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Tigon’s ‘Blood on Satan’s Claw’ and ‘The Haunted House of Horror’ are two of my favourite horror movies.

There’s a really great full-cast audio adaptation of this on Audible, written by Mark Morris. Highly recommended.

@naparry4772

4 ай бұрын

I've got that too. Very good indeed. And Linda Hayden is in it too!

I agree with most of what you say except "it's not very good". Blood on Satan's Claw is a mess of a film, but it's great,

I wonder if someone good at editing could recut this movie into an anthology and maybe insert title cards in between each story to let you know we're now on to a different story.

Always wanted to see this

If it were to be remade, it would need to be with someone we trust, like Robert Eggers would be perfect.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

3 ай бұрын

That would be pretty great.

This was a real strange one for me?? I've always wondered, was the village being corrupted by some sort of demon? Was one person possessed and inflicting others? The atmosphere kind of reminds me of the Hammer Horror Films and two stars from Hammer are in it. One from Dracula Has Risen From the Grave and Taste the Blood of Dracula. Lynda Hayde was really evil in this, it's a shame they didn't do more with her character. Love the channel and keep the videos coming!!!

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching :) I agree that a little more clarity would have gone a long way. Not explain the evil completely, but to understand how it is manifesting.

I think for what it is Blood on Satan's claw is a very good 70's occult film, much better than some of Tigons other horror efforts,. A script cobbled together from what was intended to be an anthology was never going to run fluidly but it sort of works, as for the two scenes mentioned personally I don't have a problem with them, the second scene mentioned was intended to emphasize the evil permeating through the children in the village, probably unnecessary, Only in recent years has the film has been labelled folk horror, not sure I agree personally.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

It's not the inclusion of the scenes per se, but how they're shot. I think Angel's attempted seduction of the priest is absolutely right for the story, and I agree that you do need to see the growing cult do abominable things. I'm just not sure they both need to be shot through such an exploitative lens that is - I feel - at odds with the tone of the rest of the movie. Thanks very much for watching and sharing your thoughts!

Blood on Satan's claw is a b.movie classic...certainly goes under the radar a bit...i got it on blu.ray about 5yrs ago from a charity shop!...and linda Haydon is fab anyway...bit of a cult classic i say..great review..hammergazz 😂

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching 😊

I saw it a couple of years back and I remember really enjoying it. It's been on my shortlist to buy ever since, and I think I need a 2nd viewing to solidify my opinions on the film. I've forgotten quite a bit of it already.

I love Blood on Satan’s Claw. A brilliant folklore horror. This film will be out on Blu-Ray again from 88 films in April alongside the films Shock Waves & The Beast in the Cellar. Would love to know what you think of Beast in the Cellar? I find it very amusing. We’re still waiting for the Blu-Ray release of the Peter Walker films (Flesh and Blood Show Box Set) and we never seem to get The Ghoul 1975 released on DVD or Blu-Ray. Great review.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Ooh, I've never seen The Beast in the Cellar.

@PaulRichards-vz4pl

4 ай бұрын

@@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse It’s an odd old film but Beryl Reid’s performance is funny.

I think this is a very fair review

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Thank you

Even with mad eyebrows Linda Hayden looked gorgeous 😍👍🏻📽️

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Those eyebrows are in fashion now aren't they? :D

@stuartgeorge2324

4 ай бұрын

@@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse I'm 53 what's fashion lol 😆

Great review my friend. Personally I adore the film despite its flaws. I always felt it could of done with chaptering. Act 1, act 2, act 3. Just so the three story's although separate come together. I also think the beast should not of been revealed at all at the end. It took away the atmosphere of the film in dare I say it a daft way. But for the time period it was made I love its outrageous courage to go places. But I love the camera work. How some scenes were so close to the ground. Almost making the earth itself a character

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching. I agree about the creature reveal. A shambling figure in a cloak that could have been a demon or, perhaps, just one of the cult standing in could have been creepily ambiguous.

Totally agree with you. This is an influential and important entry in the folk horror genre - but that doesn't make it good. The script definitely needed a few more drafts.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching

I have a soft spot for The Blood In Satan’s Claw. For me, it has aged so much better than a lot of old Hammer’s of the period. The music is great too. Andrew, did you watch the commentary by The League Of Gentlemen? That’s worth the price of the disc alone.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

I don't have the one with the commentary track. I didn't know it existed. Damn.

yeah spot on. I watching this film with high expectations... coming out I was like its like 3 seperate stories? Like the whole middle bit was stand alone. I mostly remember it for the part where the chick from taste the blood of dracula gets her kit off... and mostly trying to follow the plot that changed or disappeared throughout... I will watch it again though...

Folk horror being "willed into nebulous existence." !!! Thank you for whispering the secret (hahaha!) Great point about the 70s vérité -- I see the phenomenon in still photography of that decade, too.

Although the least of the Brit Horror folk horror triumvirate I think you're being a bit harsh. I accept most of your criticisms but they're not in themselves sufficient (for me) to knock BoSC off it's well-deserved pedestal as a classic horror film.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Luckily my word isn't law, that would be a disaster! :)

I actually really enjoy this movie I think it has a beautiful scope. The Angel Blake subplot is fantastic and easily the most memorable thing in it despite like you said it not getting the focus you remember it getting. I can understand the gripes you had. I think you hit the nail on the head where the good stuff in it is truly great maybe that’s why I can overlook the flaws in the claws 😂. I gotta ask do you take requests I’d love to hear your thoughts on Jess Franco’s Count Dracula if you do. Seeing all the Dracula clips at the end has me yearning for a Grumpy Andrew review of it. Cheers to the weekend my friend

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching. I do take requests but am notoriously slow at getting round to them. I don't own Jess Franco's Dracula. If it's on Prime I'll check it out. I've tried Franco's films a few times and nothing I saw spurred me to seek out any more of his films (although I understand his output is very inconsistent?)

I only saw it once, years ago, and never understood how people could mention it in the same breath as a masterpiece like The Wicker Man, or a tour de force like Witchfinder General. Nonetheless, perhaps it is worth a revisit...

@lavoielactee7179

3 ай бұрын

In Mark Gatiss' documentary The History of Horror, Robin Hardy cites it as an influence on the making of The Wicker Man. That's why it's held in the same regard. Without Blood on Satan's Claw, The Wicker Man would have been a very different film.

@Sam-lm8gi

3 ай бұрын

@@lavoielactee7179 I never knew that. Fair enough, then.

It's so odd, isn't it? You're bang on. The good bits everyone remembers are fantastic - it excels at building atmosphere and a sense of dread, but that scene in the abandoned churchyard is hard going (in terms of my own reaction it it, I'd compare it to the turtle scene in Cannibal Holocaust) and the Angel nude scene is - I wouldn't say uncessary as it does drive the plot forward - less sensitive than it oculd have been. It's a classic movie trope we've seen done far more tastefully many times (often in Bond films) - the hero comes into a room, a the person who wants to seduce them stands in the door way, the angle changes to a view over the seducer's shoulder, their shirt slides away, revealing a hint of a bare shoulder, cut to same view from floor level, where we see a pile of clothing drop from above and at the far end of the room, the hero's eyes widen. We know what has happened - we don't need it showing to us. Horror is supposed to make us uncomfortable, but it goes just that little bit too far and crosses from "Fun" discomfort to actual discomfort. It almost feels like Piers Haggard was saying to us "Just in case you have any doubt, she is most definitely completely naked and showing it to the priest. See just like him, we can see everything. We can see it all." It could have been magnificent if not for those two parts, and the horribly rushed ending, which I'll be honest, feels to me more alike in dignity to Monty Python's The Holy Grail than The Witchfinder General.

Your point about how folk horror seems to habe been "willed into nebulous existence" is 100% true. I think you probably know already that my take on the film isn't too different from yours.

@TheSianFromAtlantis

4 ай бұрын

I said this on Facebook, but I'll add it here, Piers Haggard has also said that he wouldn't do the rape scene if he were to have another go at it.

Great discussion. It’s a weird film indeed.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching.

I have never seen Blood on Satan's Claw, The Wicker Man or Witch Finder General. From your describsion it sound like Rawhead Rex and Jeepers Creepiers were some what inspired by this film.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Rawhead Rex is definitely in the folk horror tradition, but takes the ancient pagan gods angle and actually plonks one in the English countryside to go on a rampage. The story it's based on can be found in Clive Barker's Books of Blood, and I think it works much better on the page where the subtext of masculinity and femininity can play out much better imo. The "joke" in the short story is that Rawhead Rex is pretty unsubtley described so as to leave you in no doubt that he looks like a 9 foot tall penis!

I remember seeing this film in my early 20's. If I remember correctly Michelle Dotrice was in it?

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

She is indeed! She has quite a significant role.

Awesome video, yea I like the movie but it's not a go to for me. Funny you are covering this one, I had just mentioned it in my voicemail to podcast covering 1971 movies.

You have to read the recently published book of the movie written by the original script writer. It gives you the character motivations and you get the parts of the storyline that didn't appear in the film but makes sense of it all. The only problem is once you've read the book (which is a worthwhile read) the flaws in the movie are even more obvious.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

That sounds really interesting, thanks for the recommendation. Does it explain how Ralph with his hairy leg goes from hiding in an attic to appearing in the abandoned church? I thought my dvd must have skipped a scene.

@antonyllewellyn2364

4 ай бұрын

Yes it does explain that in full as well as why he chose the attic and what drove him out of it.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

@@antonyllewellyn2364 Sounds fascinating, thanks!

The narrative is absolutely broken and my first watch of this gave me similar thoughts to yours here, but for me there is the most sense of that overriding wrongness infecting a community of these folk horror pillars and the raw power and offsetting weirdness of it shines through. I've kinda ended up treating it like the 1970s British equivalent of Argento's Inferno in that regard.

We should do a re-edit of it 😂

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

We'd need new footage. There's one bit where a character is left hiding in a house and then wakes up in the abandoned church in the woods because he needs to be there.

@cuddywifter8386

4 ай бұрын

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse either that or just pull a JJ Abraham with a picture card held up between the scenes with a question mark saying 'Mystery Box❓️' 🤣

Looks lovely, but yeah, best not looked at too closely. It would have been better as a 'portmanteau' movie. I never much cared for, as the booklet with the DVD describes as (using a Monty Python term from the Piranha Brothers sketch) the 'Impeccably choreographed' rape scene, which goes on far too long, and I find it doubly uncomfortable, as the victim is played by Wendy Padbury, who also played one of my favourite Doctor Who companions, Zoe. It's very jarring. I wonder if this scene, and Linda Hayden's nude scenes were at the behest of Tigon's head, Tony Tenser, who had produced many pornographic and exploitative movies before turning to horror. It might have been easier to sell the movie in other regions if it contained the nudity, etc. And you are right about the atmosphere of it - there is a feeling of impending dread throughout. However, the shot in 'Witchfinder General' of the distant silhouette of Hopkins on horseback, in the dusk, creates a far greater frisson of unease, than anything here. Possibly because that bastard was real, and enjoyed his job.

Went to see this at a folk horror movie night and honestly it's a bunch of decent scenes surrounded by long tedious shots of the country. The attention this got is all down to Mark Gattis little horror documentary but it's honestly overrated now. The Witches from 1966 is a better candidate for being alongside the eerie atmosphere of the wicker man and witchfinder general.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Sounds like I need to check out The Witches.

@Blackhawk19892

4 ай бұрын

​@@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse I wouldn't say it's amazing but it's got a solid atmosphere. Then the villain emerges with one of the silliest hats I've ever seen so it sold me.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

More villains should wear hats!

Fantasy magic logic is a thing. If it's not followed it's disruptive to the story.

@GrumpyAndrewsHorrorHouse

4 ай бұрын

Thank you :)

Was so disappointed in this film. Was hoping something along the lines of Wicker Man but ended up with a mediocre plodder with no much atmosphere.