After hearing about Blood on Satan's Claw for years, I finally watched it on Tubi this past weekend. I was really looking forward to it after hearing such good things, how it was a paragon of folk horror and up there with Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man. Since I liked Hammer alums Linda Hayden and Barry Andrews, I expected to enjoy it.
Well.... I liked a few parts of it. I do have to say that the ending was probably one of the most unsatisfying of just about any film I've seen. The music didn't fit many of the scenes at all and took me out of the tension the film was setting up. The storyline doesn't seem to make any sense. If they are "building" the devil from the skin grown on the young villagers, what attacked the woman and the guy at the beginning? Why did the woman have the devil claws? What happened to the scratched up old woman? Where did the priest go at the end? What was so special about this sword that the judge had draped over like it was some kind of holy artifact? Why did he let things get so horrible before returning?
Just too many questions for me. If its someone's favorite film, great for you, but it's one of the rare 70s British productions (Hammer, Amicus and other Tigon films) I just didnt' care for in the end, despite a great performance by Linda Hayden and a strong cast otherwise.
Well.... I liked a few parts of it. I do have to say that the ending was probably one of the most unsatisfying of just about any film I've seen. The music didn't fit many of the scenes at all and took me out of the tension the film was setting up. The storyline doesn't seem to make any sense. If they are "building" the devil from the skin grown on the young villagers, what attacked the woman and the guy at the beginning? Why did the woman have the devil claws? What happened to the scratched up old woman? Where did the priest go at the end? What was so special about this sword that the judge had draped over like it was some kind of holy artifact? Why did he let things get so horrible before returning?
Just too many questions for me. If its someone's favorite film, great for you, but it's one of the rare 70s British productions (Hammer, Amicus and other Tigon films) I just didnt' care for in the end, despite a great performance by Linda Hayden and a strong cast otherwise.
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