Ralph Gower is ploughing a field when he discovers human like bones and a skull piece with a very well preserved eye in it. Naturally Ralph does a runner to get help from a visiting Judge, and naturally when they return to the field the evidence has vanished into thin air. Things almost immediately start to deteriorate with possession, madness, and the local youth going demonic worship happening. Can the Judge resolve the situation before the gates of hell are opened, or will the emerging chaos take out the local farms and village? Puritan England versus satanic panic in the 17th Century, what could possibly go wrong with a movie rocking that concept.

I’m going to get the bad out of the way first, then we can luxate in the goodness of this movie. The narrative, which starts strong, melts in the glare of the movie length with some confusion ensuing for the viewer. There’s scenes coming out of left field, no apparent attempt is being made at keeping it concise, and the final scene is just completely bizarre. Where exactly did the Judge get that honking big sword from, and why exactly is he wielding such a clumsy weapon, no idea, the movie doesn’t bother with anything like an explanation. There wasn’t much budget left to finish off the movie according to rumour, so perhaps scenes explaining what the heck was happening were never shoot. No idea, but would explain why things move from a solid narrative to something that will have viewers scratching their heads in confusion.

Phew, now that we have got through that, lets clear the air and dig into what is a classic Brit horror flick. Surprisingly, Satan’s Claw is quite graphic and isn’t shying away from the gore. Those whacky Brits with their take it to the limit approach to horror movies. Guys hold onto something, we get boobs, full frontal nudity, and the ladies aren’t missing out either. Makes you wonder if there might not be an extended director’s cut gathering dust somewhere. I was actually quite shocked at the display of flesh going down, and gee we also get a rape scene that the Director doesn’t attempt to cover in anything like artistic expression. 

Okay if you are easily triggered then skip to the next paragraph, we don’t pander to the snowflakes and actually report what happened or what is happening. During the 1970s there was this weird belief that chicks got into being raped, I even heard this in a by now dated election debate. Jesus wept, seriously, unfortunately Satan’s Claw seems to be traveling on the same whacked role with, I think, the character of Margaret getting rapped and during the process getting into the whole thing and actually going full cowgirl. She is ultimately murdered during the cowgirl stage, so read into that what you want. Just a weird scene all round, and it could be down to Mags getting into the whole satanic hysteria thing.

While remembering this is a 1970s Brit movie there is a nasty element to what the viewer is seeing on screen. Besides some pretty graphic kills, okay the viewer is seeing more than they think they are seeing – wondered if this movie influenced Tobe Hooper, but there is an ever increasing body count. Guess the adage that you better not go into the woods is to the forefront here. We also get some dude hacking off his own hand, chicks having their faces slashed, and a general feeling that the mob rules in the most violent fashion possible. Interestingly, these sorts of movies normally see the citizens getting into a mob and hunting down and killing varies bugaboos including Witches, here the mob is the satanically influenced, who seem to pick victims in an entirely random fashion. 

There’s another interesting scene in the movie that perhaps foreshadows more modern times and which on the face of things seems truly bizarre. After Angel Blake goes full frontal in an attempt to seduce the good Reverend Fallowfield, she gets slightly upset when he rejects her, and rushes to tell the local Squire that Fallowfield assaulted her. Naturally the Squire has the reverend seized and things are looking dicey in an early example of the #MeToo “believe women” movement, naturally the Satanists can’t leave things alone and murder yet another young person leading directly to Reverend Fallowfield’s release. Must admit being amused by this whole thing, surprised a Katy Perry type character didn’t get fired into space or something during the movie.

While the scenery is pretty enticing, there’s some nice establishment shots of the English countryside, it doesn’t completely overcome the low budget the movie is suffering under. We already talked the final scene, where they had clearly run of cash, but throughout the movie things are implied and happen off screen rather than being shown, as the Director attempts to overcome his budget. Witness the whole we think we see more than we do aspect of the film. I was actually okay with this as anyone who does seek to rise above their situation is worth checking out cinematically in my opinion.

Which doesn’t begin to explain the soundtrack by Marc Wilkinson, which to be charitable is one of the more bizarre outings I have ever heard in a horror movie. The soundtrack is fill of weird movements, some of which would be better utilised in a comedy movie, and never really matches the visuals it is associated with. I wouldn’t be surprised if this soundtrack had been written for another movie, and tack onto Satan’s Claw in an attempt to save some budget. 

Satan’s Claw was one of those classic horror movies I’ve been wanting to catch up with for quite some time, and which finally I saw thanks to Shudder. For sure it was worth the wait, but I kind of thought the issues with the movie pointed out above does kind of erode the concept of “classic” for this Brit shocker. While the movie for sure presents some, at the time, original ideas and is actually brutal for the era it was made in there are also some seriously confusing plot developments. I’m giving this movie a guarded recommendation, horror completest are going to want to catch this one, as no one is going to lose sleep if they miss the flick. To be honest here, I’m fifty fifty on this one, and think a slightly better title for the movie would have been Blood on Satan’s Plastic Claw, catch the movie and see what you think.