Blood on Satan’s Claw reigns as one of the Unholy Trinity films of the folk-horror genre, and for good reason. It engraved the genre’s key components in stone for all who wanted to wander its forbidden and supernatural powers that continue to terrorize audiences 50 years after its release. Unlike the fictional creatures and growling monsters, the movie reveals the evil existent in humanity. Now that is terrifying. In a rural village in early 18th-century England, farmer Ralph Gower uncovers a deformed skull with one intact eye and strange fur. He insists that the local judge looks at it, but it mysteriously vanishes. The judge disregards the incident, crediting it to Ralph's superstitious fears. Meanwhile, Peter Edmonton brings his fiancee, Rosalind Barton, to meet his aunt, Mistress Banham, with whom the judge is staying. Mistress Banham and the judge disapprove of the match and arrange for Rosalind to sleep in a disused attic room. Rosalind begins screaming during the night and injures Banham when she investigates, causing her to fall mysteriously ill. This digital audio exclusive stars Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith, alongside the original film's Angel Blake, Linda Hayden. Gatiss and Shearsmith are both huge fans of the original film, even recording a commentary for the DVD release. Please Put Some Clothes On: Reverend Fallowfield, though obviously tempted by the sight of Angel Blake disrobing in front of him, averts his gaze and begs her to cover herself up. She is disinclined to comply.

Put on a Bus: Rosalind is placed in a bedlam after nearly killing Isobel; Isobel is wounded and treated, but never shown again. Similarly, Peter doesn’t make any more appearances after he warns the judge about the coven. Bad Boss: Angel, who leaves the slavishly loyal Margaret to the mercy of the witch hunt and sneers at the grisly fate awaiting her. To many, the plot of this audio drama may seem like an old tired storyline, but keep in mind when this was originally written for the screenplay there wasn’t much like this. In many ways, while not the first film considered to fall under the folk horror banner, the original Blood on Satan’s Claw was one of the most influential. As I discussed in my review of a recent documentary on the genre, most horror movies do nothing for me anymore. I don’t find that slasher films have aged well, and “jump scare movies” are nearly unwatchable and boring. I’ll take a good story of modernity vs tradition over any of that because sometimes ancient evils once thought stamped out are more “scary” than a loud noise or a flashing light.Folk horror is a cinematic novelty that questions what we think of people, their intentions, and the immense landscapes unfamiliar to us. A group prosperous in nature, their Latin and foreign chants, animal skulls, and bloody sacrifices evoke suspense and terror as much—if not more than—a night-set slasher film. It is reachable and real like ghosts and serial killers, but distinct from the facets of Dracula and Frankenstein.

Written by the film’s original screenwriter Robert Wynne-Simmons and featuring haunting new illustrations from Richard Wells, it is an atmospheric and defining cult classic in the making. Kill the Cutie: Poor Cathy is led to the coven’s meeting place, where she is brutally raped and partially flayed. I’m under contract to write a book for The Devil’s Advocates series. This set of brief books is focused on horror films. This particular volume is on the lesser known British film, The Blood on Satan’s Claw. I’ve reacted to both the film and the book on my blog ( Sects and Violence in the Ancient World). This book is a great introduction to the movie and it brings out several aspects of it that I had missed watching it on my own.Evans-Powell, David (2021). The Blood on Satan's Claw. Devils Advocates. Liverpool: Auteur Publishing. ISBN 978-1-800-34806-6. Several of the younger cast members, particularly Hayden, Ustinov, and Richard Williams, recalled that Haggard's direction was concise and that the shoot operated smoothly. [18] The story and its themes are stereotypical binary folklore: women are both more mystical and thus more prone to evil or darkness; men represent civilization, rational thinking and authority; Christianity must prevail against an ancient pre-Christian evil. It's still a weird and engaging story, just rooted in traditional tropes. Director Piers Haggard was hired to direct the project, and worked with Wynne-Simmons to retool the screenplay from its anthology format to a singular, cohesive narrative. [11] Summarizing the screenplay, Haggard commented in 2003:

Big Bad: Behemoth, the demon responsible for corrupting the town, although he works primarily through his high priestess, Angel Blake, who is treated as this by the peasants unaware of the fiend behind her. Yandere: Angel Blake tries to seduce Reverend Fallowfield. When he denies her, she lies to her father and the squire, claiming that he molested her. This nearly results in his lynching. Undying Loyalty: Margaret, to Angel. Even after the latter leaves her in a bear trap to be torn apart by dogs. Blood on Satan's Claw; or, The Devil's Skin' is the novelisation of the 1971 film 'The Blood on Satan's Claw', a story of supernatural horror, devil worship, demonic possession and religious mania, and one of the forebears of the folk horror sub-genre. Written by Robert Wynne-Simmons, who wrote the original screenplay and co-wrote the reworked version alongside director Piers Haggard, the novel combines a vivid depiction of its rural setting and its inhabitants with slow-burning, ominous plotting to produce a vision of nightmarish, vintage horror.Asshole Victim: Whether or not Angel Blake was an Unwitting Pawn to Behemoth and was just brainwashed or was operating of her own volition, she still led a group of teenagers into committing acts of ritual sacrifice and rape. So it’s not terribly sad to have to see her die. Bait the Dog: Margaret is rescued from drowning by Ralph, then taken in by his family and sheared of the mark of the beast. But she rejects his offer of redemptive kinship, tempts him to the coven with promises of sex, and is ultimately compelled to cooperate purely through fear. Blood on Satan's Claw and the Devil films of the 1970s". www.acidemic.com . Retrieved 28 January 2022.