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Documentary
Founded in 1966 in California by a former organist and lion tamer named Anton Szandor LaVey, the Church of Satan has often been surrounded by mysteries, scandals and moral panics. An immersive journey into one the most fascinating phenomena of American religious pluralism.
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On August 8, 1988, the world’s first and largest Satanic rally took place. Ripped from a video featuring Satanist talking about creating a New World Order and killing off the masses. The 8-8-88 ritual was conducted right at the heart of the Satanic Panic. The goal, further exploit and feed upon the energies produced by the fears of the ignorant general public and media. It was shown to a sold-out crowd of degenerates promising them, “A Bitter Message of Hopeless Grief,” “A Nightmare of TERROR!” and “An Evening of Apocalyptic Delight!”
In 1989, I met Anton LaVey for the first time. At this time in his life, LaVey was seeing only a select few people. For this film, I've met and interviewed some of them, to try and create a composite image of what he was really like, and what he meant to these people. It's a memory lane trip, filled with personal stories, dark humor, great music and never before seen material with the Black Pope himself.
How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.
The film is a study of Anton Szandor LaVey, leader of a cult of devil worshipers in San Francisco. He and his Church of Satan are shown performing a black mass, in which a nude woman serves as an altar and a boa constrictor wraps itself around a naked witch. Newsreel footage is included in which LaVey's neighbors are interviewed about the lion which he kept in his house until complaints resulted in the animal's removal to a zoo. The ideology of the Church of Satan is discussed--guilt rejection, sexual freedom, and self-indulgence.
Something is happening. It is happening nationally and locally. It is an ideology that manifests itself in graveyard desecrations, animal mutilations, human sacrifices and suicide. It categorically involves drug/ alcohol abuse, pornography, sexual perversion, physical/mental abuse, heavy metal music and drinking blood. And it is highly organized. Satanic/Occult organizations (churches) have corporate charters, own buildings, maintain national/ international computer networks, publish magazines/newsletters and hire professional public relations firms to polish their public image. It is both generational and self-styled. Some groups are esoteric while others are pantheistic.
Based on their book, “Why Knock Rock?”, and their church lectures, Dan and Steve Peters examines how rock music's obsession with sex, drugs and suicide is dangerous to young people. Since the dawn of Rock and Roll, there has been ministers howling about its evil affects. Ministers would tour the country's churches and college campuses with sermons and slide shows illustrating the Devil's influence on the rock music. In this film we certainly see that rock stars aren't the best role models for kids and teens, but the Peters brothers often miss the musician's point – especially with some of the lyrics. Dan and Steve do however seem to take a delight in presenting some of the 1980s more perverse album covers to young people.
