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
LeeGood evening and welcome to Horror, I'm Lee.
ChrisI'm Chris.
AdamI'm Adam.
LeeAnd 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.
Leeas we mentioned previously, we went to Worldwide Weird recently and saw this up on the big screen with a great audience.
AdamYeah.
ChrisYeah.
LeeAnd John Hamilton there, expert on Tygon, to do a Q&A afterwards.
LeeAnd we decided, why not cover the film because it's a a classic that I had only seen for the first time last year.
LeeSo this is still a very new film to me.
AdamOh, that's a lovely, yeah.
LeeSo yeah, it's still very fresh.
LeeBut Chris, what did you think of Blood on Satan's Claw?
ChrisSo I thought we were going there to watch Witchfinder General.
AdamI don't know how.
AdamIn fairness, I think that was the possibility originally.
ChrisOh, okay, right.
AdamAnd Witchfinder General is also a Tygon film.
ChrisAha.
AdamAnd it would have made sense.
ChrisAnd it does make sense.
ChrisOkay, so I wasn't being completely insane.
ChrisBut yeah.
Chris
ChrisWell, you know, you have expectations when you realize it's an older film.
ChrisAnd don't know a lot about it aside from the title, and I'd say this is not for the faint of heart.
ChrisThere's a quite a bit more in this than I expected to see.
LeeYes.
AdamYeah.
ChrisSo yeah, a lot of atmosphere.
ChrisGood characters.
ChrisI also thought one of them was Pete de Lori.
ChrisPatrick Wymark for a moment.
ChrisI was like.
LeeOh, I.
AdamOh, yeah, I can kinda see it.
LeeActually, yeah.
ChrisYou should forgive me a little bit on that.
ChrisBut.
AdamNo.
AdamNo, I can I can kind of see it, especially sort of like, like a few looks, he does, comedy of tears.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamSame sort of look, yeah.
ChrisYeah, 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.
ChrisStory, isn't it?
AdamIt'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.
Chriswell, that's.
ChrisWhich Witchfinder General and we meant to watch The Wicker Man, I'm sure about six years ago.
ChrisBut.
AdamYeah, we still need to do The Wicker Man, definitely.
AdamWe'll do We definitely need to do that, but I think do it near summer.
AdamBecause it's the right film to watch in summer, yeah.
LeeYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd
LeeWhen you feel like you're burning alive.
LeeIs the time.
AdamYeah.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamI just meant bucolic, lazy days.
AdamWhich is which is rare for me.
AdamBut
AdamYeah, so the they all came out within like only a few years of each other.
Chrisokay.
Adamso it's weird that they're there's this little flourish and and also the fact that they are from.
Adamtwo of them are from Tygon as well like Tygon studios.
AdamAnd 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.
ChrisOkay.
AdamBecause 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.
AdamAnd 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
AdamSorry, yeah.
LeeYeah.
AdamThis is this is all fantastically interesting stuff that I sort of.
ChrisWell, you have you have you've hinted at something that yeah, it's got a bit of a almost documentary style feel.
ChrisLike it does feel very realistic.
AdamIt's very real and I mean even like the gore is not.
ChrisNot over the top.
AdamNo, 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.
AdamWhereas this is this feels like, I mean, the the leg the taking the skin off the leg.
LeeYeah.
AdamI mean, actually, I mean, do we do we have to do like a pressy of the film for people or whatever?
ChrisOh yeah.
AdamIn 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.
AdamAnd sort of corruption and horror ensues along the way.
LeeYes.
AdamAlso, you're saying that about Patrick Wymark, like the judge, he's 44 in this film.
LeeHe really?
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd and actually, I mean but he actually didn't get to see the film come out because he died very shortly afterwards.
LeeOh, he's fantastic actor.
AdamYeah.
ChrisYeah.
Adambut yeah, he died yeah, died of a heart attack.
AdamBut yeah, I mean he's clearly a sort of hard-living fellow, you know.
LeeYou could see that in.
LeeI mean the cast in this is awesome.
LeeSo obviously, Michelle Dotrice, who we covered recently when we spoke about when we watched The Witches.
AdamYeah.
AdamBecause I hadn't put two and two together and then I was watching it and I was going.
AdamShe's in two she this was her specialty, she was like a folk horror specialist.
AdamBefore she got dragged into
LeeSome mothers do have them.
AdamYeah.
LeeYeah.
AdamSo before Frank, it was yeah.
LeeAnd Linda Hayden obviously went on to do Hammer as well.
LeeShe's in
AdamTaste the Blood of Dracula.
LeeIt is Taste the Blood of Dracula, yeah, which is one of my favorite.
AdamShe's one of the daughters, isn't she?
LeeYeah.
LeeAnd she's excellent.
ChrisShe was great in this.
LeeYeah, she's one of those actors who yeah, I don't know what happened.
LeeI mean, she might have moved on moved out of horror and therefore I wouldn't have seen her so much.
ChrisYeah.
LeeBut yeah, she's excellent in this and she's fantastic in in Taste the Blood of Dracula as well.
Chris
AdamYeah, because she's in she's in Madhouse as well, the oh, the Vincent Price movie.
LeeOh, the Vincent Price movie.
AdamYeah, the Peter Cushing Vincent Price one, yeah.
LeeYes.
Chris
AdamYeah.
Adamand the film that had made her name was something called Baby Love, which was like a sort of lated thing or something.
AdamSo which obviously plays into what she's playing in this with a.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisThere's a bit bit of that going on.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd
LeeIt 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.
LeeWhereas, yeah, when she gets into her 20s as a lot of people do, they change quite a lot facially.
LeeSo I might have seen her in stuff and just not even picked up who she is.
AdamYeah.
AdamI mean, I but I but I mean, basically, I mean, actually.
Adamone thing I'd forgotten about and I don't even remember how I sort reminded my just somehow reminded myself.
AdamI 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.
AdamBut I've always listened to them because they did like for years they've done really good sort of plays and stuff like that.
AdamThey didn't an adaption of Blood on Satan's Claw and Linda Hayden's in it.
Chris
LeeYes.
Adambut she's playing like the the lady of the house.
AdamMistress Banner or whatever, you know, so she's playing that character and it's
AdamMark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith playing well they've the the judge they've conflated with the Squire.
AdamSo it's Squire Middleton, which is Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith is the Reverend Fallowfield.
Chris
AdamAnd 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.
Adamand it has it has aftermath.
Adamwhere because I mean this this ends pretty abruptly.
LeeYeah.
AdamYou know, this it's it's it feels like it almost feels like.
AdamYou'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.
LeeYeah.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd then curiously then also slow motion.
Adamis added in at that point as well.
LeeYeah.
AdamAgain, like you were saying, Chris, but it a weirdly documentary sort of one because it's that sort of just a series of poses.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamAnd stuff like that and it sort of feels again sort of documentary-esque and yeah.
LeeAnd 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.
LeeI this is the third time I've seen the film, I'm always convinced it's a giant crucifix.
LeeUntil they take the take the cover off.
AdamYeah.
LeeAnd it's that fucking great like double-handed Highlander sword.
LeeLike a.
AdamWell.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamIt's.
AdamIt's both, isn't it because the bottom half like the hilt is essentially a crucifix.
AdamIt's fucking massive, isn't it?
AdamAnd.
LeeI don't know where he even holds it.
ChrisHe's got to be.
LeeHe's got to be eight foot long and he's just waving it around like a lunatic.
LeeBut yeah, it's a fantastic ending.
LeeLove that.
AdamBecause it's because it's weird as well where again the sort of realistic nature of it is the judge's a bastard.
LeeYeah.
AdamDo you know what I mean?
ChrisHe is a.
AdamHe's not.
ChrisYeah.
AdamHe's he's not the nearest this gets to a hero is the guy who digs him up in the first place.
LeeYeah.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisLike he's decent throughout trying to.
AdamYeah.
AdamBut he then fails to Ralph, sorry.
AdamThat's it.
LeeYeah.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYeah, just check my notes.
Adambut yeah, Ralph but then he doesn't get to be a hero at any point.
AdamLike he doesn't save Kathy.
AdamBecause you think that that that's sort of bit sort of like because that is horrendous that the sequence where they kill Kathy.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd and more is.
Adama real fucking hard watch.
ChrisI suppose that's if they did make him actually successful, it would change the whole film.
AdamIt doesn't work as part of the plot.
AdamAnd similarly, like Simon Williams' character is like the the the guy who cuts his hand off.
LeeYeah.
AdamYou know, again, similarly, you feel that he would be the heroic role and it it doesn't happen.
LeeYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamYou know, it's it's weird and so, yeah, the the nearest that the nearest it's got to a proactive hero.
AdamIs a is the guy who's a bit of a shit Franklin.
LeeYeah.
AdamEspecially because he he genuinely just takes over that house.
LeeYes.
AdamIt'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.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd 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.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd then I can deal with it almost.
AdamYou know.
AdamIt's so that feels a bit but equally, well, I'm gonna let it faster and grow.
AdamI'm not going to hang around while that happens.
ChrisSo 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.
AdamI I think I think genuinely I think it's almost like he's waiting for absolute proof.
LeeYeah.
AdamBecause 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.
AdamYou know, it's it's much because it's later than Witchfinder General, you know, that sort of thing, everything's.
AdamYou 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.
LeeYes.
Chris
AdamBut but basically the judge is like, no, we can't acknowledge this, this is a, you know, if you stir up that nonsense.
AdamPeople just believe it and it's we've gone past this.
AdamYou know what I mean?
AdamAnd 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.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisThen he take the book away, which I guess he was reading through then, studying.
AdamYeah, which he never returns to the doctor.
ChrisNo.
AdamThe doctor's a great character as well, he's just a really great little character in it, you know.
AdamJust.
AdamIt's because obviously, when we went to Worldwide Weird.
AdamIt was publicizing John's book beasts in the well, not publicizing, but he was there and he had beasts in the cellar.
AdamThe Tygon story, the book, didn't he?
LeeYeah.
LeeWhich we all purchased.
AdamWhich we all purchased and are all
LeeDesperate to read.
AdamGenuinely essential reads, you know, I think.
AdamAnd
Adamthe And I've completely lost me thread there.
AdamSo that makes great podcast.
ChrisIt was it was the the doctor.
AdamOh yes, with the doctor.
Adamno, I just I just love his what we learned from John.
Adamit's John Harrison, isn't it?
LeeHamilton.
AdamHamilton, sorry.
AdamI knew I'd get it wrong, I feel pretty bad, sorry, John, if you are listening.
ChrisIt's been a a busy busy weekend and week.
AdamIt's been a very busy busy busy time.
AdamAnd
AdamYeah, he was explaining that originally it was a anthology.
AdamIt 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.
AdamAnd I think you can still see that sort of thread essentially.
AdamIf you watch it as three separate stories of the fiance in the in the attic.
AdamThe children becoming a cult and the.
Adamend sequence where the part with where Michelle Dotrice is hunted like the children are being hunted.
AdamAnd that's the the climax, you know, sort of thing.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd.
ChrisOkay.
AdamYes.
AdamSo there's those sort of three there's the three stories you can sort of see the lines there.
LeeYeah.
AdamBut again, I when you hear it sort of like said, oh, it'll be with characters entwined.
AdamIt's like, that just is this film.
AdamThis is, you know, I don't think they did.
AdamBut it is lovely that you've got all these characters.
AdamWho sort of drift in and out.
AdamSome of their.
AdamI mean, the judge, quite frankly, pulls a Hound of the Baskervilles and disappears for most of the.
AdamFor most of the middle of the film.
AdamAnd.
ChrisBut it does it mean it does seem to work.
ChrisLike, it didn't stand out to me as as odd really.
AdamNo, not at all.
AdamAnd I think they do a fantastic job of it.
AdamAnd.
AdamPiers Haggard who directed it has sort of like was he came from like BBC TV and classic serials and things like that.
AdamAnd you can see.
AdamBecause the the way I worded it to Clare was these bits feel like boring things I wouldn't have watched on Sunday.
AdamWhen they used to repeat like Black Beauty or Foyfoot or something like that.
AdamThey've got that sort of real sort of classic series, like, I'm not watching this, it's gonna be boring.
AdamBut.
AdamBut it has that sort of really, you know, it's a beautifully shot film about really ugly things.
LeeYes.
AdamAnd that is so incredible at what I a thing to pull off, you know.
LeeYeah, you're right though, he has got that feel, it reminds me a lot of the Dick Turpin TV show.
Adam
LeeThat I've been watching again recently.
AdamYeah, those kind of things.
Lee
LeeYeah, which was Sunday night viewing as I seem to remember from my childhood of being oh, maybe five or something.
LeeBut
LeeBut 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.
LeeBut yeah, I don't quite know.
LeeYeah.
AdamBecause 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.
AdamBut it's actually the fact that it is the everything about it looks.
AdamI mean it's it's I mean similarly with the music.
Adamis 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
AdamBut then when you get any of the weird bits, it goes utterly avant-garde and weird and disjointed.
AdamAnd that Mark Wilkinson's score and that sort of like.
AdamI mean because it's essentially all all the way through it.
AdamAnd 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.
AdamBecause you know.
AdamAnd just that the the weirdness of oh, so what happens is we have to stitch the devil together.
Adamfrom everyone else's bodies.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd at the end of it he's hopping because he still hasn't got his leg.
LeeYeah.
AdamBecause the last bit's gonna be Ralph's leg.
AdamAnd you.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd.
Leeit's but it is it's those little characters as you say, who come in and out of it as well.
LeeSo as you said with with the doctor, yeah.
AdamWith the doctor.
LeeAnd.
LeeAnd similarly with the the priest, the reverend.
AdamYes.
LeeYeah.
LeeLike that's such a great characterization, yeah, and like his whole.
LeeHim 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.
AdamBecause that's because you you've you've put two in there though because I also love Squire Middleton.
LeeYeah.
AdamBecause 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.
ChrisBut that seems like a slightly more modern idea.
ChrisI I didn't quite expect them to portray him like that from this era.
AdamWell, also if you reckon you might have recognized him because that guy is James Hayter, who is the voice of Mr. Kipling.
LeeOh.
AdamYou know as well.
AdamHe makes exceedingly good cakes.
AdamYou know, and he's got that just that because he played he played loads of like Charles Dickens adaptions and things like that.
AdamYou just an absolute you know, he's just absolutely perfect for it.
AdamBut he was also in, are you being served, he played Mr. Tebs who took over from Mr. Granger.
AdamBut 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?
AdamAnd.
ChrisOh.
ChrisIt'll put people off the character.
AdamWe don't want to sort of damage the brand as it were.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd.
AdamHe said, no.
AdamAnd they said, what if we offer you three times your fee from the BBC?
AdamAnd then he said, yes.
AdamYeah.
LeeQuite rightly so.
AdamAbsolutely.
AdamI was like, but what if you, well, I'm glad all I do know is I'm glad I said no the first time.
AdamBecause if you've just been really sort of obliging.
AdamBut
AdamBut the guy who plays the Reverend Fallowfield.
Adamis a guy called Anthony Ainley.
AdamAnd when I first saw this because I I realized I I was looking at my Tygon box they had the DVD box.
AdamSets that came out in coffins.
LeeYes.
Adamthere was Amicus and Peter Walker ones and stuff.
AdamI've got the Tygon one as well, which I realized has got Virgin Witch in it.
AdamI've just never seen it, but I've obviously got it on DVD.
AdamWhich was the other film we saw at Worldwide Weird.
LeeYes.
AdamAnd poor Chris had to walk in in the middle to a room.
AdamBasically, a room full of men sat in chairs watching what clearly looked like a porno.
ChrisIt did it did.
AdamAnd the look he gave me was I'm not in the right room, am I?
AdamUntil until I managed to catch his eye.
ChrisI saw I saw a couple of wave, yeah.
Leethat 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.
LeeOh, and it's so expensive now.
LeeSecond hand, it's ludicrous.
AdamOh, bloody hell, okay.
AdamThat's worth knowing because I mean I've got I've got thingy on Blu-ray.
LeeYeah.
AdamSo, you know, that's that might be.
AdamThere we go, we might be able to make an investment have actually genuinely made an investment.
AdamThat'd be such such a moment in my life.
AdamBut
AdamBut yeah, so but the the first time that I saw this was a look like on telly.
AdamLate probably BBC because I don't remember any adverts or anything.
AdamAnd.
AdamThe reason I was watching it is because the Reverend Fallowfield, Anthony Ainley.
Adamwas the master in Doctor Who for the entire of the 80s.
ChrisAha.
AdamAnd so and and obviously because he's the master.
AdamI was immediately like.
AdamHe's fucking doing it, he's the devil, he's because he was.
AdamThat's how I was tuned to Anthony Ainley, he's he's gonna he's a villain.
AdamSo, you know.
AdamBut 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
AdamBut the weird thing was is that poor Kathy Vespers, is played by Wendy Padbury who was a companion of the second doctor.
Adamlike Patrick Trouton.
AdamSo before she did this, she was Zoe in Doctor Who.
AdamSo 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.
AdamAnd I was seriously rewarded, you know, it was.
LeeYeah.
AdamAlso 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.
AdamThey're re-released them, they're doing them all on Blu-ray.
AdamI had tempted to upgrade me Witchfinder General, I'll be honest.
Adambut
AdamYeah, they've but I haven't bought Blood on Satan's Claw.
AdamBecause I already had the Blu-ray, but also their version doesn't have the commentary with the League of Gentlemen.
Leeyes.
Chris
AdamWhich is it's well, it's not it's not all the League of Gentlemen, it's Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson.
AdamWhich is, oh, that was just that.
AdamThat was just a real treat that was.
AdamWhen it's like, oh, Blood and says, Claus coming out, I'll get that and then, oh.
LeeHang on.
AdamThis.
LeeThat's a.
AdamThis is a double whammy here, so I it's much the same as Theatre of Blood.
AdamHas all of the League of Gentlemen doing a commentary on the DVD I've got of that.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd they've become like a they've become double-edged films they have.
AdamBecause it's like.
AdamYou know, if I'm in the mood for the actual film.
AdamYeah.
AdamBut sometimes it's like, well, I can watch the film, but we just funny people talking over it, you know.
LeeI never listen to commentaries, but I really, really, do need to remember that that's a thing.
LeeAnd every time you mention it, I think, I'm definitely going to rewatch it with that.
LeeAnd every time I forget.
LeeAs 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.
AdamYeah.
AdamBut
AdamYeah, there was other just trying to think what.
AdamOh, apparently they were looking to get Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to play the judge.
Adambut they were immediately they're probably too expensive.
AdamAnd then they were saying about Donald Pleasants and Michael Goff as well.
AdamBut.
AdamI'll be honest.
AdamI I mean, I this film is, I mean, even the girl who plays Susan in the movie versions of Doctor Who is in this.
AdamSo there's loads of people I recognize like Michelle Dotrice and, you know.
AdamBut.
AdamI think I'm glad that there's no like, you know, Linda Hayden is a name to drop.
AdamIn the right horror circles, but it wouldn't necessarily be that a name that the public knows or whatever like that.
AdamSo I think it's quite nice because it allows it to be its own thing.
AdamAnd it.
ChrisYeah, it does seem to work well.
AdamYeah.
AdamIt's not all the the stars in it at this point.
AdamLike, yeah.
LeeYeah.
LeeYeah, no, I think it works perfectly.
LeeAnd and yeah, as you say, I mean, love Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and but.
ChrisBut they would steal it in a way or you'd think it's for that, whereas.
LeeYou're waiting for them to come back, whereas there's.
ChrisYou want to be left not entirely sure.
ChrisYou know, like you said, it could have been the priest, what was he up to and.
LeeYeah.
AdamEven now.
AdamEvery time I watch it, I'm just slightly waiting for him to go, oh, doctor, you've been so foolish.
AdamYou know.
LeeBut yeah, I mean, this is a great film for a rainy afternoon.
LeeIt's
LeeYeah, it's such a as you say, it's that sedate.
LeeBut I do love that, as I say, the the ending of it.
LeeYou know, it's one of those where you think, oh, you're probably never actually going to see the monster.
LeeBut you do.
LeeYou totally get it.
LeeIt looks great.
LeeIt's a really.
AdamIt's again, it's just odd, it looks it looks like the wood carving that they're looking at in the doctor's book.
LeeYeah.
LeeIt's not right.
LeeIt's.
AdamYeah.
LeeYeah, it's all out of.
LeeYeah, it's gross and brilliant and it's fantastic.
AdamI 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.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd 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.
AdamBut I think it's just when like when Ralph pulls pulls back his sock when he catches his leg.
AdamIt's the fact that it's sticky.
LeeYeah.
AdamJust it's just like, oh, you know.
AdamIt's really horrible looking and like is it feathers, is it fur, is it what is it, you know.
AdamIt's.
AdamThey make a really good sort of mishmash of the creature of of the devil.
AdamBecause he's just.
AdamSort of like, it looks a bit like a bat, but it's also.
AdamYeah.
AdamIt's just weird.
LeeIt's all lopsided.
AdamYeah, it's all it's wrong.
AdamVery wrong.
LeeSo many ways.
LeeBut 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.
LeeBecause 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.
LeeAnd I might not have come back to it.
Leebut yeah.
Leeseeing it as an adult, it it it's.
LeeIt's excellent.
LeeIt's so good.
LeeSo 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.
LeeAnd that was what put me off to be honest.
LeeThey always talk about, you know, the scene with the children.
Lee
LeeYeah.
ChrisYeah, no, if if I'd heard that, I'd be like, I don't really want to watch it.
LeeExactly.
AdamAnd and again, I mean, it's it's just horrible, it really is a grim thing to watch.
AdamBut.
ChrisI can see it works.
AdamA testament to the film that it's that I you returned to the film.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd still like it and still can enjoy it.
AdamAnd it's not.
AdamEnjoy that.
AdamYou know what I mean.
LeeIt's all right that film.
AdamYeah.
AdamExactly.
AdamIt's not the sort of thing.
AdamBut yeah, I think it's just again, it's just part of that whole realness that the whole thing has.
ChrisIt is.
AdamAnd it's unfortunate that that has.
AdamYou know, that has to be as real as everything else.
LeeYeah.
LeeIt absolutely does.
AdamAlthough.
AdamAnd this is the weird thing that sort of occurred to me was, like I said, unholy Trinity of folk horror, Wicker Man.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd Witchfinder General in this, this is the only one that actually got a supernatural element to it.
ChrisOh, don't give too much away.
AdamWell, I'm just.
AdamWell, I mean, but but but both yeah, both Wickerman and Witchfinder General.
Chris
Adamthere isn't a supernatural element, there's, you know, what's in there could be.
AdamYeah, it's it's people.
LeeYeah.
Chris
ChrisIt often is.
LeeYeah.
AdamThe monsters in those.
AdamAnd I mean it it could have been in this in a way, except that there definitely is a monster at the end.
ChrisOh, there's definitely a monster.
ChrisAnd he hops.
LeeYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd he's got lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely.
AdamSo.
Leeyes, so just very quickly before we wrap up.
LeeGhost Story for Christmas has been announced.
AdamHey.
LeeVery excited for that, it's a story I don't know but the cast looks fantastic.
LeeSo 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.
LeeSo I can sit down with a nice mug of mulled wine.
LeeAnd and watch this, I think.
Adambecause 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.
AdamSo he's good to see that it's still there.
LeeAbsolutely.
LeeAnd it is one of the TV highlights of the year for me.
Leeyeah, it is one of the only things every year that I genuinely look forward to and I'm excited for the announcement announcements for.
LeeSo yeah, so I'm glad it has continued.
LeeAnd many years may it do so.
AdamAbsolutely.
LeeRight, so for our next episode, we are going in a very different direction.
Leefrom the dark gritty world of The Blood on Satan's Claw.
Leewe are going to be covering a film that I can't remember the title of.
LeeI am really unwell, aren't I?
Adam
LeeThe vampire film with Eileen Daly.
AdamOh, Razor Blade Smile.
LeeRazor Blade Smile.
LeeOkay, that's the one.
AdamI remember now.
LeeYes.
LeeI I could picture the cover and I just couldn't see the text.
LeeIt wouldn't.
AdamIt's like he was distracted.
LeeYeah.
LeeI don't know what could be causing that.
Leeyes, so we'll be covering Razor Blade Smile.
LeeThe film that got me into it, the the first film that made me realize independent cinema.
LeeIn the UK was even possible.
Lee
LeeSo it's yeah.
LeeIt it needs to be discussed.
LeeAnd yeah, it it's great fun.
LeeChris.
LeeIf you have not seen this film, it is 100% like you, I can't believe that you wouldn't have seen it.
LeeIn the late 90s, early 2000s.
ChrisLike I mean I've heard the name but yeah, no, I definitely haven't.
LeeYeah.
LeeI mean.
AdamI I'm thinking about it, I see what you mean, Lee.
AdamYeah.
LeeIt's all goth in PVC, it's so Chris.
ChrisOh.
LeeIt's so Chris back then, anyway.
ChrisBack back in the day, yeah.
LeeYes.
LeeBut yes, so we will be back.
LeeIn a fortnight's time to discuss Razor Blade Smile.
LeeGo and check out The Blood of Satan's Claw if you haven't.
Leeand we will see you in a fortnight's time.
LeeEnjoy the spooky season.
LeeGood night.
ChrisGood night.
AdamGood night.
