THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1970)

In 17th century England, a farmer (Barry Andrews) is plowing a field when he uncovers a buried skull (with fur and a still-fresh eyeball in it). This news sweeps the countryside and apparently leads a rebellious group of adolescents, led by a lovely young woman named Angel (Linda Hayden), to begin worshipping the devil. A number of people wind up with patches of fur in strange places on their bodies, and in a plot development that wasn't terribly clear to me, the group of teenagers hunt these people down, cut the skin off, and uses these pieces to create a living Satan figure (or, perhaps, a resurrection or reanimation of the devil, if one believes that the skull belonged to the original Satan). Many townsfolk wind up deformed or dead. There is some gore and some nudity along the way (including a fairly powerful rape scene) to a silly climax wherein a judge (Patrick Wymark) who has not been very sympathetic for most of the film, turns good guy and slays the Beast with a sword. Not a very powerful Satan, I guess, more a secondary demon than The Devil. Overall, the film is too incoherent to be truly scary or much fun, though there are a few atmospheric moments. There are lots of shaggy-haired 70's-looking actors and a lot of drab exterior shooting. It's also been known as SATAN'S SKIN, which is a somewhat more accurate title.