Blood on Satan’s Claw, or, The Devil’s Skin – Robert Wynne-Simmons
Blood on Satan’s Claw: or, The Devil’s Skin, by Robert Wynne-Simmons, illustrated by Richard Wells / ISBN 9781800182769 / 225-page paperback published by Unbound (UK)
***
Beware the buried skull underfoot and watch out for children with fur on their backs…
Blood on Satan’s Claw is widely regarded as part of the ‘unholy trinity’ of cult classics which gave birth to the film genre that would become known as folk horror. Along with The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General, it found new ways to terrify audiences using elements of superstition and folklore.
Now, fifty years after its release, readers can experience the unearthing of this terror in the film’s first official novelisation: a compelling and frightening retelling of the fate of unfortunate villagers sacrificed by their own children as devil worship infiltrates their rural existence.
Written by the film’s original screenwriter Robert Wynne-Simmons and featuring haunting new illustrations from Richard Wells, it is an atmospheric and defining cult classic in the making.
Robert Wynne-Simmons is a writer, composer and film director who has always enjoyed breaking new ground. He has written poetry, plays, radio plays, short stories and novels, but specialised for a number of years in writing and directing for film and television. His film on the theme of Irish folklore, The Outcasts (1982), won eight international awards. More recently his career as a composer has come to the fore, with a symphony, song cycle, opera and the musical The Gothic Game.
Richard Wells is an illustrator and graphic designer. Primarily working in the television industry, he has provided graphic props for the likes of Poldark, Sherlock, Doctor Who, and the 2020 BBC adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Outside of his television work, he makes and sells his own darkly folkloric artwork, often lino cut and hand-printed. His recent work includes a series of prints based on the ghost stories of M.R. James, out of which has developed this illustrated short story project with Unbound.
