Consider the question mark in Hail Satan’s? title to be an invitation. It’s not requesting that you hail Satan, but rather asks you to consider the multiple meanings behind worship and faith. Hail Satan?, the opening night film of PhilaMOCA’s Cinedelphia Film Festival, is an offbeat documentary by Penny Lane, an accomplished documentarian who won praise in the past for her films, Our Nixon and Nuts!. Similar to those films, Hail Satan? takes a humorous, insightful, and nuanced approach to a topic ripe for misrepresentation. The topic at hand? The Satanic Temple.
Not to be confused with Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, The Satanic Temple is a loosely organized grassroots political activist group that has achieved notoriety among mainstream press for their provocative public demonstrations. These Satanists, unlike the LaVeyan Satanists, pride themselves on their inclusivity, disavowing the LaVeyans’ relationship and controversial history with white nationalists and its exploitation of women. The Satanic Temple is a 21st century update on the rebellious, shock-and-awe approach of the Church of Satan, but asks its followers to consider a more forward-thinking approach, making LGBT and women’s rights, community activism, and separation of church and state among its top priorities.
Since their formation in 2013, The Satanic Temple has attracted controversy for trying to host a Black Mass on Harvard’s campus, antagonizing the Westboro Baptist Church. But it is their continued fight against multiple Ten Commandments monuments placed in Midwestern state capitals that forms the narrative backbone of this documentary. Enter Lucien Grieves, the co-founder of The Satanic Temple, and its most visible member. To highlight the absurdity of the state of Oklahoma (and later, Missouri)’s decision to erect a Ten Commandments monument, Grieves requests that a statue of the deity Baphomet be built opposite the Ten Commandments as proof that no one religion is dominant in American society.
The political fallout from this civic battle, as well as the fallout from other battles waged by sister chapters of The Satanic Temple, is quite revealing. Public shaming, death threats and more are hurled at these peaceful progressives flying the banner of the Dark Lord. It makes the viewer ask two questions; “What exactly are these religious conservatives so afraid of?” and “could I be a Satanist?” The documentary offers multiple explanations for the former, drawing on America’s sordid history with satanic panics and systemic abuse, but is resolute in its answer for the latter. Do you believe that all people should be treated with compassion and empathy? Do you question the hegemonic power of Christianity? Do you aspire to live in a world where your body is yours to govern? Did I hear you say “Hell yes”? Sounds like you’re a Satanist, bud.
Still a young organization, the documentary is lacking in the dramatic heft that guides so many other documentaries. There’s no sense of a grand betrayal or shocking swerve. However, the movie presents a clear call to action against the creeping cultural dominance of the Christian Right and the politics of domination and subjugation. The film hints at fraying within the hierarchical structure of the nascent movement, but only time will tell if these divisions are just growing pains or emblematic of a deeper divide within The Satanic Temple.
Hosted at PhilaMOCA, a former mausoleum, there may have been no better venue for it. Eric Bresler, PhilaMOCA’s director/curator, even had his own run-in with Christian dogmatists after it was announced that PhilaMOCA would be hosting their own Black Mass in October 2018. Perhaps then, it is little surprise that Hail Satan? received a warm reception at PhilaMOCA, packing the venue. Ending with a brief Q&A by TST community outreach organizer, Shiva Honey, the audience was allowed to pry a little deeper into the The Satanic Temple. One audience member asked if Philadelphia had their own TST chapter. The answer was (somewhat surprisingly), no but the mood in the room suggested that this would not be the case for long.
