Realm of Satan | Deadline Studio at Sundance - video Dailymotion

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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 Realm of Satan is a portrait of the Church of Satan

00:19 made in collaboration with the leadership and membership

00:21 of the Church of Satan.

00:23 And it's a picture of the church as it exists today.

00:25 We've done so many documentaries over the years,

00:28 and sometimes they're done by people that we know.

00:30 And other times, they're done with people

00:31 with agendas that are hidden.

00:33 So we can never really quite tell what's going to come out

00:35 of those experiences.

00:37 But with Scott, he approached us by showing us

00:39 his film "Buffalo Juggalos," which

00:41 is a portrait of an unusual culture that

00:44 was near where he lived.

00:45 And by seeing that, I really was convinced

00:47 that this is somebody who could do an actual portrait of us

00:51 rather than some kind of didactic documentary which

00:53 has just been done to death.

00:55 You know, when I approached the film,

00:56 I approached it as a magical object, actually.

01:00 And in a way, I consider the film

01:04 to be a psychodrama or a product of ritual.

01:08 So we've entered into a contract in making the film

01:11 and watching the film that everything that happens

01:13 in the film is we're choosing to believe, whether or not--

01:18 you know, it's a choice.

01:19 We have the contract.

01:21 Yes, it exists.

01:22 So whether that be totally VFX magical

01:26 or whether that be somebody washing the dishes,

01:29 those things are both equally valid, both equally real.

01:33 And of course, everything in the film

01:35 is staged but drawn from reality.

01:38 All the locations are real.

01:39 All the people are real Satanists.

01:40 But we work together to kind of pull it away a bit

01:44 from just being documentary because just

01:46 a straight documentary is not very interesting to me.

01:50 So we want to add fictional and magical

01:52 and fantastical elements to everything.

01:55 So everything is kind of flattened into the same world

01:57 of a space that isn't a space your average non-Satanist

02:03 could access, maybe.

02:05 Well, there's something also very interesting in that,

02:06 in satanic ritual, since we're not devil worshippers,

02:09 we don't believe in the devil, our rituals

02:11 are not worship services.

02:13 They are psychodramas, which is why he said that.

02:16 And what we do is we suspend our disbelief

02:20 when we create a ritual.

02:21 That's why we can say, hail Satan.

02:23 We don't believe Satan exists.

02:25 So it ends up being this kind of very fulfilling self-theater

02:29 that can be purgative, exciting, enlightening.

02:34 It's cathartic.

02:36 Well, the interesting thing is it's sort of a reconciliation.

02:39 The way Anton LaVey conceived of Satanism

02:43 was that it's basically rational,

02:46 but it's also indulgent.

02:48 The history and the context in which he was exposed to it

02:52 and the way he evoked it into the world in the Satanic Bible

02:57 and started the Church of Satan was to say, OK, well,

03:03 there's a rational part of humans,

03:04 and then there's a poetic side of humans.

03:06 And that's what Scott's film really brings about, I think,

03:10 is the power of film to evoke, to suspend that disbelief

03:16 and walk in.

03:17 It's an experiential film.

03:19 You give yourself over when you experience fiction.

03:24 You make a contract that, OK, you're going to startle me.

03:27 You're going to shock me.

03:28 You're going to intrigue me.

03:31 And that's the best of filmmaking.

03:33 And that's what Satanism is really all about,

03:36 is creating your life almost as an art piece itself.

03:41 And that's exciting.

03:43 And I think that's what you'll see in the film.

03:46 Our philosophy is really strongly

03:48 concerned with individualism, your individual expression

03:51 of who you really are.

03:53 So you are creating that.

03:55 So you are therefore self-created.

03:57 You are your own god.

03:58 And within the realm of the law and societal pressures

04:06 and to that extent, we do what we will.

04:10 We do our will.

04:11 And it's a lifelong discovery of individual expression.

04:15 It's very important to us.

04:17 One of the things I loved most about Satanism

04:20 and working with these guys is that Satanism

04:23 has an innate sense of humor to it.

04:26 And we shared a sense of humor, I think, also,

04:29 and also a sense of a love of old movie magic and things

04:34 like that.

04:35 But that idea that, yes, it's a rational religion.

04:41 It doesn't believe in Satan.

04:42 But we can still have fun with these ideas.

04:45 And actually, we like the aesthetics of this.

04:47 And we like the iconography.

04:49 And we can still like this stuff and kind of party with that

04:54 and be provocative with that, but not

04:59 believe in the devil as this guy who's talking--

05:05 I'm saying to us, to Satanists.

05:08 They don't believe the devil is communicating to them.

05:11 That's not a correct thing.

05:14 Yeah.

05:14 But it's fun to watch The Exorcist.

05:17 It's fun to play with that iconography and to embrace it

05:21 and to live within it.

05:23 Well, there never seems to be a choice for the Satanists

05:27 that I've met.

05:28 It's something that comes out of them naturally.

05:31 It's their natural predilection.

05:33 They never made that choice to be on the edge.

05:36 They just were there.

05:37 That's where they always put themselves.

05:39 And using the metaphor of Satan is the perfect thing for them.

05:44 I've had members-- I've asked them,

05:47 what would you do if we had this whole philosophy

05:50 and this entire framework, but we just took Satan away?

05:53 Because it makes people uncomfortable.

05:55 And they immediately say, I'd quit.

05:59 Because the symbol of Satan puts them exactly where they are

06:05 in terms of the greater Christian organized

06:12 religious hierarchy, mindset, self-sacrifice, self-denial.

06:20 They are the opposite of that.

06:22 And that is why Satan is the perfect symbol for them.

06:26 And I think also one of the reasons why we worked so well

06:30 together is that to take a position as a Satanist

06:34 is to take an adversarial position.

06:36 Actually, it's to stand against the tide.

06:38 And the film is also staking that position as a film.

06:43 It's an adversarial film.

06:45 In a lot of ways, it's not a standard documentary.

06:47 It will maybe make some people uncomfortable or angry.

06:51 And that's totally by design.

06:54 So it's something I'm very proud of.

06:57 So our ethos is connected.

07:01 And Satanism is not for everybody,

07:03 nor is it intended to be.

07:05 As you say, it's difficult to live a life of self-reflection

07:08 and challenge for yourself and not just swallow the pap that's

07:12 been pre-digested and spat out for you from society

07:17 to feed you.

07:17 But you want to walk your own path.

07:19 The left-hand path is a very individual one.

07:22 And we've been around for almost 60 years.

07:24 And the people that we've seen grow through Satanism

07:27 and achieve through Satanism and fully credit it

07:31 for focusing their life and challenging them.

07:33 And it's very solitary.

07:36 And yet, it can be so richly rewarding.

07:40 And there are Satanists in so many walks of life.

07:43 That's one of the things that the film shows,

07:45 a lot of different professions that Satanists

07:47 might be involved with.

07:49 But Satanists are not required to stand up for Satanism

07:52 or to tell anybody they're a Satanist,

07:54 because their life could be ruined by that.

07:57 So you don't get to be the president of the PTA

08:00 if you run around wearing a sigil of Baphomet.

08:02 But you could make an awesomely good one

08:04 if you tuck that Baphomet.

08:06 And our people do that.

08:07 So they're in police departments, in the military.

08:10 They teach.

08:11 They're in cooking schools.

08:13 They are everywhere.

08:16 And they do-- everything they do,

08:17 they try to do to their very best ability.

08:20 Generally in the workplace, why should that

08:21 come up in discussions of politics

08:24 or in discussions at school?

08:26 Why does that even--

08:28 I mean, we find it creates more division

08:31 than talking about good recipes or maybe fashion or movies

08:37 coming full circle.

08:39 I mean, I think the movie is really

08:41 conceived of as an experience.

08:44 It's kind of a thing that I want audiences to come into the

08:47 theater and not be ready for, and then kind of confronted by.

08:53 When I think of the movie, I think of that old Maxell tape

08:57 commercial where the guy turns on the music

08:59 and his hair just goes back.

09:02 And that's kind of the experience

09:03 I want people to have.

09:04 I think, for me, it would be just a dream

09:07 to have as much theatrical distribution as possible,

09:11 just because it's a big screen movie, for sure.

09:16 It's not a movie--

09:17 I mean, I don't want to say it's not a small screen movie,

09:19 but it's a big screen movie.

09:20 It's a visual movie.

09:22 It's visual storytelling.

09:25 It's a movie that I think gives a lot of visual pleasure.

09:28 So to kind of restrict that to a small screen

09:32 feels a bit of a shame to me.

09:35 So I hope a lot of people can get a chance to see it big

09:40 and with an audience.

09:41 I also love the idea that--

09:44 I mean, I love the idea that it could just start showing up

09:48 at midnight in Topeka, Kansas for three years or something

09:57 and have an audience that just comes.

09:59 That's my real dream, and secretly shared on file servers.

10:04 But that's not good for making money.

10:07 But it's just this secret thing that just gets passed around.

10:11 I kind of love that idea.

10:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]

10:17 (upbeat music)

10:20 (upbeat music)

Realm of Satan | Deadline Studio at Sundance

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