''The Bloody Judge'' is a 1970

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by

Jesús Franco Jesús Franco Manera (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013), also commonly known as Jess Franco, was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a highly prolific director of low-budget exploitation and B-movies. He worked in many different gen ...

and written by Enrico Colombo, Jesús Franco, Michael Haller, and Anthony Scott Veitch. The film stars

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

Maria Schell Maria Margarethe Anna Schell (15 January 1926 – 26 April 2005) was an Austrian-Swiss actress. She was one of the leading stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1954, she was awarded the Cannes Best Actress Award for her performance ...

Leo Genn Leopold John Genn ( ; 9 August 1905 – 26 January 1978) was an English actor and barrister. Distinguished by his relaxed charm and smooth, "black velvet" voice, he had a lengthy career in theatre, film, television and radio, often playing a ...

, Hans Hass Jr.,

Maria Rohm Maria Rohm (13 August 1945 – 18 June 2018) was an Austrian actress and producer. Born Helga Grohmann in Vienna, she started her acting career at the very young age, working at the famous Viennese Burgtheatre as a child actor from ages 4 throug ...

and Margaret Lee. The film was released in Italy on February 5, 1970.

Plot

This film is loosely based on the story of Judge Jeffries, the

Lord Chief Justice The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

of seventeenth-century England, who, in this film, condemned women as witches to further his political and sexual needs.

Cast

Production

According to Harry Alan Towers' biographer Dave Mann, the collaborations between director Jesús Franco and Towers were fraught with difficulties. Franco explained that Towers liked doing co-productions with others and that the film was going to be an Anglo-American-German-Spanish-French-Italian co-production. This led to many changes to suit producers in each country's needs, with Franco recalling that the film was at first a horror film with a historical backdrop, then more of a historical film with a background of inquisition, then primarily about the inquisition, then an erotic film.

Release

''The Bloody Judge'' was released in Italy on 5 February 1970. It was later released in West Germany on 5 June 1970. The film was released in Spain on 20 April 1971 as ''Proceso de las Brujas''. The film had 688,928 admissions in Spain. In 1972 the film was released in the US as ''Night of the Blood Monster''. It was released on DVD in the UK by Salvation Films in 1999.

References

Sources

External links

* 1970 films 1970 horror films 1970s historical horror films Italian historical horror films West German films German historical horror films Spanish historical horror films 1970s English-language films English-language German films English-language Italian films English-language Spanish films Films about witch hunting Films directed by Jesús Franco Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Films set in London Films set in England Films set in the 1680s Folk horror films 1970s Italian films 1970s German films 1970s Spanish films English-language historical horror films {{1970s-horror-film-stub