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orated with an uneventful turn of the millennium on January 1, 2000. The world took on new in- terests and new fears, and with the coming of internet culture, the Devil soon became a carica- ture of a bygone era. But not for long.


Like a long lost prophecy suddenly and chill- ingly fulfilled, the past years have rekindled interest in the Devil from artistic, cultural and spiritual quarters. Satan’s soundtrack has also expanded from heavy metal to ritual music, doo wop, rockabilly, house, electronica and more. The past decade has seen a surge of interest in satanic cinema, from House of the Devil and Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem to The Blackcoat’s Daughter, The Witch and The Devil’s Candy. To- day, the Devil is in the midst of a second coming, as exemplified in movies such as the upcoming Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, and TV shows such as Lucifer and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. This time, however, the long-feared Devil has also gotten a cultural makeover, thanks to groups such as the Satanic Temple, whose ef- forts to recast this ancient boogeyman into a fig- ure of empowerment and religious tolerance are showcased in the recently released documentary Hail Satan?


For this cover story, Rue Morgue assembled a round-table of artists, historians and provo- cateurs: Grady Hendrix is a co-founder of the New York Asian Film Festival-turned-author with books We Sold Our Souls and Satan Loves You; he is also the co-writer of the new horror comedy Satanic Panic, released this month. Jex Black- more is a satanic artist and former spokesperson for the Satanic Temple who was expelled from that organization for calling for Donald Trump’s execution during a public performance. Gavin Baddeley is an ordained minister in the Church of Satan and author of Lucifer Rising: A Book of Sin, Devil Worship, & Rock ’n’ Roll. Last, but certainly not least, Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin (The Exorcist) has recently returned to the subject that made him famous with the documentary The Devil and Father Amorth.


Grady, let’s start with you. Much of your fic- tion that involves Satan draws from pretty conventional conceptions of the Devil: i.e. vir- gin sacrifice or the idea of selling one’s soul for success. Why do you think these themes still resonate in 2019? GRADY HENDRIX: Fear of a satanic conspiracy is a one-size-fits-all conspiracy. If you go back far enough – whether it’s the Cathars or it’s the Jews – it’s this idea that you’re not in charge of your life. The things that happen to you aren’t your fault, there’s a giant conspiracy of people who struggle to keep you down. The world’s controlled by one percent of the population in this conspiracy; you will never be able to go any- where because you’re not part of the conspiracy, so your life is hopeless and helpless and out of


Satan, Past And Present: (top) From Gustave Dore’s illustrations for Dante’s Inferno, to (opposite) Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 film Haxan, and the 2018 heavy metal occult horror novel by Grady Hendrix (pictured above).


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Grady Hendrix


your control. But also, look on the bright side – those people probably sold their soul and they’ll burn in Hell! So that’s sort of been an eternal hu- man fantasy all the way back to medieval times, probably. It’s just the actors in it that change; it’s [now] an international drug ring, pedophiles, white slavers, Catholics, Jews, the communists, the one percent, the New World Order… The only thing that’s really changed is [that] those conspiracies used to be sort of a fever dream of the more right-leaning part of the population and, these days – probably since the ’60s – the left-leaning side of the population has really bought into those as well.


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Has the mainstream perception of satanic influence in music and pop culture changed since the Satanic Panic of the 1980s? GAVIN BADDELEY: Definitely. I don’t think very many people take the idea of the satanic conspir- acy seriously anymore, and I think the existence of the Satanic Temple is proof positive of that. If they’d attempted what they’re doing now back in the 1980s, they’d probably have been shot. I think the world is much more divided now, and there certainly still is a lunatic fringe of very vocal Christians who regard the Devil as existing and there being a satanic conspiracy and so forth. But I think in the mainstream familiarity breeds, if not contempt, then comfort. The people who grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons and being told that this was a gateway to the Devil are now middle-aged people. Some of them are in posi- tions of authority, so you can’t really push that mythology anymore, that horse has bolted. The thing that made the satanic conspiracy theory stick is the satanic ritual abuse myth, and it’s


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