Piers Haggard’s groundbreaking The Blood on Satan’s Claw was released in the US on April 14, 1971. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Horror Homeroom will be running our fourth special issue on the film and its profound and persistent influence.

Among other things, The Blood on Satan’s Claw was crucial in shaping the folk horror tradition. In his influential 2010 three-part BBC documentary, A History of Horror, specifically, near the end of part two, “Home Counties Horrors,” Gatiss shifts from discussing the dominant Hammer films of the 1960s to articulating a “new” kind of horror film that avoids what he calls “the gothic clichés.” “Amongst these,” he claims, “are a loose collection of films that we might call folk horror.” Gatiss interviews Haggard, who says, “I suppose I was trying to make a folk horror film.”

We invite submissions on any aspect of the film for a special issue celebrating this anniversary milestone. Emerging and advanced scholars, popular writers, and fans are invited to submit abstracts that explore the film from any angle. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

--Blood on Satan’s Claw in the folk horror tradition (see Adam Scovell)

--BOSC as a “cult” film

--BOSC in the context of 1960s and 1970s horror

--BOSC and 1970s counterculture (see Tanya Krzywinska)

--BOSC’s influence in the 21st century

--the Blood on Satan’s Claw Audible Original Drama, adapted by Mark Morris and narrated by Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, Alice Lowe, Ralph Ineson et al. (2018)

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-on-Satans-Claw-audiobook/dp/B078J9GH76

--BOSC and the murder of Sharon Tate by followers of Charles Manson

--BOSC and representations of seventeenth-century England in horror (e.g. Paul Newland’s discussion of the Enclosure Act of 1773)

--central themes in BOSC: gender, sex, sexual violence, religion, idolatry, paganism, Satanism, witchcraft, landscape, cults, youthful rebellion etc.

--BOSC in the context of other films directed by Haggard

--BOSC and Tigon Pictures

Please submit abstracts of 500 words and a brief bio to Dawn Keetley and Elizabeth Erwin at horrorhomeroom@gmail.com and dek7@lehigh.edu by February 15, 2021. Articles will be limited to 2,500 words and should be written for a general audience. Completed essays will be due March 12, 2021 in order to ensure publication on the 50th anniversary (April 14, 2021). We welcome all questions and inquiries at any time!