The film stars Steven Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter who returns to his Illinois hometown to find it taken over by a posse of vicious Jamaican drug dealers led by Screwface.

Using a combination of fear and Obeah, a Jamaican syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin similar to Haitian vodou and Santería, Screwface attempts to control the drug trade in Lincoln Heights.

DEA Agents John Hatcher and his partner Chico pursue drug dealer Hector on foot.

John manages to assist in arresting one of the Jamaicans and a responding FBI agent asks him to join the case; he refuses.

At the scene, a detective finds a symbol which an expert named Leslie Davalos reveals to be a religious icon to mark the crimes of a man called Screwface.

Screwface sends some men to do a drive-by at John's sister's house (where he is staying); they wound his niece Tracey.

Upon returning to his sister's house, John finds the same symbol on a rug along with a cow tongue and black cross nailed to the door.

Charles Marks, a Jamaican detective working with the FBI on Screwface's crimes, reaches out to John and Max and offers his help.

They return to Chicago and present Screwface's head and sword to the remaining loyal gang members in order to intimate them into leaving.

Steven Seagal had wanted to hire director Dwight Little for his second feature, Hard to Kill, but studio Warner Bros. vetoed his choice, and went with Bruce Malmuth instead.

Seagal chose to exercise that option and make his third film at 20th Century Fox, where he demanded that they hire Little for Marked for Death.

I was downtown shooting a scene for Marked for Death when suddenly I see all these limos and towncars coming to the set.

[9] Both The New York Times and The Washington Post gave it a thumbs up, writing that it was another solid Seagal action film.