Visit Films
PARK CITY, Utah—Satanists are inherently nonconformist, so it’s fitting that Realm of Satan—a documentary that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 21 —upends expectations. Focusing on a collection of diverse international disciples of Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, director Scott Cummings’ feature debut is a unique non-fiction affair that provides no background information, little context, and scant dialogue. It also boasts zero fly-on-the-wall material, instead presenting a series of carefully staged portraits of its subjects that aim to convey their lifestyles, personalities, and philosophies. Think of it as an 80-minute art installation in which Satanists are rendered—and deliberately render themselves—performative characters in a diabolical play of their own making.
Whereas Satanists sometimes argue that their religion is merely one about freedom—of thought and desire, and from rules and judgement—Realm of Satan contends that they’re far closer to the devil worshipers that movies, books, and TV shows have made them out to be for decades. Since everything in Realm of Satan has been self-consciously orchestrated to highlight these individuals’ dark and demonic visions of themselves, there’s nothing particularly scary about their appearances, attitudes, or practices, most of which come across as over-the-top affectations.
Nonetheless, Cummings’ film does occasionally strike upon a legitimately unnerving sight which suggests that these folks aren’t just playing around but, in fact, sincerely want to commune with the abyss. Of those, none are better than an early scene in which a woman, clad in a black-and-red hooded robe that obscures her face and flows over the bales of hay upon which she sits, breastfeeds a baby goat that we’ve just seen emerge from her mother’s womb—a jaw-dropper that’s all the more malevolent given that, once the animal stops nursing, the woman coaxes it to continue by gently rubbing its throat.