now just become so obvious that the people who are abusing children are Christian clergy and various other religious figures. You can’t make the satanic ritual abuse myth stick anymore.
How have horror films contributed to con- temporary society’s view of Satan? JEX BLACKMORE: There have been more nu- anced depictions of the Devil in popular culture today than there have been in the past, and I think that’s really valuable because, despite the cartoonish depiction of Satan that has been per- vasive, there’s this horror perception of some- thing lurking in the corners that you should all the time be afraid of, and I think that plays into this metaphor of being tempted to sin. But there are also more playful perceptions of the Dev- il that can be relegated to cultural differences and interpretations of morality that are really fun. Kenneth Anger’s Lucifer Rising is a kind of film that is rooted in spectacle, and I think that’s something really compelling about youth fascination with the Devil as a spectacle in and of itself. The Witch is a film that I really loved because there is a question in the end about who is liberating who, who’s really in charge, and it counters this Christian fear. It doesn’t give you a definitive answer about the path forward, which I think is a good way to leave viewers. And even a more comical representation of the Devil like on South Park, you have this figure that is very much playful but seems a lot more grounded in many capacities in real life, and I think that’s also important to recognize. Often we think the Devil is part of this Christian mythology that doesn’t exist, but in reality it’s deeply embedded in our daily lives whether or not we like it, because of the people we have dictating and running our country. So that’s important to recognize as well.
GB: In any kind of media you’ve got the problem of chicken and egg, in as much as most films reflect the culture that created them more than they impact on it. An obvious exception would be The Exorcist, which is a film that came very much from a deliberately evangelical Catholic position and did effectively revive the exorcism myth and did a lot of damage by doing that. They did a re-launch of it, some kind of anniversary a few years back and I didn’t go – I’m not a big fan of the film if I’m honest – but I knew a few people who did go, and if you remember when The Ex- orcist first screened, there were people scream- ing and fainting and claiming to be possessed by watching the film. The people I know who went to see the revival screening said everyone was laughing. So these things date. In terms of de- pictions of the Devil, you tend to see at least as many depictions in comedies as a mischievous/ sexual figure than you do of the Devil being the ultimate evil or a monster.
Jex, you once said you hoped that The Witch would spark a transformation in the way
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The Devil You Say: Modern depictions of Satan cast him in a variety of ways, including the ridiculous, the sinister and the sublime.
viewers see Satanism. How successful do you think the film was in doing that? JB: I think it inspired an investigation of the value of the Devil as a cultural icon, a figure of liberation, or of repression and dominance. And I think that the questions that brought up – and the back and forth about whether it was a story about feminism and a pro-satanic message or not – I think that’s actually a very good place to be getting to because at least we’re talking about the considerations of the moral value of the Dev- il. And I think that is progress in the capacity of horror films typically being something that can scare you and you can dismiss as either being fantasy or reflective of a Christian world view.
Some of the most notable horror movies deal- ing with Satanism, The Exorcist, The Omen and Rosemary’s Baby among them, present a very Catholic conception of the Devil. Did these movies ultimately help or harm Satan- ism? GB: Films can have a powerful impact, and my
suspicion is, yes, The Exorcist chased people back into the Church. I think Rosemary’s Baby is very much a product of the God Is Dead era; it’s a straight horror movie, it’s not religious propaganda. I think, appropriately enough, The Omen is cynical with its use of propaganda in as much as it’s tongue-in-cheek; it’s not serious, in the way that I can’t believe most evangelists believe the rubbish they spout. So it’s very much a film from that perspective. And it certainly es- tablished 666 as the Number of the Beast, which I understand is inaccurate. It’s a mistranslation, I believe it’s [actually] 616.
What function does Satan serve in 2019, ei- ther in art or in daily life? GH: The Church of Satan has really done a lot of things to be thankful for. I think the Anton LaVey version of the Church of Satan and the early Temple of Set and all that, I think they were very much products of their time, kind of male chauvinist, boring, full of themselves, kind of like everyone was in the late ’60s into the ear-
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