Satan Wants You

In my first of two reviews to be posted tonight, I discuss a 2021 Canadian documentary: 

For those that want to experience real-life horrors... as a child of the 80's and 90's, I remember the era of Satanic Panic, how there were rumors of Satanic cults, heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest were crucified (which like everything else in this mass hysteria, seems so absurd now), some were petrified of Dungeons & Dragons, and if you watched shows like Unsolved Mysteries, that was brought up as a possible cause way too frequently.

Well, this Canadian documentary-which was first released on streaming by Tubi, but don't let that put you off; they didn't make it-explains how the 1980 book Michelle Remembers (by Michelle Smith and her therapist, Lawrence Pazder) purportedly was of Smith recalling horrific abuse by a cult after hypnosis brought back repressed childhood memories. Of course, in hindsight the graphic claims of OOT abuse were phony but at the time, people believed it. This includes law enforcement. It snowballed into widespread fears that child-killing Satanic cults were legit & even worse, daycare centers and other establishments catered to young children were accused of baby-killing, ritualistic animal slaughter, and other unfathomable claims. There were even prison sentences until people finally came to their senses.

It was a standard documentary which presented the story in chronological order. Judging by the complaints of some, they would have preferred an entire series about Satanic Panic, its history and how it's unfortunately been echoed in modern times. I'd be down if someone did that one day in the future. Judging this documentary on its own merits, it did a pretty good job of presenting a story focused on a pair of people and the ramifications of the phony story they presented. While Michelle understandably declined to participate, a few family members did along with a few people billed as experts, from a Mindhunter FBI agent and a former “Wiccan priest police officer” to a member of the Church of Satan.

The topic was little-known by me so this documentary was appreciated. Naturally the Wikipedia article about Satanic Panic goes much more in-depth, re: the topic as a whole. However, it was nice to see and hear the people involved in a book which is best left forgotten but the lessons learned from the scandal unfortunately haven't been heeded today.