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People are voting emotionally.

Excellent adaptation.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Blistering performances.

Along with Witchfinder General (1968), The Bloody Judge was part of a small subset of films from the late 60's / early 70's that can best be described as historical horror movies. In these we have a true historical subject which is played up in such a way that it crosses over into the territory of the horror film. Seeing as this was a point in time where there was a plethora of period set costume horror flicks anyway, I suppose it makes a lot of sense that these films were made too. Like a lot of continental offerings from the period, this one throws in a lot of sadistic torture, nudity and sleaze as well and so covers the erotic horror sub-genre too. This is hardly surprising when you take into account that its director was the legendary Jesus Franco who was something of an expert at this kind of thing.The Bloody Judge came out at a point when Franco was enjoying the most high profile time of his career and so this one like a few others he made at the time is pretty high budgeted by his subsequent standards. It has good locations and a fine cast and benefits from professional editing and photography as well. It was also one of several collaborations Franco had with horror stalwart Christopher Lee too. Unlike their earlier Fu Manchu collaborations, the role of the infamous Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys – aka 'The Hanging Judge' – was much better suited to Lee. He is very good as this cold central character, although he seemingly was not best pleased at all when he saw the finished film, presumably as a result of the salacious content Franco is famed for. The cast is good beyond Lee too; we have the beautiful Maria Rohm, the fine character actor Leo Genn and last but not least Franco regular Howard Vernon in a great over the top turn as a torturer/executioner.Like Witchfinder General before it and several others too, this one is set in witch hunting times. It's a period in history peculiarly well suited to horror movies. Most costume horrors tend to be set in the later Victorian period but when we go back further into the far scarier, unenlightened years of the 1600's we are squarely in a historical period where many very horrible things occurred and it is very well suited, therefore, to horror stories. Like most historical films, this one also takes considerable liberties with the actual history to be honest. But let's be fair, lots of critically acclaimed big budget historical movies do exactly the same – Braveheart for instance – and if they can then why bother complaining if these far smaller films do a similar thing.For my money this is one of the better Franco films out there. I think the story and central character are good ones for the treatment and the production value is good enough to pull it off. The smattering of salacious content throughout didn't do it any harm and simply added to the entertainment factor to be perfectly honest. This maybe isn't of the level of the more personal delirious Franco efforts such as Vampyros Lesbos but it's definitely one of his most well made. I enjoyed it a fair bit.

Il trono di fuoco (AKA: The Bloody Judge) is directed by Jesus Franco and written by Anthony Scott Veitch and Peter Welbeck. It stars Christopher Lee, Maria Schell, Leo Genn, Hans Hass Jr., Maria Rohm and Margaret Lee. Music is by Bruno Nicolai and cinematography by Manuel Merino.Based on the real life Judge Jeffreys, the so called Hanging Judge who presided over what became known as The Bloody Assizes in Winchester 1685.Spaghetti horror with plenty of blood but nothing else. Christopher Lee was known to say this performance as the cruel Judge Jeffries was one of his best, you have to think he was bluffing by way of trying to be on the same planet as Vincent Price's turn as Matthew Hopkins in Witchfinder General two years earlier. Not that Lee is bad, far from it, he's the reason to watch this, it's just that he is planted in the picture for a number of scenes and everything else is spliced around him in hap-hazard fashion; and that's the uncut version as well!Ponderously paced and done on the cheap, it also comes off as tacky exploitation, where sex and glimpses of flesh serve for titillation, while exposition rules the day. It's a real hack job, aimlessly directed even. A battle scene stands out, but is at odds with the film, the costuming is smart, the set design equally so, and the colour photography decent. Yet the over riding sense of boredom and amateurism strips the film of any real entertainment factor. Apart from Chris of course, but even then we don't really get a great deal of him! 3/10

The kind of incompetent filmmaking that can be enlivened only by a few torture scenes. A completely uninvolving film, with a storyline so muddled that you often don't know Who-IS-Who. I watched the (allegedly) uncut, letterboxed rereleased version, and apart from an unpleasant rack scene, it's not particularly strong stuff. "Mark of the Devil" was a much superior entry in the same "witch-hunting" genre. Watch that one instead! (*1/2)

First of all, "Night Of The Blood Monster", is a stupid and misleading title. "Bloody Judge" is exactly what the excellent Christopher Lee portraits in this big budget (yeah, Jess Franco with money!?!) witch hunting flick. The plot is almost the same as "Mark Of The Devil" and "Witchfinder General", also from that period. It's beautifully shot and filled with impressive battle scenes and lots of politics (based on a true story!). If you see the uncut LBX version you'll get a sleaze-o-rama of torture, nudity, whipping etc. Franco regular Howard Vernon is over-the-top as the chief torturer (made me think of Marty Feldman in "Young Frankenstein"!). Franco and Lee should be proud of this film, think of that when you're watching Franco-bombs like "Golden Temple Amazons" and "Man Hunter". Vintage Euro-horror at it's best!