veitch, from a story by producer Harry Alan Towers, is clunky and laboured. It’s respectful to its historical roots but at the sake of the pace. Franco does his best to keep things moving along with frequent moments of either soft nudity or violence, but a lack of plot direction means the film meanders during its central hour.

Those with a phobia of bad dubbing may take issue with some of the peripheral characters in the film. And viewers hoping for questionable stretches of graphic sadism will no doubt find the whole a little tame in this day and age. We get whippings, beatings, brandings … but none if it’s as nasty as it may sound.

At the end of the day, THE BLOODY JUDGE is a Jess Franco film. Uneven acting and pacing are givens. Zoom shots are largely kept under control, but the director’s camerawork does occasionally raise questions about his validity as a filmmaker.

Medium Rare Entertainment are new kids on the DVD market block, but their maiden run of titles – which also include THE GIRL FROM RIO, VAMPIRE ECSTASY and HOUSE OF 1,000 DOLLS – mark them out as a company to keep a keen eye on in future.

The first title in their roster though is THE BLOODY JUDGE, which first enjoyed a domestic UK release on video in the 1990s, courtesy of Redemption Films.

Here, the film looks good in a 16x9 enhanced transfer which preserves its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Blacks are strong, colours are too. There’s a natural filmic look to proceedings and the level of detail is quite satisfying. Occasional edge enhancement was spotted, and I spied minor instances of ghosting during the odd scene. But overall this transfer – uncut, I believe, at 103 minutes in length – was good.

English 2.0 audio was very clean and clear throughout.

Lee booms over the static main menu page, which in turns leads to an animated scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 9 chapters.

From there, extra features begin with the excellent featurette "Bloody Jess". Licensed from Blue Underground and originally included on their own American DVD release a few years back, this still makes for great viewing. We get Lee speaking earnestly about the real-life judge who inspired the film, while Franco is on hand – with the aid of easily readable English subtitles – to reveal more on the making of the film. They both speak of conflicts they had over how the lead character should be played, and the controversial torture scenes which Lee insists were inserted without his knowledge after he’d left the shoot. Interspersed with widescreen clips from the film, this is an enlightening and engaging 25-minute featurette.

A 5–minute deleted scene follows, complete with a text disclaimer apologising for the low-grade video quality (it’s taken from a bootleg VHS). It’s a flabby piece of largely dialogue-free melodrama detailing Mary’s grief following the news of her sister’s demise.

Four alternative scenes make their appearance courtesy of Marc Morris and Brad Stevens from the Mondo Erotico site.

A good-looking 51-second US trailer bears the title NIGHT OF THE BLOOD MONSTER, along with a typically hysterical male voiceover. It makes for excellent, if brief, viewing.

Finally, we get a well-edited 4-minute slideshow of stills and artwork relating to the film. These are accompanied by snippets of score and soundtrack.

THE BLOODY JUDGE is a fun film, but one which Franco detractors will find as annoying as anything else he made during the early 1970s. Lee commands presence as ever; Rohm is gorgeous. The period setting lends the film an element of class, while the torture scenes do their best to stand alongside the more infamous MARK OF THE DEVIL.

I’m impressed with Medium Rare Entertainment’s DVD of THE BLOODY JUDGE, and look forward to future releases from them.

Review by Stuart Willis