Satanis: The Devil's Mass

Anton LaVey is arguably a misunderstood figure. Circus ringmaster to opening his own Church of Satan is an odd career move. To this day he still remains a fascinating and controversial figure. Extolling the virtues of individualism, sexual freedom and personal liberty are surprisingly modern values which are now pushed by the mainstream media. At the time he was overshadowed by the "satanic panic" media outrage that swept America.

There's no doubt in my mind LaVey is an intelligent man who has the charisma and big showbiz personality to attract disciples to his cause. Sadly the documentary is workmanlike in its approach and thoroughly boring. The satanic rituals nothing more than costume roleplay; that's not to belittle the people involved it's just not interesting to watch. The talking heads interviews with local residents talking about the Church of Satan failed to hold my interest for more than 30 seconds. The nudity and just general weirdness were not really any more explicit than exploitation films available in 1970. I gave this a few extra points due to it capturing some rare footage of LaVey and although not media-shy he wasn't around during the tsunami of social media we have now.

The DVD from Something Weird is rough. The picture quality is never going to look like The Omen, but scratches, grain and washed-out picture quality are substandard. The sound is also quite low making me having to bump it up.

This film swings the doors to the early days of the Church of Satan (CoS) wide open and was, for quite some time, the only interview footage of Anton Szandor LaVey available. (Scenes from this film are still in use today in news specials and documentaries, often times used as propaganda by some groups to turn people FROM Satanism. Most of the humor in this film will not be seen by the audiences that these groups are trying to influence.)

This documentary interviews neighbors, friends and enemies of Anton LaVey and his church and helps shed some light (dark?) on origins of the philosophies that were codified in this unique religious movement. This ilm is not without it's tongue-in-cheek moments. During one of the opening scenes, one of a Satanic ritual, the participant's solemn mood is broken when the Priest of the ceremony (LaVey) says, "Okay, that's enough for that part." Perhaps it was the director's idea to show some incidental humor in the film.

One thing that will probably strike everybody as strange is the sense of humor shown throughout the film by most of the people that are interviewed. Satanists are often seen as dour, humorless folk, but, as Anton LaVey points out in the film, a person without a sense of humor is intolerable at worst, and doesn't make a good Satanist. Humor abounds and stands in stark contrast to the rituals.

Also seen, as noted before, are some of the enemies to LaVey's cause. There are interviews with Mormon missionaries and priests from the area and they are given a chance to voice their outrage towards this philosophy. This film is highly recommended as a documentary of a rather maligned religion. It can be a bit hard to find, but it is available.

The Church of Satan was a very small and quirky organization that began in, where else, San Francisco, by Anton LaVey. This film is a documentary about the church, their beliefs, the neighbors' attitudes towards them and those who attend. While this is an interesting topic, the fact that it's such a small and insignificant organization makes it of marginal historical and social interest.

Other than showing some of the ceremonies of this organization, this documentary simply lets people within and outside the organization talk with very, very little direction from the film makers. In fact, the entire film seems rather non-planned and not particularly structured. Because of this, the film tends to wander at times and many of the interviews look as if they should be edited heavily. Simply recording people and stringing the interviews together is not great film making and some might find the whole thing tedious after a while. I truly believe the film could have been half as long or even shorter and been much more interesting and effective. There are also some nudes (mostly quite unattractive) and a bare butt being flogged. They don't particularly seem interesting or necessary and I wonder if they were added to try to "spice up" an otherwise dull film.

What I would have enjoyed a lot more would have been more of a biographical study of LaVey or Alistair Crowley--to figure out what made them tick, so to speak. Otherwise, just listening to everyone talk and talk and talk became quite a strain on most people's patience. If only they could get Louis Theroux to interview the current members and high priest of the Church of Satan--now THAT would be interesting.

Although absolutely nothing special, this documentary by Ray Laurent takes us inside the Church of Satan, founded in California in the 1960s by Anton Szandor LaVey, a former circus lion tamer. It has no narrator, and isn't really attempting to tell a story. It's more a series of interviews - with subjects either standing and talking or sitting down and talking - and therefore, it may be rather boring to some viewers. But the material does have a certain fascination and interest level going for it. At least, that was the case for this viewer. Laurent films the perspectives of various witnesses to this phenomenon: neighbors, flock members, opponents, etc., as well as the man himself.

It's not overwhelmingly cinematic, but there are some decent camera angles and movements throughout; the lighting is also noteworthy. The main reason to watch is to see this vintage footage of Mr. LaVey, who comes across as a fairly charismatic, fairly easygoing individual. He based his "religion", if one can call it that, on the idea that humans are basically flawed anyway, and that these flaws could be celebrated and even encouraged. He felt that most organized religion spent too much time condemning people and insisting that they do / not do certain things.

If nothing else, "Satanis: The Devil's Mass" is an amusing enough look at an alternative lifestyle, no matter what one may think of Mr. Lavey's personal beliefs. We are witness to some entertaining decadence: nude women on altars, ass whippings, the expected incantations and rituals, etc. Among the major topics covered are public reactions to the goings-on at LaVey's "Black House" in San Francisco in the 60s, the hassles with the law due to Mr. LaVey having a pet lion at his residence, and his response when confronted with the notion that he may be nothing more than a big phony.

This is worth a look for curiosity seekers, provided they don't get their hopes up too high about it.

Six out of 10.

TCM recently aired this obscurity (with thanks to Something Weird and the American Genre Film Archive for rescuing it). As a film it isn't much: Poorly shot (16mm) with the camera often fumbling around without edits searching for proper framing, barely adequate sound and a lack of basic of explanation of who is being interviewed and the context of LaVey and his followers.

Still, I found this a lot more interesting than its critical reputation would have it. It's very much a 'time capsule' as others have noted. San Francisco in the late 60s has always been embodied in the public mind by Haight-Ashbury, The Summer Of Love and the Hippie movement in general. LaVey and his Church of Satan fit right in even with their Black Mass trappings. Hedonists and free love folks at their core, LeVay and his disciples simply traded their tie-dyes for devil masks and leather - or, just ditched their clothing entirely (though, still in a mostly sexist manner with naked women being the 'altar' objects).

Aside from the Satanic angle, the other thing that made them public pariahs were their embrace of all types of sexual 'perversions' (LaVey's own words). Interestingly, one of those alleged perversions of the era was homosexuality - hey, they were progressives ahead of their time! Why LaVey got tabbed an underground cult leader was his insistence that he was leading a new religion, as foolish as that was. Indeed, the extensive footage here of the group's rituals leads one more towards mockery rather than fear (although the whipping scene is pretty realistic). Try as he does to make the rituals into a horror show, Director Ray Laurent succeeds more in making them look mundane and more than a bit boring. Heck, the Church of Satan didn't even use live animal sacrifices! What kind of devil worshippers don't spill blood?!

But, even at that the film is interesting: Stripped of all the costumes, nudity and devil scripture this was just a bunch of folks gathered together in some guy's darkened living room - so what if an orgy broke out? SATANIS will never be confused with fine filmmaking, but, it's a valuable document of a time and a place. And, probably the best peek at LeVay as a person -- stripped of all the pomp and circumstance -- and fearsome reputation.