The Witches Hammer (1970)
Directed by Otakar Vávra
Starring Elo Romancik, Vladimír Smeral, Sona Valentová, Josef Kemr, Lola Skrbková, Jirina Stepnicková, Marie Nademlejnská,Miriam Kantorková

Here is another example of showing a lifelong horror fan that there are still some gems out there that not only you haven’t seen yet, but you didn’t even know about. This Czechoslovakian film is about the witch trials and inquisition that were taking place in the late 1600’s. The film is based on actual text taken from court records from trials. The film’s title comes from the book The Malleus Maleficarum, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, two Inquisitors from the Catholic Church. This book was used to further not only the existence of witches but also how to deal with them.

During a mass, an old beggar woman is caught stealing a Holy Communion wafer. Since they’re not sure what to do, a retired inquisitor, played with much zest by Vladimír Smeral, is called in to investigate. This doesn’t bode too well with some of the town’s council, but they are powerless to intervene. Boblig, the inquisitor, gets to work, torturing these women for not only confessions, but also to get them to accuse others as well. We see just how fabricated and unjust these so-called trials really were. It was a no-win situation for the accused. If you pleaded your innocents, you were tortured until the break of death, or insanity, where you would gladly name anybody as an accomplice, just to make the torture stop. Then it would continue to the next person. Until it would get to someone of higher stature, where their property and money would be confiscated by the church.

The scenes of torture here are not gratuitous or done in the exploitative ways, but they are shown enough to give the point across and are still very effective. From the simple devices like the thumbscrews, one can only imagine the pain that would be endured if you kept pleading your innocents.

Elo Romancik plays the hero Lautner, a Deacon of the church, has a strong resemblance to Christopher Plummer. He disagrees with what he sees going on, and these people are really innocent of the crimes they are being charged with. But when you start to defend “heretics”, people start to question your ethics and just what side you are on. Even if you’re one of the educated members of the town council, and have others that feel the same as you, when the finger pointing starts, it shows that no one is safe from the Inquisitor’s wrath. The rest of the cast also gives strong performances, right down to the old beggar woman who is just trying to make it through life. The pain and anguish told from their eyes gives the viewer a small glimpse of the true horror of what is going on.

The only bad part of this film is that if you’ve see films like Witchfinder General or Mark of the Devil, this really isn’t anything new, as far as the subject. You’re really hoping for a happy ending, where the real evil of the film is discovered and punished, but just like in real life, that doesn’t always happen. The evil inquisitor not only never gets what he deserves, after causing the torture and death of many innocent people, but he ends up living a very long and fruitful life.

The film is still very well made, in beautiful black and white, and one that just tears at your consciousness because of the inhuman injustice that was put upon innocent people back then. Just boggles the mind to think that these things happened. Times like that makes me embarrassed to be human.

The film is available on DVD from Facets Video, and is accessible through Netflix. We highly recommend this film. As we said, you might have seen this story before, but the performances are strong enough to hold its own, as well as the history of such atrocities should always be remembered.