Films for which the FSK does not give the green light in the unabridged version will in some cases end up on the index – for example because they are classified as glorifying violence and/or harmful to young people – and may not be openly advertised and sold in Germany. You can then request approval again during a re-inspection. After 25 years there is also a mandatory review – with many titles actually getting away with a black eye and being released. After all, people’s viewing behavior has changed quite a bit in a quarter of a century.
But then there are films that have been on the index for so long that almost no one would expect this could ever change. Movies like the ruthless shocker with the resounding title “Witches – Defiled and tortured to death“. The sequel to the no less famous “Witches tortured until bloody“ caused a sensation in the 1970s with its immense hardness, caused heated discussions – and was shown uncut in cinemas at the time with an 18 release, before it was subsequently indexed. Over the years, numerous other indexes followed, for example from various releases on VHS, to indexing was eventually lifted in 2023 became.
Distributor Turbine Medien successfully initiated the re-investigation and was ultimately told that the film was “no longer immoral by today’s standards” and that it no longer “endangered young people.” The film has now once again been subjected to the film industry’s voluntary self-scrutiny, which came to a verdict that was probably surprising to many genre experts: The uncut version of the film has now been released for ages 16 and over as part of a re-examination by the FSK!
If you see ‘Witches – Desecrated and Tormented to Death’ in stores soon in a turbine edition with a blue 16 stamp, don’t be surprised: you are actually dealing with the unabridged version of the legendary horror thriller.
This is “Witches – Defiled and Tortured to Death”
The film, internationally known as “Mark Of The Devil: Part II”, was first released in German cinemas in January 1973 and is considered a sequel to “Mark Of The Devil” or “Hexen bis aufs Blut marted” – but in fact it has no particularly limited connection with it in terms of content, but only shares similarities such as the time in which it is set, the explicit torture scenes as we know them from exploitation cinema, and actor Reggie Nalder.
And that’s what it’s all about: In 1780, the witch hunter Balthasar von Ross (Anton Diffring) tyrannized the population. Anyone who opposes him is quickly declared a wizard or witch – and burned. Until one day he has to deal with Alexander von Salmenau, who has escaped from the dungeon and manages to turn the citizens against the devilish Balthasar von Ross…