The Mark of Cain is one of those films where you can see the way the plot is going to play out from virtually the first scene. The story seems a variant on Halloween (1978) – psychopathic brother escapes incarceration in an asylum and returns to his home pursued by his psychiatrist – that has been combined with the evil twin plot of films like The Black Room (1935), Among the Living (1941), The Dark Mirror (1946), Dead Ringer (1964) and a host of others. But the film’s twin plot becomes extremely tired and hackneyed in its play on the confusions between which brother is which. It becomes obvious from about the point that the escaped twin brother is overcome and returned to the asylum – which all happens off-screen and with a complete lack of moment – that a substitution has occurred and the evil twin is impersonating the good brother.

The main problem with The Mark of Cain is not even so much one of eminent predictability when it comes to the plot but of directorial inertia. The film is incredibly dully directed – nothing much happens for a substantial part of the first half at least. It is hard to believe that The Mark of Cain was made by the same Bruce Pittman who a couple of years later made the appealingly quirky Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987). Pittman delivers cliche horror shots – an empty swing ominously left swinging, Wendy Crewson spooked by a falling mannequin, a crucifix turning upside with ominously loaded symbolism. All the scares, pursuits and returns from the dead at the last moment come wholly by the numbers. This produces a film that feels either indifferently made or conducted by people who are amateurs and lacking in any basic skill. The results are dull and tiresome.