Hot Docs 2023 Review: Satan Wants You

by Andrew Parker

The documentary Satan Wants You looks back on the now surprisingly unremembered ground zero for the “Satanic Panic” moral craze of the 1980s: a highly contentious memoir based around dubious psychological methods and an equally eyebrow raising patient-client relationship.

Upon its publication, the book Michelle Remembers created quite the stir. In it, Victoria, BC based psychiatrist Larry Pazder uncovers the repressed memories of patient Michelle Smith. During their sessions of “recovered memory” therapy, Smith would often break down and tell of satanic rituals, the eating of babies, and bloody sacrifices. Pazder, who was keen to leave his mark on the history of psychiatry, and Smith toured relentlessly with the book, not only getting a bestseller out of it, but also earning praise and commendations from law enforcement and the Catholic Church. Fuelled by their daytime talk show appearances and the mounting fears of the “moral majority,” Michelle Remembers would lead to widespread misinformation, false accusations, and outright lies that would destroy careers, families, and lives.

Directors Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor might be going back to where things all started with Satan Wants You – though the argument could be made that this sort of thing was around long before Michelle Remembers – but they’re doing an exceptional job of tying this entire regrettable chapter in pop culture history to our current present. Although flaunted as being the first “true” account of satanic rituals, there was no proof or scientific evidence whatsoever to back up Pazder and Smith’s claims. And yet, it tapped into the zeitgeist at a point where people desperately wanted to believe that evil has to be born from something etherial and unholy rather than from individuals.

Satan Wants You also works as a wonderful look at both Pazder and Smith, via interviews with family and friends who are more often than not conflicted about the whole situation. But the real power and dark comedy in Satan Wants You comes from the hysterical (in both senses of the word) archival footage assembled. It’s in that look to the past where it becomes most apparent that the more things change, the more moral hysteria remains the same.

Thursday, April 27, 2023 – 8:15pm – TIFF Bell Lightbox 2

Friday, May 5, 2023 – 9:15pm – TIFF Bell Lightbox 1

Satan Wants You is scheduled to hit theatres in regular release later this summer.

Join our list

Subscribe to our mailing list and get weekly updates on our latest contests, interviews, and reviews.

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

You may also like

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Accept Read More