Satan Lives and what that means for society

Back on track, kind of, with my horror movie list. Last night's choice was the documentary Satan Lives. LET'S TALK ABOUT IT!

Satan Lives is the newest documentary from Banger Films who brought us documentaries like Metal: A Headbanger's Journey and Super Duper Alice Cooper. Now Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn are traveling from Texas to the Vatican meeting with satanists, exorcists, some believers, some non-believers, extremely educated individuals, and some pop culture icons.


Satan Lives is posing the questions, who is Satan? What is our fascination with him? And how did this get so out of control?

It features a tone of interviews with really fascinating people but let's talk about some of my favorites - first up is Linda Blair, who of course plays Regan in The Exorcist. It was a really eye opening interview for someone who was not around when the movie first came out. When The Exorcist dropped it changed the world in a strange way - all of a sudden everyone believed in demons and possession and a lot of them thought they themselves were possessed. Linda speaks about how even though she was a young girl, she could see that the reporters were asking her questions that no small child would know the answer to. Does the devil exist? How do we deal with him?
The Exorcist also brought around the rise of exorcists. Back in the day the Vatican had something like 30 exorcists and now they've got over 300. Is this because our society is using demonic possession as a scapegoat? Or is it because movies like The Exorcist opened the eyes of the public to the true demons out there?

The documentary also sits down with Fran and Dan Keller who were involved in the "Oak Hill Satanic Ritual Abuse" case. In 1991 Fran and her husband owned a small day care but were accused of sadistically abusing several children. They were sentenced to decades in prison despite lack of trustworthy evidence but were freed in 2013 based on the obvious misconduct by the prosecution and authorities. This happened during the "satanic panic" that spread throughout North America during the 80's and 90's. I'm sure you've all heard of that time, when cops went crazy thinking everyone was involved in some sort of cult and any kind of abuse to a child was absolutely the work of satanists. A lot of innocent people were either jailed, or had their reputation destroyed due to all the crazy allegations flying around during that time.

Fran and Dan were heartbreaking to watch. At one point they showed the two of them the interviews with the two very young children who accused them and it's just so extremely emotional.

Speaking of Satanic Panic, the documentary also talks about the book Michelle Remembers which I had never heard of before and is actually what started the satanic panic. And it happened right next to me in Victoria, BC! This was a book published in 1980 written by a Canadian psychiatrist named Lawrence Pazder and his future wife Michelle Smith, who at the time was his patient. Michelle Remembers was the first book written about satanic ritual abuse and became the template for satanic panic and how everyone saw what satanic rituals and abuse were. The book explains how during many therapy sessions Michelle discovered some repressed memories from her childhood where she was forced into rituals and witnessed murders of babies, animals, and just about every stereotypical satanic thing we know today. Obviously, this book is complete bullshit, investigators have looked into all of these accusations but have never found any evidence of anything like this happening. But it was too late, Michelle Remembers had captured the attention of the world.

The documentary also speaks with Zeena Schreck who is the daughter of Anton LaVey (the creator of the Church of Satan). I'm actually secretly obsessed with Zeena...full disclosure...I find her bizarre and beautiful and nuts and I love her. Zeena is famous for many reasons, but the documentary covers her childhood and how she was the first highly publicized Satanic baptism and also when she became the spokesperson for the Church of Satan during the satanic panic. She speaks openly about growing up in the Church and how it affected her.

Zeena watched as the world became obsessed with Satan and Satanists and felt the need to speak up for the Church of Satan during the 80's and show that these were normal people, not a bunch of psycho killers kidnapping children and murdering cats. Zeena was made the High Priestess and went out into the media to combat this hysteria. She worked alongside government sectors and law enforcement to educate them about the realities of Satanism and what really went on, helping the police to pulls themselves out of this hysteria and stop accusing every 17 year old with long black hair of killing babies.

Zeena has since renounced the Church of Satan and has her own religion which I keep trying to understand but have no idea where to start, and she also is a Tantric Buddhist.

Satan Lives is a fascinating roller coaster ride through the last few decades, taking an unbiased look at the world's obsession with the devil. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned so many fun new facts. I would love to watch it again and I highly recommend it!

It caused me to take a long hard look at my own beliefs about the Devil and how we, as a society, perceive him to be. I don't believe in God, therefore I don't believe in the Devil. But I am big on ghosts and spirits. I struggle internally a bit because sometimes I believe that demons do exist, but how can I believe in demons if I strongly believe that the Devil doesn't? Usually I just end up thinking perhaps there are just very evil spirits out there that we have demonized? I'm not sure.

What I do know for sure is that society uses the Devil to blame everything on. Bad guys in the middle east? They're the Devil. Serial killers? They're the Devil. And we do this to balance what is good and bad, to help us understand what is evil and what is not. Perhaps society as a whole is not ready to accept that people are just evil, terrible things can happen, the world can fall apart. And it's no one's fault but our own. There is no holy force controlling these things.

/end of personal rant.....ooops.

Anyway,
I loved this documentary and give it a strong 10/10

Stay spooky!

DAY TWENTY-ONE - American Ghost Hunter (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY TWENTY-ONE – AMERICAN GHOST HUNTER (2010)

I’ve waited years to see this documentary. I’m a massive fan of Ryan Buell and the Paranormal State team and obviously that’s how I became introduced to Chad Calek. Now, I’m not a huge fan of him, mainly because I originally purchased this movie and gave him my money, to which I received no DVD and was belittled by him when I tried to get a refund for no product (still haven’t received that refund, or the DVD which was originally promised to be shipped in 24 hours…two years ago). This movie kind of just cemented that fact that this guy is kind of a moron. But I love all things paranormal so I did enjoy the documentary in a sense.

Chad Calek has a past filled with hauntings and family problems. He believes that his family has been tormented by a demon for a long time. He makes some pretty big jumps in the documentary saying that his family is somehow connected to the famous Villisca Axe Murders because apparently they happened on the same date as his mom’s birthday or something? He travels, with his friend Ryan Buell, back to his home town to see his mom and dad and discover what’s really going on.

When he arrives he finds that his mother is still seemingly possessed by this demon and that his brother is now being haunted as well.

My problems with this documentary are that it is very clear his mother is dealing with mental issues. She reveals that she was sexually abused by a priest when she was a child. So it doesn’t take a professional to put two and two together. She was abused by a priest, probably in the catholic religion simply because of the demon fascination, she then represses these memories and in her older age when these memories start surfacing again, she can’t handle it, and chooses to believe instead that she is being possessed by a demon. 

So it feels kind of dirty to watch this because Chad is convinced it’s a demon, Ryan is convinced it’s a demon, Lorraine Warren (my sweet Queen) is convinced, and the husband is just putting his hand on her head and praying. This woman needs therapy, not an exorcism.

The brother’s hauntings don’t make any sense either. And that’s because once all of this over, and the mom is in therapy and the brother is working out and eating healthier and taking care of himself, magically all the hauntings stop. Because they probably didn’t exist in the first place. Sometimes it’s easier for us to believe in ghosts than to deal with our own problems.

BUT – aside from all that, which leaves basically nothing, the most intriguing part of this documentary is when they go visit the Villisca Axe Murder house and do an investigation. They catch some very interesting evidence and show some clips from other investigators that includes a ball rolling across a floor and then veering sharply to the left. It’s very interesting and I enjoyed that part of the film the most.

Was it worth the wait? No. As a paranormal documentary is it any good? Not really. But as a huge paranormal fan, I didn’t feel like I wasted my time watching it, and I got to enjoy some ghostly evidence.

4/10

DAY TWENTY - Doc of the Dead (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY TWENTY - DOC OF THE DEAD (2014)

So this obviously isn’t a horror film. But it’s my list and I do what I want. I’ve also wanted to see this documentary for a while and boy was it a joy to watch! Doc of the Dead was written and directed by Alexandre Philippe and focuses on the zombie genre as a whole. Where did it begin? How did it get so big? What does “zombie” even mean?

It’s really well put together and has a great host of people talking about zombie culture including Simon Pegg, George A. Romero, Bruce Campbell, Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero, Robert Kirkman and Max Brooks (just to name a few). It follows all aspects including what if zombies were real, should zombies be slow or fast, does 28 Days Later count as a zombie film? It’s all so much fun to watch, and really entertaining, funny and heartfelt.

I’ll for sure watch it again and would recommend it to anyone who’s a zombie fan, or horror fan, or just curious about why everyone’s so obsessed with the walking dead. 10/10

LOTS OF HORROR NEWS YA’LL~
Which is why I kept the review pretty short. But also reviewing a documentary is weird, I don’t know why. So let’s delve right in:

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According to Bloody Disgusting, Friday the 13^th has been pushed back again, this time to a Friday the 13^th in 2017. This is most likely due to their search for a new writer, they’re currently accepting new scripts. Which means the 80’s throwback we all got excited about…not happening. Unless of course one of the newer scripts has the same idea. Honestly, I'm just happy they're even making another one. I even loved the 2009 reboot. I just love Friday the 13th and Jason and maybe I should write the script and send it in...right guys? guys? right?

Rings has also been pushed back from November of this year to April 1^st of next year. Which makes sense considering its October and all we’ve got is a set photo that looks like me when I get out of bed every morning. But you know what, that’s okay with me. Take your time with the movie and make it right ya know? I’m willing to wait if it means it gives the movie a better chance of being amazing.  

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We’ve also been getting a tone of stuff about the new X-files event/mini-series/sequel etc. Yesterday we got a great new teaser trailer, and we’ve gotten a tone of awesome posters, set photos, and show photos. I’M SO EXCITED! It did film here, but I wasn’t able to catch any of the filming because of work and never leaving my house. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are back as Agent Fox Mulder and Agent Dana Scully. In the “pilot” episode they will be taking on a case of a possible alien abductee. My body is ready.

Check out the new teaser:

Stay Spooky ya'll!

Horror Documentaries and Buttholes (full disclosure; there are no buttholes in this post)

For the horror fan, simply watching horror movies is never enough, you always need more more more. So when I'm in a horror movie lull or can't make up my mind - I like to pull up a chair and watch how my favorites were made, or watch the history of this amazing genre. Here's a few classics that I watch frequently:
(and "His name was Jason" isn't on here because... I HAVEN'T WATCH IT YET OMG I KNOWWWW - i'm terrible, but I found a copy on youtube soooo....[you can actually find all these docs on youtube])

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Silence of the Lambs - the inside story

I think this was made for the E! network before it played nothing but reality shows, i'm not sure, but it has that feel to it. But regardless it's a well made interesting look into the movie that almost didn't get made but ended up winning the top 5 Oscars of that year. The doc explains how Gene Hackman originally bought the rights but backed out, and how Anthony Hopkin's was convinced his role in Hollywood was over until this ground breaking role came along.

It's quite an intimate look at the goings on with the studio at the time and what seems to be everyone having zero faith this movie would ever be made.

Well, Clarice - have the lambs stopped screaming?

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Never Sleep Again: the elm street legacy

If you're a Freddy fan - you've already seen this a few times. A great, in depth look at the franchise itself, the creators, director, actors/actresses, and everything in between. It has some great behind the scene footage and photos.
And this guy is FOUR HOURS LONG and hosted by our main queen Nancy (Heather Langenkamp). I mean, horror documentaries always deliver, and this is almost too much, you're basically like WE'RE NOT WORTHY.
It starts with the original film and finishes with my all time fav Freddy vs. Jason, covering each film with enough time and respect.

When I was alive, I might have been a little naughty, but after they killed me, I became something much, much worse. The stuff nightmares are made of.

Scream Still Screaming: the ultimate scary movie retrospective

I'm a massive massive MASSIVE fan of the Scream series and this doc really does it justice. It talks about the history of the script, how it was originally called Scary Movie, and how it became a trilogy (obviously made before the fourth was released). It also touches on the backlash that came with it because of the teen violence and how Wes Craven realllly didn't want to do it.
I mean, this whole movie was doomed from the get go, especially being released during the Christmas season, but it kicked ass and continues to. YES, EVEN SCREAM 4 YOU JERKS.
Everyone is in this film from Neve Campbell to Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy and Parker Posey etc.
And try and get to the end without turning on Scream.
 
Now Sid, don't you blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative!

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (three part series)

This is a documentary on horror movies in general, starting from the very first and ending with Halloween. It was a three part series made for the BBC by writer and actor Mark Gatiss (from Sherlock and an avid horror fan himself) where he takes a personal exploration through the history of horror movies. Each episode is an hour long. Episode one "Frankenstein Goes to Hollywood", Episode two "Home Counties Horror" and ending with Episode three "The American Scream".
This is a really wonderful doc to watch if you're a huge horror fan, and Mark does justice to the horror genre by treating it respectfully and fairly. I remember the first time watching this one I ended up with a two page list of movies I NEEDED to watch or re-watch. 
Mark also sits down with some of horror's legends and shares old footage that I'd never seen before.

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The American Nightmare 

This is a hella dark documentary that pairs horror movies with the horror going on in the world. It includes some of the biggest names in horror like Romero, Cronenberg, Carpenter, Hooper, Craven etc and they share the very honest inspirations that came for their films. While showing some of the more gruesome scenes from the movies, they cut it with gruesome scenes from every day life, specifically the Vietnam war which inspired many directors and the civil rights movement. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, and is quite graphic, but I'm not sure why I'm even telling you that considering you wouldn't be reading this blog or seeking out this doc unless you had that sick mind all of us horror fans cherish.
This one is honestly just fascinating to watch for someone who wasn't born when all of this happened, and it gives me a chance to start to understand the true darkness of these films.