The Blood on Satan's Claw

He's like, "Logic, reason," and they're like, "Nope, spooky stuff's happened in this town, and, like, here's the lore on it." And I think in maybe...

There was a quote from our episode on The Blood on Satan's Claw where one of the characters is like, "You come from the city.

You cannot know the ways of the country." And, you know, that's a theme in horror even broader than folk horror.

Um, you know, there's, like, hillbilly horror that does that.

yeah use of animals is quite interesting because you've got the maggots you've got the bat you've got the dog as well these are all animals that are kind of tied to witches in somewhere or another Is this the best film about witches? Because you've got, obviously, The Witch,

Blood on Satan's Claw.

Yeah.

That's sort of like the folky witchy stuff.

Mm.

So I think I'm gonna take The Blood on Satan's Claw.

We talked about this during our folk horror curation, but it's essentially a plowman, right? Who's plowing the field.

He tills up this skull that looks like this inhuman demonic figure with this eye.

So it's that, Witchfinder General, also called The Conquering Worm, and then, uh, Wicker Man

Fucking British, man

But I love The Blood on Satan's Claw.

It's such a visually stunning piece of work, and the girl who plays that, I think every time she's, like, satanic they just give her the Divine eyebrows from Pink Flo- Flo-

Along with I Spit on Your Grave.

Along with I Spit on Your Grave, Driller Killer, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Blood on Satan's Claw.

Virgin Blood of Satan or something like that.

A lot of them have got titles along that

Pierce Haggard's Venom, 1981.

We previously on this series, I believe in 2022, covered his other film, his much more famous film, Blood on Satan's Claw.

And I'll quickly start because I think the initial question is, why are we doing Venom 1981 in the realm of horror movies? The answer is quite hot.

Well, why not? Also, as someone who grew up obsessed with snakes and stuff, I will say the Black Mamba is my favorite animal ever.

I've seen many other Norman J. Warren movies in my time, but for some reason, and probably a very good reason, I also got this film confused with many others.

The blood on Satan's claw, for one, and my head claimed I'd already seen it.

It wasn't until I'd randomly saw a trailer for it on YouTube this week that it dawned on me I had not.

Films like Satan's Slave and The Blood on Satan's Claw and The Devil Rides Out all really do have a similar feel to them, and they all have a similar look and a similar style Dennis Wheatley plot, and in my mind they're easily confused.

It must be my age.

Anyway, I digress, but I'm sure you'll understand where I'm coming from.

For me there just wasn't enough on the ritual front on offer here.

A lot of the satanic element in this film is really alluded to within conversations and without the visual aspect of these parts of the film we really are left with just a very slow paced torture movie.

And in his 2010 BBC documentary, Mark Gatiss referred to the film as a prime example of the folk horror subgenre.

putting it in there with the 1968 film Witchfinder General and 1971's The Blood on Satan Claw.

There was an extra bit of trivia that I just wanted to add.

Go for it.

No.

But I think you could make a really good case that The Blood on Satan's Claw is a witch movie.

And that Witchfinder General focuses on witches, but really it's just Vincent Price running around and killing women.

Well, that's sort of the same thing as what's the Arthur Miller movie? The Crucible.

the fine line you have to ride with our audience.

The

only one I would even consider changing it with is the blood on Satan's claw because it's so fucking good.

Yeah, but no one knows that one.