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‘Hail Satan?’ is a Fascinating Look Inside The Satanic Temple

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Hail Satan

Documentary filmmaker Penny Lane has covered everything from sea monkeys to Richard Nixon in her acclaimed career. In her latest film, Hail Satan?, she trains her lens on The Satanic Temple, its history, and its cause.

Founded during the Bush administration, The Satanic Temple was meant to be seen as a religious organization that was somehow repugnant to the administrations “values,” such as they were.

They hit upon the idea of Satan as “the adversary” and in no time, they had formed their organization using as their centerpiece the Baphomet iconography with a mission to strengthen the separation of church and state and the idea that freedom of religion is freedom for all religions.

Lane’s expertly interweaves the story of the groups creation with interviews from members across the country who have taken up the cause of TST, and two things become almost immediately clear.

  1. The members of The Satanic Temple often find their way to its symbolic doors while in search for meaning and belonging to a group of people that holds them up and supports them for who they are.
  2. They are also almost immediately energized with an activist’s spirit, ready to fight for the rights of other who have felt similarly lost and shut out of the system.

This seems especially true in Lucien Greaves, the public face of the organization and a man who somehow comes across as both charismatic and reserved simultaneously. One moment he boldly speaks to religious leaders and conservative news anchors, and the next he nervously reads and re-reads notes for a speech that he’s prepared to give in order to make sure he says exactly the right thing.

Lucien Graves Hail Satan

Lucien Greaves in HAIL SATAN?, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Greaves and the Temple’s high council gave the filmmaker almost unfettered access to the group while filming, and as such, she is able to take her viewers inside both organizational meetings and group ritual observances some of which may shock some viewers, not because of their nature–though some definitely run to the extreme–but more by the all too mundane quality of some.

In fact, it is the meetings in backyards and on beaches where we get a real glimpse of the membership of The Satanic Temple as a diverse, wholly accepting group of people who just want to make the world a better place without relying on some all-powerful deity to tell them the way they should do it.

These are not terrifying people. They aren’t making sacrifices to Satan. In fact, the majority of the membership does not believe in “Satan” as an actual being to whom they pray.

Rather, largely, they are atheists and humanists who have taken on Satan as a symbol of defying those who seek to take away freedoms and force their beliefs on others.

Not only is Hail Satan? illuminating, however, it is also educational.

The Satanic Temple have made a name for themselves opposing the inclusion of Ten Commandments monuments in courthouses and on other state-funded and owned properties. They do this, cleverly, not by demanding that they be taken down, but by asking that their own rather impressive statues of Baphomet be included alongside them.

When opposed, they bring up the point that not including other religious iconography sets up Christianity as a more legitimate religious belief. This gets their foot in the door to discuss the separation of church and state.

Baphomet Hail Satan

Baphomet monument in front of the state capitol building in Little Rock, AR featured in HAIL SATAN?, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

One of the most revealing bits of information to come out of this, however, is that many of these monuments were actually gifted to various states when Cecil B. DeMille was promoting his religious epic, The Ten Commandments.

Lane even includes footage of Charlton Heston performing a little gifting ceremony, unveiling one such monument at a press event.

Through all of this, the director includes footage of conservative, fundamentalist religious news anchors, pastors, and more talk as they about the fictitious evils of the organization and its followers. She dives into the Satanic Panic of the 80s and how the fantastic, and false, stories written about “Satanists” actually reflected the abuses that were going on in more traditional religious organizations.

There are so many things to pick apart and to discuss as the credits roll on Hail Satan? which is the mark of any good documentary really.

What’s more, the organization itself was recently granted status as an official church by the IRS in the United States adding a layer of legitimacy in their arguments.

Hail Satan?, distributed by Magnolia Pictures, will screen in an exclusive engagement Friday, May 10, 2019 at Landmark’s Hillcrest Cinemas before moving to wider distribution. To learn more about the film, visit their official website.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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