Satan Wants You (to see this movie)

  

People with an interest in the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 1990s, "False Memory Syndrome," unorthodox psychiatrist/ patient relationships, and/ or the book that began it all, Michelle Remembers, should flock to see Satan Wants You, opening tomorrow at the VIFF Centre. A documentary around the writing of Michelle Remembers and what followed in its wake, it plays seven times over the next week (all in the VIFF Centre studio). It's a remarkable film which will likely fill in basically every blank in your awareness of the story, and then some, with tons of local colour (including Jack Webster!) and fascinating, previously unavailable archival material, including snippets of recordings from the original therapy sessions that the book was based on and some eye-opening vintage television clips (including bits of a police training video about Satanic cults). There are also interviews with various people affected by the publication of the book -- including the family of both authors (though Michelle herself declined involvement, which one can easily understand; the film is ultimately not particularly sympathetic). It does NOT deal with the actual occult scene on Vancouver Island -- the words "Ross Bay Cult" do not come up, for example, though there are a couple Ross Bay Cemetery deer on view. Instead, the filmmakers choose to have bits of vintage interviews with Anton LaVey and current ones with Church of Satan chronicler Blanche Barton (...as you might guess, she does not hold Michelle Remembers in high esteem). The film ultimately does take a conservative view of what "really" happened -- people who hold that Satanic Ritual Abuse was a real thing will not find their biases confirmed -- but it does so in a careful, considered, and intelligent way, holding most of its judgments in reserve until the second half; it also usefully connects the dots between the publication of Michelle Remembers and various other infamous cases, including the McMartin Preschool case and the story of Margaret Kelly Michaels (which I was unfamiliar with prior to watching the doc; as the film dips into it only briefly, it might be worth your time investigating that link prior to viewing it). Without having actually read the book in question (beyond a few pages, at least), I had made various inferences and assumptions about what "really" went on behind the scenes in its writing; I had almost all of these prejudices validated by the film, but still felt informed and intrigued by it.  

Of course, people with an eye to current events will be waiting to see if they make the obvious move and reference Pizzagate and QAnon and the current manifestations of this oddly durable brand of hysteria. Don't want to spoil it, but they do get there eventually, if briefly! (Why this malign bullshit continues to have legs is not really explained, however). 

Anyhow, it's a very interesting documentary! (And people with an interest in metal will have fun picking out the Slayer, Iron Maiden, and Ozzy covers in the background of various shots, though again, that's not really the focus of the film). 

Note for VIFF Centre noobs: the studio's seats are not as comfy as the main theatre's, so you may want to bring a pillow...