Anton LaVey

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. Some of today’s active members of the church and other free-styled Satanists will share their views, memories, ritual practices and personal stories about how they got involved with Satanic religion and what are the false myths that still surround the movement. An immersive journey into one the most fascinating phenomena of American religious pluralism.

A look at the intersection of religion and activism, tracing the rise of The Satanic Temple: only six years old and already one of the most controversial religious movements in American history. The Temple is calling for a Satanic revolution to save the nation's soul. But are they for real?

7.3/10
9.6%

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.

About the last two years of movie goddess Jayne Mansfield’s life and the speculation swirling around her untimely death being caused by a curse after her alleged romantic dalliance with Anton LaVey, head of the Church of Satan.

5.9/10
7.9%

A man trapped in purgatory must come face to face with his own demons.

Out of the spiritual chaos of the 1960s, more strange cults and unorthodox messiahs have emerged than ever. Charles Manson is seen as the annoying result of libertarianism of the 1960s - the Cain who murdered the Abel from The Love Generation. Or in the words of one commentator; "the Elvis of alienation."

Boyd Rice may well be the only person alive who's been on a first name basis with both Charles Manson and Marilyn Manson. His career has spanned more than three decades, during which time he has remained at the epicenter of underground culture and controversy.

7.6/10

A new collection of rarities and lost obscurities from Something Weird Video, one of which is a forgotten TV-pilot for a sitcom called "Rosie" that involves a grown man in a dog costume going home with a young boy. Then a TV special from the 70's called "The Weird World of Weird" where host Ralph Story takes us on a guide through the world of the occult. Next is "Follow That Skirt", a short film from 1964 that follows a gender confused man as he strangles and slashes the women he hates. The compilation wraps up with some recently uncovered footage of "The Smut Peddler", a lost nudie-cutie from '65 that involves a pervy publisher and a bevy of nude models.

The History of the Devil charts the evolution the idea of a supreme embodiment of evil from the time of the ancient gods to the present day. This critical analysis provides insightful and structured analysis of the origins of Devil and the way in which it has been used over the centuries.

But what is the Church of Satan? Who is Anton LaVey? Where is he from? Why does he do that? It does not take much to imagine the worst. Orgiastic ceremonies, where one revels in the blood of virgins, moonlight lamb sacrifices, noise concerts in the basement of a historical building… No, really nothing that amusing among the activities in the Church of Satan. Anton LaVey is nothing like a horned Charles Manson, and his path is all the more unexpected. Nick Bougas allows us to discover the artist, the musician, the philosopher, all through hallucinatory images retrieved from archives, making this rare documentary only two years before the author of the Satanic Bible disappeared.

6.8/10

Vintage Hollywood themed shockumentary.

5/10

Mondo Cane and the Schoolgirl Report series stand as obvious influences on this occasionally amusing but generally rather tedious exploitation film that alternates between documentary, fake documentary and docudrama. The theme is Satanism and the linking thread is a recreation of what is supposedly the real-life case of a murder and attempted murder of two Munich teenage men by a quartet of girls who had been dabbling in devil worship. During the ensuing trial, the lawyer resorts to dilatory tactics while the hearing is frequently interrupted by the girls breaking into incantation, temper tantrums or shivery fits ostensibly bearing on demonic possession. When the subject of the Manson killings is brought up, the most obnoxious of the defendants breaks in indignantly, claiming that Sharon Tate’s “execution” was justified as she posed dangers to the Satanic community. (cinemadrome.yuku.com)

5.7/10

Satanists in the middle west terrorize and sometimes melt the terrified locals.

5.1/10
1.8%

Witness devilish rituals from around the globe. Satanism! Voodoo! Majicks Black and White! Shocking Truths, etc.!

5.5/10

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.

5.7/10

Exploitation documentary, not to be confused with the Something Weird compilation of the same name, which amongst others contains a copy of this film.

3.7/10

The shadowing forth of Our Lord Lucifer, as the Power of Darkness gather at a midnight mass. The dance of the Magus widdershins around the Swirling Spiral Force, the solar swastika, until the Bringer of Light—Lucifer—breaks through.

6.6/10

In pop culture, there are near-unanimous ideas of devil-worship and what exactly 'Satanism' is. Because of this, I wanted to explore where these concepts originated from and the psychology of why people gravitate to the concept.