YMMV / The Blood on Satan's Claw

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Angel Blake isn't seen much before she becomes The Dragon to Satan. So it begs the question of whether she was bewitched or manipulated by him, or was already a budding sociopath that needed little persuading.
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • Ellen by the third act seems incredibly okay with the fact that both her children were horribly murdered.
  • Ralph seems unusually sympathetic to Margaret even when she proudly declares herself as a member of the cult, meaning he has to know she helped murder Mark and Cathy.
• Anti-Climax Boss:
  • Behemoth, despite being hyped up as this horrible abomination that has the potential to grow stronger than God, is unceremoniously impaled with a pitchfork and thrown into a fire. Justified, as he was apparently not "complete" yet.
  • Angel Blake, despite being the cult's ringleader, goes down after accidentally running into a pitchfork.
• Awesome Music: Marc Wilkinson's score is a surprisingly classy affair for such a sleazy flick, with its lush strings, unusual melody lines, and excellent usage of the cimbalom and Ondes Martenot.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Though it's more like Best Known For The Fan Disservice, but still:
  • Linda Hayden disrobing (at only seventeen!) so she can seduce Doctor Who alum Anthony Ainley is one of the film's most memorable moments.
  • Another scene involving a Doctor Who alumnus is where Wendy Padbury is raped before she's murdered in a long drawn out affair. The horror of the scene is sometimes forgotten in favour of the nudity.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • Angel's attempted seduction of the reverend doesn't seem to serve any purpose beyond getting Linda Hayden naked for some Fanservice. The teens never try to lure adults in again and Angel's motives aren't clear. She could be trying to pin Mark's murder on him, but she did that anyway when he turned her down.
  • Peter's nightmare that his hand has turned into Satan's and hacks it off is suitably shocking, but serves the plot in no real way. He disappears from the narrative after, and this never ties in with the growing cult in the woods.
• Complete Monster:
  • The demonic Behemoth begins to corrupt the townspeople upon being unleashed, while driving some mad simply for fun. Forming a cult with Angel Blake as its champion and herald, Behemoth has numerous children murdered and flayed to summon it so it may institute Hell on Earth.
  • Angela "Angel" Blake starts out as a mischievous and rebellious teenager in her village, before she and her friends discover pieces of the devil, Behemoth's bones. Quickly becoming an enthusiastic demon worshipper, Angel begins to lure the other children into join her cult. Seeking to restore Behemoth to the world, Angel flays patches of his skin growing among the villagers, murdering those she can't convert, such as her supposed friend Mark, and his younger sister Cathy, who is raped as part of her sacrifice. Failing to seduce Reverend Fallowfield, Angel then accuses him of rape to try and get him killed. When her follower Margaret escapes witch hunters, Angel whips her under the suspicion she betrayed them; finding out Margaret lost her piece of Behemoth's skin, Angel then abandons her to the hunters, expecting and wishing that their dogs would rip her apart.
• Creepy Cute: Margaret is a devout member of the cult (who also appears to be getting off on Cathy's rape and murder) but damn if Michele Dotrice isn't a little bit Adorkable. She'd almost qualify for Moe if she wasn't so evil.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • You'd be surprised that Angel Blake isn't the main character and that her screen time doesn't add up to that much. She's an antagonist yes, but Linda Hayden's commanding performance (and admittedly her sex symbol status) makes her seem like she's the main character.
  • Margaret also doesn't come into the plot until the second half of the film, but Michele Dotrice's creepy devotion to the cult and surprisingly sympathetic arc makes her more memorable than the others.
• Les Yay: Margaret's sheer devotion and Undying Loyalty towards Angel goes far beyond mere Dragon status and crosses into this trope, especially since she keeps it up even after Angel abandons her to the witch hunters.
• Moe: Cathy is so precious and innocent.
• Narm:
  • The Judge's line that they must let evil "grow" before they can stop it. While Patrick Wymark delivers the line wonderfully ominously, it makes no actual sense that he would order Squire Middleton to do this. It's terrible advice - like suggesting letting Nazism rise to its highest peak before trying to stop it.
  • While the rape and murder of Cathy is suitably horrifying, the fact that it's so long and drawn out can make it unintentionally hilarious. Especially with repeated close-ups of the two Evil Old Folks leering, and Margaret clearly getting off on it as it goes on. Not to mention at one point Cathy makes a disgusted face that looks more like she's been farted on.
• Nausea Fuel: Peter has a nightmare that his hand has turned to a devil claw and cuts it off!
• Never Live It Down: The extremely graphic scene where Cathy is raped and then murdered is a frequently criticised aspect of the film. Even director Piers Haggard regrets doing it, saying it was "too strong".
• Once Original, Now Common: The scene where Margaret gets the skin carved off her leg caused minor controversy for how graphic it was. It looks rather tame by today's standards.
• Retroactive Recognition: A drinking villager is played by Geoffrey Hughes, who would later be best known for playing Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances and Twiggy in The Royle Family.
• Tear Jerker: Ellen's terrified screams as she is told that her son is dead, and she finds his body hidden in her house. You can hear the anguish in her voice, begging it not to be true.
• Trapped by Mountain Lions: The subplot of Peter, Rosalind and Aunt Isobel contributes nothing to the rest of the narrative, beyond giving the Judge a clue that witchcraft could be happening in the town. If the remains of Satan are found in the field, why is there apparently some in Peter's attic? Presumably this would have made more sense when the film was planned as an anthology.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Margaret may be part of the cult, but she suffers more than any of the other members. She gets ducked by the villagers, has to have part of her skin carved off, gets tied up and intimidated by the Judge for information, and ultimately trapped in a snare by the very woman she followed loyally.
• Values Dissonance:
  • Linda Hayden was seventeen when she was cast as Angel Blake. She gets a scene where she strips naked in front of the reverend. If the film were made today, this scene would not be included or they'd get an actress of age.
  • Angel also lies to say that the reverend raped her because he wouldn't sleep with him. With greater awareness of rape culture now, this sequence looks uncomfortable.
• WTH, Costuming Department?:
  • Peter's costume and wig is mocked even by the actor himself, who compared it to "Lady Penelope meets Russell Brand".
  • Rosalind inexplicably has a contemporary shoulder-length hairstyle that looks rather out of place for a 17th century woman.

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