Overrated and overhyped

Don't Believe the Hype

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is actually one of Jess Franco's better films; a relatively high budget goes a long way in creating some authentic locations and costumes in this historical drama. The film is also refreshingly free (well, not totally) of the pointless zoom shots of which Franco was so proud. The original title was NIGHT OF THE BLOOD MONSTER, but as there are no monsters involved, it seems to bear little relation to the film and THE BLOODY JUDGE is indeed far more apt. Christopher Lee plays the cruel judge who has blood on his hands as he finds all suspected witches guilty and sends them to be burnt alive.The film is very similar storyline to WITCHFINDER GENERAL, an obvious influence, as well as MARK OF THE DEVIL. The film has a lot going in its favour, but ultimately it fails to be a masterpiece due to the confusing editing and disjointed feel to the whole thing. While the threadbare plot is nothing new, it gives ample opportunity for Franco to delight in what he likes best: naked women, and plenty of torture scenes, including a woman being whipped and (the most wince-inducing) a bloodied woman stretched on the rack.Christopher Lee gives a tour-de-force performance in the title role and he's perfectly cast as the cruel, tyrannical lawman. His portrayal of the corrupt and seemingly powerful leader who is plagued by inner demons is an insightful one. Lee is surrounded by some top Euro crumpet, indeed Franco fills out the cast with lots of beautiful women who get variously tortured and murdered. Franco favourite Howard Vernon enjoys himself as an executioner.Those who enjoyed the aforementioned classic with Vincent Price will be sure to delight in this very similar film. Attention to detail is surprisingly thorough, and the costumes and sets are brilliant. Without the grisly torture sequences the film would be an interesting, engaging historical story of a barbaric time in Britain, but with them, it becomes an accurate portrayal of the violent and perverse state that the country was in. Worth seeing for Lee's memorable performance alone, this may not be a very good film, but it's definitely better than you might have come to expect from exploitation king Franco.

George Jeffreys (Christopher Lee) is the hanging judge under James II during the 1680s... he was a personally vengeful man.This is apparently Jess Franco's answer to "Witchfinder General". Both this film and that one seem to focus on historical figures and then twisting them to have a witch/horror theme, with a lusty undertone. Witchfinder was based on an actual witchfinder... but I am not sure how much the real Judge Jeffreys dealt with witchcraft.Anyway, always nice to see Christopher Lee in a sinister, menacing role. And with great power! I found his lecherous tendencies a bit disturbing -- not surprising for the character, but seemed to me to be beneath the classy presentation we normally see from Lee. (But certainly not beneath Franco!)

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.

My review is based on the recent DVD release which is more explicit than the version released in theaters. However, both versions were rather explicit.I am not the most prudish person out there, so don't automatically think I am just a nut based on my summary. Saying the film is 'rather pornographic' is not something I say lightly and I am surprised that none of the other reviewers found this film offensive. But, in addition to having a lot of nudity (some very explicit), most of this nudity was sadistic in nature--showing women getting raped or being tortured. Woman after woman appeared in the film naked or semi-naked and drenched in blood while being brutalized. Now the film was about the evil abuses of the British courts in the late 17th century--so some brutality is inevitable. However, women are simply objects--objects to be brutalized for some voyeuristic fantasy.The film is about a particularly evil judge (Christopher Lee) who takes great delight in sentencing people to death and maltreatment. While he personally doesn't even see the results of his sentences, he knows what sort of atrocities his men do and he is completely indifferent. In addition, late in the film he rapes a comely prisoner--so he's obviously a pretty horrible person. Most of the film consists of either showing women being savaged or showing the 'good guys' in their crusade to rid the country of an incompetent king (James II) as well as his evil minions (including Lee).While this COULD have been a very good film (after all, it's a very important part of British history that's been mostly ignored in movies), it isn't. It is excessive and gross throughout. The actors appear to try their best with the material, but how can actors get noticed when the film has little plot (at times) and lots of drooling sickos molesting and beating women? Even if you are a fan of Christopher Lee (like me), I can't recommend the film. However, if you'd like a similar and not quite as excessive film, try watching Vincent Price's WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968). While not exactly the same plot (it doesn't mention the transition from James II to William of Orange during the revolution, as it was set about 40 years earlier in history) and also a bit graphic, it is about an evil judge who delights in torture and rape to deal with witches...or pretty much anyone who doesn't do his bidding. And, fortunately, the film doesn't feel like a snuff film--like THE BLOODY JUDGE ("Il trono di fuoco").