Film Screenings / Programs / Series
THE DEVIL PROBABLY: A CENTURY OF SATANIC PANIC
January 31 – February 20
Inspiring a wealth of creative output, negative perceptions about Satanism and the occult have been perpetually harnessed by those in power to stoke alarmist fears about artists, feminists, people of color, rebellious youths, and other groups who have threatened the status quo, contributing to the rise of mass hysteria, conspiracy theories, and superstition. Conversely, many of these groups and their allies have aimed to challenge oppressive regimes through satirical, oppositional, or sympathetic interpretations of Satanic mythology, which have taken a variety of artistic forms. Whether presented as allegory or nonfiction, representations of Satan and Satanic worship act as barometers for socio-political trends and inspire scrutiny of historic and modern-day witch-hunts around the world. Taking this discourse as a point of departure, this series showcases the phenomenon and legacy of Satanic Panic as it’s been manifested cinematically throughout the history of the medium.
“The Devil Probably” encompasses works from the earliest days of the cinema up to the present day, and combines satanic classics like THE BLACK CAT (1934), THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943), and ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968), with a wealth of rarely-screened discoveries such as the Italian silents L’INFERNO (1911) and RAPSODIA SATANICA (1917), the rarely-discussed D.W. Griffith feature THE SORROWS OF SATAN (1926), psychedelic UK mondo film SECRET RITES (1971), and the bizarre Warren Oates-starring Satanist/car-chase film, RACE WITH THE DEVIL (1975). Organized chronologically, the series culminates with a week devoted largely to the emergence in the 1980s of the mass hysteria surrounding alleged Satanic ritual abuse that came to be known as “Satanic Panic.”
“The Devil Probably” will feature in-person appearances from filmmaker Jacqueline Castel, who will present a program of Satanic Panic-themed short films and clips; Jon Dieringer, the founder editor of Screen Slate; and Mitch Horowitz, author and historian of the occult, who will introduce one screening of ROSEMARY’S BABY. We are also thrilled to welcome Lucien Greaves, spokesman and co-founder of The Satanic Temple; Greaves will be here on opening night to lead a black mass ritual and deliver an illustrated lecture before the legendary HÄXAN, and he will also appear for the first screening of Penny Lane’s documentary HAIL SATAN? (2019).
Guest-curated by Genevieve HK.
Buy tickets for JACQUELINE CASTEL PRESENTS: SATANIC PANIC: CULTURAL WARFARE IN THE 1980s, February 16 at 6:45 PM
Special thanks to Pia Borg; Jacqueline Castel; Jon Dieringer; Lucien Greaves; Mitch Horowitz; Penny Lane; Carmen Accaputo (Cineteca di Bologna); Julianne Augustine & Marc Mauceri (First Run Features); Brian Belovarac (Janus Films); Neal Block & Rahul Roy (Magnolia Pictures); Chris Chouinard (Park Circus); Kitty Cleary (MoMA); Sarah Cronin-Stanley (Renown Films); Eric Di Bernardo (Rialto Pictures); Jack Durwood (Paramount); Jason Jackowski (Universal); Matt Jones (University of North Carolina School of the Arts); David Marriott (Arbelos Films); Mark McElhatten (Sikelia); Jurij Meden (Austrian Film Museum); Veronica Neely (20th Century Fox); Hannah Prouse & George Watson (BFI); Lynanne Schweighofer (Library of Congress); and Nicole Weis (A24).
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PRESENTED ON FRI, JAN 31 BY LUCIEN GREAVES, WHO WILL LEAD A BLACK MASS RITUAL BEFORE THE SCREENING!
Benjamin Christensen
HÄXAN
1922/68, 76 min, 35mm. Narration by William S. Burroughs.
Having previously made a series of short films (including TOWERS OPEN FIRE) with William S. Burroughs, producer, filmmaker, and film distributor Antony Balch teamed up with him once again to create a new version of Benjamin Christensen’s extraordinary silent film, HÄXAN. Conceived as a documentary and inspired by the medieval witch-hunting manual, Malleus Maleficarum, HÄXAN is a collage of short vignettes aiming to reframe witchcraft within a darkly comedic, pseudo-scientific analysis of female hysteria and mental illness. Re-editing the film and setting it to a score performed by a jazz group featuring violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, Balch commissioned Burroughs to provide the narration, which he delivered in his inimitable, other-worldly fashion. HÄXAN in any form is a sight to behold, and this rare screening of a 35mm print of Balch and Burroughs’s version is not to be missed!
Fri, Jan 31 at 8:00 and Mon, Feb 3 at 9:00.
INTRODUCED BY LUCIEN GREAVES ON SAT, FEB 1!
Penny Lane
HAIL SATAN?
2019, 95 min, digital
When media-savvy members of the Satanic Temple organize a series of public actions designed to advocate for religious freedom and challenge corrupt authority, they prove that with little more than a clever idea, a mischievous sense of humor, and a few rebellious friends, you can speak truth to power in some truly profound ways. Penny Lane’s thought-provoking documentary offers a timely look at a group of often misunderstood outsiders whose unwavering commitment to social and political justice has empowered thousands of people around the world.
Sat, Feb 1 at 4:00 and Mon, Feb 17 at 6:30.
INTRODUCED BY JON DIERINGER, FOUNDER AND EDITOR OF SCREEN SLATE, ON SAT, FEB 1!
Mark Robson
THE SEVENTH VICTIM
1943, 71 min, 35mm. Preserved by the Library of Congress.
Produced by the legendary Val Lewton, Mark Robson’s subversive directorial debut stars Kim Hunter (also in her first onscreen role) as a young woman in search of her older sister Jacqueline (Jean Brooks), who’s gone missing in Greenwich Village. As it’s discovered that Jacqueline has fallen into the hands of a Satanic cult, a series of encounters with various characters on her path showcase moments of feminist resistance at a time when women were represented largely as objects of desire, while weaving in unacknowledged but notable allusions to queerness.
“THE SEVENTH VICTIM is a vicious little masterpiece of self-annihilation, where society is more damning than the Satanists. […] The Satanism is merely a diversion, a red herring, from the real drama: that lesbianism is not socially acceptable.” –Paul Duncan, TASCHEN
Sat, Feb 1 at 7:00, Mon, Feb 3 at 7:00, and Wed, Feb 5 at 7:00.
INTRODUCED BY JON DIERINGER, FOUNDER AND EDITOR OF SCREEN SLATE, ON SAT, FEB 1!
Edgar G. Ulmer
THE BLACK CAT
1934, 69 min, 35mm. With Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and David Manners.
Ulmer’s short-lived career at Universal began and ended with his spectacularly defiant entry to the studio’s horror cycle. With Papa Laemmle away on vacation, and Junior’s trusting hand on the till, the mischievous filmmaker packed his picture with retro-expressionist visuals (“From Caligari to Hitler in one lurid package,” as J. Hoberman quipped) and a haunting classical score; he also ran off with the wife of Laemmle’s beloved nephew, script supervisor Shirley Kassler.
“With Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in leading roles – the first of seven pictures in which they would star opposite each other – the film represents the rich interplay between European cinema and Hollywood camp, between the undigested horrors of war and their psychosexual counterparts, between reflections of exile and those at home.” –Noah Isenberg
Sat, Feb 1 at 9:00, Tues, Feb 4 at 9:15, and Thurs, Feb 6 at 9:00.
Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, and Giuseppe de Liguoro
L’INFERNO
1911, 68 min, 35mm, silent. Restored print courtesy of the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna.
It seems impossible to begin any exploration of Satanism without conjuring the imagery described in Dante Alighieri’s INFERNO. The first feature-length film produced in Italy (and one of the very first to appear anywhere), L’INFERNO is a faithful adaptation of the epic poem, setting the stage with elaborate scenes of eternal suffering throughout the many circles of Hell. Inspired in part by the illustrations of Gustave Doré, it stays true to Dante’s philosophical and conversational tone amidst moments of profound technical achievement and grandeur.
Preceded by:
Nick Grindé THE DEVIL’S CABARET 1930, 16 min, 35mm-to-digital
A seldom-seen piece of thinly-veiled satire about the supposed evils of jazz music, THE DEVIL’S CABARET follows the business concerns of the Devil, who, upset because Heaven is getting all the clients, gives his assistant, Mr. Burns, the task of drawing more people into his domain. In front of a nightclub, Mr. Burns invites passersby to come inside to “The Devil’s Cabaret,” where they jitterbug straight to the underworld.
Sun, Feb 2 at 4:30 and Thurs, Feb 6 at 7:00.
Nino Oxilia
RAPSODIA SATANICA
1917, 55 min, 35mm, silent. Restored print courtesy of the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna.
Nino Oxilia’s moody, dreamlike penultimate feature puts a feminine spin on Goethe’s FAUST, as the ageing Alba d’Oltrevita (Lyda Borelli) makes a pact with Mephistopheles to regain her youth in exchange for never falling in love again.
“In deference to the Gesamtkunstwerk of Wagnerian fame, the film condenses pictorial quotations that range from Symbolism to the Pre-Raphaelites, literary references to the Faust tradition and Dannunzian decadence, spectacular architectural allusions to art nouveau, all embellished with original music by Pietro Mascagni. RAPSODIA SATANICA, however, was not only a sophisticated and aesthetic compendium of the best artistic movements: it’s a film in a league of its own with Nino Oxilia’s poetic sensitivity and compositional expertise and Lyda Borelli’s extraordinary performance. She expresses with her body and eyes the controversial aspects of her character, distilling the sensuality of eroticism, the raving hysteria of madness, the dark mood of death.” –Giovanni Lasi
Preceded by:
Segundo de Chomón & Ferdinand Zecca THE RED SPECTRE / LE SPECTRE ROUGE 1907, 9 min, 16mm, silent
Often compared to Georges Méliès, Segundo de Chomón was a pioneer of early “trick films” that showcased his talent for sophisticated animation techniques and stenciled color. One of his best-known titles, THE RED SPECTRE showcases a series of spectacles performed against a hellish landscape by a Luciferian magician as a competition ensues with an unexpected and equally devilish heroine (one which suspiciously brings to mind his cinematic rivalry with Méliès).
Sun, Feb 2 at 6:45 and Wed, Feb 5 at 9:00.
D. W. Griffith
THE SORROWS OF SATAN
1926, 100 min, 16mm, silent
“This story of Satan’s role in human affairs following his expulsion from heaven gave Griffith the opportunity to [experiment with] some special effects. The nightclub sequences, including erotic dances, were lavishly produced but much cut in the final version, which was not prepared by Griffith. The tender love scenes in the shabby rooming house where the young couple live and work in opposite rooms are more typical of Griffith’s work. Adolphe Menjou, then at the height of his career, gives a suave and sophisticated performance as Satan. In the final sequence, Griffith suggests his evil nature by showing just the shadow of a monster devil, its awful reality seen only by the hero’s eyes.” –MoMA
Sun, Feb 2 at 8:45 and Tues, Feb 4 at 7:00.
INTRODUCED BY FILMMAKER JACQUELINE CASTEL ON FRI, FEB 7!
Derek Ford
SECRET RITES
1971, 47 min, 35mm-to-digital
While Malcom Leigh’s LEGEND OF THE WITCHES (see below) may have successfully skirted categorization as purely mondo, SECRET RITES, by sexploitation filmmaker Derek Ford (of GROUPIE GIRL and THE WIFE SWAPPERS fame), makes no such attempt. Once again featuring the coven of Alex Sanders, this intimate depiction of the group focuses closely on the most titillating sequences and spaces of various rituals (and their participants).
With:
Curtis Harrington THE WORMWOOD STAR 1956, 10 min, 16mm. Restored by the Academy Film Archive.
Harrington’s striking portrait of Marjorie Cameron – artist, occultist, and second wife of Jack Parsons – showcases her undeniable magnetism as well as her rarely-seen paintings (many of which were destroyed by a gallery fire just after the film’s release).
Kenneth Anger THE INVOCATION OF MY DEMON BROTHER 1969, 11 min, 16mm
“Anger’s purest visual achievement…a conjuration of pagan forces that comes off the screen in a surge of spiritual and mystical power. It has weirdly compelling imagery, with a soundtrack by Mick Jagger on a Moog Synthesizer that has the insistent hallucinatory power of voodoo.” –Richard Whitehall, LOS ANGELES FREE PRESS
Total running time: ca. 70 min.
Fri, Feb 7 at 7:00 and Thurs, Feb 13 at 7:15.
Eiichi Yamamoto
BELLADONNA OF SADNESS
1973, 86 min, 35mm-to-DCP
Inspired by Jules Michelet’s 1862 book, LA SORCIÈRE, a sympathetic feminist history of medieval witchcraft, Eiichi Yamamoto’s eroto-psychedelic masterpiece is a far cry from your typical Faustian folk tale. In watercolor-like imagery by artist Kuni Fukai, the heroine Jeanne is driven to make a deal with the devil to take revenge upon the demonic baron who raped her on her wedding night – a pact that both emboldens her spirit and sends her into a deeply carnal downward spiral. This recent digital restoration of BELLADONNA OF SADNESS gives new life to an animated foray into sexual trauma.
“The picture’s sexual imagery begins with suggestive abstractions that would make Georgia O’Keeffe blush, and grows more explicit as Jeanne’s ties to dark forces intensify. She trades satanic sexual favors for riches and power, eventually becoming a witch who hosts orgies in the woods and helps commoners survive a plague. Though her magic initially helps the king fund a war, her increasing power will eventually make her his rival.” –John DeFore, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Fri, Feb 7 at 9:00 and Sun, Feb 9 at 9:00.
Sidney Hayers
BURN, WITCH, BURN (aka NIGHT OF THE EAGLE)
1962, 90 min, 35mm
“Other than giving NIGHT OF THE EAGLE a more exploitable title here, U.S. distributor AIP didn’t make wholesale changes to a film it subcontracted to Anglo-Amalgamated, its UK co-producers. It didn’t need to, as co-writers Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont, with numerous TWILIGHT ZONE scripts under their belts, had brewed a classic tale of witchcraft from Fritz Leiber’s novel CONJURE WIFE. Rationalist psychology professor Peter Wyngarde is dismayed to learn that his spouse (musicals performer Janet Blair, in a successful change of pace) is dabbling in the black arts to advance his career. But forcing her to abandon the practice opens the door to more supernatural havoc, as the film makes deft use of the bubbling cauldron of personalities, agendas, and insecurities in academia.” –Robert Cashill
Sat, Feb 8 at 4:15, Mon, Feb 10 at 6:45, and Wed, Feb 12 at 9:00.
Terence Fisher
THE DEVIL RIDES OUT
1968, 96 min, 16mm
Considering the problematic interests and politics of Dennis Wheatley, it’s not surprising that THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, Terence Fisher’s first of three Wheatley adaptations, features some outright offensive imagery, and that is precisely why it’s been included in this series. The tendency to use people of color to punctuate moments of shocking horror is hardly unique to the U.S., as evidenced by the inescapable racism on display in at least one scene of this film featuring a demonic African servant. Thankfully, Richard Matheson’s screenplay salvaged what might otherwise be written off as reactionary drivel, and turned it into a genuinely entertaining (and at times hilariously absurd) B-horror film.
“Matheson sharpens Wheatley’s prose to create a frighteningly real world of dark forces at work beneath the genteel surface of the English aristocracy. At a reunion of old friends at a country estate, occult expert the Duc de Richelieu (Christopher Lee) and his well-meaning but impulsive lantern-jawed sidekick Rex (Leon Greene) discover their young comrade Simon (Patrick Mower) has become involved in an ‘astrological society,’ a thinly-veiled satanic cult led by the charismatic Mocata (Charles Gray).” –Andrew Leavold
Sat, Feb 8 at 6:30 and Mon, Feb 10 at 9:00.
Roman Polanski
ROSEMARY’S BABY
1968, 137 min, 35mm
Released amidst a cultural moment pregnant with occult fanaticism, ROSEMARY’S BABY encapsulates many fears and attitudes that would later influence the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Tapping into both feminist angst and suburban paranoia, Polanski’s gripping adaptation of Ira Levin’s best-selling novel blurs the line between gothic horror and psychological thriller as our heroine, Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), slowly discovers the secret lives and ulterior motives of the eccentric neighbors to whom she and her struggling actor husband (John Cassavetes) have become so close.
“Two universal fears run through ROSEMARY’S BABY, the fear of pregnancy, particularly as it consumes personality, and the fear of a deformed offspring with all the attendant moral and emotional complications. […] By dealing obliquely with these fears, the book and the movie penetrate deeper into the subconscious of the audience.” –Andrew Sarris, VILLAGE VOICE
Sat, Feb 8 at 9:00, Tues, Feb 11 at 6:00, and Fri, Feb 14 at 9:00.
Malcolm Leigh
LEGEND OF THE WITCHES
1970, 85 min, 35mm-to-digital. With Alex Sanders, Maxine Sanders, and Penny Beeching.
Capturing a series of pagan rites and initiations led by infamous British occultist and founder of Alexandrian Wicca, Alex Sanders, LEGEND OF THE WITCHES outlines the history of witchcraft in the UK and its evolution alongside Christianity. Shot in high-contrast monochrome, the film walks a line between exploitation and documentary (especially considering Leigh’s next feature was LADY CHATTERLY VERSUS FANNY HILL, about two brothel madames betting on who has the sexiest girls), but is softened by well-placed pastoral landscapes that become the stage for the subjects’ activities.
Sun, Feb 9 at 4:30 and Tues, Feb 11 at 9:00.
Jack Starrett
RACE WITH THE DEVIL
1975, 88 min, 35mm-to-DCP
Motorcycle-shop proprietor Warren Oates and his biker best buddy Peter Fonda, alongside their wives, make the terrible mistake of breaking in their brand-new motor home with a vacation in rural Texas. But the trip immediately goes horribly awry when the secluded spot they pick for their first night turns out to be a dagger’s throw from the site of a Satanic ritual, complete with human sacrifice. Though they manage to make a temporary escape and report the goings-on to the local sheriff and his deputies, they soon discover that this particular county of Texas is more Satanic Belt than Sun Belt. The strangest thing about RACE WITH THE DEVIL – even more so than its status as a bizarre crossbreed between a backroads chase film and ROSEMARY’S BABY – is that speed-demons Oates and Fonda’s motorcycles remain securely stowed to the back of their motor home from beginning to end, with the luxuriously-equipped but unwieldy motor home becoming as much of a protagonist as either of the film’s stars.
Sun, Feb 9 at 6:45, Wed, Feb 12 at 7:00, and Thurs, Feb 13 at 9:15.
Eric Weston
EVILSPEAK
1981, 97 min, 35mm. Archival print courtesy of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Normally relegated in cinema to supporting parts, and in life to the status of younger brother of Ron Howard, actor Clint Howard enjoys a rare leading role in EVILSPEAK, and he commits to it with the wild abandon that could come only from a performer with a nagging sense that he may never headline a film again. Howard stars as Stanley Coppersmith, a teenage outcast who’s bullied by everyone at a strict military academy. When Stanley discovers the crypt of a 16th-century Satanist beneath the chapel, he creates a computerized Black Mass that unleashes unholy revenge upon his tormentors. EVILSPEAK is a peerlessly entertaining mix of high-school revenge tropes, Satanic iconography, and then-cutting-edge Apple II computer technology.
Fri, Feb 14 at 6:30, Sun, Feb 16 at 9:00, and Wed, Feb 19 at 7:00.
David Van Taylor
DREAM DECEIVERS
1991, 58 min, 16mm
“This slash-and-burn documentary is a Sunbelt grotesque: it’s the unrelievedly saddening story of James Vance, a teen in Reno, Nevada, who shot himself in the face with a shotgun shortly after his best friend did the same. Vance’s fundamentalist family later argued in court that his attempted suicide (his friend’s was successful) was inspired by subliminal messages in the music of British heavy-metal band Judas Priest. Director Van Taylor pulls off a neat hat trick, gaining the confidence of Vance and his family, the rock band, and a trio of local losers to create, scene by scene, a despairing mosaic of alcoholism, drug use, and violence – and that’s just Vance’s God-fearing parents. Defenders of heavy metal know that blaming the music for antisocial behavior is blaming a symptom on a symptom, and Van Taylor makes that case thoroughly but not preachily. He also well limns what seems to be a curious dispassion on the part of the Priesters, and gives a whole lot of screen time to doomed young Vance, reminding us that things like rock music, the legal system, and even God himself don’t mean much to a 19-year-old without a face.” –Bill Wyman, CHICAGO READER
Sat, Feb 15 at 4:30, Tues, Feb 18 at 9:15, and Wed, Feb 19 at 9:15.
On Sat, Feb 15 and Wed, Feb 19, DREAM DECEIVERS screens with:
Tommy Turner & David Wojnarowicz
WHERE EVIL DWELLS
1985, 33 min, Super-8mm-to-16mm
“WHERE EVIL DWELLS originated as a scripted project based on the sensational story of teen killer Ricky Kasso, self-described ‘Acid King’ of Northport, Long Island, who sparked 80s panic over heavy metal and Satanism after the pseudo-ritualistic murder of a fellow teen in the woods. Shooting off a script based on interviews with Kasso’s associates, Turner and Wojnarowicz ultimately edited their footage into a 30-minute trailer’ that represents an anarchic and wildly expressionistic take on what Wojnarowicz described as ‘the imposed Hell of the suburbs’ – something of a cross between FLAMING CREATURES, FRIDAY THE 13TH, and AC/DC. It’s a cacophonous hymn to Satan, metal, terminal boredom, and homicidal stupidity.” –Jon Dieringer, SCREEN SLATE
On Tues, Feb 18, DREAM DECEIVERS screens with:
Pia Borg
DEMONIC
2019, 29 min, digital
This brand-new film by Australian experimental filmmaker Pia Borg explicitly addresses the phenomenon of Satanic Panic via a collage of archival material (including 1980s televised reports reflecting how widely the fears of Satanic ritual abuse were distributed by the media) and historical reconstructions. Often amusing, but ultimately terrifying in its depiction of a not-so-distant runaway train of psychiatric excesses, media sensationalism, and false memories, DEMONIC revisits a period in which the culture truly did become possessed, albeit by forces that were not supernatural but all too human.
Robert Eggers
THE WITCH
2015, 93 min, DCP
“Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1835 short story ‘Young Goodman Brown’ pit a pious gent against a malevolent figure in the woods, throwing shade at the Salem Witch trials and good ol’ American hysteria in the process. Now along comes Robert Eggers’s Sundance-coronated ‘New England Folktale’ to take up the Puritan-horror mantle, stripping Hawthorne’s narrative for spare parts in order to fashion a stunning, straight-faced take on supernatural dread, 17th-century style. You do not need a metaphor about our nation’s loss of innocence to channel the chilling sense that something wicked this way comes. You just need a girl, a crone, and a black goat. […] Drawn, per a disclaimer, from period accounts of strange phenomena and psychotic breaks among settlers, Eggers’s impeccably crafted, historically accurate creepshow wears its deep-dive research on its tattered gingham sleeves. […] What this young filmmaker wants is to channel an olde-school notion of horror, one that harkens back to an age not just of pre-Revolutionary folktales but of Grimm fairy tales – in which voluptuous women in red cloaks tempt young men, and cursed beasts named Black Philip beckon with cloven hooves.” –David Fear, FILM COMMENT
Sat, Feb 15 at 6:45, Mon, Feb 17 at 9:00, and Thurs, Feb 20 at 6:45.
Alan Parker
ANGEL HEART
1987, 113 min, 35mm-to-DCP. With Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, and Charlotte Rampling.
Causing a mild controversy at the time of its release for its flirtation with an X rating (thanks to the steamy, stylized sex scenes between Mickey Rourke and Lisa Bonet), ANGEL HEART is a strange, ultra-eighties fusion of hard-boiled detective story and supernatural thriller. Alan Parker’s decision to move the action from New York to New Orleans underscores a popular (if misplaced) association between Voodoo and Satanism, but nevertheless sets the stage for Bonet, who in her big-screen debut makes a sharp U-turn from her days as Denise Huxtable on THE COSBY SHOW. On preparing for the role of Epiphany Proudfoot, Bonet said, “I did a lot of meditation and a lot of self-inquiry. I did some research on voodoo. My earnest endeavor was really to let go of all my inhibitions. It was really necessary for me to be able to let go of Lisa and let Epiphany take over.”
Set in the 1950s, ANGEL HEART follows Harry Angel (Rourke) as a private eye who is hired by one Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) to track down legendary singer Johnny Favorite. When everyone he questions turns up dead, Angel learns of Favorite’s connection to the dark arts and begins to wonder if his benefactor is hiding his true identity (apparently his private investigator skills don’t extend to a grasp of wordplay). Generating a palpable atmosphere of creeping dread and erotic tension, and made with style to spare, ANGEL HEART exerts a truly devilish grip.
Sat, Feb 15 at 9:00, Tues, Feb 18 at 6:45, and Thurs, Feb 20 at 9:00.
JACQUELINE CASTEL PRESENTS:
SATANIC PANIC: CULTURAL WARFARE IN THE 1980S
For this special event, filmmaker Jacqueline Castel will present a rare selection of international programming tracing the bloodlines of the paranoia-soaked decade obsessed with the Devil. From conspiratorial fears of diabolical children’s propaganda saturating the mass media, to Satanic law enforcement guides, deprogramming agents, and exorcism therapy, to the more serious allegations and trials of ritual crime, cult-based abuse, and the censorship crusades of the PMRC, these ephemeral works reveal the inner mechanics of a contemporary witch trial. What emerges through these cultural artifacts – which are hysterical and horrific in equal measure – is a controversial war on the freedom of expression that not only proved profitable, but also attempted to erode the personal, spiritual, sexual, and political rights of a generation.
Informed by her work on the forthcoming documentary A MESSAGE FROM THE TEMPLE, Castel’s program will also feature rare clips related to transgressive artist collective Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth, an organization raided and later exiled from England under false pretenses of Ritual Satanic Abuse claims.
Total running time: ca. 90 min.
Sun, Feb 16 at 6:45.
