Blood on Satan's Claw

Infobox Film
name = Blood on Satan's Claw


caption = Poster for "Blood on Satan's Claw"
director = Piers Haggard
producer = Tony Tenser,
Malcolm B. Heyworth,
Peter L. Andrews
writer = Piers Haggard,
Robert Wynne-Simmons
starring = Patrick Wymark,
Linda Hayden,
Barry Andrews,
Michele Dotrice,
Wendy Padbury
music = Marc Wilkinson
cinematography = Dick Bush
editing = Richard Best
distributor = Facets Multimedia Distribution (video),
Cannon Releasing Corp. (theatrical, USA)
released = 1971
runtime = 93 min
country = UK
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:6155
imdb_id = 0066849

"Blood on Satan's Claw" (released as "Satan's Skin" in the US) is a 1971 British horror film made by Tigon British Film Productions and directed by Piers Haggard. The film was written by Robert Wynne-Simmons, with additions by Piers Haggard, and stars Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden and Barry Andrews. It is set in 17th century England, and tells the story of a village taken over by demonic possession.

ynopsis

The film opens in 17th century England with Ralph Gower (Barry Andrews) uncovering a deformed skull with one eye and strange fur upon it while plowing a field. The local judge (Patrick Wymark) is asked to look at it, but the skull has vanished and the judge disregards Ralph's supernatural fears. However, later many people in the village become affected by this supernatural power, including a young woman who sprouts a claw and children who behave oddly after finding a strange claw and start to grow fur on their bodies.

The farmer who first found the skull rides to a neighboring town to find the local judge and bring him back to try and eradicate the evil. The judge does come back after having done some research in a book about witchcraft. After getting some information about a future cult gathering of the evil children in the village, the judge takes some men to the spot and they kill the satanic beast, whose remains had been dug up by the farmer at the start of the film, and who is responsible for the evil infecting the populace.

Cast

* Patrick Wymark as The Judge
* Linda Hayden as Angel Blake
* Barry Andrews as Ralph Gower
* Michele Dotrice as Margaret
* Wendy Padbury as Cathy Vespers
* Anthony Ainley as Reverend Fallowfield
* Charlotte Mitchell as Ellen
* Tamara Ustinov as Rosalind Barton
* Simon Williams as Peter Edmonton
* James Hayter as Squire Middleton
* Howard Goorney as The Doctor
* Avice Landon as Isobel Banham
* Robin Davies as Mark Vespers
* Godfrey James as Angel's Father

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by Marc Wilkinson. It was released on CD and limited edition vinyl LP by Trunk Records in 2007.

References

* Rigby, Jonathan (2002). "English Gothic: a Century of Horror Cinema". London:Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 1-903111-35-8

External links

*imdb title|id=0066849|title=Blood on Satan's Claw