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17th century England: Weird events start happening in a small rural village,
like a girl (Tamara Ustinov) going raving mad when sleeping at her fiancé's
(Simon Williams) home, & her fiancé cutting off his own hand believing it
is that of a hairy demon. The villagers are quick to come up with an
explanation, witchcraft, especially since a young farmer, Ralph (Barry
Andrews), has dug up a demonic skeleton while ploughing the field. The judge
(Patrick Wymark) who happens to be passing by when all of this happens
dismisses these talks of witchcraft as mere superstition of the countryfolks
though, & soon leaves the village to battle the evil on its own terms. It
turns out that one of the village's girls, Angel (Linda Hayden) has started a
sinister cult that doesn't shy away from killing people should need arise &
that worships the demon Behemoth, who frequently visits their black magic
rites. The local reverend (Anthobny Ainley) suspects something sinister
coming from Angel though, but she proves to be his superior when she first
tries to seduce him, & when that fails, accuses him of raping her. Cathy
(Wendy Padbury), who also suspects Angel of something sinister, is soon lured
into Angel's witches' circle, where she is raped & killed during a ceremony
... but this time, Ralph, who did try to save her, can produce wintesses who
link Angel to the murder, so she & her followers soon become outcasts. But
the whole talk of witchcraft drives the villagers crazy too, so soon they try
to hunt down & kill every girl remotely suspected of being a witch ...
& being a witch is signified by having grown a patch of fur anywhere on
your body ... Eventually the judge comes back to the village, & he has
since been converted to believing in witchcraft & together with a mob of
upright villagers heads for the witches' ritual place, & there the angry
mob can not only get rid of the witches but the judge himself slays demon
Behemoth with his sacred sword for good. Blood on Satan's Claw for
sure is not a great, original or inventive, let alone influential film for sure,
but at the same time it's nice early 70's horror-entertainment, with a
typically warped plot that doesn't make too much sense but has liberate doses
of sex & violence thrown in for good measure, the direction, while not
exceptionally original, does create an atmosphere of unease, & the actors
do deliver competent performances throughout.
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