Beyond the TARDIS Bafflegab: Blood on Satan's Claw by Tony J Fyler

Tony’s feeling devilish.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

(Sigh). Thank you. Just needed to get that out of my system.

I used to be a horror fan. These days, I’m older and less fearless, and so it’s quite possible that horror stories will just give me the screaming heebie-jeebies.

Spoiler alert: Get some heebie-jeebie insurance before you listen to Blood On Satan’s Claw, adapted from the 1971 movie by horror writer, and on the basis of this, scary git, Mark Morris, and released by Bafflegab. Get as much heebie-jeebie insurance as you can afford, frankly, because this thing gets you coming and going.

The weird thing is it absolutely shouldn’t work.

It’s a story of 17^th century rural folk, and it’s pretty black and white in its worldview: God is good, and represented by the forces of the Establishment. Satan is evil, and real, and represented by sex and violence that slip their bounds and infect society. It’s more or less The Archers meets Hellraiser.

There’s no real way that should scare the pants off us in the 21^st century. We’re a relatively secular society these days, all grown-up and cynical and sneering at the nature of ‘the Devil.’

This audio works. It works jussssst fine, thank you very much.

It works because it strikes enough modern notes and balances them against the classical to deliver a taut drama of the edge of things – 17^th century good and evil might be its primary colours, but there’s a modern sensibility in evidence here: teenage sexuality, innocence and experience are all on display as part of the fight for the soul of the village, along with peer pressure, the unrestrained ambition of the young, the potential effect of grief as a portal to ‘dark forces.’  

That’s the thing. If you’re scared of devils and demons, this’ll scare the pants off you. If you prefer your horror modern and rich, vivid and psychological – this’ll scare the pants off you. Either way, the chances are, you’re going to finish this one shivering and pantless.

Where Blood On Satan’s Claw is most successful is in its atmosphere – from early in the story, Angel and Margaret, (the two leaders of the revolution of the young which forms the backbone of the story here), flaunt their sexuality to Mark (one of a few avatars of corruptible and incorruptible youth), and you’re constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the tease of terror embodied by their ‘worldly’ knowledge to materialise into the actual, outright horror of action. It doesn’t under-deliver either – there are a handful of sequences which are truly gruesome or sickening to contemplate, including at least a couple of killings, and a whispery children’s demon-summoning ceremony. But it’s in the self-assurance of ‘devilish’ characters, chiefly Angel and Margaret, that the tension is stoked – their knowledge of ‘worldly’ things, the easy scorn they pour on the strictures of 17^th century society and establishment, and the resonances of that power with the sexualised youth of our own day and age, make them very compelling devils to follow.

Mark Morris’ Blood On Satan’s Claw delivers more than two hours of a world going mad from the bottom up, in a production that bristles with fear both ancient and modern, and keeps you constantly on edge, waiting for the next episode of ghastly, demonic bullying to come and put you through the wringer.

On the strength of this release, we can only look forward to further upcoming dabbles with classic horror – watch out soon, as Bafflegab brings Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart to audio life. After this adventure into the heart of youthful darkness, we say bring it on! Just let us invest in some heebie-jeebie insurance first.