THE MARK OF THE DEVIL/ LA MARCA DEL DEMONIO

Mexico, 2020, 82 minutes, Colour.
Eduardo Noriega, Eivaur Rischen. Nicolasa Ortiz Monasterio, Lumi Cavazos.
Directed by Diego Cohen.

The title and the rough, small-budget style are reminiscent of the range of be horror films produced in Spain, especially in the 1970s. This is a Mexican production, although its star is the Spanish, Eduardo Noriega, who also was one of the producers of the film.

Although the screenplay makes fun of the Hollywood conventions in films, this production is definitely in its tradition, opening with a young boy in paroxysms as a bearded elderly priest performing an exorcism, his peasant parents very concerned. The priest takes the body away for burial but the boy revives in the back of the car, the priest throws him down a cliff and drives off.

The main action of the film takes place 30 years later. There is a focus on a Professor of ancient languages who receives the gift of an ancient manuscript, whose text and images are reminiscent of the Necronomicon. One of her daughters opens the book, suggesting that her other sister, there with her boyfriend, read some of the texts – and there is suddenly a wind and some kind of sense of supernatural presence.

After going out dancing, taking ecstasy, the young woman sleeps for a day and then begins to exhibit ominous signs. The older sister is concerned and discovers that there are no exorcists in Mexico but that a certain priest would be available to do something.

The audience has seen him in action, addicted to heroin, dependent on supply from a mysterious man, always wearing a hat, echoes of spaghetti westerns. He also has strong powers, especially in violent confrontations. It soon emerges that this is the young boy of the opening grown into an adult, exorcised. There is a later flashback to the young boy in the church, the priest who exorcised him hanging crucified in the church. The young priest takes him under his wing.

The priest, Tomas, Eduardo Noriega, goes to visit the disturbed girl, is confronted by the professor and her easy-going husband.

Ultimately, rituals, both parents flung around the room, dying, both sisters becoming haunted. Ultimately, the strange man is able to extract the evil – and the two girls drive away from home.

This is the kind of film that is made specifically for fans of possession/exorcism films, a blend of the serious as well as some tongue-in-cheek over the top characters and effects.