Film Review
It was a burgeoning interest in the Occult in the late 1960s that led the
small independent British film production company Tigon to notch up its first
notable hit with
Witchfinder
General (1968), an idiosyncratic period piece that is now widely
acknowledged as a classic in the Occult horror genre. The same year
saw the release of two other satanically themed chillers -
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
and
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- and these two films would end up being recycled (with elements lifted from
Arthur Miller's
The Crucible and Tigon's previous foray with Civil
War era witchcraft) as
The Blood on Satan's Claw. (In between
these two films, Tigon also made
Curse of the Crimson
Altar (1968), a far less successful Occult offering that is now all
but forgotten). The film was not a great commercial success and helped
to hasten Tigon's demise, but it has since acquired a cult following and
can justify its inclusion in the Pantheon of British horror classics by the
mere fact that there is - literally - nothing like it.
Thanks mainly to its imaginative camerawork and a score that is relentlessly
eerie,
The Blood on Satan's Claw succeeds in recreating the distinctive
satanically charged atmosphere of
Witchfinder General, and even surpasses
it in a few scenes of genuine blood-curdling terror. This was one of
a small handful of films directed for the cinema by Piers Haggard, who devoted
virtually of his career to television and is perhaps best known for the sci-fi
mini-series
Quatermass (1979).
Haggard and his talented cinematographer Dick Bush perform wonders with the
film's derisory eighty thousand pound budget, and there is scarcely a scene
in the film that is not filled to the brim with spine-tingling menace and
a sense that something unutterably
horrible is gradually coming into
focus. Unfortunately, their efforts are somewhat undermined by a script
that is - quite frankly - appalling.
The script's failings stem from the fact that the film was originally intended
as an anthology (in the popular Amicus mould), consisting of three linked
witchcraft-themed short films. Not long before the film went into production,
its producers dispensed with the anthology idea and writer Robert Wynne-Simmons
was tasked with weaving his three disconnected stories into a single coherent
narrative, something that he fails spectacularly to do. The result
is a disjointed, ramshackle storyline in which no character is convincingly
developed and which fails to deliver a satisfying climax, although there
are sufficient imaginative twists and full-bodied horror kicks on the way
to make up for this. Had more care and attention been lavished on the
script,
The Blood on Satan's Claw could well have been one of the
finest horror films to come out of a British film studio, instead of one
that is of minority interest, enjoyed by devoted fans who are willing to
overlook its multiple shortcomings for the visceral shock of seeing
dear little Wendy Padbury raped and butchered in the most gruesome of satanic
rituals (therapy no doubt for an actress keen to move on from
Crossroads
and
Doctor Who).
Low budget horror films by and large stand or fall according to the quality
of the performances. Hammer, Amicus and their American counterpart
AIP all succeeded in the horror genre because they could rely upon a pool
of immensely talented actors to sell their own particular brand of gore-garnished
schlock to an American and British public. Likewise, the main redeeming
feature of
The Blood on Satan's Claw is a well-chosen cast of performers
who, undeterred by the most risible dialogue, each brings a frightening realism
to their character's predicament. Padbury's slaughter is so terrifying
because the actress makes it so harrowingly convincing, but Patrick Wymark
is no less authentic as the enlightened judge who is forced to accept the
terrible truth that the Occult is a real phenomenon, not merely superstitious
delusion. James Hayter's character may be unbelievably thick (how stupidly
he swallows a satanically possessed girl's denouncement of the local vicar
Anthony Ainley, even if he does look and act like the Devil incarnate), and
yet he is as solid and believable as a granite landmark in an unfamiliar
foggy landscape, someone we can readily identify with. It is the credible
performances which gives the film its striking sense of reality and makes
it so easy for us to accept its fantastic B-movie premise.
Although she comes worryingly close to being upstaged by her over-endowed
eyebrows in her later scenes, Linda Hayden is the film's stunning centrepiece
as the most unsuitably named Angel Blake - seldom has an actress been quite
so convincing as an innocent overtaken by demonic forces. Admittedly,
some of the supporting cast struggle with the clichéd Mummerset dialogue
and end up looking like a sad job-lot of rejects from
The Archers,
with lines such as 'be thou afeared' and such like being delivered in the
manner suitable for a tiny tots pantomime. But thankfully such toe-curling
amateurishness does not distract too greatly from the riveting performances
from the more capable actors. Michele Dotrice and Barry Andrews both
deserve a special mention for making their satanic corruption so believable
- you can genuinely feel their characters' anguish as evil enters their bodies
and starts to take possession of them.
The Blood on Satan's Claw has a great deal in its favour but it also
has one flaw that even its most devoted fans find hard to forgive, which
is its totally botched denouement. A poor script notwithstanding, the
film builds very effectively to its climax, stacking up its superbly rendered
shock moments so that we are led to anticipate a truly spectacular ending,
and of course it doesn't materialise. Even a respectable film like
The Devil Rides Out failed to pull off this coup and so it's
no surprise that Tigon's third Occult offering fizzles out like a damp squib,
with a reanimated Old Nick, portrayed as a man in a cheap monkey outfit,
throwing himself onto a conveniently placed sword and well - basically -
just giving up the will to live.
At least in Hammer's films we are usually assured a reasonably feisty punch
up between the forces of darkness and light in the final reel - often with
Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee leaping around the set in mortal combat
as if their future careers depended on it.
The Blood on Satan's
Claw, by contrast, has an ending that looks like a lazy afterthought,
appended after all the inspiration and money had been used up getting to
this point. But, despite being left feeling slightly short-changed
by the dimmest of plot resolutions, as the credits roll you can't help admitting
to yourself that this was an enjoyable and compelling romp. Its flaws
are manifold but its delights are even more numerous, and once the film's hairy
spider-like tendrils have worked their way into the pleasure centres of your
brain you just know you will have to watch it again - and again. This
is the stuff on which cults are made.
© James Travers 2016
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
In England of the 17th century, ploughman Ralph Gower finds the decomposed
remains of a creature, part animal, part human, buried in a field.
Convinced that this discovery has demonic associations, Ralph persuades the
local judge to look at it, but by the time they return the scary relic has
disappeared. A man of reason, the judge dismisses Ralph's concerns
as superstitious nonsense and goes about his business, unaware that an ancient
evil has already begun to affect the surrounding district. It begins
when Peter Edmonton brings his fiancée Rosalind to the homestead of
his aunt, landowner Isobel Banham. Rosalind ends up having to spend
the night in a dusty old attic; by morning, she is a raving lunatic and is
soon being carted off to Bedlam. Peter then has a strange dream in
which he wrestles with a hairy creature which he attacks with a knife.
As he dreams, Peter slices off his own hand. Meanwhile, the children
of the village are behaving strangely, led astray by the demonically possessed
Angel Blake. Not only do the rebellious youngsters skip classes, to
the chagrin of the prim Reverend Fallowfield, but they also participate in
satanic rituals in which they rape, mutilate and kill each other, as strange,
furry growths appear on their bodies. Finally, the judge is forced
to return to the village and battle with the forces of Satan - just as these
bring into being a monstrous fiend of terrifying proportions...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.