- Date: October 5, 1990
- Type: Movie
Marked for Death is a 1990 action film directed by Dwight H. Little. It stars Steven Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter. Upon moving back to his home town, Hatcher finds it taken over by a gang of vicious Jamaican drug dealers, led by Screwface, who leds his crew with fear and Obeah; Obeah is a Jamaican syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin similar to Haitian vodou and Santeria as practiced in Cuba. The film is widely considered by fans and critics alike to be one of Seagal's best films (alongside Under Siege and Above the Law), due to the fight scenes integrating heavy elements of aikido, as well as use of weapons and arm dislocations. Seagal supposedly studied Obeah, in depth to make the film. There are scenes in the movie which show a priestess throwing cowry shells with a picture of "Screwface," in an attempt to put a curse on him for a rival drug lord.