Mark of the Witch (1970) by Tom Moore

Director: Tom Moore

Year: 1970

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Witchcraft

Plot:

After finding a book in their library, a group of curious college students decide to enact a special incantation within it, but when it's revealed that the spell worked and the spirit of a witch is reborn in her body, several of her friends must find a way to stop her revenge-based rampage before it's too late.

Review:

Overall, this was a rather fun and enjoyable genre effort. One of the better features here is the fun setup that sets the curse in motion against them. The initial idea of the seemingly innocent party game that takes place here with the group performing the ritual and believing that it's all harmless fun is a solid start when the reveal comes that it's real when the possession takes place. Actually managing to honor the time-honored tradition of her unfamiliarity with the modern world as great care is made to introduce her to the advancements of technology and how to blend into modern society given that she's controlling a body that others are familiar with, is another solid beginning here, which helps to fulfill the fun of the curse throughout the first half.

Once this is in place and her revenge pact gets started, this one has some fun to it. The initial attacks on the troublesome students who are intent on trying to get with her, unaware of her condition, have some chilling moments with her taking over and controlling them with her powers to the point of forcing them to commit ritualistic murders. That leads into the rather fun finale where the reversal spell that they try to switch their places back offers the first true sense of witchcraft that takes place here, where she pulls off a highly impressive twist in the reveal about what's going on that gives this a rather grim and shocking twist ending that ends this on a high note. These here are the film's positives.

There are some issues to be had here. One of the main drawbacks is the seemingly bizarre and curious decision to make the possession be revealed early on and in such a casual manner. The fact that her appearance at the professor's house to announce it and rub it in his face is such an underwhelming and lazy way of revealing everything that there's very little that's terrifying about the incident. The casual way she begins teasing him about her power and what's going to happen now that she's possessed the body isn't that chilling in the slightest, which is also quite prominently displayed in the investigation to reverse everything. Beyond one sequence of her powers being displayed, there's nothing here about her keeping them quiet with her secret that generates any kind of thrills, which is a bit distracting.

The last issue here is that this setup with her not threatening the guys who know the truth also manages to leave this one without a whole lot of action. The few attacks here where she takes out the other students are really all that goes on for the vast majority of the film's second half, where it revolves around an endless stream of remarks about the need to complete her mission yet never does anything unless someone does something first. With the two guys spending the same time researching means of stopping her during this section of the film and also not giving this one a whole lot of action during this point, these factors bring this one down overall.

Overview: **.5/5

A solid enough if somewhat flawed genre effort, there are some enjoyable elements that make for a great time while being let down by a variety of flaws that keep it down from what it could've been. Those who appreciate this style of genre fare or who are curious about it will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.