morrison-dylan-fan Getting near the end of the October Horror Challenge taking place on IMDb's Horror board,I felt that it was the perfect time to take a look at titles that fellow IMDbers have mentioned.With being a fan of auteur film maker "uncle" Jess Franco,I was happily caught by surprise,when a very kind IMDber sent me a Franco movie,which led to me getting ready to be judged by Uncle Jess.The plot-England-1685:With the reign of King James II being under threat, Judge George Jeffreys decides to give the death sentence to anyone who is suspected of planning a rebellion against James II.With it sometimes being hard to find evidence of the accused being against James II,Jeffreys decides to charge the unlucky souls of being witches. Sentencing Alicia Gray to death, Jeffries is shocked to discover that Alicia's sister Mary is going out with a Harry Selton,who is a member of a powerful political family,which leads to Jeffrey's making a bloody judgement.View on the film:Made with a bit more cash than his usual budget,co-writer/(along with Enrico Colombo/Michael Haller/ Harry Alan Towers & Anthony Scott Veitch)director Uncle Jess and cinematographer Manuel Merino give the title a royal appearance,as lavish reds and purples surround Jeffries brutal judgements.Working with a small amount of extras,Franco wraps the movie in Bruno Nicolai's score to give the battle scenes a touch of class. Firing his trademark zoom-in,Uncle Jess surprisingly makes the zooms fit in with the battle and torture scenes!,thanks to Franco's speeding camera moves giving the battles a frantic energy,and also closing in on the tortured victims.For the screenplay,the writers keep Jeffries and Harry Selton/Mary Gray at a distance from each other,until they unleash the full horror of Jeffries on the couple.For the Selton/Gray romance,the writers give the title a sweeping historical shine,as the brutally they face strengths the love that Selton/Gray have for each other.Keeping the film away from being loved up,the writers hit the blossoming romance with short,sharp,shocks of horror from Jeffries,which go from extended hangings to the sadistic burning of flesh.Whilst Maria Rohm charms as Mary Gray,the eye-catching Margaret Lee gives an alluring,sensual performance as Alicia Gray,with Lee's lingering looks really setting the backdrop for the romance romance between Mary and Selton. Chewing the arm off anyone who dares to question him, Christopher Lee gives a wonderful performance as Jeffries,who Christopher Lee soaks in a lip-curling viciousness that is joined by a deliciously macabre joy of giving poor victims horrific pain,as the judge soon finds himself about to be judged.

Michael_Elliott Bloody Judge, The (1970) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Jess Franco directs this tale of Judge Jeffries (Christopher Lee), a sadistic and evil judge who would constantly force women to be tortured and eventually burned at the stake for a variety of crimes but mostly stuff to do with Satan. After sending an innocent woman (Margaret Lee) to her death, her sister (Maria Rohm) joins forces with a man (Hans Hass, Jr.) and the two plan on bringing the judge down. THE BLOODY JUDGE has been shown in countless versions over the years and even when it was first released it seemed like every country got their own version. Some focused more on the story while others focused on either the sex or violence. The edition released by Blue Underground clocks in at 104-minutes and it's certainly the longest that's ever been released and includes a few torture sequences including one where Rohm is forced to lick the blood off of another woman. This film has several problems with it but overall it's a fairly good movie and one really could argue that it's one of the best films, technically speaking, that Franco has ever made. The budget was cut short before production but the director still manages to get some pretty good stuff including the cinematography, which makes the film seem like a bigger budgeted film. Another major plus are all the sets and costumes, which again, make the film look much more expensive than I'm sure it was. We also get a very good musical score by Bruno Nicolai. Franco's direction is able to build up a pretty good atmosphere as you really do feel as if you're back in the days where this sort of thing goes on. Of course, it doesn't hurt that you've got Lee delivering one of the best performances of his career as the sadistic judge. Lee might object to the violence, gore and nudity but when he's on the screen he's certainly giving it his all. You can just look into his eyes and it's as if the actor is possessed with the spirit of Jeffries because he's just so cruel and cold in the part. Rohm is as beautiful as ever and does a nice job in the role of an innocent woman who finds herself being tortured and raped. Hass is rather bland in his role but we do get Howard Vernon playing one of the torturers. The nudity level is quite high and if you're easily offended you should be warned that a lot of it comes from women being chained up and tortured. The violence is also fairly high but while it's more graphic than something like WITCHFINDER GENERAL it's still miles short of what we'd see in other films like this including MARK OF THE DEVIL. The one major flaw with the film is the fact that it runs too long and there are way too many slow spots where nothing much is happening. It also doesn't help that it's really hard to care for any of the characters. With that said, even those who spit on Franco should find enough here to enjoy.

Infofreak One thing I must say about 'The Bloody Judge' is that despite the title, being directed by Jess Franco, the witchcraft theme, and the presence of the legendary Christopher Lee and Howard Vernon in the cast, this is NOT a horror movie. It is a historical drama. A little bit of gore and torture, but most certainly not the Bava-esque chiller you might expect. This is Franco on a larger budget than usual, but also to my mind a compromised Franco. The print I watched (the English version) featured no nudity and very little gore. Lee was excellent as usual in the title role, playing the power crazy witchfinder Judge Jeffreys, but without the usual Franco sleaze the story failed to hold my attention throughout. If you haven't seen any of the director's work this might be a good jumping on point, but afficionados of the erotic and surreal 'Vampyros Lesbos' or 'Succubus' might find this one a bit of a snooze.

gridoon The kind of incompetent filmmaking that can be enlivened only by a few torture scenes. A completely uninvolving film, with a storyline so muddled that you often don't know Who-IS-Who. I watched the (allegedly) uncut, letterboxed rereleased version, and apart from an unpleasant rack scene, it's not particularly strong stuff. "Mark of the Devil" was a much superior entry in the same "witch-hunting" genre. Watch that one instead! (*1/2)