RETRO REVIEW: THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971)
Muted colors and low camera angles create a pervading sense of dread in THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW.
When someone talks about a horror film packed with pagan rituals, bloody ceremonies, and sinister, fresh-faced youngsters, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe the recent ARI ASTER film MIDSOMMER? A good guess, but think less pretentious and with less entitled millennials in it. Or perhaps the classic 1973 British hit, THE WICKER MAN, which, though in the right decade and definitely in the folk-horror genre, came out a whole two years after this film. In case you haven’t yet looked at the title of the article you are now reading, I am of course talking about oft-overlooked, 1971 PIERS HAGGARD British horror gem, THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW.
When a young farmhand named Ralph (BARRY ANDREWS) unearths some strange remains, the village starts to experience bizarre events.
PLOT:
When a mysterious corpse is accidentally dug up by a young man named Ralph (BARRY ANDREWS) in a small town, a group of local teens start to act strangely. The adolescents, led by a girl named Angel (LINDA HAYDEN), are convinced that the corpse was once possessed. Hoping to get in touch with the devil through the body, the teens act out a series of demonic rituals that causes a stir among the townspeople. When word of the satanic activity spreads, the townspeople become determined to stop the devil himself from taking over the entire village.
A local village devolves into Satanic panic in THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW.
KILLS:
If you are looking for a high body count, then go watch an installment of one of the FRIDAY THE 13TH films, because that’s not what THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW is here for. Make no mistake, when the kills do come, they are extremely disturbing, but only because the filmmakers have wisely spent the first half of the film expertly building tension and suspense. Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. In the words of Willy Wonka, you have to go forwards to go back. The beginning of the film immediately pushes us into the plot for the film, as a simple villager named Ralph unearths a strange looking corpse that’s not completely human looking, whilst out plowing a field. From there, bizarre events start to take place. A seemingly normal, soon-to-be bride goes crazy, an older woman whom the bride attacked goes missing, and the kids of the village are definitely not alright as they all become obsessed with the unearthly corpse.
Perhaps the most disturbing kill comes when a young girl named Cathy, who has a crush on Ralph, draws the ire of Angel, who has now, for all intents and purposes, has become Satan’s side piece. At the beginning of the film, she was an angel-faced, bubbly young teen, but by this point, is now giving major CARA DELEVINGNE by way of MIDSOMMER vibes. Two of the village boys who are helping do Angel’s bidding, lure Cathy to the ruins of an old church. There, they start to perform a super creepy ritual that ends with her being sexually assaulted by both the boys and girls there, and stabbed repeatedly by Angel. According to director PIERS HAGGARD the scene of the coven's attack and rape of Cathy Vespers was completely unplanned and created mainly during the shooting. The sexual assault alone makes it extremely unsettling, but more so because the participants are taking such pleasure in the act - they smile, they inhale the smell of Cathy’s clothes as they rip them from her - it’s a scene of pure demonic ecstasy that chills you to the core.
In THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW, villagers of a small 17th century town start going through some unusual changes.
VISUALS/SFX:
One of the things that cannot be denied upon viewing this film is the care that the filmmakers put into it - the pacing, the story, and yes, especially the visuals. The muted tones and low camera angles immediately bring to mind ROBERT EGGER’S 2015 folk-horror hit, THE WITCH, and it’s not hard to see that he took some direct inspiration from THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW. With authentic set pieces and costuming straight out of 17th century England, director PIERS HAGGARD cultivates an immersive atmosphere that draws you in from the very first shot.
Part of bringing that authentic attention to the culture of witch hysteria going around Great Britain at that time is the use of animal imagery in the film. The opening credits are a long blue and gray-tinged shot of a raven sitting in a tree. Often seen as a harbinger of death, it was believed that ravens would appear as a method of prophecy, and that witches had the ability to transform themselves into ravens to fly away and evade capture. Later on in the film when the Reverend (ANTHONY AINLEY) is unjustly taken into custody for Mark’s murder, we see a rabbit on his desk. Rabbits have long been associated with witchcraft and were often seen as favored familiars of witches. Even the dogs that the Judge (PATRICK WYMARK) employs to help track down Angel and her coven can be seen as a kind of spiritual resemblance to the infamous “black dog” folklore of the British Isles. These dogs were believed to be a nocturnal apparition and shapeshifter, often associated with the Devil and regarded as a harbinger of death.
The practical effects, though simple, are incredibly effective, mostly because they are simple. There is nothing especially overt in the effects, and it is in their subtle use that they hit the hardest. When one of the characters, Peter (SIMON WILLIAMS) and his soon-to-be bride Rosalind (TAMARA USTINOV) come to stay with the Judge, Rosalind is stricken in the night by an unknown entity and proceeds to go banoonies crazy. The Judge brings in men from the local madhouse to come take her away, and as they do, her arms strapped to her side, she smiles creepily at Peter, who looks down to see that her hand resting on the stair railing now has claws instead of fingers. It’s an understated effect, but when it happens, holy cow - it is a fabulously creepy reveal. Similarly, later on, when Peter is sleeping in the room that Rosalind had been, we see this shadowed fur-covered arm with giant claws move over him and grab him by the throat. In his panic, he grabs a knife with one of his hands and starts stabbing at the arm. When the camera pulls back, we horrifyingly see that the furry arm belongs to Peter, and that he is stabbing and hacking at himself. It’s a scene that would be right at home in ARI ASTER’S 2018 film, HEREDITARY for initial shock value alone.
The Judge, played by PATRICK WYMARK, is determined to stamp out the demonic activity that has taken over the village.
PERFORMANCES:
It’s rare to find a horror film like this packed with solid wall-to-wall performances, but this one is surprising in the caliber of acting going on. The film is not played for camp in any way, and each actor is giving full-on gravitas to every scene they are in. Though everybody is great, this film has two absolute stand-outs, and those are PATRICK WYMARK as the Judge, and LINDA HAYDEN as Angel Blake.
PATRICK WYMARK, a British stage veteran who studied at University College in London and the Old Vic Theatre School, steals every scene as the formidable Judge, the bastion of reason and authority in the village. Initially dismissing the claims of witchcraft that the townspeople insist are responsible for all the strange events in the town, the Judge ultimately becomes the Dr. Loomis of the film, an authoritarian on the evil now spreading across the village, and ultimately the one that takes that evil down, in the form of a giant sword with a cross on the top of it. Wymark infuses every scene he is in with confident austerity and your eye cannot help but be drawn to him each time.
LINDA HAYDEN as Angel Blake was only 17-years old at the time of filming, which is at once, both impressive considering her performance, and also extremely uncomfortable, as she has a full-frontal nude scene in this. Some would dismiss having a 17-year-old strip nude for a film as different times and different cultures, but no matter how you slice it, she’s underage, and it’s honestly not okay, despite director PIERS HAGGARD later saying in a DVD commentary for the film that Hayden “was a very good actress who had no problem with nudity whatsoever." Sorry, not sorry, that’s exactly the kind of entitled, beta-male bullshit that kept pervy male directors enabled in the movie business for way too long. Nude scene aside, Hayden is chilling as the sinister and manipulative Angel, her ice-blue eyes conveying both power and evil. Once she aligns herself with the Devil, she becomes a force to be reckoned with, pitting the villagers against the Reverend who spurned her advances, and gathering the young people of the village to her as pawns in her depraved purposes. She’s the love child of THE CRUCIBLE’S Abigail Williams and CHILDREN OF THE CORN’S Isaac, and it’s absolutely compelling to watch.
It’s pagan rituals galore in THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:
THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW is the rare horror entry that manages to be both excellent in terms of unsettling, insidious spookiness, and in sheer great filmmaking. Though made for only £70,000, the film ticks all the boxes in terms of cinematography, script, directing, and performances. Upon the opening scene, we are sucked right into the story, which masterfully builds in tension and dread, dancing that fine line between overt horror and subtle effectiveness. It’s a shame that this film often gets overlooked by the more popular THE WICKER MAN. A prevailing and overwhelming sense of dread pervades every scene, anchored by strong performances by the cast. When the evil of this film is unearthed, it is unleashed upon the town, infecting the villagers one by one like a virus and no one is safe. Once the action reaches a fevered pitch, complete with giant bonfire, naked women, chanting children, and a giant sword with a hilt ending in a giant cross, you are left breathless in the wake of its pagan depravity and already asking yourself when can you watch it again.
ARI ASTER could never.
MICHELE DOTRICE as Margaret in THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW.
THE GORY DETAILS:
At one point both PETER CUSHING and CHRISTOPHER LEE were suggested for the role of the Judge but were considered to be too expensive. Other actors discussed included DONALD PLEASENCE and MICHAEL GOUGH.
The scene where 'Satan's skin' is cut off of Margaret was inspired by an actual event from screenwriter ROBERT WYNNE-SIMMONS’ childhood when a doctor performed an operation on him while he was laid out on a kitchen table.
Screenwriter ROBERT WYNNE-SIMMONS took inspiration from the Manson killings and also the infamous MARY BELL murder case that rocked England around the time.
The film was originally released in the US on double feature with the film THE BEAST IN THE CELLAR (1971).
MY RATING: 8.5/10
WHERE TO WATCH:
Shudder, Sling TV, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.
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