Rotten Tomatoes
Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

The Blood on Satan's Claw

Play trailer Poster for The Blood on Satan's Claw R 1971 1h 40m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
73% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 59% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
When a mysterious corpse is accidentally dug up by a boy in a small town, a group of local teens starts acting very strangely. The adolescents, led by a girl named Angel (Linda Hayden), are convinced the corpse was once possessed. Hoping to get in touch with the devil through the body, the teens act out a series of demonic rituals that causes a stir among the townspeople. When word of the satanic activity spreads, certain parents start trying to lock up the kids behind the spooky stunts.

Critics Reviews

View More
Tom Huddleston Time Out 03/17/2020
It's visually beautiful, too, with an unusual but effective use of in-camera framing, and the score by Mark Wilkinson is creepy and immersive. Go to Full Review
Margaret Hinxman Daily Telegraph (UK) 03/17/2020
Blood On Satan's Claw practises the black arts in seventeenth century England with rather more blood-curdling relish than I enjoy. Go to Full Review
Vincent Canby New York Times 05/25/2005
It has a good deal of the quality of an H.P. Lovecraft work, in the vulnerability of even its heroic characters, as well as in its pastoral landscape that contains the threat of "eeveel" within every sun-dappled glade. Go to Full Review
Jennie Kermode Eye for Film 11/04/2021
4.5/5
It touches on an underlying anxiety in British society as few other films have done. Go to Full Review
Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia 05/23/2019
A fiendish folk horror which is both extremely creepy and deliciously demonic. Go to Full Review
Lucius Gore ESplatter 06/17/2008
4/4
A little hard to find these days, but well worth searching for, 'Blood on Satan's Claw' is a classic. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Logan D @Greynomad38 3d In 18th-century England a malformed skull with strange fur is discovered and then disappears. Disturbing events begin to affect the villagers. I think I always have been attracted to folk horror but didn't know it was a genre until about ten years ago. This film, along with Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man, are considered the Unholy Trinity of folk horror and created folk horror. Originally meaning the conflict between pagan and Christianity within a rural setting, recently it's been expanded to just mean horror in a rural setting with ritualism present. This work is the weakest of the three. That doesn't mean it's bad. Not at all. But it's episodic and has uneven pacing. The script has several issues as well. But the atmosphere and acting are enjoyable. It works well as oppressive horror and has many shocking scenes that might not sit well with some. See more Kevin L @Lakeman Mar 30 Horribly, awfully silly. Just terrible 'folk horror'. Can't see why any sane, reasonable person wd be scared by this one unless they were too young to be watching it to begin w/, or lived a very sheltered life. Granted there were a couple of disturbing scenes, but it's more the acts that make me angry more than frightened. There's the obligatory foppish limey authority figure on the time in his goofy man wig. There's actors closer to 30 than teen age playing 'kids'. There's a claw alright; & more thant suddenly appear on a character who immediately disappears. A couple of nubile nudes make an appearance to beguile & distract. And then there's the godawful end scene in slow-motion that shd embarrass any director w/ e modicum of self-respect. So no, didn't care for it. 2 stars See more Michael S @RT72144727 Nov 3 I enjoyed this one-something about the simplicity reminded me of a what Director Eggers has been doing recently with film. While its not perfect I found it fascinating and had alot of visceral power to the storytelling. I especially liked the demon and the screen direction. See more john w @RT21709783 Oct 29 genuinely scarey when I first watched this in the 70s , still something unsettling about it today See more JLD D. @Jduris Oct 21 Entertained me through the entire movie. Worth watching. See more Zahara B @Zahara Aug 9 Did not really draw me in, nothing interesting about the characters, not a lot of detail on the few plot points that happened. See more Read all reviews
The Blood on Satan's Claw

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING
The Exorcist 78% 87% The Exorcist Watchlist The Dunwich Horror 29% 28% The Dunwich Horror Watchlist Last House on the Left 65% 50% Last House on the Left Watchlist A Quiet Place in the Country 100% 50% A Quiet Place in the Country Watchlist Eaten Alive 29% 30% Eaten Alive Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis When a mysterious corpse is accidentally dug up by a boy in a small town, a group of local teens starts acting very strangely. The adolescents, led by a girl named Angel (Linda Hayden), are convinced the corpse was once possessed. Hoping to get in touch with the devil through the body, the teens act out a series of demonic rituals that causes a stir among the townspeople. When word of the satanic activity spreads, certain parents start trying to lock up the kids behind the spooky stunts.
Director
Piers Haggard
Producer
Peter L. Andrews, Malcolm Heyworth
Screenwriter
Piers Haggard, Robert Wynne-Simmons
Distributor
Cannon Films, Facets, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co
Chilton Films, Tigon British Film Productions Ltd.
Rating
R
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 14, 1971, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 3, 2019
Runtime
1h 40m
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)