Customer Reviews

Blood on Satan's Claw [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One of the creepiest British horror films I've ever seen takes place in 17th century England. Good and honest farmer Ralph Gower, is plowing the fields when he accidentally unearths a bizarre skull. It was human-like, with fur. More like a fiend's, he says. He leads the local magistrate to the site, but the skull has vanished. And that's nothing compared to what happens later.

Peter Edmonton, master of the house where Ralph works, brings home his bride-to-be, Rosalyn, but in the middle of the night, she falls under the influence of some power and is shipped to the madhouse. Peter's aunt, attacked by Rosalyn, vanishes, and the unconsolable Peter, wakes up one night to find a furred and clawed hand at his throat. He takes a sword and hacks at the hand, only to find out he's cut off his own hand!

The judge leaves for the city for further investigation, taking a book of ancient folklore with him. In his absence, his parish degenerates. The children stop attending school, which annoys the Reverend Fallowfield, a stern looking man, but an animal lover (he has a pet rabbit). He is later falsely accused of rape and murder. Children, led by the ravishing blonde Angel Blake, begin sacrificing others to a demonic presence. Others grow strange clumps of fur on them, and they are most on the sacrificial hit list.

The judge returns, but warns the village, "This parish is diseased," mentioning undreamt of measures. The villagers have faith in this village leader, and being their guardian, does not let them down.

This must take place during the reign of King William III, as the judge offers a hateful toast: "I give you his Catholic majesty, King James III. May God bless him and keep him in exile." There never was a James III, and James II was deposed in 1688. Surely that's whom the judge meant, yes?

There are several familiar faces from British productions, especially Doctor Who. Anthony Ainley (Reverend Fallowfield) is best known as Sir Charles Seymour in Upstairs Downstairs and the Master in Doctor Who (1981-1989). Wendy Padbury (Kathy Vesper) played Zoe, the Second Doctor's last female companion. This movie came out a year after she left Who.

James Hayter (Middleton) was Mr. Tebbs for a season of Are You Being Served?, and Simon Williams (Peter) was Captain James Bellamy in Are You Being Served? as well as Group Captain Gilmore in Remembrance Of The Daleks, and played the title role in Sherlock Holmes and The Eligible Bachelor. Talk about an all-star lineup!

I could be wrong but towards the end, at the village gathering, there's one villager who says "guns ain't no use against the devil." He could be Geoffrey Hughes, (Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances). And of the two girls who come to collect Mark Vespers, the one on the left looks like Roberta Tovey (Susan in the two Doctor Who movies). None of the minor characters are in the credit listing so it's kind of frustrating.

This was one of Patrick Wymark's last films, as he died soon afterwards. He plays the judge as a firm but fair man who is determined to rid his parish of the evil that has taken over.

Creaking floorboards, ominous bumps and thumps, and scary music from Marc Wilkinson. An eerie and disturbing thriller set in the English countryside, effectively capturing village life in the dying days of the 17th century.

(Review of Region 2 DVD from Amazon UK.)

Blood on Satan's Claw, emerged from the legendary Tigon stable shortly after the brilliant Witchfinder General which, in many aspects, it resembles and to which it can be justifiably regarded as a companion piece. Similarly set in 17th century England, BOSC also explores rural pagan beliefs and practices. Here though, the roles are most definitely reversed. Whilst Matthew Hopkins was a monster and the alleged witches he persecuted largely innocent, in BOSC, the judge/witchfinder, superbly played by Patrick Wymark (Cromwell in Witchfinder General) in his final performance, is very much the hero. At first sceptical that the black arts retain any power, Wymark comes to accept the reality of evil made incarnate and meets it head on in the stunning climax (watch out for the inspired freeze-frame effect that has been often imitated but never bettered). The ambiguity, up until to the final sequence, as to whether the fiend really exists or is merely mass hysteria, is cleverly developed and reinforced by scenes such as only Peter alone witnessing the horrific transformation of his fiancée and, of course, the famous 'hand' sequence.

Admittedly, in places, the story feels slightly fragmentary (the commentary option explains how the screenplay developed from three separate stories), the overall effect, though, is utterly compelling and, perhaps strangely given the grim subject matter, utterly beautiful. The camerawork, courtesy of the splendidly named Dick Bush, is the stuff of genius. Look out for unusual and inventive camera angles and several extended scenes, obviously completed in one masterful shot.

I have already mentioned the magnificent presence of Wymark, but the remaining cast also deserves huge praise for powerful and convincing depictions of the dark ages mindset. This is no hammy Hammer horror, folks, this is the real thing! Anthony Ainley (perhaps better known as the successor to Roger Delgado to play the Master in Doctor Who) is marvellous as the reverend/teacher, Peter Edmonson (Simon Williams) whose fiancée is the first to succumb to the evil, is impressively stoic, Ralph the ploughboy (Barry Andrews) is a great salt-of-the-earth character, and the British movie fan will spot a host of other well-known faces (disappointingly not listed in the credits) who all act their hearts out. The star though, without a doubt, is the beautiful Linda Hayden, who plays the deliciously evil villainness Angel Blake, with an astonishing presence belying her tender age. Some of the scenes featuring 17 year-old Hayden (the attempted seduction of the reverend and Hayden's overseeing of a truly disturbing rape sequence) are unsettling even by today's standards.

The marvellous score has a quintessentially evocative English feel to it - almost like a dark brooding twist on Greensleeves and adds enormously to the atmosphere.

The DVD has exceptionally clear picture quality and colour and the remastered 5.1/DTS sound is everything that you would expect. Loads of genuinely interesting extras - the full length commentary and the 'Angel for Satan' featurette being particularly fascinating.

An essential purchase.

"The Blood on Satan's Claw", would never qualify as your average British horror tale and is markedly different from most of the horror efforts being produced during the late 1960's and early 1970's in England. Very strong on atmosphere with a slowly building story that takes it's time to reveal its secrets and shocks the film really is not a companion piece to any othe reffort I know. A product of the short lived Tigon Productions "The Blood on Satan's Claw", has many macabre and at times quite disturbing elements to it mainly courtesy of the children in the story and the producers adapted what seemingly resemble the recorded religious practices of the ancient Druids to provide the story with its horror elements that include possession by demons, human sacrifice, rape and mutilation. A heady mixture indeed which certainly keeps the viewers full attention despite the films at times deliberately slow pace.

The story opens with young farmer Ralph Gower (Barry Andrews), unearthing a strange demon like skull covered in fur while plowing a field. After he runs to tell the magistrate in the neighbouring village of his disturbing find they return only to find that the mysterious corpse/carcass/demon has disappeared. Unfortunately it is not the end of the incident as very quickly very strange and bizzare happenings begin to occur all over the village. Young nobleman Peter Edmonton who employs Ralph brings home his young fiancee Rosalind (Tamara Ustinov), and she promptly goes insane during her first night in the house. Peter's aunt Margaret also mysteriously disappears from the house without a trace and Peter has a distressing experience when during a nightmare he cuts his own arm off when he believes he is being attacked by a strange furred creature during the night. Local Judge (Patrick Wymark), sets out for London to try and find a solution to the disturbing occurences seeking help from some books on ancient witchcraft and curses. In his absense however things go from bad to worse as many of the children of the village seem to be infected by some strange power that takes them over turning them from innocent children into satan worshippers. They are led by one young girl called Angel (Linda Hayden), who seems to control all the children and leads them in quasi-religious rites deep in the forest that involve devil worship, rape, and human sacrifice. Many of the victims of this strange plague presence begin to grow patches of bizzare fur on their bodies referred to as "satan's skin", and even Angel seems to take on the form of a devil as she now has piercing eyes, bushy eyebrows and dresses in Druid-like flowing robes with a garland on her head. Only with the arrival back in the village of the Judge is action taken against the deadly coven when in the fiery climax he tracks the children down to a ruined chapel deep in the forest. The Judge, formerly very sceptical about the reality of witchcraft , realises that the children have actually summoned the devil himself and that only an exorcism will succeed in removing the unholy threat to all those in the area.

Terrific period atmosphere of the type unseen in other contemporary horror tales such as the Hammer efforts, combined with some very disturbing visuals really succeed in making "The Blood on Satan's Claw", stand out. The idea of transforming innocent teenagers into sadistic devil worshippers was a brilliant move and Linda Hayden's towering performance as the evil possessed Angel is the best in the film where we see her not only frame the local vicar (Anthony Ainley), for molesting her, but also presiding over the cold blooded rape and murder of her former class mates. Patrick Wymark in what was almost his last performance also delivers a riverting performance as the judge who only slowly begins to realise what he is actually dealing with in his village. The visuals as mentioned take on a new explicit and often disturbing look in "The Blood on Satan's Claw", which are a definite advancement in their sheer rawness on other contemporary horror efforts especially in the scenes where Peter cuts off his own arm during a nightmare and in the scenes where a school girl is pack raped and then sacrificed by the children in a devil worship ritual. The avid use of location shooting takes on a real enhancing quality in this story and the isolation of the village setting weighed down as it is with often centuries old supersitions helps create an eerie and sort of "other worldly", feel to what actually occurs. Combined with an unsettling musical score by Marc Wilinson "The Blood on Satan's Claw", makes decidely memorable viewing that also shows careful direction by first timer Piers Haggard in allowing the sinister feel of the piece to slowly grow and develop much like the horrid fur or "satan's skin", that appears on the children's potential victims.

Sexually explicit and disturbing in a non glamourous type of way I feel "The Blood on Satan's Claw", provides the horror lover with a slightly different kind of story that really helped usher in the more open and gory horror epics laced with plenty of sex that became standard from the 1970's onwards. 17th Century rural England was never so well served as in this effort and there is much to enjoy here from convincing performances by young and old cast members, the recreation of an earlier suspicion filled era, through to the amazing examination of devil worship and its consequences. A guaranteed chiller that will definately hold your interest.

Blood on satan's claw takes place during 17th century England in the rural farmlands. The film is about a bunch of kids and teens who are devil worshipers, it all starts when a farmer who suddenly discovers some wierd remains in the field ground the claw that he takes with him happens to be from satan, soon all sorts of problems begin when Angel Blake turns evil and starts seducing the local priest, when the priest refuses to come to her advances she lies to the whole village and accuses him of rape she also has the kids under her comand by telling them to kill people and do all sorts of bad things. Blood on Satan's claw was released under the tigon film company which is simiular to Hammer House and Amicus film company the only difference is that the film is not like the ones released before it, its completely different and a lot more serious than Hammer films staring Christopher Lee. The film contains no gore and little blood but still manages to be creepy and disturbing as one man from the village gets to cut his own arm off after discovering that he has a monters claw. I deffinently recomend this to horror fans especialy if you like old british horror films.

The Blood on Satan's Claw is an odd little British film. In 1970, Hammer Films was still king of British Horror. Along comes UA Britain and produces this unique film from apparently original material.

It's the late 1600's or early 1700's in the British countryside. While plowing his fields, a farmer unearths a bizarre looking skull - it is neither human nor animal. Times being what they are, the farmer is convinced it is demonic (he will be proved correct). The farmer goes to the town magistrate and emplores him to come see the skull. Of course, the skull is gone. Then the wierdness really begins. Floorboards move. Hair grows on people where it shouldn't - and overnight! An animal's furry claw appears where a man's hand should be. Then the children in the village begin acting oddly and following a beautiful young girl named Angel, who is anything but.

The Blood on Satan's Claw is not the most linear of films. It has its gaps. That's not to say this isn't a good film - because it is. It has a very intense feel to it and I can remember as a child watching this film and having nightmares for nights afterward. As with even the worst of Britain's period films, this film is very high on mood and the acting is quite good.

I believe when released, this received Britain's X rating (which is the equivalent of our R rating). However, that was over thirty years ago and times and ratings are different. By today's standards this film would receive a PG rating, since it has only a modicum of blood and a bit of female flesh, but no four letter words.

I encourage you to check this film out and see if you don't want to sleep with the lights on.

If you can get past the title, which I admit could have been better, you'll find quite a treasure of a film. The dialog, which is made out to be 17th century-ish (exe. I was so afeard), is surprisingly good. The music is very atmospheric and creepy, and the whole film has a dark, gloomy feel to it (I don't believe there is one single scene shot where the sun is actually shining) . A few scenes don't seem to make much sense but that only serves to make the film even more mysterious and haunting.

I grew up seeing this movie on late night TV and unlike many horror films that impressed me as a naive child, this one still works. Scary but never cheesy it has a definite mood and chilling essence. This may sound weird but the cover of Black Sabbath's first album reminds me of this film, creates the same 'feel'.

It's also a definite parable for our times, how children overcome by 'demons' - ie. drugs, poverty, gangs, mental illness, are just as capable of evil as any adult.

I remember seeing this movie in the early 70's I was a bit young at the time but I still remember it well. I really hope they decide to come out with a "good" region 1 release clear and uncut as it should be. A must for british horror fans. I'd buy it right on the spot

Following some of the dubious teachings of Sir Reginald Scott's, The Discovery of Witchcraft, Piers Haggard directs one the best horror movies of its type I have ever seen. Apart from the usual terror, screamings and (old) Fx, one of the most disturbing things of this film is how it depicts the places, the times and the ways of 17th C. rural brittons: their environment and limited mind bandwidth are here pictured without a pity. Do not miss it, nor the beauty of Linda Hayden, here a dark angel in the service of Satan.

This is one of the most memorable and interesting horror movies I have ever seen. The plot has been recapped by other reviewers, so let me just say that the most horrifying thing about this great movie is that it has not been made for region 1 yet. If anyone with a say in the matter happens to read this review, please help release it in the States.