I've always found BoSC to be a profoundly reactionary film, as well as one that's a right mish mash of themes and ideas. Robert Wynne-Simmons who wrote the script said the film was about 'the inherant evil of children and the overt sexuality of evil'. He also refers to drawing on elements of 60s culture, such as Altamont, the Manson cult and Mary Bell. The Judge-no other name- seems also to be a reactionary figure. The return of the horned god- out of the earth- and the worship of him by a group led by females, is set against the enlightenment. The children, now threatening, turn against each other, rather than literal or figurative parents. 'Only the most strict discipline will save us' says the judge, having earlier spoken of 'allowing evil to grow'. One of the interseting things about British Horror is the attempt the genre makes to balance between permisiveness and and repression, and the difficulties the films have in doing this. 'Innocent folk may be hurt' says the Judge, and the law acts to preserve itself, rather than an imagined public. Interestingly, out of the three horrors of this period this is the only one where authority wins.

BoSC lies right at the end of the British Horror cycle. Most of the films, in common with other horrors are deeply concerned with gender. The audience for them was, as I can attest, mainly teenage boys, whose own identity was often confused and difficult.