Nominated for Best Documentary Feature
Q&A with Melissa James
Digging deep into the roots of moral panics and cult conspiracies, 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 still affects and distorts our reality today.
The devil is in the details.
After Michelle Smith’s memoir Michelle Remembers, co-written with her psychiatrist Dr. Larry Pazder, becomes a bestseller in 1980, its themes of Satanic ritual abuse find their way into every American home. Over 40 years later, directors Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor take a magnifying glass to one woman’s thoughts, that became a story, then a phenomenon – including the highly-controversial practice of recovered memory therapy.
In the contemporary age of internet conspiracies and pickup artists, there is much to be learnt from looking back at a prior scare, where public fear quickly outran interest in truth. With their second documentary feature, Adams and Horlor combine archive footage, photos, and chilling audio recordings of Pazder’s conversations with Smith; with detailed interviews with those intimately involved in the case.
A horror and a thriller under the umbrella of an investigative documentary, Satan Wants You looks in-depth at the extraordinary relationship between a doctor and a patient, that transfixed the world. It succeeds as both an explainer for those unfamiliar with the Satanic Panic; an analysis of what it means when an idea goes viral; and a warning of the dangers of misinformation. Better the devil you know.
Pauline Rieux
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