Blood On Satan's Claw
1970

Tigon's Blood On Satan's Claw (or Satan's Skin to those of an "over the pond" persuasion) is supposed to be a sequel of sorts to the same company's Witchfinder General, and indeed, a lot of people prefer this less historical, more hysterical version of the old burning and hanging game.
Personally, I don't think Blood... compares in any way to the fantastic Witchfinder. The later film has a lot going for it, but by eschewing the realism of Witchfinder and actually involving black magic, monsters and genuine witches, it's a different kind of film - more akin to the Vincent Price vehicle Cry Of The Banshee, in fact.
Satan's Claw is also full of young adults touching their forelocks and putting on bad South Western comedy accents - and it's a matter of taste as to whether you like that. On the plus side, there's a lot of female nudity on show (including one former Doctor Who assistant getting 'em out), some spooky scenes and a classic monster, hopping around wearing a sack and whispering: "Give me my skinnnnn..."
The film starts pretty much the same as Witchfinder (okay, okay, I'll finish the comparisons there and get on with it) with the camera panning over the British Countryside before yokel Ralph (contravening several health and safety regulations by operating a plough wearing a bad wig) digs up a worm eaten skull with a single eye glowering balefully from its socket. He takes the local judge to see his find, but when they get there, the "face of a fiend" has vanished.
Meanwhile, Mar-ster Peter has arrived home with his bride-to-be, and before you can say "There, there my sweet... all will be well tomorrow" she's been put in the attic and something has driven her insane. After the men from the bedlam have taken her off, Peter is told: "Console yourself... she wouldn't have made a good wife..."
The thing is, though - she looks a lot more saucy as a mentalist, although the new claws are a minus point.
As the "kids" (none of them look under 16) start acting up in the village and their leader Angel Blake (professional strumpet Linda Hayden) is found in possession of a (Satan's?) claw at Sunday School, Peter decides to get to the bottom of what drove his wife mad and spends the night in the attic bedroom. Now, we all know that's probably not a good idea, but the berk still manages to fall asleep, gets attacked by a hairy claw and ends up chopping his own hand off. Oops.
The judge leaves for London, mumbling something about "letting the evil grow" (cheers) and attendance continues to drop at Sunday School. The local quack reckons witchcraft is afoot (he's not wrong), but unlike Witchfinder (sorry), everyone doesn't start burning people at the mere mention of the word, and things are allowed to continue.
As the childrens' games get more violent and blind man's buff ends in the murder of a lad called Mark, Angel goes to see the vicar and de-frocks in front of him (call me an old cynic, but this scene could have quite a lot to do with the film's popularity, oi reckons). The priest shows remarkable resolve in the face of such nymphetism, and his reward? He gets accused of the rape of Angel and the murder of Mark.
Unfortunately, this is the one plot strand of the film that lets it down - it's a terrifying scenario which has a last-minute reprieve for the unjustly accused vicar (something which would never have happened in Witchfinder). However, this particularly wussy attitude by the filmmakers is saved somewhat by coming just after a particularly gruelling rape and murder scene as Angel (now sporting Satan's eyebrows) gets busy with the gardening shears after a grinning loon has his wicked way with the murdered Mark's sister, Kathy, watched by the rest of the kids (many of whom now missing sundry body parts) and the monster, Behemoth.
The judge, at Mar-ster Peter's behest, is on his way back from London now: "I am ready to return," he growls, "but understand, I shall use undreamt-of measures."
As patches of hairy skin begin appearing on more of the children, the judge uses Margaret (a very young indeed Michelle Dotrice) as bait to track down Angel and Ralph (the plough driver from the beginning of the film) realises he's the proud owner of Behemoth's missing leg. As the judge puts his undreamt-of measures into practice, the film rushes towards a predictably violent and open-ended finale.
There's something inately worrying about the whole story, as children are forced to muilate themselves to provide skin for their "master" Behemoth and think nothing of including murder and rape in their previously harmless games. Behemoth is kept in the background for most of the film, which is probably no bad thing (with the best will in the world, a one-legged monster is not a particularly scary one), and instead allows the wonderfully monickered Angel to do most of his dirty work for him.
This is just a personal view, but I feel the entire film would have been improved 100 per cent if Behemoth had never been seen, and the film-makers had left it up to us as to whether it was all down to some kind of mental intability on Angel's part.
However, the ending is a cracker, as the final freeze-frame focuses on the judges eye through the flames of the fire he's just used to devastating effect. What does it all mean? Buggered if I know, but it's a powerful image...