Customer Reviews

Mark of the Witch / Devil Times Five

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I truly believe that these "exploitation/grindhouse" double features are really a novel idea, despite the fact this DVD series was released shortly after the Rodriguez-Tarantino 2007 film "Grindhouse". Notwithstanding, Rodriguez-Tarantino muse for their film(s) was the concept that this DVD series emulates. BCI has released a dozen or so of these double feature DVDs. I already have about six or seven of them and felt I needed to write a review for this one in particular.

The two films on this DVD are "Mark of the Witch" and "Devil Times Five". Overall, I feel that both of these films fit together rather well, in spite of the former film being about possession and the latter film being about five homicidal children. These are bizarre little flicks; please allow me to provide more detail about each motion picture.

"Mark of the Witch" is about a witch who is hanged in 17th century. Then fast forward to the 1970s and a group of "hip" college students who are very interested in the arcane and supernatural arts perform a séance. This séance is lead by a girl named Jill. Well Jill ends up being possessed by the witch who was killed oh so many moons ago. It is now up to Jill's boyfriend and a benevolent professor, who also happens to share some relations to this witch via blood ties, to stop the witch and save Jill. The pathos of the 1970s, late 1960s really gives this movie a bit of charm, pun intended.

This movie is presented in letterbox and is presented "uncut". The picture for the most part is very clear. The acting isn't terrible [I've seen much worse] but nothing to get too excited about. Given budget and story, the film makers did a good job, it kept me entertained for 80 minutes. I want to take this opportunity to say that the actress that played Jill was cute as a button. She could use me for a sacrifice any day of the week.

"Devil Times Five" is about a family, dysfunctional at best, which get together for a long weekend in the California Mountains. The purpose of this "weekend" is to impress "Papa Doc" for promotion/job at a hospital. This family is usually at each others' throat and is a bit caustic. Sounds like a great time, I wish I could be there. Meanwhile a bus carrying five mental disturbed children crashes. Everyone in the bus dies but the macabre little tikes. It isn't long before these children find the house where this "family weekend" is transpiring. I should mention these children have a vicious streak that promotes them to start killing members of this family.

The movie is presented in full screen and the picture for the most part is clear. The ambience of this movie really raises the stakes. The entire film takes place in this secluded house in the dead of winter. There is snow everywhere and this really exploits the tension in the movie. Look for Leif Garrett as one of the deranged little children.

These movies aren't award winners and definitely are a "sign of the times". As noted prior, the picture and sound for both of these movies are very good. However, there are some audio pops here and there. In addition, at times the picture will appear tinted or skewed. This is what really portrays the "grindhouse experience".

Speaking of the "experience" if you choose this option you are able to watch both movies back to back. First you will see a couple of trailers/previews for other movies, then watch "Mark of the Witch". Once MOTW is over there a few more trailers/previews and "Devil Times Five" begins. It is actually pretty cool. I would have to say my favorite trailer was for "Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde". I was laughing myself silly while I was watching it. I've to get my hands on that flick.

"Mark of the Witch" and "Devil Times Five" are both rather unorthodox and cheesy, but I'm a junkie for this sort of thing. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a taste of nostalgia, interested in film making of days gone by or a good chuckle. Grab a drink, grab a snack and enjoy!

I really enjoyed this film (Devil times Five). It truly had a campy 70's quality, yet at times, class A+ for disturbing. This movie does fluxuate when it comes to classifying it as a B film. However, I have watched it 4 times since buying it, and I still enjoy it. One scene, which is embarassing to watch, is the first slow motion one, where the children beat a man to death. Initially, it is disturbing, but after, what feels like, several minutes, and goofy sound effects it becomes funny. I don't know what the director was thinking when he made that scene. Also, there could have been more added to improve on the flow of the story. For example, why did the drunk woman suddenly fall in love with the girl who liked to play with fire? There could have been more details added to that relationship...especially how it ends.

Sometimes the movie is laughable, but still retains a disturbing quality. One scene a woman gets killed, and the boy (who killed her) gets a cut on his face. The dead woman's husband is screaming "I'm going to kill you" out the window, while the boy is yelling,"you scratched my face. How dare you scratch my beautiful face!" Scenes like this were both funny, yet disturbing.

This movie, unless you have a phobie with children, will not change your view of them. It's a movie worth owning if you like bizzare, camp, and weirdness... buy this film

As for the Mark Of The Witch? It was awful. It had a Gigit being possessed by a dead witch feel to it. I couldn't watch it all the way through. booooriiinnnnggggg!

If you're a fan of scary movies then you'll love these two movies.

"Devil times five" was actually scarier than "Mark of the witch" but they're completely different since the second one was more drama and the scary thing in it was the music, now that was creepy.

Too bad "devil times five" is only in full screen but "mark of the with" is widescreen.

A good deal overall.

Length:: 2:41 Mins

Tom and Ashley review Mark of the Witch and Devil Times Five aka peopletoys

I watch a lot of exploitation, grindhouse type flicks, many of them are easily forgotten, and formulaic, these 2 however, are both quite memorable, and and both are "good" bad movies, Devil times five is Lief Garrett, and a bunch of psycho orphans terrorizing a family in the northern California mountains in the middle of winter, I am partial visually to movies with cool backdrops like this, the film has a good pace and kept my interest throughout. Mark of the Witch starts out a bit slow, but quickly finds it's rhythm, this one has gobs of 70's retro cliche, and turned out to be really good, A collage girl gets possessed by the spirit of an ancient witch and frighting hilarity ensues. This double feature may not truly merit the 4stars Ive given it, but I watch so many bad forgettable films, the fact that both these movies kept my interest and kept me entertained is about all I can ask for from any low budget 70's flick.

I saw Mark of the Witch and I thought it zany and well almost like a Disney movie,the end did not make sense and the movie was boring. One That I thought was better Was Horror Hotel and Devil's Rain(Half-good).

Marie Santell gives an outstanding performance as the "Witch". She should have played both female roles. Worth purchasing just to view her opening scene.

Mark of the Witch is abysmal. Though both movies have the kind of terrible acting that is sometimes seen as so bad it's good, in this movie it is just bad. Ludicrously OTT histrionics from the 'witch' at the start of the movie, who, with her grimacing and mouth-contorting, only succeeds in making herself look hideous and then once that is over, the action takes place at a much later time in history where the descendant of the one who betrayed her comes into it, only he's played by the same actor. The witch takes over a student, who then proceeds to spend most of the rest of the movie boring the watcher, (in this case, me) with her wooden acting. The film is just dull and only gets briefly good at the very end, and by then most people would be just past caring.

One big yawn from start to finish, and a lot of boredom to have to endure before the one brief good bit, but I guess a pretty reasonably effective ending goes some way to make up for the rest. - Some people, of course, will give up before the end, but if you can stick it out until then, it may seem as though the rest was slowly leading up to the final good bit, which felt quite satisfying all in all.

The cover art is also pretty striking,, showing a still from the start of the movie where the witch woman's grimacing actually looks quite effective, but once seen in the movie is ridiculous.

The movie on the other side of the disc, Brides Wore Blood, had many boring sections in it, mainly the soft porn bits, and again there was a lot of laughable wooden acting, (though nothing nearly as bad as what one had to endure from the acting in Mark of the Witch) but it did have some sligthly interesting characters, in the psychic woman and the old man, both of whom were trying in their own strange way to dispel the curse on the de Lorca family.

There was also some nice gothic imagery (gargoyles and nice shots architecturally) and pretty cool mood music, (Bach's Tocata and fugue in B minor was used to good effect on the dvd menu and as the film's end theme) and some good sound-effect type music reminiscent of some of the old 'video nasty' films, though unfortunately used here in a fight sequence mainly, when really it would have been far better employed if it had been used in some creepy scene where someone was being stalked with heavy shadows all around along a dark corrider or something, though no scene like this was shown, but the video nasty type 'music' made one think of such things. In fact, there were quite a few sequences in the movie that had a video-nasty-type look and feel about them. Not in any real sense that may have got the film banned in Britain in the 'video nasty' days, but then seeing as how some really very mild horror movies got termed video nasties and banned, then who knows? I don't recall hearing of this movie before and maybe it was just too obscure at the time for anyone to notice it. Not that it's exactly well-known now, but at least it's got itself a dvd release, albiet only on the b side of the dreadful Mark of the Witch, but some very worthwhile movies have never been released on dvd at all and to be released as the flip side of a dire movie like Mark of the Witch is better than not being released at all.

It I could give marks out of ten for either movie, I'd give 2 out of 10 for 'Witch' and 6 out of 10 for 'Brides'.

Or then again, 1 star for Mark of the Witch, and 3 stars for Brides Wore Blood, which is the main reason I am giving 3 stars anyway, and also for the fact that two movies on one disc is probably good value even if one of the movies is not up to much.