The Blood on Satan's Claw
00:35:40
About
The team have unearthed something terrible under the cabbages in the Welcome To Horror allotment, so it’s time for “Blood On Satan’s Claw”. A film in which Mr Kipling leads exceedingly angry mobs; The Master gets in trouble for playing with his snake in the woods; and Simon Williams receives the worst kind of handjob. Part of the Unholy Trinity of Folk Horror, “Blood on Satan’s Claw” is the only one that features the genuinely supernatural. Originally conceived as a kind of anthology, those roots still show, but the decision to make it one tale was the correct one. Combining some of the most picturesque and beautiful imagery with some of the cruelest and horrific events to befall a seemingly innocent community; this is no mere Hammer knock-off. A marvellous script and a cast all bringing their best make for a disturbing glimpse of festering corruption, with our only hope being the intervention of harsh authoritarian powers seemingly as nasty and uncaring as the evil they confront. Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers and join us.
Leave me to judge who is innocent.
Famous lines
- "A living nightmare of black magic... and unspeakable evil!"
- "A fiend has been seen hereabouts, hobbling on one leg." — The Doctor
- "Doctor, witchcraft is dead and discredited. Are you bent on reviving forgotten horrors?" — The Judge
- "How do we know, sir, what is dead?" — The Doctor
Quotes verified against Wikiquote.
Adam's research
Verbatim lifts from Adam's own words in the episode. Click a timestamp to hear him say it.
- Folk Horror Trinity and Historical Setting
It's it's weird, there there's an the the sort of Trinity of folk horror as they call it, which you'll be unholy Trinity, which is um, Witchfinder General, The Wicker Man and. … Yeah, we still need to do The Wicker Man, definitely. We'll do We definitely need to do that, but I think do it near summer. Because it's the right film to watch in summer, yeah. Yeah. And um. Yeah. Yeah. I just meant bucolic, lazy days. Which is which is rare for me. But um. Yeah, so the they all came out within like only a few years of each other. Um so it's weird that they're there's this little flourish and and also the fact that they are from. uh two of them are from Tygon as well like Tygon studios. And um, I I whichfinder general I think was first, which was what led them to sort of do a similar setting for Blood on Satan's Claw. Because it's um, it's sort of this is this is sort of post Civil War this is but this is around what is it the the the glorious revolution when uh James II got knocked off the throne. And that's why there's the toast to King James III because after he after James II died his son James was referred to as James III but he wasn't actually the king at that point.
- Patrick Wymark's age and death
Also, you're saying that about um Patrick Wymark, like the judge, he's 44 in this film. Yeah. And and actually, I mean but he actually didn't get to see the film come out because he died very shortly afterwards. … Yeah. Uh but yeah, he died yeah, died of a heart attack. But um, yeah, I mean he's clearly a sort of hard-living fellow, you know.
- Michelle Dotrice's career
Because I hadn't put two and two together and then I was watching it and I was going. She's in two she this was her specialty, she was like a folk horror specialist. Before she got dragged into um. Yeah. So before Frank, it was yeah.
- Linda Hayden's filmography
Taste the Blood of Dracula. She's one of the daughters, isn't she? … Yeah, because she's in uh she's in Madhouse as well, the um oh, the Vincent Price movie. Yeah, the Peter Cushing Vincent Price one, yeah. Yeah. Um, and the film that had made her name was something called Baby Love, which was like a sort of lated thing or something. So which obviously plays into what she's playing in this with a.
- Baffle Gab audio adaptation
one thing I'd forgotten about and I don't even remember how I sort reminded my just somehow reminded myself. I was on Baffle Gab's looking up Baffle Gab productions, they're the people who do the uncanny podcast and Enville Park podcasts and stuff like that. But I've always listened to them because they did like for years they've done really good sort of plays and stuff like that. They didn't an adaption of Blood on Satan's Claw and Linda Hayden's in it. but she's playing like the uh the lady of the house. Mistress Banner or whatever, you know, um so she's playing that character and it's um. Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith playing well they've the the judge they've conflated with the Squire. So it's Squire Middleton, which is Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith is the Reverend Fallowfield. And uh yeah, so I had a I had a listen to that as well in the weekend and I was like, oh, this is a really good it's a really good like take on it.
- Original anthology concept and Tygon book
It was uh publicizing uh John's book uh beasts in the well, not publicizing, but he was there and he had beasts in the cellar. The Tygon story, the book, didn't he? Which we all purchased and are all um. Genuinely essential reads, you know, I think. And um. the And I've completely lost me thread there. So that makes great podcast. Oh yes, with the doctor. Um no, I just I just love his um what we learned from John. it's John Harrison, isn't it? Hamilton, sorry. I knew I'd get it wrong, I feel pretty bad, sorry, John, if you are listening. It's been a very busy busy busy time. And um. Yeah, he was explaining that originally it was a anthology. It was conceived as an anthology where and they were saying the various characters would sort of pop in and out and across and things like that. And I think you can still see that sort of thread essentially. If you watch it as three separate stories of the fiance in the in the attic. The children becoming a cult and the. end sequence where the part with um where Michelle Dotrice is um hunted like the children are being hunted. And that's the the climax, you know, sort of thing. And. Yes. So there's those sort of three there's the three stories you can sort of see the lines there. But again, I when you hear it sort of like said, oh, it'll be with characters entwined. It's like, that just is this film. This is, you know, I don't think they did. But it is lovely that you've got all these characters. Who sort of drift in and out.
- Director's background and film's aesthetic/score
um Piers Haggard who directed it has sort of like was um he came from like BBC TV and classic serials and things like that. And you can see. Because the the way I worded it to Clare was these bits feel like boring things I wouldn't have watched on Sunday. When they used to repeat like Black Beauty or Foyfoot or something like that. They've got that sort of real sort of classic series, like, I'm not watching this, it's gonna be boring. But. But it has that sort of really, you know, it's a beautifully shot film about really ugly things. And that is so incredible at what I a thing to pull off, you know. … Mm. Yeah, those kind of things. … Because I think because I think, you know, I think there is a way of making this where you would shoot it ugly and really go for it. But it's actually the fact that it is the everything about it looks. I mean it's it's I mean similarly with the music. is you've got these long sort of again the sort of passages that you would see, you know, it's like sort of Von William's stuff as they're doing the pans across the landscape and things like that. But then when you get any of the weird bits, it goes utterly avant-garde and weird and disjointed. And that Mark Wilkinson's score and that sort of like. I mean because it's essentially all all the way through it. And it's weird because that's the like impish part of the devil, that's the mischievous part of the devil in a way that isn't in the film. Because you know. And just that the the weirdness of oh, so what happens is we have to stitch the devil together. from everyone else's bodies. And at the end of it he's hopping because he still hasn't got his leg.
- James Hayter (Squire Middleton) trivia
Well, also if you reckon you might have recognized him because that guy is James Hayter, um who is the voice of Mr. Kipling. You know as well. He makes exceedingly good cakes. You know, and he's got that just that because he played he played loads of um like Charles Dickens adaptions and things like that. You just an absolute you know, he's just absolutely perfect for it. But he was also in, are you being served, he played Mr. Tebs who took over from Mr. Granger. But he was only in it for one series and I recently found out that's because Kipling's basically said to him, would you mind not appearing in, are you being served, because your character's slightly unpleasant? And. We don't want to sort of damage the brand as it were. Yeah. And. He said, no. And they said, what if we offer you three times your fee from the BBC? And then he said, yes. Yeah. Absolutely. I was like, but what if you, well, I'm glad all I do know is I'm glad I said no the first time. Because if you've just been really sort of obliging.
- Doctor Who actors in the cast
But the guy who plays um the Reverend Fallowfield. is a guy called Anthony Ainley. And when I first saw this because I I realized I I was looking at my Tygon box they had the DVD box. Sets that came out in coffins. Um there was Amicus and um Peter Walker ones and stuff. I've got the Tygon one as well, which I realized has got Virgin Witch in it. I've just never seen it, but I've obviously got it on DVD. Which was the other film we saw at uh Worldwide Weird. And poor Chris had to walk in in the middle to a room. Basically, a room full of men sat in chairs watching what clearly looked like a porno. And the look he gave me was I'm not in the right room, am I? Until until I managed to catch his eye. … Oh, bloody hell, okay. That's worth knowing because I mean I've got I've got thingy on Blu-ray. So, you know, that's that might be. There we go, we might be able to make an investment have actually genuinely made an investment. That'd be such such a moment in my life. But um. But yeah, so but the the first time that I saw this was a look like on telly. Late probably BBC because I don't remember any adverts or anything. And. The reason I was watching it is because the Reverend Fallowfield, Anthony Ainley. um was the master in Doctor Who for the entire of the 80s. And so and and obviously because he's the master. I was immediately like. He's fucking doing it, he's the devil, he's because he was. That's how I was tuned to Anthony Ainley, he's he's gonna he's a villain. So, you know. But so when it actually turns out that he's like just a sort of he's an okay Yeah, he's a nice if somewhat again, ineffectual sort of person, you know. Um. But the weird thing was is that uh poor Kathy Vespers, um is um played by Wendy Padbury who was a companion of the second doctor. Uh like Patrick Trouton. So before she did this, she was Zoe in Doctor Who. So there was again, so when I was watching it, it was like, oh no, fucking hell, Wendy Padbury's turned up, right, okay, so that's why I stuck with it. And I was seriously rewarded, you know, it was.
- Supernatural element in folk horror trinity
And this is the weird thing that sort of occurred to me was, like I said, unholy Trinity of folk horror, Wicker Man. Yeah. And Witchfinder General in this, this is the only one that actually got a supernatural element to it. Well, I'm just. Well, I mean, but but but both yeah, both Wickerman and uh Witchfinder General. there isn't a supernatural element, there's, you know, what's in there could be. Yeah, it's it's people. The monsters in those. And I mean it it could have been in this in a way, except that there definitely is a monster at the end. Yeah. And he's got lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely.
Highlights
Transcript
Show full transcript
Lee Good evening and welcome to Horror, I'm Lee.
Chris I'm Chris.
Adam I'm Adam.
Lee And we are here with spoilers and swearing and an awful lot of snot from my end, to cover 1971's Blood on Satan's Claw.
Lee as we mentioned previously, we went to Worldwide Weird recently and saw this up on the big screen with a great audience.
Adam Yeah.
Chris Yeah.
Lee And John Hamilton there, expert on Tygon, to do a Q&A afterwards.
Lee And we decided, why not cover the film because it's a a classic that I had only seen for the first time last year.
Lee So this is still a very new film to me.
Adam Oh, that's a lovely, yeah.
Lee So yeah, it's still very fresh.
Lee But Chris, what did you think of Blood on Satan's Claw?
Chris So I thought we were going there to watch Witchfinder General.
Adam I don't know how.
Adam In fairness, I think that was the possibility originally.
Chris Oh, okay, right.
Adam And Witchfinder General is also a Tygon film.
Chris Aha.
Adam And it would have made sense.
Chris And it does make sense.
Chris Okay, so I wasn't being completely insane.
Chris But yeah.
Chris
Chris Well, you know, you have expectations when you realize it's an older film.
Chris And don't know a lot about it aside from the title, and I'd say this is not for the faint of heart.
Chris There's a quite a bit more in this than I expected to see.
Lee Yes.
Adam Yeah.
Chris So yeah, a lot of atmosphere.
Chris Good characters.
Chris I also thought one of them was Pete de Lori.
Chris Patrick Wymark for a moment.
Chris I was like.
Lee Oh, I.
Adam Oh, yeah, I can kinda see it.
Lee Actually, yeah.
Chris You should forgive me a little bit on that.
Chris But.
Adam No.
Adam No, I can I can kind of see it, especially sort of like, like a few looks, he does, comedy of tears.
Chris Yeah, yeah.
Adam Same sort of look, yeah.
Chris Yeah, but it it does and, you know, it starts off and it's it's not high-paced action as you could imagine, but I'm sure this must be, I think I said this fairly recently when we're watching another one, it's gotta be a fairly early folk horror.
Chris Story, isn't it?
Adam It's it's weird, there there's an the the sort of Trinity of folk horror as they call it, which you'll be unholy Trinity, which is Witchfinder General, The Wicker Man and.
Chris well, that's.
Chris Which Witchfinder General and we meant to watch The Wicker Man, I'm sure about six years ago.
Chris But.
Adam Yeah, we still need to do The Wicker Man, definitely.
Adam We'll do We definitely need to do that, but I think do it near summer.
Adam Because it's the right film to watch in summer, yeah.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Yeah.
Adam And
Lee When you feel like you're burning alive.
Lee Is the time.
Adam Yeah.
Chris Yeah.
Adam Yeah.
Adam I just meant bucolic, lazy days.
Adam Which is which is rare for me.
Adam But
Adam Yeah, so the they all came out within like only a few years of each other.
Chris okay.
Adam so it's weird that they're there's this little flourish and and also the fact that they are from.
Adam two of them are from Tygon as well like Tygon studios.
Adam And I I whichfinder general I think was first, which was what led them to sort of do a similar setting for Blood on Satan's Claw.
Chris Okay.
Adam Because it's it's sort of this is this is sort of post Civil War this is but this is around what is it the the the glorious revolution when James II got knocked off the throne.
Adam And that's why there's the toast to King James III because after he after James II died his son James was referred to as James III but he wasn't actually the king at that point.
Chris
Adam Sorry, yeah.
Lee Yeah.
Adam This is this is all fantastically interesting stuff that I sort of.
Chris Well, you have you have you've hinted at something that yeah, it's got a bit of a almost documentary style feel.
Chris Like it does feel very realistic.
Adam It's very real and I mean even like the gore is not.
Chris Not over the top.
Adam No, it's it well, it's it's not Hammer, you know, Hammer's always like that sort of vivid crimson sort of like gore.
Adam Whereas this is this feels like, I mean, the the leg the taking the skin off the leg.
Lee Yeah.
Adam I mean, actually, I mean, do we do we have to do like a pressy of the film for people or whatever?
Chris Oh yeah.
Adam In as much as basically, a plowman uncovers a a fiend, as they refer to it, probably the devil, who then rebuilds himself piece by piece via the skin of the children of the village that he's been dug up in.
Adam And sort of corruption and horror ensues along the way.
Lee Yes.
Adam Also, you're saying that about Patrick Wymark, like the judge, he's 44 in this film.
Lee He really?
Adam Yeah.
Adam And and actually, I mean but he actually didn't get to see the film come out because he died very shortly afterwards.
Lee Oh, he's fantastic actor.
Adam Yeah.
Chris Yeah.
Adam but yeah, he died yeah, died of a heart attack.
Adam But yeah, I mean he's clearly a sort of hard-living fellow, you know.
Lee You could see that in.
Lee I mean the cast in this is awesome.
Lee So obviously, Michelle Dotrice, who we covered recently when we spoke about when we watched The Witches.
Adam Yeah.
Adam Because I hadn't put two and two together and then I was watching it and I was going.
Adam She's in two she this was her specialty, she was like a folk horror specialist.
Adam Before she got dragged into
Lee Some mothers do have them.
Adam Yeah.
Lee Yeah.
Adam So before Frank, it was yeah.
Lee And Linda Hayden obviously went on to do Hammer as well.
Lee She's in
Adam Taste the Blood of Dracula.
Lee It is Taste the Blood of Dracula, yeah, which is one of my favorite.
Adam She's one of the daughters, isn't she?
Lee Yeah.
Lee And she's excellent.
Chris She was great in this.
Lee Yeah, she's one of those actors who yeah, I don't know what happened.
Lee I mean, she might have moved on moved out of horror and therefore I wouldn't have seen her so much.
Chris Yeah.
Lee But yeah, she's excellent in this and she's fantastic in in Taste the Blood of Dracula as well.
Chris
Adam Yeah, because she's in she's in Madhouse as well, the oh, the Vincent Price movie.
Lee Oh, the Vincent Price movie.
Adam Yeah, the Peter Cushing Vincent Price one, yeah.
Lee Yes.
Chris
Adam Yeah.
Adam and the film that had made her name was something called Baby Love, which was like a sort of lated thing or something.
Adam So which obviously plays into what she's playing in this with a.
Chris Yeah.
Chris There's a bit bit of that going on.
Adam Yeah.
Adam And
Lee It might be one of those things where because she's so young in this, if you give it another five years and put her in something, I wouldn't necessarily recognize her because she's a similar age in this and the Hammer film.
Lee Whereas, yeah, when she gets into her 20s as a lot of people do, they change quite a lot facially.
Lee So I might have seen her in stuff and just not even picked up who she is.
Adam Yeah.
Adam I mean, I but I but I mean, basically, I mean, actually.
Adam one thing I'd forgotten about and I don't even remember how I sort reminded my just somehow reminded myself.
Adam I was on Baffle Gab's looking up Baffle Gab productions, they're the people who do the uncanny podcast and Enville Park podcasts and stuff like that.
Adam But I've always listened to them because they did like for years they've done really good sort of plays and stuff like that.
Adam They didn't an adaption of Blood on Satan's Claw and Linda Hayden's in it.
Chris
Lee Yes.
Adam but she's playing like the the lady of the house.
Adam Mistress Banner or whatever, you know, so she's playing that character and it's
Adam Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith playing well they've the the judge they've conflated with the Squire.
Adam So it's Squire Middleton, which is Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith is the Reverend Fallowfield.
Chris
Adam And yeah, so I had a I had a listen to that as well in the weekend and I was like, oh, this is a really good it's a really good like take on it.
Adam and it has it has aftermath.
Adam where because I mean this this ends pretty abruptly.
Lee Yeah.
Adam You know, this it's it's it feels like it almost feels like.
Adam You've look, you've you've done you've done so many beautiful landscapes, but we've got we've got to wrap this up in five.
Lee Yeah.
Chris Yeah.
Adam And then curiously then also slow motion.
Adam is added in at that point as well.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Again, like you were saying, Chris, but it a weirdly documentary sort of one because it's that sort of just a series of poses.
Chris Yeah, yeah.
Adam And stuff like that and it sort of feels again sort of documentary-esque and yeah.
Lee And it always surprises me, so right at the end, yeah, when the the judge comes out and his his helper is carrying that great big thing.
Lee I this is the third time I've seen the film, I'm always convinced it's a giant crucifix.
Lee Until they take the take the cover off.
Adam Yeah.
Lee And it's that fucking great like double-handed Highlander sword.
Lee Like a.
Adam Well.
Chris Yeah, yeah.
Adam It's.
Adam It's both, isn't it because the bottom half like the hilt is essentially a crucifix.
Adam It's fucking massive, isn't it?
Adam And.
Lee I don't know where he even holds it.
Chris He's got to be.
Lee He's got to be eight foot long and he's just waving it around like a lunatic.
Lee But yeah, it's a fantastic ending.
Lee Love that.
Adam Because it's because it's weird as well where again the sort of realistic nature of it is the judge's a bastard.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Do you know what I mean?
Chris He is a.
Adam He's not.
Chris Yeah.
Adam He's he's not the nearest this gets to a hero is the guy who digs him up in the first place.
Lee Yeah.
Chris Yeah.
Chris Like he's decent throughout trying to.
Adam Yeah.
Adam But he then fails to Ralph, sorry.
Adam That's it.
Lee Yeah.
Chris Yeah.
Adam Yeah, just check my notes.
Adam but yeah, Ralph but then he doesn't get to be a hero at any point.
Adam Like he doesn't save Kathy.
Adam Because you think that that that's sort of bit sort of like because that is horrendous that the sequence where they kill Kathy.
Lee Yeah.
Adam And and more is.
Adam a real fucking hard watch.
Chris I suppose that's if they did make him actually successful, it would change the whole film.
Adam It doesn't work as part of the plot.
Adam And similarly, like Simon Williams' character is like the the the guy who cuts his hand off.
Lee Yeah.
Adam You know, again, similarly, you feel that he would be the heroic role and it it doesn't happen.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Yeah.
Adam You know, it's it's weird and so, yeah, the the nearest that the nearest it's got to a proactive hero.
Adam Is a is the guy who's a bit of a shit Franklin.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Especially because he he genuinely just takes over that house.
Lee Yes.
Adam It's like he sort of the the the lady of the house goes missing and then it's basically, oh, well, you know, well, I'll kip here till I piss off back to London.
Lee Yeah.
Adam And even down to that, I think that's a very it's a weird moment where he's basically saying, right, I let this fester and grow.
Chris Yeah.
Adam And then I can deal with it almost.
Adam You know.
Adam It's so that feels a bit but equally, well, I'm gonna let it faster and grow.
Adam I'm not going to hang around while that happens.
Chris So that's that's yeah, that was what I was trying to work out is did he have a plan really or was he like, I've sort of had enough of this for a bit and, you know.
Adam I I think I think genuinely I think it's almost like he's waiting for absolute proof.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Because by this because there's a the lovely thing with this as well is how much is how everyone is, well, certainly the judge is enlightened in as much as it's like, what are you talking about, witchcraft is nonsense, it's been proven that there's no such thing.
Adam You know, it's it's much because it's later than Witchfinder General, you know, that sort of thing, everything's.
Adam You know, the witch Charles and everything have been discredited by this point and the you know, there's still superstition, but hence the guy's chucking Michelle to Treat into the lake.
Lee Yes.
Chris
Adam But but basically the judge is like, no, we can't acknowledge this, this is a, you know, if you stir up that nonsense.
Adam People just believe it and it's we've gone past this.
Adam You know what I mean?
Adam And so it's almost like he's waiting for, no, this is Reagan's head spinning round, right, fair enough, this is demonic energy that I've got to deal with in the old way.
Chris Yeah.
Chris Then he take the book away, which I guess he was reading through then, studying.
Adam Yeah, which he never returns to the doctor.
Chris No.
Adam The doctor's a great character as well, he's just a really great little character in it, you know.
Adam Just.
Adam It's because obviously, when we went to Worldwide Weird.
Adam It was publicizing John's book beasts in the well, not publicizing, but he was there and he had beasts in the cellar.
Adam The Tygon story, the book, didn't he?
Lee Yeah.
Lee Which we all purchased.
Adam Which we all purchased and are all
Lee Desperate to read.
Adam Genuinely essential reads, you know, I think.
Adam And
Adam the And I've completely lost me thread there.
Adam So that makes great podcast.
Chris It was it was the the doctor.
Adam Oh yes, with the doctor.
Adam no, I just I just love his what we learned from John.
Adam it's John Harrison, isn't it?
Lee Hamilton.
Adam Hamilton, sorry.
Adam I knew I'd get it wrong, I feel pretty bad, sorry, John, if you are listening.
Chris It's been a a busy busy weekend and week.
Adam It's been a very busy busy busy time.
Adam And
Adam Yeah, he was explaining that originally it was a anthology.
Adam It was conceived as an anthology where and they were saying the various characters would sort of pop in and out and across and things like that.
Adam And I think you can still see that sort of thread essentially.
Adam If you watch it as three separate stories of the fiance in the in the attic.
Adam The children becoming a cult and the.
Adam end sequence where the part with where Michelle Dotrice is hunted like the children are being hunted.
Adam And that's the the climax, you know, sort of thing.
Chris Yeah.
Adam And.
Chris Okay.
Adam Yes.
Adam So there's those sort of three there's the three stories you can sort of see the lines there.
Lee Yeah.
Adam But again, I when you hear it sort of like said, oh, it'll be with characters entwined.
Adam It's like, that just is this film.
Adam This is, you know, I don't think they did.
Adam But it is lovely that you've got all these characters.
Adam Who sort of drift in and out.
Adam Some of their.
Adam I mean, the judge, quite frankly, pulls a Hound of the Baskervilles and disappears for most of the.
Adam For most of the middle of the film.
Adam And.
Chris But it does it mean it does seem to work.
Chris Like, it didn't stand out to me as as odd really.
Adam No, not at all.
Adam And I think they do a fantastic job of it.
Adam And.
Adam Piers Haggard who directed it has sort of like was he came from like BBC TV and classic serials and things like that.
Adam And you can see.
Adam Because the the way I worded it to Clare was these bits feel like boring things I wouldn't have watched on Sunday.
Adam When they used to repeat like Black Beauty or Foyfoot or something like that.
Adam They've got that sort of real sort of classic series, like, I'm not watching this, it's gonna be boring.
Adam But.
Adam But it has that sort of really, you know, it's a beautifully shot film about really ugly things.
Lee Yes.
Adam And that is so incredible at what I a thing to pull off, you know.
Lee Yeah, you're right though, he has got that feel, it reminds me a lot of the Dick Turpin TV show.
Adam
Lee That I've been watching again recently.
Adam Yeah, those kind of things.
Lee
Lee Yeah, which was Sunday night viewing as I seem to remember from my childhood of being oh, maybe five or something.
Lee But
Lee But yeah, it's got that same look to it and yeah, I do find it's it's strange, it's somehow warming and grubby at the same time.
Lee But yeah, I don't quite know.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Because I think because I think, you know, I think there is a way of making this where you would shoot it ugly and really go for it.
Adam But it's actually the fact that it is the everything about it looks.
Adam I mean it's it's I mean similarly with the music.
Adam is you've got these long sort of again the sort of passages that you would see, you know, it's like sort of Von William's stuff as they're doing the pans across the landscape and things like that.
Chris
Adam But then when you get any of the weird bits, it goes utterly avant-garde and weird and disjointed.
Adam And that Mark Wilkinson's score and that sort of like.
Adam I mean because it's essentially all all the way through it.
Adam And it's weird because that's the like impish part of the devil, that's the mischievous part of the devil in a way that isn't in the film.
Adam Because you know.
Adam And just that the the weirdness of oh, so what happens is we have to stitch the devil together.
Adam from everyone else's bodies.
Lee Yeah.
Adam And at the end of it he's hopping because he still hasn't got his leg.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Because the last bit's gonna be Ralph's leg.
Adam And you.
Lee Yeah.
Adam And.
Lee it's but it is it's those little characters as you say, who come in and out of it as well.
Lee So as you said with with the doctor, yeah.
Adam With the doctor.
Lee And.
Lee And similarly with the the priest, the reverend.
Adam Yes.
Lee Yeah.
Lee Like that's such a great characterization, yeah, and like his whole.
Lee Him getting accused of trying to seduce the girl and they arrest him and they're on the verge of like torturing him and then they go, oh, something else has happened and he goes, right, take it all off, he's fine, right, you're going to come and help us and he goes, you're gone.
Adam Because that's because you you've you've put two in there though because I also love Squire Middleton.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Because he is such a pompous tit of, you know, he is absolutely perfect, this sort of puffed up ineffectual moron who's been who's somehow in charge.
Chris But that seems like a slightly more modern idea.
Chris I I didn't quite expect them to portray him like that from this era.
Adam Well, also if you reckon you might have recognized him because that guy is James Hayter, who is the voice of Mr. Kipling.
Lee Oh.
Adam You know as well.
Adam He makes exceedingly good cakes.
Adam You know, and he's got that just that because he played he played loads of like Charles Dickens adaptions and things like that.
Adam You just an absolute you know, he's just absolutely perfect for it.
Adam But he was also in, are you being served, he played Mr. Tebs who took over from Mr. Granger.
Adam But he was only in it for one series and I recently found out that's because Kipling's basically said to him, would you mind not appearing in, are you being served, because your character's slightly unpleasant?
Adam And.
Chris Oh.
Chris It'll put people off the character.
Adam We don't want to sort of damage the brand as it were.
Adam Yeah.
Adam And.
Adam He said, no.
Adam And they said, what if we offer you three times your fee from the BBC?
Adam And then he said, yes.
Adam Yeah.
Lee Quite rightly so.
Adam Absolutely.
Adam I was like, but what if you, well, I'm glad all I do know is I'm glad I said no the first time.
Adam Because if you've just been really sort of obliging.
Adam But
Adam But the guy who plays the Reverend Fallowfield.
Adam is a guy called Anthony Ainley.
Adam And when I first saw this because I I realized I I was looking at my Tygon box they had the DVD box.
Adam Sets that came out in coffins.
Lee Yes.
Adam there was Amicus and Peter Walker ones and stuff.
Adam I've got the Tygon one as well, which I realized has got Virgin Witch in it.
Adam I've just never seen it, but I've obviously got it on DVD.
Adam Which was the other film we saw at Worldwide Weird.
Lee Yes.
Adam And poor Chris had to walk in in the middle to a room.
Adam Basically, a room full of men sat in chairs watching what clearly looked like a porno.
Chris It did it did.
Adam And the look he gave me was I'm not in the right room, am I?
Adam Until until I managed to catch his eye.
Chris I saw I saw a couple of wave, yeah.
Lee that Tygon box incidentally, I've I've been I was after a couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to get hold of it.
Lee Oh, and it's so expensive now.
Lee Second hand, it's ludicrous.
Adam Oh, bloody hell, okay.
Adam That's worth knowing because I mean I've got I've got thingy on Blu-ray.
Lee Yeah.
Adam So, you know, that's that might be.
Adam There we go, we might be able to make an investment have actually genuinely made an investment.
Adam That'd be such such a moment in my life.
Adam But
Adam But yeah, so but the the first time that I saw this was a look like on telly.
Adam Late probably BBC because I don't remember any adverts or anything.
Adam And.
Adam The reason I was watching it is because the Reverend Fallowfield, Anthony Ainley.
Adam was the master in Doctor Who for the entire of the 80s.
Chris Aha.
Adam And so and and obviously because he's the master.
Adam I was immediately like.
Adam He's fucking doing it, he's the devil, he's because he was.
Adam That's how I was tuned to Anthony Ainley, he's he's gonna he's a villain.
Adam So, you know.
Adam But so when it actually turns out that he's like just a sort of he's an okay Yeah, he's a nice if somewhat again, ineffectual sort of person, you know.
Adam
Adam But the weird thing was is that poor Kathy Vespers, is played by Wendy Padbury who was a companion of the second doctor.
Adam like Patrick Trouton.
Adam So before she did this, she was Zoe in Doctor Who.
Adam So there was again, so when I was watching it, it was like, oh no, fucking hell, Wendy Padbury's turned up, right, okay, so that's why I stuck with it.
Adam And I was seriously rewarded, you know, it was.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Also if you can, because I believe the box set has this version, but if you can, there is a one of the releases because 88 Films are releasing all of Tygon's films at the moment.
Adam They're re-released them, they're doing them all on Blu-ray.
Adam I had tempted to upgrade me Witchfinder General, I'll be honest.
Adam but
Adam Yeah, they've but I haven't bought Blood on Satan's Claw.
Adam Because I already had the Blu-ray, but also their version doesn't have the commentary with the League of Gentlemen.
Lee yes.
Chris
Adam Which is it's well, it's not it's not all the League of Gentlemen, it's Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson.
Adam Which is, oh, that was just that.
Adam That was just a real treat that was.
Adam When it's like, oh, Blood and says, Claus coming out, I'll get that and then, oh.
Lee Hang on.
Adam This.
Lee That's a.
Adam This is a double whammy here, so I it's much the same as Theatre of Blood.
Adam Has all of the League of Gentlemen doing a commentary on the DVD I've got of that.
Lee Yeah.
Adam And they've become like a they've become double-edged films they have.
Adam Because it's like.
Adam You know, if I'm in the mood for the actual film.
Adam Yeah.
Adam But sometimes it's like, well, I can watch the film, but we just funny people talking over it, you know.
Lee I never listen to commentaries, but I really, really, do need to remember that that's a thing.
Lee And every time you mention it, I think, I'm definitely going to rewatch it with that.
Lee And every time I forget.
Lee As I'm full of cold at the moment, my brain is not working at its up most, so I'll definitely forget this time again.
Adam Yeah.
Adam But
Adam Yeah, there was other just trying to think what.
Adam Oh, apparently they were looking to get Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to play the judge.
Adam but they were immediately they're probably too expensive.
Adam And then they were saying about Donald Pleasants and Michael Goff as well.
Adam But.
Adam I'll be honest.
Adam I I mean, I this film is, I mean, even the girl who plays Susan in the movie versions of Doctor Who is in this.
Adam So there's loads of people I recognize like Michelle Dotrice and, you know.
Adam But.
Adam I think I'm glad that there's no like, you know, Linda Hayden is a name to drop.
Adam In the right horror circles, but it wouldn't necessarily be that a name that the public knows or whatever like that.
Adam So I think it's quite nice because it allows it to be its own thing.
Adam And it.
Chris Yeah, it does seem to work well.
Adam Yeah.
Adam It's not all the the stars in it at this point.
Adam Like, yeah.
Lee Yeah.
Lee Yeah, no, I think it works perfectly.
Lee And and yeah, as you say, I mean, love Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and but.
Chris But they would steal it in a way or you'd think it's for that, whereas.
Lee You're waiting for them to come back, whereas there's.
Chris You want to be left not entirely sure.
Chris You know, like you said, it could have been the priest, what was he up to and.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Even now.
Adam Every time I watch it, I'm just slightly waiting for him to go, oh, doctor, you've been so foolish.
Adam You know.
Lee But yeah, I mean, this is a great film for a rainy afternoon.
Lee It's
Lee Yeah, it's such a as you say, it's that sedate.
Lee But I do love that, as I say, the the ending of it.
Lee You know, it's one of those where you think, oh, you're probably never actually going to see the monster.
Lee But you do.
Lee You totally get it.
Lee It looks great.
Lee It's a really.
Adam It's again, it's just odd, it looks it looks like the wood carving that they're looking at in the doctor's book.
Lee Yeah.
Lee It's not right.
Lee It's.
Adam Yeah.
Lee Yeah, it's all out of.
Lee Yeah, it's gross and brilliant and it's fantastic.
Adam I think there's one of the worst bits is because obviously there's there's various bits where you can see where the kids have had bits removed.
Lee Yeah.
Adam And there's one kid who's not got a hand but has got a twig coming out of a bloody stump and stuff like that.
Adam But I think it's just when like when Ralph pulls pulls back his sock when he catches his leg.
Adam It's the fact that it's sticky.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Just it's just like, oh, you know.
Adam It's really horrible looking and like is it feathers, is it fur, is it what is it, you know.
Adam It's.
Adam They make a really good sort of mishmash of the creature of of the devil.
Adam Because he's just.
Adam Sort of like, it looks a bit like a bat, but it's also.
Adam Yeah.
Adam It's just weird.
Lee It's all lopsided.
Adam Yeah, it's all it's wrong.
Adam Very wrong.
Lee So many ways.
Lee But yeah, I'm what a fantastic movie and again, I think this is a film I'm glad I didn't see until later on.
Lee Because yeah, I I think coming to it as an adult and seeing it, like I don't think as a kid this film would have worked for me.
Lee And I might not have come back to it.
Lee but yeah.
Lee seeing it as an adult, it it it's.
Lee It's excellent.
Lee It's so good.
Lee So it is nice when you find a film like again, it's one I'd heard talked about so much, but they always talk about the same thing.
Lee And that was what put me off to be honest.
Lee They always talk about, you know, the scene with the children.
Lee
Lee Yeah.
Chris Yeah, no, if if I'd heard that, I'd be like, I don't really want to watch it.
Lee Exactly.
Adam And and again, I mean, it's it's just horrible, it really is a grim thing to watch.
Adam But.
Chris I can see it works.
Adam A testament to the film that it's that I you returned to the film.
Lee Yeah.
Adam And still like it and still can enjoy it.
Adam And it's not.
Adam Enjoy that.
Adam You know what I mean.
Lee It's all right that film.
Adam Yeah.
Adam Exactly.
Adam It's not the sort of thing.
Adam But yeah, I think it's just again, it's just part of that whole realness that the whole thing has.
Chris It is.
Adam And it's unfortunate that that has.
Adam You know, that has to be as real as everything else.
Lee Yeah.
Lee It absolutely does.
Adam Although.
Adam And this is the weird thing that sort of occurred to me was, like I said, unholy Trinity of folk horror, Wicker Man.
Adam Yeah.
Adam And Witchfinder General in this, this is the only one that actually got a supernatural element to it.
Chris Oh, don't give too much away.
Adam Well, I'm just.
Adam Well, I mean, but but but both yeah, both Wickerman and Witchfinder General.
Chris
Adam there isn't a supernatural element, there's, you know, what's in there could be.
Adam Yeah, it's it's people.
Lee Yeah.
Chris
Chris It often is.
Lee Yeah.
Adam The monsters in those.
Adam And I mean it it could have been in this in a way, except that there definitely is a monster at the end.
Chris Oh, there's definitely a monster.
Chris And he hops.
Lee Yeah.
Adam Yeah.
Adam And he's got lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely.
Adam So.
Lee yes, so just very quickly before we wrap up.
Lee Ghost Story for Christmas has been announced.
Adam Hey.
Lee Very excited for that, it's a story I don't know but the cast looks fantastic.
Lee So I am so in for this one, I can't wait, I actually am looking forward to Christmas in a strange vague way, not yet, come December 1st, I will be looking forward to Christmas Eve.
Lee So I can sit down with a nice mug of mulled wine.
Lee And and watch this, I think.
Adam because I mean the way they've been talking about it, I was actually shocked that we're getting one, because I know that every year they sort of say, oh, this will be the last one because we've had to do this with the budget, or we've had to sneak in under this radar or whatever like that.
Adam So he's good to see that it's still there.
Lee Absolutely.
Lee And it is one of the TV highlights of the year for me.
Lee yeah, it is one of the only things every year that I genuinely look forward to and I'm excited for the announcement announcements for.
Lee So yeah, so I'm glad it has continued.
Lee And many years may it do so.
Adam Absolutely.
Lee Right, so for our next episode, we are going in a very different direction.
Lee from the dark gritty world of The Blood on Satan's Claw.
Lee we are going to be covering a film that I can't remember the title of.
Lee I am really unwell, aren't I?
Adam
Lee The vampire film with Eileen Daly.
Adam Oh, Razor Blade Smile.
Lee Razor Blade Smile.
Lee Okay, that's the one.
Adam I remember now.
Lee Yes.
Lee I I could picture the cover and I just couldn't see the text.
Lee It wouldn't.
Adam It's like he was distracted.
Lee Yeah.
Lee I don't know what could be causing that.
Lee yes, so we'll be covering Razor Blade Smile.
Lee The film that got me into it, the the first film that made me realize independent cinema.
Lee In the UK was even possible.
Lee
Lee So it's yeah.
Lee It it needs to be discussed.
Lee And yeah, it it's great fun.
Lee Chris.
Lee If you have not seen this film, it is 100% like you, I can't believe that you wouldn't have seen it.
Lee In the late 90s, early 2000s.
Chris Like I mean I've heard the name but yeah, no, I definitely haven't.
Lee Yeah.
Lee I mean.
Adam I I'm thinking about it, I see what you mean, Lee.
Adam Yeah.
Lee It's all goth in PVC, it's so Chris.
Chris Oh.
Lee It's so Chris back then, anyway.
Chris Back back in the day, yeah.
Lee Yes.
Lee But yes, so we will be back.
Lee In a fortnight's time to discuss Razor Blade Smile.
Lee Go and check out The Blood of Satan's Claw if you haven't.
Lee and we will see you in a fortnight's time.
Lee Enjoy the spooky season.
Lee Good night.
Chris Good night.
Adam Good night.
