The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)

Horror thriller set in 17th century England about the children of a village slowly converting into a coven of devil worshipers.

Director:

Piers Haggard

Writers:

Robert Wynne-Simmons (original screenplay), Piers Haggard (with additional material by)

Stars:

Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, Barry Andrews

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Patrick Wymark	...	The Judge
Linda Hayden	...	Angel Blake
Barry Andrews	...	Ralph Gower
Michele Dotrice	...	Margaret
Wendy Padbury	...	Cathy Vespers
Anthony Ainley	...	Reverend Fallowfield
Charlotte Mitchell	...	Ellen
Tamara Ustinov	...	Rosalind Barton
Simon Williams	...	Peter Edmonton
James Hayter	...	Squire Middleton
Howard Goorney	...	The Doctor
Avice Landone	...	Isobel Banham (as Avice Landon)
Robin Davies	...	Mark Vespers

Storyline

In the XVIII Century, in the countryside of England, the landsman Ralph Gower finds a skull with one eye and fur on the field. He summons the local judge to see his finding but it has disappeared. Meanwhile the local Peter Edmonton brings his fiancée Rosalind Barton to his aunt's house to marry her on the next day. However during the night Rosalind becomes insane and in the morning she is sent to an asylum and Peter sees a claw that has replaced her hand. Then Peter wakes up with a claw attacking him and he cuts it out, but he finds that he has hacked down his own hand. The local children have a strange behavior under the command of Angel Blake and they rape and kill others. In common, they have a strange fur on their skin. The judge returns from London and concludes that evil has possessed the children. What will he and his search party do?

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Plot Keywords:

folk horror | fur | removing someone's skin | demonic cult | british horror | 

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Taglines:

A living nightmare of black magic... and unspeakable evil!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

On her first day of filming, star Linda Hayden cut her foot badly and had to be rushed to a local hospital for stitches. She stated in an interview that due to being in costume and makeup for her devilish scene, some older folks at the hospital thought she was either an angel or a devil and that they had passed over.

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Goofs

There are two spelling errors in the opening titles: the production company is called Tigron instead of Tigon (in the copyright notice beneath the main title), and screen veteran James Hayter is billed as James Hoyter.

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Quotes

Reverend Fallowfield: There is growing amongst you all an insolent ungodliness, which I will not tolerate!

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Alternate Versions

The Paragon Video VHS edited out Linda Hayden's full frontal nudity when she is trying to seduce the Reverend. It retains just the topless nudity.

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Connections

Featured in Movie Macabre: Blood on Satan's Claw (1982)

User Reviews

A Horror Film in the Classic Tradition

This 1970 British horror pic is just oozing with atmosphere. It takes place in England in the 1600s where life was harsh and the appearance of weird bones in a farmer's field sets off a chain of demonic activities when a group of farm children discover them. They then begin to worship a mysterious evil entity and start sacrificing other children to it. The music score is appropriate for the movie and there were some scenes that made my skin crawl (no pun intended). I would recommend this movie for connoisseurs of classic horror pictures where the characters don't act like total fools when confronted with evil. If you're squeamish, don't watch this in the dark.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 April 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Blood on Satan's Claw

Filming Locations:

St James's old church, Bix Bottom, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, UK

Box Office

Budget:

GBP82,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tigon British Film Productions, Chilton Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1