I love the Blood on Satan's Claw (that sounds odd). It's more about the supernatural, where as Witchfinder General is more about man's inhumanity to man. As I've said, I prefer the UK print of Witchfinder, due largely to the music, but there is a point to Price's reading the Poe poem over the final credits in the U.S. print, particularly the closing line "That the play is the tragedy, “Man,” And its hero, the Conqueror Worm."Andree wrote: ↑February 26th, 2023, 11:03 pm I saw Witchfinder General on YT a number of years ago. I suppose it was a little more graphic than was usual for
horror films of the time, but nothing too out there and besides it's only a movie. I like The Blood on Satan's Claw
better. It's more subtle and spookier than WG.
While God has the attribute of perfection, his supposed creation, humans, do not. They are sinful and imperfect
and tend toward bad and violent deeds, like......Cromwell for instance. Then there's also the devil, who is supposedly
constantly tempting God's chillin to evil deeds. So the rather simplistic division of good and evil deeds has always been
right there in Christianity, it's really one of its basic themes--the goodness of God versus the sinfulness of man, conveniently
leaving out areas of gray.
The Blood on Satan's Claw has one of the most brutal and terrifying scenes ever: the surrogate rape scene, with the demon and ensemble looking on. Sort of an "homage" to Rosemary''s Baby, perhaps.
At any rate, two fine films from Tigon, featuring evil in the beautiful English countryside. Patrick Wymark has a supporting role in both films: as Oliver Cromwell in one; as the Judge in the other.
If you really want to scrape the bottom of the barrel of this sub-genre, there is Disciple of Death (1972), which at least has a wild and crazy scene featuring Nick Amer as a Cabalist.