Satanic Panic

Watched "Satanic Panic" on-line last night, and I have to say I became a bit "Panicked" when the film opened. It begins in a docu-style (A.K.A. "Blair Witch Project") with a rather flamboyant Satanist showing us photos of his poodles… Huh? I watched a few more minutes and just before hitting the "Stop" button, the movie changed to a more traditional Indy-style horror film. A brother and sister (twins I believe) are abducted by a satanic cult, but the girl manages to escape and tell her horrific story to the local police and press. Now we fast-forward ten or so years and a group of old friends are gathering for a weekend of camping and reconnecting. Although these characters tend to be a bit cliché, so does the whole (slasher in the woods) scenario, so I won't harp on the film for that. Truth is, there were a few fresh story line twists here, including a terminally ill women and a past (lesbian) affair that garnished a few extra bonus points for "Satanic Panic". At least there are a couple of characters that gave the viewer someone they could feel for. From this point on, the story moves at a much quicker pace and our cliché characters are dropping like flies, in some unique fashions and this is always a good time for horror fans. Decent gore and acting, the one thing that continually bugged me was some of the costuming choices. The Satanic robes were a bit silly and cheap looking. The Orville character, which's supposed to be some creepy backwoods-guy, wore overalls and a straw hat. I think having him look like one of the mountain men from "Deliverance" instead of a "Hee Haw" reject, would have done the film more justice, but maybe I'm missing the point here… Not likely to tread any new water or win an academy award, but fun for the most part. Besides having the crap scared outta me in the opening scenes, I found "Satanic Panic" an enjoyable low budget horror movie, and certainly worth a viewing.

The only "true events" of the real-life Satanic Panic of the 1980's are that a bunch of charlatans made a lot of money selling fear, and a bunch of innocent people (mostly day care workers) went to prison for crimes they didn't commit. It was all rumor, innuendo, and outright lies, just like the witch panic in Salem. To make a movie suggesting there was any truth to such nonsense, especially when there are still innocent people fighting to have their wrongful convictions overturned, is reprehensible.

As for the movie itself, it's extremely poorly made and not worth watching.

I have seen some bad films in my time, but this is about as bad as bad gets. The atrociousness begins with the "re-enactments" of various witness accounts of satanic activities that occurred during the 80's. I knew I was in for one hell of a bad ride judging from the "acting" of those doing the reenacting. But, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I persisted in watching this "horror" unfold. And unfold it did, all over my computer screen, my keyboard, and spilling over onto my pants and shoes, which I ended up throwing out since I couldn't remove the stench. Yeah thats how bad this "flick" is. Pinkish watery blood...need I say more. Or how about a horribly made-up redneck vagabond with clean overalls. I mean, come on!! Don't people get paid to think this crap through before filming? I can't get back that 90 or so minutes but I CAN spare someone else. Do yourself a favor and just say "no thanks, I'll skip this one". I wish I had.

Inspired by True Events, Satanic Panic is not just a cool title for the film but based off a phenomena that mostly got its push from the 1980's. If you remember the times, which I do quite frankly..... these were days when we would see a lot Satanic controversy on talk shows, in the news, in papers and even the focus of entire articles dedicated in top name magazines. This is a docu-style low budget horror film, and that is what makes this film really eerie, it does feel like you are watching some home movie lost snuff footage in some of the beginning scenes, which makes it all work and come together nicely. Most low budget films at this level I usually shut off in the first five minutes. NOT SATANIC PANIC. I was glued to the screen for the entire 85 minute running time.

This film directed by Marc Selz who is not a new comer to low budget horror films. is unique in that it combines film styles. horror is approached by factual references and in turn turned into on screen fiction. The issue actually becomes a leverage for the horror movie itself and a chance to heat up the footage with some FX work, acting talent and suggested situations. I think this is top notch horror showcased with factual realities. The horror lasts long after the film is complete. The idea that fiction based on reality can be a scary thing is never more evident. Satanic also pays homage to classic horror films from the past. If you like low budget horror, SATANIC PANIC is a film not to miss!

I was able to screen this movie and for it being a low budget movie, it was pretty well made. I thought the story line at the beginning sequence was intense and I thought the whole movie was going to be that documentary style, but it turned out that it started off that way but then it went into another story which I thought was a cool idea. Almost like you have two parts within one movie. I felt that the characters were interesting enough to keep me watching and you really felt some compassion for the Karen character. I wanted to see how this group of friends made it through their trip and the director did a good job of keeping you wanting to see more. The props that were used were pretty cool and overall, I thought that the movie was done well. If you're into independent movies, this one is pretty good.