Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)

This sprawling tale of terror, which unfolds in a style that is reminiscent of The Call of Cthulhu without the globe-trotting, details a series of terrifying events that follow the dredging up of a not-quite-human skull in an English field. Slowly, a malevolent force begins working its way through the village, which the peaceful townsfolk are unequipped for in every sense of the word. Have they all gone mad? Gripped by some sort of mass hysteria? Is it all the church's fault? Well, without spoiling too much, the film takes its beasts literally, and the forces of good aka Christianity end up saving the day at the end quite handily, though its rich subtext attempts to muddy things. 

The most twisted and fascinating character of the piece is Angel Blake, an appropriately-named young woman who begins the story as an innocent, playing in the mud with other children, but soon finds herself growing up quite fast and wielding her beauty and sexuality in ways that are truly disturbing. What makes all of it scarier is that so much of her character and her motivations are kept secret from us. Her transformation takes place entirely off-screen so that we see her acting perfectly normal one scene, all besides her preoccupation with some spooky relic she found in the dirt, and the next time we see her she's clearly under the influence of some unholy terror. The Judge is the other most fascinating character, as unlike other cinematic witchfinders, he's actually quite reasonable. He is initially quite hesitant to classify any of the strange happenings as witchcraft, and he requires proof at every stage in a later inquisition. He does at one point tell the adults of the village to let things simmer for a while before acting, to draw the evil out of hiding if it really is there, but hey, nobody's perfect. His transformation, from a chubby-cheeked, harmless, though slightly misogynistic, judge whose past glories seem to be long behind him, into this fierce Christian warrior is also quite striking, although he again never quite steps over the line into Witchfinder General or Witchhammer territory. Other characters often show kindness even when faced with pure evil, like the poor older woman who adopts Margaret, a supposed child of the devil, and refuses to let her absurdly blasphemous rantings and ravings stop her from taking care of the girl. At the climax of the film, rather than rushing in like an angry mob and ruining everything, the angry townsfolk extinguish their torches and stealthily surround a satanic ceremony in progress, waiting until the perfect moment to strike. Characters, for the most part, feel quite human and well-considered and easy to sympathize with, which as always makes the horror hit that much harder. 

Yes, despite its occasionally campy treatment of folk staples like half-beasts in dark cloaks, this film has the ability to shock and disturb with the best that the horror genre has to offer. A few sequences are nothing less than stomach-churning, even with little on-screen violence that isn't always at least partially implied and not seen. It contains things that will make some sensitive viewers eject the disc in disgust; things that today would absolutely warrant a trigger warning. It pushed the envelope, especially for '71, in terms of what horror is allowed to use to frighten us. And those who are unwilling to think of the film in a less than literal way or analyze its themes with a fine-tooth comb will likely find the film a dash misogynistic, but unlike a film like Wilzycna, I find this is much more even-handed and interesting. Many of the women in the film are frightening and create discord in their community that is consistent with stereotypes about women that have existed since the beginning of recorded history, but they are clearly shown to be puppets of this greater force that unleashes things that society represses in all of us. Besides, it's not as if male characters aren't shown to be within the thrall of evil at various points as well. I think it paints an ugly portrait of humanity, period; sex notwithstanding. 

It's often quite hard to predict what's around the corner. No doubt part of this is inherited from the original idea to have the film be a thematically-linked anthology of stories about evil lurking in the woods, but regardless of its origin, it absolutely works to the film's benefit. Up until the very final shot, I wasn't sure exactly how this thing would tie itself up, which kept me gripped from start to finish. Despite all the awful things that we see done within this horrifying film, it manages to end on a complex note that sees our characters mostly triumphant, but at what cost? And can evil ever truly die? And what about that old couple following the children around? Who were they? And Margaret, was she really a child of the devil? We didn't see her until after Angel and the other kids go into the woods and start performing what can only be described as black magic, so could she actually be a child spawned from the depths of Hell? These questions and many others go unanswered by the end and yet I couldn't be happier with how it all shakes out.

Blood on Satan's Claw isn't some stuffy dialogue-driven stageplay either. It uses its medium to engage and horrify beautifully at every turn. Performances from the cast are pitch-perfect throughout, but special mention must of course go to Linda Hayden, who feels totally convincing in her turn as the devil's concubine. Her transformation from farm girl to pale princess of darkness is believable, and her steely blue eyes cut straight through the screen into your soul in a way that suggests a supernatural force lurking behind them. Her eyebrows are also, as the kids of yesterday used to say, on fleek. But she's not the only one giving it her all: not one performance comes off as misguided or incorrect, and often, it is impressive how they can so often dial things up to eleven and yet never cross over fully into camp. The only thing that ever comes off that way, in fact, would be the last thirty seconds of the film, which involve a dancing puppet of Satan in a flowing cloak and a fat man wielding a massive rubber claymore, though they hardly upset me and conversely are extremely entertaining. 

Otherwise, it's all so grounded and easy to buy into. The cinematography is so dense with foliage and natural greenery, often placing leaves, vines, and branches in the foreground around the action in a way that brings to mind reading an ornately illustrated book of fairy tales, and the framing of each and every shot is purposeful and impactful. It's a film that looks and feels real, so that the darkly mystical vibe feels appropriately like a desecration of something beautiful. Adding to this is the distinctive soundtrack, which uses what sounds like a theremin (it's actually the wonderfully obscure Ondes Martenot) to create these distinctive sliding shrieking sounds and drippy alien stabs. At times the soundtrack feels like a stack of siren-like wails playing out of sync with one another, but at others, it feels perfectly folksy and playful in a way that combines with the imagery to create an out-of-time, ancient folkloric quality that I love. It underscores both the beautiful moments and the horrifying ones appropriately and is one of the most memorable aspects of the film for those with an ear for instrumental music.

This film stands as proof of why the seventies will probably never again be equaled in terms of horror filmmaking, even today, and why the folk horror genre of both literature and film has become so revered by fans of the darker side of storytelling for centuries. And my god man, this film has a razor's edge that I didn't quite expect. It's not easy viewing for those who are bothered easily by violence against innocents, and it can be downright vicious at times, but it all feels like its saying something about the dark underbelly of humanity and our place in the big frightening world we inhabit in a way that makes it worth it to those who can appreciate horror, even when it goes beyond fun and camp.