Realm of Satan Brings Dark Glamour to a Misunderstood Culture
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The Sundance Film Festival is fond of programming Satan-themed documentaries, including 2019's Hail Satan?, about the Satanic Temple, and 2023’s Satan Wants You, about the Satanic Panic phenomenon of the 1980s. This year, Realm of Satan continues the tradition, though it’s hardly a traditional doc.
Directed by Scott Cummings (an editor by trade who also made 2014 short Buffalo Juggalos), Realm of Satan was created in collaboration with the Church of Satan—which is a different organization than the Satanic Temple; it’s the religion that was founded by Anton LaVey during San Francisco’s 1960s counterculture heyday. Rather than a straightforward exploration of the religious organization and its philosophies, Realm of Satan takes a more visual, experimental approach, moving through vignettes that spotlight various church members as they perform rituals, enjoy each other’s company, go about their daily business, and so on. Watching the film is almost like flipping through a motion scrapbook; on one page, we see a man in full corpse paint hanging his laundry out to dry in his otherwise unremarkable backyard, while on the next, a different man makes intense eye contact with the camera while performing a series of incredible card tricks.
A content warning affixed to the film—and the fact that it’s about, you know, Satanists—make it seem like Realm of Satan will be a lot racier than it is; while there’s some nudity and a few explicit sequences, it’s overall a rather elegant, artistically dynamic film. Certain participants make repeat appearances, but a narrative never really emerges beyond the feeling that everyone depicted is part of a coherent movement celebrating individuality. Reference is made to the way broader culture doesn’t always understand what the Church of Satan is about, in the form of a news clip detailing an arson fire that destroyed one member’s gorgeous home, but mostly there’s a sense that the participants are deeply comfortable with and committed to their lifestyles.
It must be said, however, that the still-unsolved crime made even worse by a repeated theme throughout the documentary, which is that these people have really, really good aesthetic taste. Dark wood, red velvet curtains, and immaculate collections of statues and books background the impeccably dressed members, who never speak to the camera but frequently—like that magician—make eye contact with the viewer, acknowledging a sense of artifice and the performative nature that propels this unusual documentary. Further playing with genre conventions: occasionally, Cummings takes things to a more surreal, magical level, showing us a woman levitating, a crystal ball speaking, or a man striding from behind a kitchen counter to reveal he has goat legs—and a huge pair of goat balls. You didn’t think Satanists got this far without a sense of humor, did you?
Realm of Satan just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; Visit Films is handling worldwide sales, anda release has not yet been announced.
Update, Jan. 24, 7 p.m.: The original post was updated to clarify that Visit Films is handling worldwide sales.
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