Audible, out 16 January 2018

There’s evil afoot as the children of a small 17th century village are gradually possessed…

It’s got to be at least two decades, if not more, since I last saw the 1971 Tigon horror movie The Blood on Satan’s Claw, so I’ve come to Mark Morris’ new version for Bafflegab, released by Audible, pretty much fresh. Director Simon Barnard has assembled a tremendous cast, with horror buffs (and fans of the original movie) Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith doing excellent work front and centre as the Squire and the Reverend, the two characters at the heart of any English village of the period.

This new version is just under two and a half hours long, but it really doesn’t feel at any stage as if it’s dragging. Inevitably, there’s quite a lot of material that takes longer to be established on audio, but it’ll be intriguing to return to the original film to see just where Morris has worked from whole cloth, and where he’s expanded the screenplay by Piers Haggard and Robert Wynne-Simmons. Audio allows for different ways to make the horror more immediate, and in addition to the nightmare sequences, there are a number of occasions where you’ll feel gooseflesh… or is that the Devil’s flesh… rising!

The story rises or falls on the credibility of the actors playing the possessed children, and Rebecca Ryan is a worthy successor to the original star Linda Hayden (who has more than a few chilling moments of her own in her new role in this production). There’s just the odd moment where the children all crowding round their unfortunate victim sounds a little rehearsed, but generally Barnard and the actors create the anarchic atmosphere that you can get when kids are let loose. Simon Robinson’s sound design is an essential part of this creation of atmosphere, and – apart from those moments that are not of this earth – it is suitably reined in, allowing the horror and the tension to build, alongside Edwin Sykes’ musical score.

Verdict: Between this and the recent lost Hammer story from Radio 4, we’re being spoiled with horrific high profile audio tales. Heartily recommended for a long cold winter’s night. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order Blood on Satan’s Claw from Audible