Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Monday, March 31, 2008

THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW


THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971). Director: Piers Haggard.

After the claw of an inhuman creature is ploughed up in a field, the teens of a 17th century British village engage in rapes, orgies, murders and the like, while innocent women are nearly drowned as witches. Back in the seventies, the sex, violence and nudity may have made this seem more interesting, but today it's a big bore, very slow-moving, and directed with absolutely no panache by Piers Haggard. Linda Hayden plays Angel, the young beauty around whom most of the trouble is centered. Patrick Wymark is the Judge who decides to put an end to all the nonsense. Very poor horror film that even genre fans will find a snooze. Marc Wilkinson's opening theme music is quirkily memorable, however. Haggard also directed the far superior A Summer Story in 1988, for which he was much more suited.

Verdict: Watch at your own risk. *.

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