Hail Satan?

Hail Satan? is an entertaining ride and shows how divided we have become as a nation. I understand how some might view this film as provocative but honestly its as dark as vanilla ice cream. The real darkness comes from those with pitchforks ready in hand fearing the unknown, the others, maybe our selves. While not the most daring doc I've seen this year, certainly a good one.

Well unless you are already familiar with the Satanic Temple that is. I wasn't and I was quite surprised. If Satanists engage in equal rights, clean the streets of trash and do things most would consider Christian ... that is quite a surprise. Even if you are not into "Satan" (and I am not), they even give you a yin/yang balance. As in, if you have this statue put up, we want one of ours there too.

Was quite surprised to learn about a lot of things and this is quite entertaining overall (there's nudity in case that matters to you one way or the other). Now after I watched the movie someone told me that the documentary shines a light on the organisation that does not include some of their darker moments. One is included when we see a member split, but there seem to be more things. For that I guess there is the internet. Or maybe a sequel to this? Who knows

If the U.S. wants to proclaim religious freedom and then push Christianity in public, then it's only fair for the Satanists to do the same.

Hail Satan? was very informative and educational. It's worth watching whether you're interested in joining the Satanic Temple or just open minded enough to look at things through a different (religious) perspective. It stresses religious equality/freedom for ALL religions, not just Christianity.. I can't wait for this to come out on a streaming site (hey Netflix!) to show all of my family and friends that Satanism is not at ALL what they think it is. Educate yourselves, people. Watch Hail Satan?.

"Hail Satan?" (2019 release; 95 min.) is a documentary about the Satanic Temple (TST) and its search for the separation of church and state. As the movie opens, we are in "Tallahassee, 2013" where TST is holding a rally on the steps of the Florida statehouse. Hardly anyone is giving it any attention. We are introduced to Lucien, the spokesperson for TST. When TST wants to do a black mass in Boston, the catholic church and community in Boston organizes a massive protest against "these rapists and murderers", while of course the reality is that the Boston catholic church has allowed sexual abuse against young kids for decades and decades... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll jut have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from Penny Lane, who previously brought us "Our Nixon". Here she explores the hypocrisy in certain segments of the population, who are easily riled up by these satanists. Lane along the way brings us a History 101 of satanism. The core of the film goes to looking at the separation of church and state, which TST wants enforced. The segments dealing with the 10 Commandments are instrumental. So this documentary is not quite what I expected it to be, and in fact is likely to make you think about a few things in a way that you might not have expected. Kudos to Lane for that.

"Hail Satan?" premiered at the Sundance festival earlier this yer to positive acclaim, and recently opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (6 people, including myself). Hopefully this can gain a larger audience as it is released on other platforms. If you like documentaries, or have an interest in issues surrounding the separation of church and state, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.