Historically, cinema has given shamanic or earth-based religions the short end of the stick. (Or the short end of the dowsing rod, as the case may be.) All too often, serious examinations of indigenous cultures and practices are discarded in favour of hysterical stereotypes and mundane good/bad archetypes within low-budget genre exercises.
Not that this is necessarily a bad thing! A so-called “B” (or “Z”) movie can often provide a space in which to explore geopolitical and cultural issues... provided there’s an appropriate amount of violence, sex, gore, and nudity to backup the philosophizing.
Blood on Satan’s Claw is as good an example of drive-in driven psychotronic regional filmmaking from the early 1970s as any. It’s the kind of film that didn’t play “respectable” theatres, but passion pits with exotic names such as The Golden West or The Belmont.
Made by independent U.K. horror studio Tigon (the American equivalent would be American International Pictures in the 1960s or Film Ventures International in the 1970s), Blood on Satan’s Claw is, on the surface, a traditional “witches are bad and only the patriarch is worth protecting” historical genre exercise, but upon deeper examination it reveals many riches.
With a limited budget (my guess would be a 15-day schedule with about 60 to 70 setups a day), a non-star cast, and with little or no production value, Blood on Satan’s Claw nonetheless delivers the goods to the mind and the body of the discriminating and non-discriminating film devotee alike.
Director Piers Haggard pays surprisingly close attention to historical detail (the film takes place in 17th-century England), rooting the film in a convincing reality despite the images of demon attacks and satanic orgies. The male cast (led by British D-movie icon Patrick Wymark) brings an air of gravity and sense of urgency to the proceedings, while the female leads (led by ’70s siren Linda Hayden) take off their tops and scream at the appropriate moments.
At the same time, the film is quite sympathetic to a period when being a free-spirited young woman was tantamount to receiving a death sentence. The music by Marc Wilkinson makes nice use of period instruments, and while Haggard’s staging is workmanlike at best, the film clips along at a 90-minute gallop that never bores and consistently surprises with its understanding portrayal of shamanic rituals.
Blood on Satan’s Claw will never be mistaken for great filmmaking. It is, however, rarer than a hen’s tooth, and on this celebratory weekend of transformation, it’s as great a way as any to kick back and enjoy after dancing around the maypole.
Watch Blood on Satan’s Claw online at www.youtube.com.
