The Confusion of The Blood on Satan's Claw
What a strange movie. The first time I tried to watch it I was coming down with Covid, and I'm not sure if that colors my impressions of this film or not...but everything about it just seems a little...off.
First off, everyone has absolutely ridiculous hair in this movie. To the point of distraction. And I'm fairly certain a lot of that ridiculous hair isn’t period-faithful. This is the moot-est of points, but I wanted to ease us in, because we're headed towards false rape accusations, actual rape, pedophilia, and a film that doesn't work without the misogynistic insistence on murdering witches. And none of it has a point, unlike in say, Witchfinder General.
Yikes.
This film has become a cult classic and held up as one of the progenitors of the folk horror genre. I wouldn't be honest if I didn’t say I was struggling to understand this cult status.
This is not a good movie.Â
I said it.Â
And I stand by it.Â
Because I tried. I really did. I wanted to like Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), and I wanted to understand what it was doing. But I was left to conclude that the only possibly reason that it retains the status that it does is due to its position as one of the first examples of folk horror. It's key factor is its context within the history of horror cinema.
What’s frustrating is that it does have a lot of good qualities in regard to its crafts. It’s shot well. The actors gives some great performances. It had the potential to do a lot with its premise. But it just falls flat. Its thesis statement is that Satan is afoot, bitches be literal witches, and those witches need to die.Â
It makes no attempt to explore the nuances of its material. Set during the witch hunts of Britain’s 17th century, it decides to take the presence of witches as fact, and makes them an irredeemable cult committed to murder and child rape. The girl seen later in the film rescued from a witch hunt, is actually a witch, and she’s all on board with the evil her compatriots commit.Â
Where Witchfinder General instructs on morality and the nature of power, Blood on Satan’s Claw declares that instruction as treason. If Vincent Price had shown up in this movie, he would have been the goddamn hero, not the villain, which is so fucked up. And I can say that, because that’s basically how this movie ends. A judge wearing eerily similar clothes arrives and destroys the cult and Satan, saving the whole village.
I just can’t help but think that this movie is a teacher in what not to do with your plot. It’s too straightforward in its presentation of evil. It reveals itself too readily. It comes across as clumsy and ham-handed. It’s an exploitation film, but its not bringing anything new to the table unlike its friends in the Unholy Trinity. It has zero self-reflection on what any of it all means.
Which, I suppose if you don’t want to think too hard about the horror you’re consuming, this movie is…fine? Well, maybe not considering it definitely has underage nudity in it that would not fly today. But if you don’t care about that, and if you don’t care about the plot’s implications or how it fits in with the historical truth of its premise, then none of that matters. It’s fun enough if you can ignore all that. If.
The problem for me is that I can’t do that. This whole newsletter is about not doing exactly that. I expect more, and usually I can find it. But Blood on Satan’s Claw has left me disappointed every time I’ve tried to give it another chance.
Upcoming fiction
Something something iceberg lettuce will be headed your way in the next week or two.
Next time on Bramble & Bray
I’m taking a look at how to not info-dump while examining Gemma Amor’s White Pines. It’s a fun read, and includes a setting called, I shit you not, Anthrax Island.