source: Inquisition

Moviecut—Inquisition

Inquisición

A far portrait of the real inquisition that took place in Europe, Paul Naschy also directed under the psedonym of Jacinto Molina, the picture is an inconceivable under many aspects, during Spanish Inquisition Torquemada and their mad followers pursuit heretics people mainly women called witches and under the worst atrocious tortures they get a confessions, this picture there's a single woman who fit in this early descriptions, a nudity exploitation is quite easily extensive, in the scenes where they burning at stake are totally inaccurate, as fictional movie is plenty acceptable, the old village seems alike France during 15th century, also about the black plague that devasteted such places, even so many empty spaces a interesting picture!!! Resume: First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

A fine well made film with Paul Naschy's first work as director. There is money spent on it and splendid costumes, although what we are really there for is the Inquisition and of course there are some nasty torture scenes but not too many. There are also shots of naked women dying of the plague, also great shots of witchery and fantastic scenes of the Sabbat. Naschy has to be in all the scenes but he is fine and he gets in some lovely girls. The best of them all was Daniela Giordano an Italian who made some 35 films. Some sexy in the 60s and a couple of gialli, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972) and The Girl in Room 2A (1974) and a poliziotteschi in Violent Rome (1975).

This film has been passed around on poorly dubbed tapes and DVD-Rs for a long time. But recently it was released in newly digitized DVD format. It must have been transfered directly from the original 16mm film. The picture quality is almost perfect. It is now available on Amazon.com. I personally bought one and the images look really sharp even on a 52" LCD TV. I hope other cult films such as "Poor Cecily" and "Inquisitor" also will be digitized from the original films. I think this film is most well-known for some outrageous torture scenes and also witch-burning scenes. In one torture scene, a fully naked blonde girl was stretched on the rack. In another scene, a young woman, also fully naked, was subjected to charcoal burning on her chest and then had her nipple cut off. The witch burning scene was very dramatic as well with three cute young women each being tied to a tall stake screaming while the fire was burning from below...

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".

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.