The Mark of Satan Is Upon Them - Witchfinder General (Vincent Price)

[@Schone23666]

I remember watching Vincent Price as a kid, and thought just how kooky and hammy, and yet at the same time very classy and gentleman an actor he was. And then I watched Witchfinder General, and found him in this role bloody terrifying.

[@thrashingpanic]

I think the real Witchfinder General was much more terryfying.

[@2up3rm4n1]

The funny thing was is he was an actor of sorts, such as in Song of Bernadette and Laura, and anything else you may find him in, then he did House of Wax, and that was what turned everything around. Suddenly he was one frightening SOB. It's about the same as what happened to Robert Englund when he got Freddie Krueger, and Leslie Neilsen when he did Airport, which led into the Naked Gun movies. But when I was growing up, anything Vincent Price did was terrifying; Theatre of Blood, Iron Tail in Here Comes Peter Cottontail, the Brady Bunch in Hawaii episodes.

[@ezrastardust3124]

I had to watch this film for one of my classes last semester and I was absolutely frozen to my seat with fear

[@untergangnorge4453]

Fucking legend. This man knew the game

[@Melbournelost66]

Lol 😂 I agree!

[@ldshasnobrain]

What Game...what are you trying to say 😂😂😂😂

[@babsyjacko5087]

love Vincent price what a star

[@ontologicallysteve7765]

cuttock Exactly. They were at each other's throats during the totality of production. Reeves went on to kill himself after making this film. Whether that was connected or not, remains to be seen. But one things for sure: he extracted a performance out of Price that never would have been (if not for the pressure he put on him). Coal makes diamonds, as they say. After seeing the film, Price was quite pleased with the finished product and then stated he understood why Reeves treated him as such. From the directors standpoint he was merely trying to reel price in, thus preventing him from going off into hamminess and the typical "Priceisms" that we've all come to know and love. The finished product gave us a nuanced and subdued side of Price that is rarely, if ever seen in any of his other performances.

[@59bulldogman]

The ending was even more powerful. Like the touch of a spider crawling down your spine.

[@audaxhistoricus7467]

And always remember, thou art a wretched sinner, not befitting of gods love!

[@imjustlookingformywatch]

5/10 for this guy. He didn't even deliver The Accused to the magistrates assembled in the court of the shire in which they dwelt.

[@NeilSonOfNorbert]

A fountain of pollution lies deep within thy nature, and thou existeth as a winter tree, fit only to be hughen down and burned.

[@stephenm6100]

vincent price.... legend

[@odemata87]

Despite its seriousness I laughed all the way through this. I think the last scene however was really graphic. They don't make them like that anymore. Good movie.

[@mamsan3741]

this is a TV series??

[@odemata87]

Mam San No it was a movie. Its pretty good. A bit gruesome but I found it laughable because of ridiculous acts that the main character oversaw.

[@mamsan3741]

Raoul Simon i fell that i've seen this movie but remaked by someone else...

[@AGETheGawdYT]

It’s not ridiculous, this actually happened and is historically documented. Ridiculous if you were on that stake burning alive for a crime you didn’t commit

[@nancyking]

I laughed a little at Mark of the Devil with Herbert Lom as The Witchfinder General. He played Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in The Pink Panther movies. He was one of the actors that could do just about anything, too.

[@AlexandraPeters70]

Classic Movie!!! There a few movies like that from the late 60's & 70's I like. And all this witch hunting /burning happened for real anyways....Sad but true.....Good movie indeed, and with Vincent Price, makes it even better. One of a kind actor....perfect for movies like this.

[@1badjesus]

Drown = Innocent Swim = Guilty ....makes PERFECT sense.

[@ezrastardust3124]

People were idiots back then Now the idiocy has simply manifested in new ways

[@stevekaczynski3793]

"Some that seem good sometimes proveth to be evil" (Witchsmeller Pursuivant in Blackadder).

[@Lefiath]

@@ezrastardust3124 Oh, they were idiots just back then? Nowdays, we walk around with smartphones and all the knowledge you could possibly ask for, and we act just as stupid as "back then".

[@jelsner5077]

Xstain Logic

[@lufsolitaire5351]

@@ezrastardust3124the surprising thing is, not anymore than anyone else today. In fact the witch hunts and trials were conducted by the intelligentsia and the most educated class of that society. One shouldn’t equate intellectual intelligence and education level with human decency, in fact it’s those types of people that are the most self-righteous and think they’re doing good things for the benefit of others. Nobody ever thinks they’re doing anything wrong until enough people call them on it.

[@josephfaria6617]

I dont know why they wont let me in the waterpark anymore. I'm only doing the lord's work.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

All you were doing was stamping out confessed idolators...

[@wastehazey6468]

Waterpark.. I like that. Sounds more comfortable and sofisticated than "drowning pool"

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@wastehazey6468 Some of them were innocent...

[@johnconcerto8721]

I love the crazed logic hahaha!

[@borleyboo5613]

Price was brilliant in every role he played. However, he was much older than the real Matthew Hopkins. Price was in his late 50s early 60s here but Hopkins was only in his mid twenties at the height of his witch hunting.

[@Guitarharmonics]

doesn't get any better than this! Confessed Idolators!!

[@KrazyFang1]

"They swim! The mark of Satan is upon them!"

[@rosecroix77]

"Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder General... YOUR SOUL CONDEMNED T O H E E E E E E L L L" End quote

[@electroexecuteeelectroexec1398]

I think this method is perfectly fair and should be employed today. Further more, I changed my name to Matthew Hopkins.

[@mrkarma7523]

Mark Richardson WITCHFINDER

[@richwicz]

I've been to the location where they filmed this scene, Kentwell Hall. It's beautiful.

[@AlexandraPeters70]

Oh I bet! It does look lovely....:)

[@borgduck]

Helmut McFranklinstein I go there often, on my bicycle. :)

[@richwicz]

borgduck Lucky you! It's a lovely place.

[@borgduck]

Helmut McFranklinstein Thank you, it is. :)

[@diamonddog257]

yes ... i tried a few witches there myself; 'till they told me it was legal now.

[@ٴٴٴٴ_0]

Those 1960s horror movies had a beautiful photography, making them pleasant to watch even when the writing wasn't great

[@tayojones9460]

The original Judge FRollo.

[@hamishwhitehenderson5197]

My fave Vincent Price movie was the one where books football venues. It’s even better than the one where he maps the field drainage systems of England

[@gimmethepinkelephant3685]

I hope people know that this isn't really the way these trials went. But I do love me some Vincent Price.😂👍🏻

[@wastehazey6468]

This sounds an awfull lot like heresy my friend.. ;)

[@DenkyManner]

Oh yes, the real trials (to find witches that don't exist) were far more sensible

[@gimmethepinkelephant3685]

@@wastehazey6468 🤣🤣🤣 That's a good one.

[@gimmethepinkelephant3685]

@@DenkyManner being sensible had nothing to do with it. It mostly had to do with politics. It's very similar to what we see today. They just used the superstition of the masses to work them into a frenzy back then. But I see the same crap happening in modern times. They're just using different tactics, but they're getting the same reaction out of the people in the end.... You literally still have people calling for the death of others simply because of false accusations and propaganda being thrown into the public square. People never really change.

[@tobyroyson9336]

"she was innocent..." lol

[@stevekaczynski3793]

But he's not too broken up about it.

[@jeffreysnydr]

She probably died of a heart attack...

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

Apparently the real Matthew Hopkins was only 28 when he died, maybe even 25.

[@Mandalore06]

People tended not to live long in those days.

[@ChaseMcCain81]

@@Mandalore06, yep.

[@flyingisaac2186]

Even for the time it was young enough. Average ages were distorted by massive infant mortality. He probably died of TB, not through the same process shown in the clip on accusation of witchcraft.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@flyingisaac2186 Some authorities were impressed by the historical Hopkins but others were not, sometimes sensing that he was some kind of grifter. On at least one occasion he was cross-questioned about the fees he was charging for himself and his entourage.

[@flyingisaac2186]

@@stevekaczynski3793 yes, that's what he seems to have been, using the troubled times in service of his greed and need for power over people.

[@drfranklippenheimer8743]

I never understood why the priest said: "God forgive you, Matthew Hopkins." The man clearly deserved no such thing. But anyways, this is a horror classic. And I love the soundtrack.

[@PeaceDweller]

..The priest said it because in the New Testament it clearly states that Jesus has commanded all Christians to forgive those that persecute them.

[@scottmatheson3346]

Also, it's a way of getting a verbal jab in at your opponent, implying his moral inferiority to you while implying you are above his attempts to break you.

[@mikesmith8313]

He has no wisdom in his attempt to pacify a no win situation. Its like saying its OK to committ suicide by letting someone take advantage of you. Hopkins is undeterred because the Law will protect him. But the Law changed after many people were hanged like this man.

[@wastehazey6468]

​@@PeaceDweller yeah, but the title of Witchfinder General is far above the title of a simple priest ;)

[@wastehazey6468]

What an amateur.. Every Witchfinder knows, that the only sure way to tell if someone is a witch is if the accused weighs the same as a duck.

[@Will21st]

only a witch would possess this knowledge..... BURN!!!

[@classicartfoundation639]

Or a very small pebble

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@classicartfoundation639 Very small rocks. Grapes, gravy.

[@Exotic3000]

Thanks for posting!

[@MarmaladeStex]

The Famous/Infamous Matthew Hopkins & John Stearne!.

[@jamespennington7919]

How reassuring to see how they used the proper, prescribed procedures.

[@ldshasnobrain]

Yes they weren't to concerned about the feelings of the perpetrators or if they needed a human rights lawyer or mental health first aid.

[@MrSartorius1]

tough but fair

[@stevekaczynski3793]

They needed to be cruel to be, well, cruel...

[@classicartfoundation639]

Hardly fair you fucking idiot

[@pennybourban3712]

I saw this in a drive-in.. It was the first time I saw something so bad that I felt ill. I got out of the car and wandered around not looking at the screen. I was very surprised as I am not a very sensitive person and I have watched much worse movies.

[@wastehazey6468]

I know exactly what you mean my dude. Saw this film as a teenager and I didn't sleep for weeks. I don't know, somehow I had a guilty conscience by watching it. It's hard to explain.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Interesting character touch - Hopkins has white gloves on and likes to put the forefingers together, pointing forward. I wonder what a psychologist would make of that?

[@2up3rm4n1]

Took me forever to see all of this movie. It came on as a late night movie in the seventies and they showed this clip of him accusing the three of them on the ground as a premiere, but I slept through it. I finally got the movie on VHS, no less, and watched it. Turns out this scene is about the only one worth watching, tho I was amused by that sidekick, Stern, and was hoping to see something else he had been in.

[@classicartfoundation639]

What are talking about the whole movie was a masterpiece, very disturbing

[@wastehazey6468]

Ahh, I don't agree with you there my friend. This is a true classic folk horror film in my opinion, but we're all entitled to our opinions, it's not like this is a witch hunt ;)

[@kyleshiflet9952]

Matthew Hopkins a Lawyer conman who reportedly sent 260 people to their deaths truly a sick man

[@pinkpastelhearts]

funfacts about vincent: he is a salem witch descendant, his 7th great grandmother, Rebecca Towne Nurse, and her sister Mary Towne Esty, Price's 8th great aunt, were 2 of the 19 hanged for witchcraft in 1692. They had immigrated to North America from England and settled in Salem Village, Massachusetts.

[@wastehazey6468]

I did not know that, thanks for that little fun fact friend! :)

[@WESSERPARAQUAT]

that's a fair cop then :P

[@ldshasnobrain]

The Manosphere needs him now more than ever.

[@ldshasnobrain]

Just kidding he couldn't keep it in his trousers and was just abusing his power.

[@donnamiller5222]

these people didn't care about guilt or innocence,they just wanted to be cruel

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Stearne is certainly enjoying himself.

[@richymenezes1524]

Sounds like all them left- tards ..

[@ldshasnobrain]

Did they?.I would have never have thought so .

[@matthewhopkins1168]

You all saw it.....they swum. Case closed.

[@thelodger1598]

Indeed. Let God's will be done.

[@snappy452]

The mark of Satan, of course, is buoyancy.

[@thewokefindergeneral7631]

It's a blue and red donkey

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Yup. I was swimming recently on holiday. My pact with Satan prevented me from drowning :)

[@simonandsimbagaming]

It all came from the idea that water, being crucial to baptism, would reject a witch for being in league with Satan. But there had been priests and theologians arguing against the practice since at least the 9th century.

[@dzonnyblue3065]

Vincent Price is Acting Legend and only a few could match his talent and this film would be just mediocre historic film without him !

[@uncatila]

We need a man like him to drive all the witches out of congress.

[@DenkyManner]

The point of the film is witches don't exist and that it was all driven by evil, sadistic, mysoginistic men. People very similar to the Taliban. And you are on their side?

[@donnamiller5222]

These people don't care whether anyone is a witch or not they just want excuses to be cruel

[@colinmackinnon696]

It's actually silver and gold they want.

[@FatherAxeKeeper]

I came here thinking I'd see a video by the band Witchfinder General.

[@chrisroach4284]

A prescribed fashion. 😂😂😂🐕

[@naly202]

I have decided to watch ALL of Vincent's films. Still, I can't bring myself to watch this one. Yet. Edit: Watched it and hated it

[@jackhamilton9604]

I have three friends called Matthew, bet they would all be disgusted to share the same name as Matty Hopkins

[@mikewilensky1322]

He was a truly great actor! Had a PhD in art history! So evil in this movie!

[@harleydalton136]

*Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats intensifies*

[@TheSleathable]

went here on a school trip

[@hamishwhitehenderson5197]

I'm trying to remember the name of this other Vincent Price film, when his character's job is to procure female dogs for animal husbandry purposes. Anyone know its name?

[@ldshasnobrain]

What?😂😂😂

[@hamishwhitehenderson5197]

@@ldshasnobrain Bitchfinder General. I waited four years for that, and to be honest I'd forgotten about it entirely and had to think for a bit to remember what the pun was.

[@hamishwhitehenderson5197]

@@ldshasnobrain see also: My fave Vincent Price movie was the one where books football venues. It’s even better than the one where he maps the field drainage systems of England

[@bearmare9710]

Methods such as this were to serve the purpose that officers of the state had enormous power over life and death. Three were accused, one was drowned (for being innocent), and two were hanged for being guilty of witchcraft. If one was accused, death, whether by the trial by ordeal or by execution, was their certain fate. The penalty was the same for those who were papists, Royalists, or other enemies of the Lord Protector. (Cromwell) If there was resistance, one could expect the arrival of a troop of Ironsides to dispatch the whole town.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Cromwell was not yet Lord Protector and I am unaware of any connection between him and Hopkins, although it is interesting that the witch craze took off only in East Anglia, where Cromwell came from. Hopkins seems to have exploited wartime chaos rather than being an agent of Cromwell per se.

[@jeffreysnydr]

Why do i get the feeling that Hopkins and stearne got similar jobs in purgatory?

[@wastehazey6468]

Guys.. were Vincent Price and Orson Welles related? Try closing your eyes and listen to him whilst thinking "rosebud.."

[@JoseLoc555cl]

Have you come to take a spoil queen of diadema

[@Dan-vt3nk]

wow. so sad.

[@uncatila]

A true scholar in that day would have known Archemedies formula w=m/vThat is that boyancy is a factor in any given volumn displacing an equal volumn of water. Knowing this and not wishing to be convicted of witchcraft I would have asked for led to help me sink and then held my breath to stay underwater while a judgement was being made of my character.

[@harmonlanager2670]

Patrick Fealy But if you were discovered alive after being pulled up, they'd think you used magic.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@harmonlanager2670 Reactions at the time to unexpected survival could be unpredictable. In one of Cromwell's Irish massacres in 1649 an Irish Royalist soldier jumped from a high tower that had been set on fire. He only broke his leg and was not killed by the Cromwellian soldiers, due to the "extraordinariness of the thing".

[@andrewneill9873]

Anyone else here because of Cathedral?

[@markchoma9822]

No but I have the CD.

[@lw3646]

Terrifying film.

[@h.l.asolomonov7674]

So u can swim that makes u a wicked witch? Wow glad we live in this century even begans and true witches are responsible now a days

[@AudieHolland]

Didn't they fine people for giving false confessions in those times? Should you then sink, we will know your confessions are false and you will be fined 10 Shillings for lying on the Holy Bible.

[@JoseLoc555cl]

Silence you den of vipers

[@ldshasnobrain]

The Nazis and Soviets were way more cruel.

[@kidsoxoxox]

Hags art v'ry real and their sacrifice pits has't been hath found. This playeth grossly and inc'rrectly and unfairly p'rtrays the valorous and essential w'rk of beldams hunteth'rs. Thee has't been did warn unbeliev'rs.

[@diamonddog257]

Now he, could handle women...

[@SFBenjaminK]

IS WORK OF THE DEVIL

[@kevinloving3141]

(H)ark thif witchfinder be a vile perfidiouf impofter the true Witchfinder goes by the name An tun sei I know it'f not a true Anglish name but one has to protect themfelves from papists.

[@SuperCarcher]

Peek is spelt PEEK-NOT PEAK.