27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
'Satan Wants You' Blu-Ray Review - Engaging Documentary Shows The Timelessness Of Moral Hysteria
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.
For in-depth thoughts on Satan Wants You , please see my colleague Mike Vaughn's review from its original festival release here.
Video Quality
Satan Wants You comes to Blu-Ray from ETR Media with a marvelous HD source which presents this documentary exactly as intended. This feature is a mixture of recent interviews along with older clips, pictures, and other archival material to help round out the history of the original incident and subsequent movement. All older footage seems to be sourced from the most stable source possible, leaving more recent footage looking stronger and clips from the early days looking pretty rough at times.
The new talking head interview segments have great production value. Each subject appears crisp and clear with natural skin tones and some highly detailed facial features such as age lines and makeup. The oldest talk show appearances have very few instances of detail and heavy artifacts. The colors spotlighted in the footage such as clothing and background furniture have a nice sense of vibrancy to them. The encode does not come up short when it comes to compression artifacts or unwanted digital nuisances. While not all the footage thrives with an HD presentation, this documentary deserves a place on Blu-Ray. Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray disc comes with a favorable DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that captures this material to nice effect. Dialogue is the focus in the center channel as you get these recollections and theories delivered in a stable environment. The interviews deliver a worthy lineup of talking heads to supplement the archival footage. Any incidental music comes through with fine fidelity. This may only be a stereo presentation, but the room feels purposefully saturated when you are viewing the film. There are no notable digital anomalies or other issues spotted. This track delivers what you want. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided.
Special Features Booklet: A multi-page booklet featuring an essay from film critic Heather Drain is provided here. Final Thoughts
Satan Wants You is an engaging documentary that not only gives you an idea of how moral hysteria spiraled a bit out of control in the 1980s, but it also makes a compelling argument for why we are doomed to repeat this history if we do not learn from it. The film does not travel down too many unnecessary paths, and the interviews that are provided are prescient and insightful. The film moves along at a good pace so you get all the appropriate information without feeling sluggish or like the film overstays its welcome. If you are interested in the Satanic Panic movement, you should enjoy this one. ETR Media has released a Blu-Ray featuring a great A/V presentation but not much in the way of special features. Recommended
Satan Wants You is currently available to purchase on Standard Edition Blu-Ray or with a Limited Edition Slipcover exclusively through Vinegar Syndrome.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: ETR Media & OCN Distribution have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
