SXSW2023: World Premiere of Documentary Feature ‘Satan Wants You’

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AUSTIN, TX – Finding a way to my first film at the 2023 SXSW Film/TV Fest is a specific challenge, but after being shuttled to the famed Alamo Drafthouse, I found myself at the World Premiere of “Satan Wants You,” an amazing documentary about the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s and ‘90s, directed by Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams.

“Satan Wants You” tells the untold story of how the Satanic Panic of the 1980s was ignited by “Michelle Remembers,” a lurid memoir by psychiatrist Larry Pazder and his patient Michelle Smith. Supported by the Catholic Church, the bestselling book relied on recovered-memory therapy to uncover Michelle’s childhood abduction by baby-stealing Satanists. Amplified by law enforcement and America’s Daytime TV boom, satanic rumors spread through panic-stricken communities across the world, leaving a wave of destruction and wrongful convictions in their wake. This film digs deep into the roots of moral panics and cult conspiracies, showing how these events still affect and distort our reality today.

CAPSULE REVIEW: Having lived through the said “Satanic Panic” back in the day, I was stunned essentially when everything old is new again (QAnon and the ilk). It’s seems like American society is desperate for a explanation for evil, or an embodiment beyond their own human nature. We cover ourselves with lies, like the lies that perpetuated the 1980s panic, even when the truth is much less painful. “Satan Wants You” is a retro warning for the ills of today, ardently presented and amazingly researched. The devil is in the details.

Satan Wants You
Photo credit: SXSW.com

In a post-World Premiere chat, directors Sean Horlor (speaking first) and Steve J. Adams provide commentary on their new documentary …

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor and Film Critic/Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com