(1970)
Dir - Piers Haggard
Overall: GOOD
Piers Haggard's The Blood on Satan's Claw, (Satan's Skin), sees an English peasant village in the early 1700s besieged by evil in the form of some supposedly demonic bones that randomly appear in a dirt patch. How the events unfold raise far more questions than provide any answers. Where did these demonic bones come from? Why do some people who touch them turn evil and others just grow patches of hair? Why was there a demon claw hand in the attic? Why did one guy go right back to bed in said attic after getting attacked by said demon claw hand? Why did no one round up the kids who openly admitted to murdering that one other kid? Why does the demon who is clearly fully formed from early on need to be resurrected in a new body? Is that even what his cult is trying to do? How did the judge go from being a pompous skeptic to the be-all-end-all authority on witchcraft-slaying just from borrowing a book? What was that sword at the end all about? Was it magic? Was it holy? Originally planned to be an anthology movie, all the proposed separate stories were lumped into one near the last minute. Having garnished a more lauded reputation over the years even with all the scripting problems aside, it is unique not just for its numerous flaws, but for its realistic, on-location shooting, inventive camera work, and some excellently dreadful scenes.
(1972)
Dir - Ray Austin
Overall: MEH
Directed by Ray Austin, (who had and would continue to have a very prolific career in television), Virgin Witch is brim full of voluptuous women in their birthday suites. Fitting snugly into the era of exploitative occult movies, hardly any character keeps their clothes on and none of them come off as anything resembling a real person. For the most part, they all seem to do things just because things need to happen. Real life sisters and "stars" Vicki and Anne Michelle follow the trope of "one of them is evil for no reason, one of them is good for no reason" and the pagan cult that they find themselves sucked into pretty much just enjoy dancing naked to sinister tribal music, waving their arms around, and groping and penetrating each other while their High Priest performs a sex ritual. In other words, typical hippy-era occult posing that comes off as more silly than remotely frightening by today's standards. Beryl Vertue's script offers up some sinister plot points and black magic makes a legitimate appearance eventually, but even for the times, there is nothing the least bit disturbing or even creepy that happens throughout the movie's eighty-eight minute running time. It does have a lot of boobs and a lot of Satan for those jiving for such things though.
(1973)
Dir - Freddie Francis
Overall: MEH
Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing made so many movies together that it is actually easier to count the ones they did NOT make together than the ones they did. Even at their worst, (the film's worst, not the actor's), the amount of class, respect, and dedication these two real life close friends brought to every role they had was second to none. That said, Hammer mainstay Freddie Francis' The Creeping Flesh is ultimately one of the lower ranked entries in each man's filmography. The horror elements are underplayed to such an extent that not only does it make Flesh honestly rather boring, but also barely a horror movie. Cushing's down-on-his-luck scientist seems several sandwiches short of a picnic from the opening scene and nothing that transpires for the next ninety-so minutes does anything to dispute this. Very little of interest happens sans something with an escaped mental patient, Cushing's daughter going crazy, and some tedious "scientists doing scientist shit" stuff. The last act is rather stupid and sloppy from a logic standpoint, but also pretty, well, creepy. Minus some obvious pacing problems, Flesh is hardly a bad film and Francis mostly does a fine enough job with the material at hand. The material itself just could of used a lot more oompf is all.
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