Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

The Kenneth Anger Angry Drunk Drinking Game

2008-04-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

The idea behind this game is simple: get as belligerently drunk as possible. Here are the rules:

1. Watch any of Kenneth Anger's films.
2. Drink every time an image draped in homoeroticism appears on the screen.
3. Drink double for every inch of penis that you see.
4. Get angry and break things.
5. Yell at strangers and tell them how wrong they are about everything.
6. Vomit.
6. Angrily call Gonzalo and make him cry.
6. Eat a bag of fried.
7. Call Gonzalo back and apologize. Tell him you didn't mean it.
8. Break some more things and then strike an inanimate object that you mistake for a real live person.
9. Explain to the cops that you were doing a school project. Call them pigs too.
10. Call Peg to bail you out of jail.

The Believers Drinking Game

2008-04-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

This drinking game is by far the best because it will get you the most drunk.

Basically the game goes like this:

Take a shot every time Martin Sheen is too talented to be in this movie.

Now I understand that this game may kill some of you, as taking shots every five seconds over the course of a two hour movie may be dangerous, but it can be modified to fit the drinking habits of a particular person:

Do you see Martin's lip quiver ever so subtly when enraged? Take a drink.

Do you see Martin's eyes wistfully looking off in the distance, searching the ether for his dead wife? Take a drink.

Does Martin make you feel the love he has for his son despite the fact that the boy has the acting talent of a gutted fish? Take a drink.

When Martin's new girlfriend writhes in terrified agony at the spiders hatching from her cheek, do you long Martin's soothing, dominant presence? Take a drink.

Basically, this game comes down to this: You should drink at times when Martin Sheen isn't on screen, you'll just enjoy the movie more.

Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital

2008-04-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

Oh, my.

Wicca, me, and Super-Mega-Death-Christ 2000: My past and present

2008-04-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

(posted by Peg for Stephen Cramer)

Hopping on the "How teenage witchcraft changed my life" bandwagon, I began dating a girl freshman year of high-school who was a self proclaimed wiccan, who began her dabbling after seeing "The Craft" in theaters. She, like the characters in the film, turned to wicca as an escape from her teenage troubles. Now, seeing that her mother was a completely unhinged self proclaimed Druid, my ex was of the more earthy crunchy variety of witch, with a large portion of Marion Zimmer Bradley thrown in (she believed wholeheartedly in the Rule of Three). This being said, it did not make her below stooping to the levels of the girls in The Craft. After being together for a year she reveals to me that she cast a kind of "love spell" to bring us together... now it was more a 'influence energies already present' as opposed to a Skeet Ulrich kind of spell, but still it weirded me out a little. By the end of high school she began to veer away from the ritualistic practice and began thinking of it as more of a philosophy... but she was still prone to pray to the goddess every once in a while. Unfortunately, she also turned out to be to be more like her mother than either of us had hoped and caught a case of the "Nancys" and after a messy year or so we broke up. But her spiritual beliefs still influence me today. Now, I have no idea as to where we come from, are going, or what we should be doing in the mean time spiritually speaking, but I find myself leaning more towards believing in an elemental interconnectedness-of-all-things that is a cornerstone of she believed in.

And now for something completely different...

For those of you who don't know, the "Angry Video Game Nerd" is, according to Wikipedia (oh, that's right) is, "the titular character and name of a series of Internet video farcical retrogaming video game reviews by James D. Rolfe. Here's his review of Mario 3, and the 1989 film "The Wizard"...in the end, he proves that Mario 3 and Nintendo is the devil and an 'entertaining' parody of "The Exorcist" ensues... enjoy... oh, he swears alot
too...

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/33161.html?type=mov

The Ninth Gate Drinking Game

2008-04-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Here is the Ninth Gate drinking game. This game has been designed to get you so drunk that if you were disappointed by the ending (as I know some of you were) that you wont be conscious to see it; or if you were disappointed by the weird CGI during the "sex at langella's death castle" scene (like I was) that you again, won't be conscious to see it.
You will need beer and a liquor of your choice.

Here goes kiddies;

TAKE A SHOT ANYTIME...

Johnny Depp lights a cigarette
The Baroness smacks into a wall after she's dead
(you might need to watch this in slow motion to get an accurate count)
You see the initials LCF

TAKE 2 SHOTS ANYTIME...

Someone mentions their impression of someone else's library (good or bad)
Johnny Depp leaves his bag somewhere and the devil chick gives it to him
You see Sisqo Jr. standing somewhere menacingly

CHUG YOUR BEER ANYTIME...

You see the devil chick's socks (for more than a split second)
Frank Langella sounds like Christopher Lee on the phone
Johnny Depp opens a fridge

NOTE: if anyone actually tries this and gets sick or hospitalized i'll totally have to change my name and move to canada- so drink responsibly. that being said, i'll probably try this.

I survived Satan Worshipping and all I got was this lousy life-altering injury

2008-04-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

1996- The Craft was released; I was a latchkey kid with access to HBO and two parents who worked. Despite my catholic upbringing and my parents' insistence that I be a good, upstanding member of society I was claimed by Satan. That's right, it happened as easily as if I'd been claimed by a kidnapper, pedophile or abortionist. My friends and I began to spend our afternoons in the backyard fiddling with the supernatural.
We dyed our confirmation dresses black and pierced all the loose skin we could find. The fact is, we didn't understand what we were messing with. We were blinded by the glamorous portrayal of witchcraft in the movie, the outward beauty of the actresses and their ability to control the people who scorned them. It's a long story but four people ended up dead and my friend Sally is in a mental institution. She still sends me pentagrams and piercings for my birthday. (the gross part is that they're her piercings...and they're not being removed by a doctor if you get my drift.)We had to learn the hard way that magic, like anything else, has to be practiced in moderation.
Heed this lesson well, Peg Aloi's Cinema and the Occult class, for I have shed blood to learn it's significance.
-Shiva

A/N The truth is that there is a force in the Universe and it needs to be treated with respect. Those chicks in the movie are stupid in the way that all teenagers are stupid. They are ruled by their emotions and they lack perspective. My grandmother is an astrologer and a numerologist and I grew up (after the catholic thing-which is true) with an understanding of the forces in the universe and our place within them. (I'm not saying I'm an authority- I'm just saying I'm not gonna hex my bully's hair off her head.) My brother and I both believe ourselves to be healers and I've done experiments with honing energy but I understand that energy is only to be used for good intentions and that if you use it negatively it's only gonna slap you in the face later, I don't necessarily stick to any code or believe in the three times back to you thing but I believe that what goes around comes around.
...and now that my crazy has spilled out a bit, I'll say see you in class.
-Claudia

The Devil Drinks Out

2008-04-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

A drinking game for The Devil Rides Out

1 Drink when:

Tanith or Simon become possessed

The niece is possessed and/or being mind controlled

2 Drinks when:

Rex does something stupid

The Duc reluctantly does something to save everyone

Mocata stares intensely into someone’s eyes

The Duc yells at someone for not knowing everything about the occult

The Duc says something about putting “our/my/your/his/her soul in peril”

Finish the bottle:

When time is reversed and everyone is saved in a very deo ex machina kinda way, and you realize no one’s soul was every really in peril to begin with.

Drink with Damien! an Omen Drinking Game

2008-04-23T21:37:00.001-07:00

The Omen Drinking Game:

Play as your favorite character:

Beginner Drunk – Kathy Thorn (Lee Remnick)
Intermediate Drunk – Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck)
Advanced Drunk – Damien Thorn (Harvey Stephens)
Guilty Drunk – Priest (Tommy Duggan)

Suggested Drinks

For shots: try one of the classic 3 (make it double shots for the classic 666) – vodka, rum, or whiskey
For a cocktail: try a Bloody Mary, gives delicious suggestions of gore and religion.

The Directions are extremely simple for those who are stupid drunks.

-Those playing as Kathy take a shot/sip every time the camera has a shot of her “scared” eyes
-Those playing as Robert take a shot/sip every time Gregory Peck gives the “stern yet worried” eyes.
-Those playing as Damien take a shot/sip every time the camera has a creepy shot of his “evil” eyes.
-Those playing as the Priest should take a shot every time the camera shows his “crazed” eyes, immediately after shot perform the “father, son and holy spirit”.

Happy Drinking!

Paradise Lost drinking game

2008-04-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

(posted by Professor Peg for Billy Chew)

Okay, so I thought I'd give us a little drinking game to make the hopelessly bleak Paradise Lost a little more palatable (or a little more bleak - alcohol being a depressant).

TAKE 1 DRINK WHEN:

Someone invokes God to rain vengeance down upon Jesse Misskelley
Someone invokes God to punish Jason Baldwin in the pits of Hell
Someone invokes God to torture Damien Echols with fire and brimstone
Someone invokes God to help them forgive

TAKE 2 DRINKS WHEN:

Someone in the police department admits to losing a piece of evidence
Someone in the police department mentions how agreeable Jesse Misskelley was during his interrogation
Someone in the police department repeats a question asked to them with their eyebrows raised, their eyes wide, and their jaw slack like an eight year-old asked who kicked the dog
Someone in the police department congratules themself on their police work

TAKE 3 DRINKS WHEN:

You think to yourself "John Mark Byers is fucking crazy."
You think to yourself "I wonder if John Mark Byers murdered the...naaaaah!"
You think to yourself "Good Lord. I wonder if John Mark Byers really did it. Maybe the documentarians are just painting him that way..."
You think to yourself "Well, it's understandable that the three boys were convicted. Everyone in that room deserves a little slack - all of them being the children of in-bred Cthulhu fish people unaccustomed to the nature of logic and reality."

TAKE 4 DRINKS WHEN:

You are ready to die of alcohol poisoning and leave this horrific planet for good and join the Dark Lord himself.

Gabriel the new Lucifer?

2008-04-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite movies is The Prophecy, starring Christopher Walken as Gabriel. Released in 1995, its one of the first movies I know that start referring to the Archangel Gabriel as the nemesis of man.
The idea here is that Gabriel gets sick of man not taking full advantage of there free will and scorning God for it. After all thats happened with the war against heaven and hell, people seem to be knowingly choosing hell. Gabriel decides waiting for the apocalypse just doesn't cut it for him, and its time he quick starts it. The Archangel Gabriel has fallen from grace and is now here to destroy us.
Beyond that though, the plot thickens. While this is causing another heavenly civil war similar to the fall of Lucifer, of those with Gabriel and those still loyal to man and God, there's also a third side. Lucifer (played amazingly by Viggo Mortensen) doesn't want Gabriel to win, "because two hells is one hell too many, and I can't have that." So, grudgingly, Lucifer helps man to overthrow Gabriel.
One movie doing this, not a big deal. But Since that, multiple other movies have come out with somewhat similar ideas. Most accessible are the sequels of the prophecy, Constantine, and Dogma. Dogma is a little different seeing as the devil plays less of a role, although we do get a sense that he's not happy about what Gabriel is doing. Constantine on the other hand takes the plot straight forward.

I think the movie has interesting implication. Gabriel and Lucifer for a long time have been symbols. Gabriel is a symbol for Christianity, or perhaps organized religion in its whole for the western world, and Lucifer representing science. With that in mind, Gabriel is betraying man, sick and tired of us and just wants to end us. In that light, its saying organized religion has betrayed us, has led us astray and left us to die. With growing bedgrudgement against religion, its hard not to think thats what the creators were saying with The Prophecy . But there's a second statement surrounding Lucifer's character. Lucifer tell us he isn't helping us because he wants to, "Y'see, I'm not here to help you and the little bitch because I love you or because I care for you,"but because he simply can't allow there to be more out there than him. If Lucifer is science, what does that say about science? Science is amoral, it doesn't give a damn what happens to us or if we understand us. It won't be here for our emotions or lack of security, it simply is there. We can use it, and it can use us...but thats all we'll get, abuse back and forth.

I find the statement hidden in the movie something amazing to think about. While Lucifer and Gabriel are the most obvious thinks pointing to this idea, the two main humans are also battling their own ideas of faith and it further presses this idea. At the least, its just an awesome movie, and Viggo Mortensen gives perhaps the best performance of Lucifer ever. Definitely an amazing movie.

*What does this have to do about the Peg Aloi article we had to read? Nothing. BUT, this was going to be my final paper. That didn't work out. Instead my final paper became a response to the article, and as such I bumped this idea to a blog post instead, just in case I don't already have 5+ posts.

A Little Dab’ll do you in

2008-04-21T11:54:00.001-07:00

Teenage dabbling in witchcraft is something most of us would probably consider a harmless activity. Light some candles, burn some incense, pray to the Goddess. All in fun and games, unless you’re Willow Rosenburg.
I’m an avid Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, and I’ve always thought of the case of Willow’s witchcraft to be a strange one. It started out fine; Willow was a more or less competent dabbler. The show never presented her fascination as bad or evil. Given the premise of the show, it would have been odd for them to do so.
Which leads me to season 6 of Buffy. Inexplicably, witchcraft became a bizarre metaphor for drug abuse and addiction. I consider it to be right up there among the worst misplaces drug allegories on TV.(anyone else remember “I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so….. scared!”)
What makes this case all the more strange is that the show is basically putting witchcraft in a bad light. It makes it seem that practicing witchcraft is dangerous. Willow, probably the show’s sweetest character, is transformed into a crazy evil villain, bent on destroying the world.
Up until this point, the show had basically been promoting some forms of witchcraft. Willow’s magic managed to save the day using her powers. Now she’s addicted?
The witchcraft in Buffy had a clearly feminist bent. The show itself was bent on female empowerment. Witchcraft itself seems to be far more female friendly than other types of accepted religions. It prominently worships female deities as equal to, or even superior to, male deities. All this has made it an attractive alternative for some of the feminist movement.
Which makes this season 6 plotline more out of place. Not only does Willow go crazy, but it is only Xander, her male best friend, who can save them all. If you look at, it almost seems like an anti-feminist statement. Willow “overdoses” on empowering herself, and must be kept in check by the show’s resident man.
This scene is similar to the scene in The Craft when Fairuza Balk goes crazy on power. If the practice of witchcraft really does represent a kind of female empowerment, then what kinds of messages are we sending by showing these dabblers going crazy because of their dabblings? Are these movies really an invitation to witchcraft, or a slam against empowerment?
Perhaps I read too much into the situation, but it is something interesting to consider.

2008-04-20T17:23:00.001-07:00

Faruiza Balk, depicted above, wasted out of her fucking cauldron.

The Craft Drinking Games

My game has three stages, because if I learned one thing from the movie, self-restrain is necessary and its never to good to get drunk (with power).

If you're a teenage dabbler, only drink when:

Skeet Ulrich says anything that makes him sound remotely smart (he is dreamy though... sigh).
Marsha Brady isn't a total bitch.
You remember that anyone in this movie besides Faruiza Balk has family members.

If you're an experienced member of a coven of four, you drink when:

A homeless man inexplicably appears and then dissapears with no explanation. Take a shot if the homeless man mutters incoherently about a snake (don't all homeless men mumble incoherently about their snakes?)
Faruiza Balk's mom downs a drink, which is whenever she's on screen.
You spot an upside down cross worn as jewelry.

If you're a natural witch, drink when:

People get what's comin' to 'em, but with magic.
Someone transforms into someone else, Mission Impossible style but with magic.
Poorly dated CGI effects happen (if it's a bad CGI effect and a transformation spell rolled into one, drink your whole bottle).

The End
Now your drunk, and it's all thanks to Professor Aloi! And also magic.

The Decline of Witches in TV and Film

2008-04-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

Through the 90's, film and television's depictions of witches transformed a great deal of well worn perceptions. No longer were witches green-skinned, hair-moled, pointy-hated hags, but sexy, vibrant, young women. As Professor Aloi's essay makes clear, The Craft and several other popular texts created role models for young teenage girls. In many ways, the power fantasies inherent in superheroes for teenage males thrived in relation to witchcraft and teen girls. Giving a sense of empowerment to a demographic whose voice can many times be largely ignored, the witchcraft explosion served as a welcome tool in teenage development. Wiccan practice for many teens influenced by such texts as The Craft, or Charmed was probably in many cases a form of rebellion. It was stronger rebellion for girls growing up in conservative regions of the country. As stated by Christian writer, Steve Wohlberg, Witchcraft had gone mainstream (this is this guy's site http://www.whitehorsemedia.com/articles/details.cfm?art=20). Kids growing up in the nineties undoubtedly felt a close bond with their television witch counterparts, as evidenced by the intense fanbase of shows like Buffy and the ilk.

But now, for the most part, depictions of witches has all but dried up. As a generation grew up and went to college, a new set filled the highschools and the demographics. The shows changed from following the adventures of the overly burdened Buffy and Willow, to the exploits of rich and shallow teens of The O.C. Shows like The Hills and My Super Sweet Sixteen have marked a change in programming aimed at teenage girls. Could a change in values over a scant few years be the reason the witches are currently absent from television and film of late? I'm not really sure, and to be honest, this blog entry is more of "outloud thinking" than anything else.

The metaphor for female empowerment and witchcraft is strong indeed, and the media tapped into it to target a particular demgraphic. It seems like now, teenage girls have flocked less to the strong female role models of Willow and Tara and fed into the cell-phoniness of celebrities like Paris Hilton and the stars of The Hills. From witches to bitches, I guess. With the Harry Potter's books all wrapped up, and the last of the movies on the way, the popularity of wiccan and witchcraft may have waned, which is a shame, considering the fact that, despite Christian outcrying of occult depictions, these media works have had overall a positive impact on the teens that have connected to them.

The Colored Mixed Drink Drinking Game

2008-04-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

Requirements: Hard alcohols and mixers of your choice. Suggested: Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila, Coke or Sprite, and Sweet and Sour Mix.
The movie Masque of the Red Death.
The ability to remember color coding.
And of course, shot glasses and cups.

Pre-watching: However you want, color code each of the drinks with any of the 6 major colors.

Alright, start the movie!
For every scene, find the [b]major[/b] colors in the scene...and mix the drink together, and drink!

If you are using mostly hard alcohols, everyone doing this every scene will equate to mass suicide, and as such you probably want 3 people minimum, and one person has to make the drink, one person has to drink said drink, and another person attempts to identify the major colors.

Not only are you getting drunk fast, you get to make new mixed drinks and try to remember them in the morning. You may want to choose your colors so that you know the last drink will finish anyone off, and my suggested drinks will make the last few scenes be nothing but AMF's.

Get Drunk with The Exorcist

2008-04-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

The Exorcist Drinking Game

Drink Every Time

1. Damien's mom is shown or mentioned

2. A cross is shown

3. Anyone bleeds

4. Another language besides English is seen or spoken

5. A priest is shown in uniform

6. The coin is shown

7. Anyone swears

8. Regan and her mom go to the doctor

9. Anyone says "demon"

10. Anyone cries

Take Two Shots

1. Every time you see Regan's demonic possession.
-deep male voice
-vomit
-head spinning around
-spasms
ETC.

Rosemary's Miscarriage

2008-04-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Drink if:

Rosemary is talking about her unborn's name.

You hear a variation of the title music.

Someone remarks about the smell of tannis.

You See the bell hop.

Mia Farrow eats something she oughn't be eating.
You have to listen about the Pope (double if you manage to see him).

You think you see Ruth Gordon naked.

You see anything about Yamaha, which is only once if I remember correctly.
Mia Farrow wears a "fun" outfit.

You start wondering about Hutch's personal life.

JFK makes an appearence.

Rosemary's pain stops.

or if Guy Woodhouse is lying.

Finally:

Take a shot (or two) when Roman proclaims "The year is one! God is dead!"

Oh, you should probably drink a vodka blush along with Guy, Rosemary, Minnie and Roman (directions found here).

Then: If you've got any left in you, throw in The Tennant and drink whenever you think Polaski looks smug.

Yikes.

Dunwich Horror Drinking Game

2008-04-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

Wanna know how to get drunk Dunwich style? Here's how!

The rules. One drink everytime someone says-

Necronomicon
Old One
Yog-Sogoth
Wheatley

Two drinks everytime-

Someone dies
The color scheme changes to show the "Demon Perspective."
A frail, spastic blow is landed to inexplicably devastating effect during the fight with the security guard
Wilbur Wheatley enters a scene from off camera
You get a glimpse of the tentacle thing

And finally, take a shot everytime-

Wilbur Wheatley does this little move with his hands:

The New Generation

2008-04-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

The popular media that inspired young teens to be interested in Witchcraft or becoming Witches seemed to slowly go down the wayside besides the Harry Potter Books and films of course. The media had shows and movies such as "Bewitched", "Teen Witch", "HalloweenTown"," Sabrina, the Teenage Witch", "Charmed", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "The Craft", "Practical Magic", and shows that had an episode featuring a theme of Witchcraft has dwindled down and there is not anything like this for the new Hannah Monata generation. However, this is going to change very soon. The release of a remake of "Teen Witch" is in the works. Ashley Tisdale is going to be the new modern teen witch, Louise Miller. The movie is about Louise being an unpopular girl who finds out she is a witch and is taught by an elder woman how to possess her natural powers which in turns makes her the "coolest girl" at school. This movie when it was released in the late 80's was a huge success. Many girls who identified with being unpopular wanted to be Louise and inspired them to want to be Witches. If this film project makes it into production and releases, it could possibly be the beginning to a new era of hot tv shows and movies involving witches.
The media knows this will be a hit because it will be an updated version of what has already worked in the past. There are a new generation of unpopular, nerdy, rebellious and outsider kids who will eat up movies like remake of "Teen Witch"

From Hell, Magick Ritual, and the Persecution of "The Female"

2008-04-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

On its face, the Hughes Bros. film (link) may seem like a simple "whodunnit". The source material on which the film is based presents something much more sinister. "...From Hell" was originally a serialized graphic novel, written by Alan Moore. Both plots concern the Jack the Ripper murders and make the claim that they were actually a part of a city-wide Masonic conspiracy to cover up an illegitimate Catholic child by the son of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert Victor. The film concerns itself mostly with this plot and is probably why it was seen as such a disappointment to the fans of Alan Moore's work. Although hinted at in the film, the graphic novel goes much deeper into the motivations behind the killings. The theme of the story is male fear, male society, in this case, represented by the Masons.

"Jack", as this story posits, is the real-life royal physician Sir William Gull. In this fictionalized account, Gull had a spiritual awakening during a stroke in which he saw the Masonic God Jahbulon. This event drastically changes Gull's world view. He takes on the Ripper murders because he believes he is performing an occult ritual with "Victorian London as its Altar" as Moore has stated. A scene in the graphic novel has Gull recite his politics to his stagecoach. Gull claims that women and the unconscious mind, what he calls the "Dionysian Age", once ruled over men and reason, what he calls the "Apollonian Age". In his Masonic visions he sees women's suffrage on the rise and believes that by performing these occult murders, he will be able to "deliver the 20th century" to male "reasoned" society. Gull's actions are ironic as he is performing a magic ritual to preserve reason.

Moore never really lets on as to whether he believes Gull to be simply insane or "enlightened". While Gull undertakes the murders, Moore references different events going on at the same time that would have a profound affect on the next hundred years: New scientific leaps that would lead to the atomic bomb, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and the conception of Adolf Hitler. Gull's Masonic brothers certainly think him insane by the end of the story, so much so that they lobotomize him. Through Gull's perspective, however, this allows him to transcend time and space itself, whereby performing the ritual, he is able to influence both past and future events. The final pages have a disembodied Gull going back in time to inspire William Blake's "The Ghost and the Flea" as well as traveling forward in time by influencing future serial killers like Peter Sutcliffe and Ian Brady (apparently to "deliver" the 21st century).

Professor Aloi's article on the rise of witchcraft among young women led me to believe that "From Hell" would be this "uprisings" antithesis; the male fear at what amounts to a new female empowerment movement.

I'm Afraid of The 700 Club

2008-04-18T18:13:00.001-07:00

(posted by Professor Peg for Billy Chew)

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That's only tangentially important - but the reading did mention The 700 Club, so I thought I'd stick that in there as context for those unfamiliar.

I'm not quite sure if this particular post is supposed to be a response to the reading or just inspired by it, but I'm going to lean toward the latter and just kind of riff off the lines "...for the teen Witchcraft movement, the chronicling of emerging trends and practices can really only be observed at a generational remove, until these teens are of an age where they can do their own research." (121 - PEG ALOI!!)

Since I am of the age to do my own research, and eventhough I was never really a part of the "teen Witchcraft movement," I have a bit to say here just from my own experiences.

I can remember in middle school there were the goths - as in every middle school in the 80's onward. As an outsider myself (though more of a nerdy, science-fiction, awkward nose-picker than a sleak, angsty/stoic Cure fan) I was friendly with the Goths, and I think Peg's comment that "from a philosophical standpoint it may be that a generation raised in a culturally-conservative, fear-ridden culture would naturally be drawn to a form of adolescent rebellion that would stand out starkly" (117 - should I really cite what you know that you wrote, Peg?) (Peg sez: dude, I barely remember my own name some days, so have at it.) is accurate. Being a Goth kind of made sense to me, I felt drawn to it, and I had a few conversations with the Goths regarding Christianity. But despite the initial draw, I was disturbed by what I found there.

Having been excommunicated from my Catholic church, but still retaining a good deal of guilt-centered residue, I was really taken aback by the vitriol my friends spouted. I distinctly remember my friend Marcus shouting "The Bible is a story meant to teach people things, it didn't really happen! God's not real!" Now, this is a completely harmless and inoffensive statement, but it disturbed me. Those guys listened to Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson! I listened to Trance music.

Anyways, the reason I bring this poorly written memory up is because I think I may have - in that moment - felt the fear and anxiety that the entire town of West Memphis felt all day everyday. That is to say, I was momentarily an absolute conduit for ideology. Despite the closeness or distance I had from the church, my individual identity was set aside momentarily and replaced by Catholic doctrine. In a way, I still contained believed in Catholicism, despite the fact that it kicked my family out. I used to feel as though my reaction to Marcus's vitriol was because I was simply "innocent," but now I realized that I was simply a tool (another band the Goths seemed to enjoy). As time went by, and my Catholicism was left at the curb, I emerged from the doctrine, and in high school I became a Drama Kid, which is as close as you can get to Goth without surrendering the tortured artistic pretensions.

I just finished reading Michelle Goldberg's "Kingdom Coming" The Rise of Christian Nationalism." In it, there's a section that discusses the Religious Right's belief regarding homosexuality - we all know it for the most part. What some don't know is that, since they believe that homosexuality is a choice, they believe that children can be conditioned out of it. This is known as Reparative Therapy. Places like Focus on the Family - a prominent source of religious talking heads for most cable news outlets looking to "balance" debates - is one of the primary proponents of such indoctrination. And what are the signs of
emergent homosexuality in children? Goldberg quotes Focus on the Family's website: "tendency to cry easily, be less athletic, and dislike the roughhousing that other boys enjoy." Sounds familiar. Gay? Goth? Drama Kid? Emo (the 21st Century version of the Goth)? Damien Echols? The Trench Coat Mafia? Pagans? Abortionists? Feminists?

I bring this up because "Paradise Lost" had a profound effect on me. I'd seen miscarriage-of-justice documentaries like the "The Thin Blue Line" before, but I really saw myself in Damien Echols. Both he and I and everyone in our class and everyone Falwell mentions on The 700 Club probably fulfill Focus on the Family's non-Mook rubrick for Pavlovian reconditioning. As Peg points out in her piece we all read, the Goths, et al are a product of the very culture that condemns them - and sentences them to die by lethal injection.

Although I was well aware of it before seeing the film, "Paradise Lost" made it disturbingly clear that my friends (Marcus and the Goths) and myself could have been beside Echols in that courtroom. Not because we moved in similar circles (hell, we were in different states), but because the Religious Right is just so powerful...and crazy.

Black Metal Pt. 2

2008-04-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

So TJ started up the black metal conversation on his last post and I've decided to carry the torch, so to speak. While the article discussed the media influence on teens into perusing the occult as having a more or less benign effect, the influence of black metal's model of Satanism has yielded, at least for more than a few individuals, particularly destructive results. By no means do I wish to argue that Occult influences generally have such an impact, as the Scandinavian spawned black metal scene appears to function more on gut-level rebellion than any sort of real centralized ethos (in its effect anyhow, in my opinion), it is worth noting that like the rise in interest in Wicca caused by such teen films as “The Craft,” this craze was sparked by charismatic media figures who caught the attention of particular teens who felt themselves marginalized.

In what is probably a vast oversimplification of how the scene evolved, I'm going to quickly pull a quick synopsis of its roots. There were popular bands dabbling with occult themes like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath, while additionally, other groups like Coven took it to a greater lengths. Based on my research on the topic,it is my opinion that this band could be the coolest shit ever. According to the book Lords of Chaos, the group planned a failed Satanic Woodstock while releasing one of the most successful anti-Vietnam records ever, a cover of “One Tin Soldier”(Moynihan and Soderlind 7-8). So, check it out. Nevertheless, numerous groups followed, emulating these themes, seeking to take them to greater extremes. Such include King Diamond and Venom, both using satanic imagery and ideas for very symbolic and with very goofy effects. Neither seemed particularly interested in the Occult beyond scaring folks, but that's not what mattered. So then what is next? Someone needed to take it to the new level. Using the violence and aggression found in thrash metal bands like Slayer, arose the group Mayhem. Though it would be unfair to call them the innovators of black metal, since that would ignore the contributions of bands like Bathory or Celtic Frost, they became a very important center point for the scene that would ensue.

These dudes started as a bunch of drunks who, apparently, were really into rustling the feathers of the no-so-strict Christian community around them. After the alleged cannibalization of sort-time lead singer Dead's corpse, as TJ pointed out, Euronymous became a much feared individual in metal community, despite his future murderer and band mate Varg “Grishnackh” Vikernes who felt him to be a bit a too soft. Varg, on the other hand, was more interested in burning churches and sparked a trend of similar arsons, many of which are suspected to have been committed by teenage fans seeking respect in the community Say Moynihan and Soderlind:

Black Metal bands like Venom intended their Satanic image as a joke, but the music they created was imported to Norway and picked up by teenagers who were inclined to take this form of showbiz Satanism at face value. Then the Norwegian bands upped the ante by creating a reality out of Venom's weird fantasy world—a reality which commanded international respect in a youth culture that venerates not only those who 'talk the talk,' but those who 'walk to walk' as well (355).

What, at its core, claims to be a call to arms in the destruction of Judeo-Christian teaching appears to be more of an outlet for impressionable kids to act out violent fantasies. As Euronymous is quoted, “I don't want to see people respecting me, I want they to hate and fear me.” This fear the scene created has given a lot of people within it a sense of power and has resulted in numerous high-profile murders and hundreds of graveyard and church desecrations, most of which committed by teenagers apparently in the name of black metal.

One of the more bizarre accounts I have ever heard of the extremes of black metal were of a group of South American teenagers who felt there music was only fit for the dead. As such, they only performed for dead. They made claims of exhuming grave yards to collect an audience for their performances in a black metal zine, but were met with skepticism. They, in response, mailed a human figure to its publisher. Though I can't for find any evidence to substantiate this, I don't really care. I would very much like to continue to believe that this is real.

Also, it appears that there are plans to make a fictionalized film adaptation of Lords of Chaos in the near future.

Featured above: "The most despised man in Norway"

Meanwhile, check out these additional video interviews with Gaahl from Gorgoroth (found here). I think they are pretty cool.

Buffy Summers-Slayer? Yes. Chosen One? Yes. Future Mrs. Sean McDonough? Absolutely. Spiritual Counsellor? Ehhhh Maybe Not So Much

2008-04-16T21:12:00.001-07:00

Before I do anything, as a disclaimer let me just say that my backpack was stolen the other day. There wasn’t anything of real value in there so whoever took it, I hope you enjoy my beat up old gym sneakers. However, the article Peg provided for us was among the list of things taken and while I, good student that I am, read the whole thing beforehand and remember what it was about, I now don’t have it with me and am writing this response pretty much out of memory. So, be lenient with me.

Now, onto the response.

Growing up, there was a lot of things that could be said about me. Among them were the facts that I was, and still am on both counts, a Catholic and an unabashed lover of all things that go bump in the night and have a taste for warm human flesh…. and not necessarily in that order either.

Vampires, werewolves, the occasional swamp man (ten points to anyone who can tell me where that’s paraphrased from.), I’ve loved it all from first sight and no amount of churching or Catholic school was able to drag it out of me.

Of course, a good chunk of said childhood was spent fighting back the urge to roll my eyes every time my well-meaning parents speculated as to the potential damage being done to my fragile psyche by this continuous parade of ghouls and grisly dismemberments. It was a fight I often lost.

I tried to make it simple for them, “It’s just a TV show/movie,” I’d say. “It’s just what I enjoy watching, probably written into my DNA by the same Guy who decided I was gonna have a taste for Italian food and red Starbursts over pink. It doesn’t mean anything.” And the truth was it really didn’t and those (interminably long) arguments probably fostered my conviction that there’s very little truth to any of that “you are what you watch” claptrap. The fact that my parents even considered catering to the idea that my penchant for the occult signified some sort of lurking anything in my soul was ludicrous.

But now, I take a look through this article and find out that the Pagan team is just as willing to suppose that a healthy dose of “Buffy” can turn anyone into an aspiring Wiccan.

Now, before I get any deeper into this, I’ve got nothing against Paganism or any other religion. If it makes you happy and inspires you to be a little nicer to your fellow man then God or Buddha or Hecate bless ya.

But at the same time, like I still have to occasionally tell my folks, it’s just a TV show. A superbly put together show that I own on DVD, but a TV show nonetheless and I have to question the convictions of anyone who gets into anything based on the lead in for “Dawson’s Creek.”

In short, what I'm really wondering is, just how many teens who get into Wicca because they think Willow is cool is still are going to be into it ten or fifteen years down the road?

Of course, I admit that sometimes momentous things come from insubstantial beginnings and I’m sure that there are at least a few people who were led to something that really changed their lives for the better thanks to a 100 minute sit down with Neve Campbell and Robin Tunney. But all in all, my response to this article is pretty much the same response I have to those right wing evangelical groups screaming, often to their own choir, about how “Harry Potter” is luring a generation of children into Witchcraft.

Namely, I think they might be blowing things out of proportion just a little bit.

Coveted Coven Fashions

2008-04-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

*EDIT: I didn’t see Eleanor’s article before I wrote mine but they are very different, and therefore both are necessary readz.

In Peg’s article, “A Charming Spell” she discusses the influence of pop culture witchcraft and Wicca on teenagers in the previous decade. The article really illustrated the interwoven aspects of political, popular, generational cultures to the trend and as it ended with the note of teenage girls emulating the characters in the Craft I decided to further the exploration.

Now I’ve never claimed to have an extensive knowledge on Wiccan, Goth, or Pagan culture but there in lies the essence of the point; these subcultures influencing the pop culture. So in the bridge between the two I decided to research the pop-culture gothic clothing mecca “Hot Topic”.

Hot Topic’s slogan is “everything’s about the music” but their franchises are well known for carrying lots of movie (Tim Burton, Lost Boys, Sweeny Todd, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc.) and other media merchandise. The music they feature tends to be centered around rock and roll, punk, Goth and the heavy metal that are so infamously linked and associated with anyone wearing black…thus anyone capable of witchcraft or capital murder.

The company was formed in 1988 (first store opened in 1989) and while this somewhat predates the trend Peg talked about in her article, the company didn’t do so well those first few years and only after incorporating more cultural references and influences did the store really gain success. In terms of the mid nineties in 1996 the company doubled its amount of stores (up from 30 just the year before). Another interesting event of 1996, the release of The Craft.

While the store is heavily associated with, and embraced, by lovers of “alternative” culture (not necessarily witches, wiccans, or pagans) the store is interestingly enough heading in a new direction. Starting last year Hot Topic began and slow but steady remodeling of its stores. The remolding is aimed to make the stores “lighter and brighter” and thus more appealing to a broader range of clients and customers. Like any business this revamping is strictly business (sales have been on the decline for the past 3 years) yet for a store so intertwined with a niche community and culture it’s definitely another facet to consider. The MTV article I’ll post below seems to accredit, or at least suggest that the trend away from punk/goth music and the huge growth in more bubble-gum pop culture has an influence. I mean you can’t argue with the fact that in the past year or so the only reason Marilyn Manson has been in the headlines is because of his romantic escapades.

So if after viewing the Craft or taking this class, you are dying for a bit of pop-punk apparel, or just a cheap Invader Zim messenger bag head to your local Hot Topic before it becomes American Eagle’s biggest competitor.

Linkage!

www.Magicalomaha.com

http://www.silverlightsource.com/clothing.shtml

- sites with more “ritualistic” clothing for Wiccans and Pagans.

http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usnj&c=words&id=10418

-an article discussing how necessary or appropriate “authentic, costumey” Wiccan apparel really is.

http://community.hottopic.com/insideht/about_ht.asp

-Hot Topic’s company bio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Topic

-Hot Topic Wikipedia!

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1561986/20070607/marilyn_manson.jhtml

-MTV article on Hot Topic’s Facelift.

Goths are Evil

2008-04-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

This section of Peg's article really caught my attention for obvious reasons that I'll explain in a moment. "Subculture groups like Goths (short for Gothic) stand out because of their modes of dress...It is performance of the 'leave me alone' variety. Identification with such a persona can be in some cases crucial to a young person's social survival....most high schools in America had at least a handful of students who liked to wear black and listen to the Cure."

I grew up in Northern Virginia in a fairly conservative county. When I was in 8th grade, I started getting in to this so-called "goth" stage. I dressed in black, wore my doc martins and put on black lipstick. My parents HATED it. They did all they could to stop me from doing it, but for me, it was a form of growing up and rebellion. I had my own style, my own friends, and I was too fucking old to listen to my stupid parents. One of my older friends was probably the cause of this--he was my idol for a very long time and he wore the chains and the black trench coat and had the butterfly knife that he so secretly showed me on the school bus on the way to school. I knew the connotations that came with wearing black and I knew other people referred to me as the "goth girl" but I enjoyed the attention.

I guess I didn't realize how STUPID people can be until two different events happened. First, the high school my friend attended had a bomb scare, and because he was wearing the chains and studded bracelets and fishnet shirt, he got called to the office to be questioned. The administration wanted to pin the bomb scare on him. Why? Because he wore black and chains. My friend doesn't have a cruel bone in his body...he just loved being different!

The second event was a bit more personal. Two friends and I had secretly started this comic book in a school notebook. Just for fun, of course. My good friend Lindsey was great at sketching, so we came up with a super hero group of girls (us) who went around eradicating the world of evil and stupidity. Unfortunately, evil and stupidity took the form of several teachers, administrators, and fellow students. One of my friends (they each swear it was the other) left the notebook in a 6th period science class.....it was found. And handed in. And before we knew it, we were being brought into the office, two of us wearing black and chains, and were accused of wanting to stage a Columbine-like shooting in our school.

Uhhh...no. I don't want to kill anyone...I just hated some of the people I had to see every day! So I found a healthy way to express my anger--art! Of course, that was unacceptable and I got three days of in-school suspension. My parents yelled for hours, saying the police were going to come and confiscate my computer, take me to trial, blah blah blah, all because of the media hype over Columbine.

I grew out of my "goth" phase shortly after entering 9th grade.

I still wear my docs though.

Just when I changed the pics on TWO of my blogs to stills from The Wicker Man!

2008-04-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

Looks like the start of shooting of Cowboys for Christ has again been delayed...

The BBC has the story (they usually do).

Come on,

2008-04-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Look at the new picture and tell me that the new subheading shouldn't be "I love Cinema and the Occult THIS much!"

Closet Witches!

2008-03-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

In light of recent classes on the Satanic Scare, I am writing on Rebecca Brown, her works, and her connection. The reason I wanted to single her out in particular was because she may have been one of the wackier writers and "doctors" that arose during the 80's satanism related paranoia.

Brown first rose to prominence when Jack Chick, of Chick tract's fame, the fabulous writer and illustrator of the trashy little Christian comic book pamphlets crazy people hand you on the train, published her book, He Came to Set the Captives Free. This book dealt with Elaine, a woman Brown claims to have helped as a psychiatrist. Brown says Elaine was the bride of Satan. She was "saved" after years of Satanic practices, attempting to infiltrate good Christian churches. The interesting thing about Brown is that she doesn't stop short at claims that Satanism is wild spread. She write about physically fighting demons, werewolves (yes, werewolves!), and other evil beings. One of the funniest details concerns Elaine's occult days. When being trained to become the next High Priestess, Elaine was given a "demon guide," named Man-Chan. This site reviews a recorded interview Jack Chick himself conducted with the women http://www.monsterwax.com/brown.html . The name of the recording is Closet Witches, and it sounds incredible. It's funny to see how much of her information comes more from popular culture than Christian or pagan sources. She spins yarns like horror schlocksters making cheap exploitation.

Today, Brown still spins her wildly entertaining yarns. She has a website with her husband, Daniel Yoder http://www.harvestwarriors.com/. Her later work, Unbroken Curses, cowritten with her husband, Daniel Yoder, claims an evil Kabbalistic past for her new hubby. According to Brown and Yoder, Daniel Yoder was sent to learn Jewish Kabbala at the hands of evil Rabbi's until he was 19. One day, while being kept prisoner of the Satanic Semites, he was bombarded with thousands upon thousands of spiders dumped on him as punishment. Pleading in anguish, a beam of light came and saved him, healing all his spider wounds.

Despite being disproved repeatedly, Brown continues with her beliefs. Jack Chick still believes every word. And I assume that there are probably hundreds of gullible people that eat her tripe and call it pudding.

Other Films of Satanic Interest

2008-03-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

I think its probably the 14 year-old me's frustration with being a goofy suburban kid still lingering somewhere inside of me that has kept me so enamored with Satanic and blasphemous imagery in film. I thought now would be a fun time to share some great examples of this that we have not got a chance to look at in this course.

1975's "Alucarda," (Dracula backwards...get it?) directed by Juan Lopez Moctezuma is really an exceptional piece of work which I give my highest recommendations. The plot is a little shakey, but then again, its more about the elaborate visuals and truly over-the-top performances anyway. As best as I can remember, it follows a young woman, Justine, as she joins a convent where she meets and immediately befriends Alucarda, an outsider within the community who is suspected of being a witch and apparently is the child of the Devil himself. The two partake in a Satanic ritual where the two proclaim allegiance to the Devil and then all hell breaks loose. There is a particularly interesting aspect of the narrative which parallels the warmth and goodness of the two women's homoerotic relationship to the cruelty and harsh conviction of the nuns and priests within the convent. The imagery employed by Moctezuma is really its strongest point, however. Examples of this include (but certainly not limited to) a very goat-like gypsy wandering around the convent, grotesque renditions of Christ's crucifixion, and, most memorable, the costume design for the nuns making them appear to wrapped up like mummies and stained with menstrual blood. There is a lot of nudity, screaming, and gore, but somehow it never feels all that gratuitous. There is something very beautiful about how its all pulled off and is definitely worth checking out. Below is a trailer for the film.

We talked briefly about "Haxan" in class, but I still thought it was worth posting a scene from that here. It is the most wonderful depiction I have ever seen of Satanic and Occult themes and it very well may contain some of the most captivating images ever committed to film, if you were to ask for this guy's two cents. For those not familiar, this is a pseudo-documentary about witchcraft and the persecution of witches through time ending with beginning of medical understanding of mental illness. I'll rely on the clip to do the rest.

A more recent film that doesn't deal directly with the occult but does have its share of Satanic imagery and blasphemy is Jan Svankmajer's "Lunacy" (2006). The film follows a young man named Jean, who has violent fantasies stemming from his fear of institutionalization, as he deals with the death of his mother. Preparing for her funeral, he meets the Marquis, based on the Marquis de Sade, and "becoming an unwilling accomplice to de Sade's debauchery" (allmovie). There is one scene in particular that I think makes it an appropriate mention here. The Marquis is driving large nails into a sculpture of Christ while in front of him a group of nuns, whose breasts are exposed, sit with four men as they eat a large chocolate cake, rather sloppily, that is in the shape of the cross. Meanwhile, as Marquis is condemning God as weak and fallible, another nun comes and places a robe over him which bears an inverted cross that appears to have been make up from cutouts out of pornographic magazines. After he is done, animated meats wriggle out from Christ's wounds. Certainly, a far cry from the refined and subtle qualities of Castevette. Nevertheless, this a pretty exciting film that is notable in it being the most blasphemous picture I've seen in a while. The trailer unfortunately, does not really show anything to the extent described above, its still worth a look.

Session 9 and Satanic Ritual Abuse

2008-03-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

There is a very underappreciated Brad Anderson film out there that didn't enjoy a wide release but deserves a real historical look. This film doesn't directly deal with the Occult, perse, but this film makes a direct refernce to the hysteria that surrounded the Satanic Ritual Abuse craze of the 1980s (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0261983/). This film follows a group of asbestos removers trying to save the real life Danvers State Mental Hospital from condemnation (http://www.danversstateinsaneasylum.com/home.html). Within the film, the characters are conversing and having lunch outside when one inquires as to why the Mental Hospital was closed down. One of the characters, Mike, claims that it was mostly due to budget cuts, "The Feds call it deinstitutionilization" (Script, Session 9). Mike doesn't stop here however, he claims that a large portion of mental institutions collapsed due to the "Patricia Willard Scandal". I wasn't able to find any concrete information on a person fitting Patrcia Willard's description in the film, so I am left to believe that this case is a hodgepodge of many cases that resulted from the fallout of the Satanic Ritual Abuse hysteria. Mike claims that a young girl, Patricia Willard:

"was committed by her parents, Maniac depression, that sort of thing. But in the 80's this repressed memory therapy took off. The shrinks figured these new techniques would release hidden memories of traumatic events like rape, incest. So Patricia,with the help of her doctors, recalls that when she was ten, her father raped her. But not once, right? No, three times a week. And he didn't just rape her, he came into her room at night wearing a black robe. He drove her to a wooded area where her grandparents and mother were. They wore black robes. When they took them off, orgies ensued. And then they brought out the newborn. She was forced to watch as her mother cut a baby's heart out with a stone dagger. She'd drink the blood, others would eat the flesh. The grandfather and fatherwould fuck her repeatedly--She was forced to have abortions."

After Mike says this, the listeners are completely disgusted and ask him to stop. Mike, however, is not finished with the story. He goes onto say that Patricia was ready to sue her parents, but then all of a sudden--the suit is dropped. The listeners are baffled. The suit is dropped, as it turns out, because, before going to trial, Patricia has a gynecological checkup, where it is determined that she is still a virgin. Mike wraps up his anecdote by saying that this type of thing happened around the country, and with absolutely zero bodies found as a result of supposed SRA, the mental health establishment takes a hard hit by countersuites..."That, and the budget cuts" (http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/s/session-9-script-transcript-caruso.html)

I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen this film to do so. The horror is completely psychological, and although it hasn't been widely viewed, it has set the groundwork for subsequent films (like Anderson's La Machinasta and Jose Balaguero's Darkness) and other aspects of media (the picture used above is appropriated into the Occult-centric video game Silent Hill 3) SEE IT! I COMMAND THEE!!!

Fact or Fiction: Scientology and The Occult

2008-03-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

The internet has hyped up the "evils" of scientology by its enemies and the tabloids love to use "the occult" in reference to this religion all the time. Scientology is said to be the "study of truth" which I suppose can be related to the word occult meaning knowledge of what is secret or hidden. L. Ron Hubbard is the founder of scientology and he was part of the OTO and studied Aleister Crowley, The Beast. This is a major reason why people dub Scientology a demonic "cult". This religion using a practice called "auditing". The whole purpose of auditing and training is to graduate individuals to a higher state of spiritual existence. Furthermore, Crowley's religion was all about reaching your "higher self". These two ideas are very similar and that is why people "hate" scientology. Since Crowley is linked with 666, people assume he is satanic and the get the idea that scientology is satanic because of its practices and that Hubbard was involved with Crowley.
However, Crowley had been asked about black magic and devil worshipping and he has been quoted as saying "To practice black magic you have to violate every principle of science, decency and intelligence. You must be obsessed with an insane idea of the importance of the petty object of your wretched and selfish desires. I have been accused of being a "black magician". No more foolish statement was ever made about me. I despise the thing to such an extent that I can hardly believe in the existence of people so debased and idiotic as to practice it." I think people see scientology having a relationship around the occult and assume its bad.
I did not know much about scientology before reading about it recently and I can see similarities in Crowley's religion and this one. They both are just about reaching the best spiritual self you can be.
Additonally, I think that people get the word occult and cult confused when they say that scientology has to do with the occult. Yes, some people do correlate the two for reasons such a Hubbards past, but, many people think the religion is actually a CULT which has nothing to do with the occult at all.

http://www.bonafidescientology.org/
Here is a link to you tube. It is a series of videos talking about Scientology as cult. However, the title of the videos is "Scinetology and the occult", just another example of how people misuse the occult in exchange for the word cult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dztMg-lERLM&feature=related

Harry Potter is the Devil!

2008-03-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Since it's first publication, there has been tons of controversy about whether the Harry Potter series is filled with Satanic worship and evil. This website says "specifically the Harry Potter books include things like human sacrifice, the possession of demon spirits and the sucking of human blood." Parents and Christian groups around the globe have banned it from households and even gotten it removed from libraries on occasion. Many parents say the books are too graphic for children to read. There's too much death and danger and destruction.

This other website states that Harry Potter is a Satanic deception and says it's popularity is due to our "lack of willingness to be obedient to God’s word." The author believes "that the Harry Potter book series is perhaps one of the most potent tools to ever impact children’s lives for Satan." I'd like to know what they think about rap or metal music, and if that brings the Devil out in kids as well.

Personally, I think that's all a load of crap. JK Rowling is a brilliant author who has created a fantastic world and loveable characters. The fact that her books get violent is a testament to the world we live in. I don't understand why fiction for young adults should be all happy go lucky when the world they're about to enter out of middle/high school is rough and hard. The Harry Potter series is full of vivid writing and complicated plots. I think these things enrich a child's mind. Rowling doesn't look to sugarcoat anything in her books and I think kids of all ages appreciate that. The magic in them is not malevolent, it's simply an element of the Harry Potter world, much like terrorism and WMDs are elements of ours. It all depends on perception and intent, much like the good versus evil theme in Harry Potter.

And come on, who wouldn't want to live in that world? I swear to god I'd be on the next plane to London if I could get to Platform 9 3/4.

Say "Oui!" to the Ouija!

2008-03-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

In the exorcist Chris is first introduced to Reagan’s mysterious “invisible friend” through the Ouija board Reagan plays with. While the situation that follows is, hopefully, not to common among modern day teenagers, and our childhood the Ouija board has been, and remains a familiar object for children and adults alike. But while our parents may have claimed to be the forerunners of the Ouija revolution its extensive history may surprise you, and your parents.

The origins are actually as debated as much as its effectiveness, some claiming the roots of the Ouija board stemmed from ancient China (the fuji, or a type of planchette writing). Others argue that the origins of the Ouija begin with the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, from the séances he would hold with his sect.

What is relatively concrete in terms of the beginnings is that in the mid 1800s people began to experiment in spirituality and divination. Those who were involved with this spiritual revival sometimes believed in the use of a planchette (a sort of pen and pendulum device) that would conjure up “automatic writing”.

The businessmen Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard had the idea to patent a planchette sold with a board on which the alphabet was printed…and thus, viola, the Ouija. The board went through some business politics in terms of the company and claims of the true inventor, including many imitators but the Ouija has prevailed and exists today under the production of toy-powerhouse Parker Bros.

I found an interesting section on the wikipedia entry on the Ouija that discusses Aleister Crowley’s thoughts and invlovment with the Ouija. (True this is wikipedia but much of it is quotes pulled from letters Crowley wrote to one of his students Frater Achad aka Charles Stansfeld Jones.)

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In one letter Crowley told Jones: "Your Ouija board experiment is rather fun. You see how very satisfactory it is, but I believe things improve greatly with practice. I think you should keep to one angel, and make the magical preparations more elaborate."

Over the years, both became so fascinated by the board that they discussed marketing their own design. Their discourse culminated in a letter, dated February 21, 1919, in which Crowley tells Jones, "Re: Ouija Board. I offer you the basis of ten percent of my net profit. You are, if you accept this, responsible for the legal protection of the ideas, and the marketing of the copyright designs. I trust that this may be satisfactory to you. I hope to let you have the material in the course of a week." In March, Crowley wrote to Achad to inform him, "I'll think up another name for Ouija." But their business venture never came to fruition and Crowley's new design, along with his name for the board, has not survived.

Crowley has stated, of the Ouija Board, that, "There is, however, a good way of using this instrument to get what you want, and that is to perform the whole operation in a consecrated circle, so that undesirable aliens cannot interfere with it. You should then employ the proper magical invocation in order to get into your circle just the one spirit you want. It is comparatively easy to do this. A few simple instructions are all that is necessary, and I shall be pleased to give these, free of charge, to any one who cares to apply."

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Regardless of it’s scientific or spiritualistic effectiveness, or even its origins the Ouija board is an interesting and entertaining piece of pop-occult. It’s popularity and prevalence also make it a significant icon for the modern occult and certain spiritual communities. Also a great party game! Next time you’re having a party, bring a Ouija and maybe the devil will come and crash. Keep him away from the liquor.

Links:

Witchboard World: http://ouija.witchboards.net/

Ouija board entry on the Paranormality website: http://www.paranormality.com/ouija_board.shtml

Submit/read Ouija board stories: http://psychicfreaks.com/ouija-board-stories/

Buy a board: http://www.boardgames.com/ouijaboard.html

Exorcist: Before the Beginning.

2008-03-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to pick up William Peter Blatty's novel The Exorcist for a long time now. And last week, circumstances finally aligned so that I could take it home and give it a read (finishing on Easter Sunday of all days). Anyway this leads us to the burning question ... is it better than the movie?And while I didn't come to an answer immediately because both pieces are exemplary handlings of the subject matter, the book is indeed the better contender.

Now, before continuing as to the differences in the book that put it above it's cinematic counterpart, I should warn you, gentle reader, that we are entering SPOILER territory so anyone planning to read the book for themselves might want to skip this post.

Go ahead, I'll give you a minute to skip past me.

Anyway, The Exorcist works even better as a book for the same reason that most long novels turned into films are better than their celluloid counterparts. They possess (no pun intended) an innate edge that I like to compare as being similar to the advantage regular sized candy bars have over the miniature ones. Namely, that while both may be the same great product, one comes with a lot more to sink your teeth into.

For instance, characters like the housekeepers Willie and Karl (would any of you who just saw the movie even know their names?) and detective Kinderman who are little more than bit players in the film all have much more involved roles in the book. Kinderman in particular is given much more to do than awaken Chris to the fact that Reagan killed Burke Dennings, but also deduces this fact for himself and must do a great deal of soul searching as to whether or not to prosecute her for it.

Karl also has an interesting subplot involving his and Willie's daughter who is a heroin addict living in the city. This is something I wish would have found its way into the script because the story's events indirectly lead to the daughter checking herself into rehab and it ties in well with Father Merrin's proclamation that "even from this evil will come some good."

And this brings us to the demon itself and the novel's greatest strength over the film. This is to say that while the film does an excellent job of portraying Pazuzu's (the book leaves no question that this is the possessing entity) vulgar and repulsive attributes such as the swearing and bodily excretions, it fails to ever really display the creature's cunning and that is where the demon's true capacity for terror lies. I'm a big fan of all things horror, to the point where very little actually scares me any more, and while reading this book I was genuinely frightened and not by the head twistings or projectile vomiting but by the sequences like where Father Karras interviews the demon for the first time. In the film this scene is merely an interesting interlude to progress the plot towards the final confrontation. In the book it's an open window into a mind full of so much calculating and malevolent evil that I was actually afraid of it.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the novel left out of the film is the relationship between father Merrin and Pazuzu. That's right, relationship. The novel states in no unceartain terms that the demon inhabiting Regan is the same one that Father Merrin faced off against in Africa. This past coonection gives Merrin some added characterization that is missing from the film and also gives the novel's exorcism sequence an edge over its film counterpart because it transforms the clash of wills into a personal one. It is no longer a pair of opposing forces set at odds by allegiance, but a war between individual warriors.

And aside from the above examples, there are also several smaller moments in the book ranging from more detailed descriptions of the church desecrations to an added emphasis on Father Karras' childhood that work to make the literary version of The Exorcist an even fuller story than the film version and a very worthwhile read. And as a final exhibit of both points, I want to leave you all with an abridged excerpt of what is one of my favorite parts in the book that didn't make it into the movie. This is from the "hypnotism" sequence which, in the film, is very short and again only showcases the demon's penchant for vulgarity. Here, it is much longer and leaves you with a taste of what else the demon is capable of:

"I am speaking to the person inside of Reagan now," the psychiatrist said firmly. "If you are there, you too are hypnotized and must answer all my questions."

A Pause.

"Come forward and answer." Silence. Then something curious happened: Regan's breath suddenly turned foul. The psychiatrist smelled it from two feet away. He shone the penlight on Regan's face.

Chris stifled a gasp. Her daughter's features were contorting into a malevolent mask: lips pulling tautly into opposite directions, tumefied tongue lolling wolfish from her mouth.

"Are you the person inside Regan?" the psychiatrist asked.

She nodded.

"Who are you?"

"Nowonmai" she answered gutturally.

"That's your name?"

She nodded.

"You're a man?"

She said, "Say"

"If that's a yes, nod your head."

She nodded.

"Where do you come from?"

"Dog."

"You come from a dog?"

"Dogmorfmocion," Regan replied.

The answer seemed to disquiet him and he lowered his eyes in thought. In the smothering stillness, Regan's breathing rasped as from a rotted, putrid bellows. Here. Yet far. Distantly sinister.

Lauren Stratford

2008-03-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Cornerstonemag is this christian based magazine that isn't active anymore but it keeps its archives online. I stumbled upon this really interesting article on Lauren Stratford that explores the truth behind her book Satan's Underground. This article was published in 1990 and the three authors conducted an incredible amount of research and interviews and really thoroughly-in their own words- "chronicle how one woman's gruesome fantasy was twisted into seeming fact." So she was actually born Laurel Rose Willson, and while she was adopted as she claims, she neglects to make any mention of her sister in her book.

Here are some interesting tidbits from the article:
1. After running away from her family when she was in her early twenties, Lauren lived with a woman named Billie Gordon and her family. Mrs. Gordon says that among countless other lies, Lauren once faked blindness for a period of time and when confronted (in sort of a humorous way) admitted that she did it "to obtain sympathy and attention".
2. Lauren's husband from her short-lived marriage admits that she was a virgin when they married- this being in direct contradiction to her claims that she had been sexually abused since childhood, lived as a prostitute and given birth to three children, the first as early as age 14.
3. Lauren's adoptive sister along with several individuals from Lauren's High school adamantly discredit Lauren's claims of teen pregnancy. Her sister also discredits a number of other lies concerning their parents.
4. Someone called "friend three" in the article says this: "Have you read the book Sybil? I didn't read it until I started taking my psychology classes. I realized that most of the stories Laurel had told me about her mom's abuse were taken literally from Sybil."

The article says that Lauren only began mentioning satanism as a part of her story in the mid-eighties, claiming that (around the time she was forced into hardcore prostitution) she had been branded as a love slave and had always worn bangs to cover the branding on her forehead.
Lauren Stratford also claimed to have personal knowledge of the McMartin Preschool ritual child abuse case, found here (which you guys might remember we touched on in class) One of the parents videotaped Lauren's story and showed it to the other parents, but most of them didn't find her credible. One of the parents said "she didn't give concrete, specific, testable details that hadn't already been reported in the news". Lauren also said that she had been in an ongoing lesbian relationship with Virginia McMartin and had been present when the child abuse had been going on. You get the impression from the article that the parents of the McMartin school children really didn't trust Stratford from the beginning and are (quite rightly) enraged at her obvious bid for attention.
A quote from the article:"Parent Leslie Floberg concluded our conversation in an angry outburst. "Put this in your magazine: I feel raped by the so-called Christians who've promoted Lauren Stratford as a victim just like our children."

Here's a bit from the article worth noting.
"The most stunning element of the true Laurel Willson story is that no one even checked out the main details. When we contacted Laurel's mother, sister, brother in law, cousin, church friends--in fact, anyone who would have known Laurel during the books most crucial years--we were chocked to discover that, in nearly every case, we were the first people to have contacted them!"

The kick in the throat is here
This bit is seriously demented and upsetting.

Black Metal

2008-03-20T18:19:00.001-07:00

As we learned from watching Oprah, Metal leads to the devil. Its funny, because the statement is just not true and grossly over stated, creating a gigantic unneeded hype and fear in parents. Metallica has no-where near the Satanic influence that its ancestors did, like the Rolling Stones, and never once proclaimed to be more popular than Jesus like the Beatles (well, not publicly).
But Black Metal gets a little different, a little more hardcore. Black Metal frequently includes pagan or occult like lyrics. There's some fighting between whether Thor or Ra are more awesome, but there's a pretty unanimous vote that the Christian God is just not worthy of worship. Some of these bands may focus on factual pantheons, like the frequent use of Norse mythology in their music, while there are many bands that also focus on the creative works of writers like H.P. Lovecraft or J.R.R Tolkien. Their music also has a frequent focus on suicide, mass murder, violence, war, and everything associated with those things. The band names were often colorful to the same effect, like Dimmu-Borgir, Mayhem, and Gorgoroth. And to put on a good show, many of the members of the bands had great stage names like Faust, Necrobutcher, and Fenriz (allusion to Fenrir for those who don't know). Over-all, Black Metal shouts out its pagan / occult / anti-Christian nature to the world.
So I wanted to focus some time on some of the great Black Metal Bands out there, or at least some of the ones I have listened to with an appreciatory smile. First, a Norwegian Black Metal band, Mayhem. If you've ever heard a joke about Norwegian Black Metal, or maybe just Black Metal in its entirety, its probably because of Mayhem. Formed in Norway, in 1984, this band wasn't anything special. Minimum of Double bass pedals: Check. Satanic Lyrics: Check. Lead Singer blowing his head off with a shotgun: Check. Yes, after Mayhem had just removed two members of their band for suicidal tendencies, they brought in a new lead singer, Per Yngve Ohlin, better known simply as "Dead" (thats not a pun). Dead was apparently an interesting character who may have believed that he was actually a demon (some band members claiming he was other-worldly). At the age of 22 (in 1991), Dead slit his wrists and then turned a shotgun to his face and bit down. Before this though, he did write a well felt message on the wall, "Sorry for all the blood." Thanks Dead, your remains will hang from your band members neck. Yes, it did just get creepier. Rumor has it that when his fellow band mates found him dead, there first response was to make a stew out of his brains, and use his skull fragments to adorn their necks, and other bits were shipped to other people they felt worthy of owning valuable fragments, mostly other Norwegian Black Metal people. While some of these rumors were later denied, at the time the band soaked in the publicity. This later got another band member, Euronymos, murdered by another Norwegian Black Metal artist, Varg Vikernes (who strangely sold Dead his ammo).
Yes, Norwegian Black Metal is that hardcore.

For a slightly better band, we now look at Emperor (Black Metal bands love their flash page intros, but apparently don't build the rest of their website) If your ears can withstand the brutal beating it will take by listening to black metal, than it will know that Emperor is actually a talented band. With three members, Samoth, Faust, and one of the few amazing drummers who is also a vocalist, Isahn, this band put out more intellectual albums that dealt on retelling mythology, like "Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise." Beyond just being better musicians, the band was actually more respectable as humans. While some Black Metal bands were eating the brains of their fellow band mates, burning down Norway's churches, and being convicted of murder, Emperor stood away from it all, and actually condemned some of it. They actually stopped wearing 'corpsepaint,' and giving an over-all feel that Black Metal was simply trying too hard to be noticed. Emperor let their music speak for itself, and when your next door neighbor is listening to Emperor, you'll hear them too.

Another great band is Nile, formed in 1993 in South Carolina. As the name (and webpage if you actually click the links) may insinuate, these guys have an obsession with Egypt. Their lead member, Karl Sanders, is actually an Egyptologist, and this reflects heavily in the music. Much of the lyrical aspect of the music has to do with the Egyptian mythos. There are also many allusions to our good friend, H.P. Lovecraft. If that doesn't hook you, than you'd be well to learn that many of the members of this band are said to be some of the best musicians in their field (well, Death Metal field). The raw talent that it takes to place something 4times faster than every other musician is incredible.

By now though, you may have noticed a slight trend. While these bands all had at a minimum of pagan reference, and at most a band full of incredibly disturbed people...most of these events occurred after the Oprah show. Black Metal, while starting in 1982, was really confined to Scandinavia and parts of the UK. Its not until the beginning of the 1990's that Death Metal (as far as I'm aware of, Death Metal is America's version of Black Metal) shows its face in America. Not even the most gruesome things of Black Metal really show up until the 1990's, such as a series of Church Burnings. America's "Metal" movement at the time was no-where near as dangerous, nor violent, as other going ons in the world.

Necronomicon, where art thou?

2008-03-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

Many people have wondered whether or not the Necronomicon is a real or fiction piece of arcane literature, and I'm here to tell you now, no, it isn't. But the Necronomicon has fueled science-fiction, fantasy, and pop culture decades after the infamous book was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1922 short story (although published in 1924) "The Hound". Much of the origin to the tale of the Necronomicon can be found in David E. Schultz's and S.T. Joshi's An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. In this book, the authors claim that the inspiration came to create an untouchable arcane text may have come from Robert Chambers' collection of short stories The King in Yellow (Chambers' book of short stories is also said to have heavily influenced Stephen King's Dark Tower series) The tales in this book refers to a largely unprovided text that drives the protagonists of the subsequent tales hopelessly insane. While this seems to be a sound theory, Joshi and Schultz concede that there is evidence that Lovecraft wasn't even aware of Chambers' work until 1927.
The hoax of authenticity continued largely due to Lovecraft's allowance of other authors using Lovecraftian mythology and alleged texts to give breadth to the universe. After Lovecraft's death a book was published with the unimaginative title A History of the Necronomicon which traces the arcane text's origins from its "authorship" by the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred in 738, to the banning of the Latin and Greek translations by Pope Gregory IX in 1232, to its English translation by real life Elizabethan magician, John Dee.
Further proving the book's lack of authenticity, Lovecraft once wrote in a letter to friends Jim Blish and William Miller, Jr., "if anyone were to try to write the Necronomicon, it would disappoint all those who have shuddered at cryptic references to it" (Joshi & Schultz). But the effect the book has had on popular culture, and cinema especially, is something that is very true. Even films that have no direct link with Lovecraft place themselves squarely in his universe by using the book. As I'm sure we all remember, the Evil Dead series uses the book at great length and is continuously a part of Ash's adventures. Not many people remember that it is the Necronomicon that enables Jason Voorhees to continually cheat his own death as it is implied in Friday the 13th Part 2(the book is seen in Jason's basement in Jason Goes to Hell). These are just a couple of films touched by Lovecraft and his mythos that aren't based on his books, obviousluy there is a wide catalog based specifically on his writings (The Dunwhich Horror, Dagon, Re-Animator). Hopefully this will shed some light on the fake text, but very real effect Lovecraft's Necronomicon has had in Cinema.

Searchers find possible graves at Manson compound

2008-03-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

This is kinda class related...

For years, rumors have swirled about other possible Manson family victims -- hitchhikers who visited them at the ranch and were not seen again, runaways who drifted into the camp then fell out of favor... (read more)

hold on to your pentagrams...

2008-03-07T21:14:00.000-08:00

Check this out.

Michael Bay's production compnay is in reports to re-make the un-re-makable Rosemary's Baby, as well as classic horror films: Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Discuss away although i'm pretty sure a resounding "why?" would be heard from the entire class...

Contributors to Modern Paganism

2008-03-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

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We discussed briefly in class modern paganism and the name Gerald Gardner was brought up. It was said he was contributed to the revival of modern witchcraft. However, when doing some research online I found that a man that lived before Gardner by the name of Charles Leland (1824-1903) wrote about Italian witchcraft and many of his writings are hugely influenced in Gardner's work. Leland's most influential books are Aradia and the Gospel of the Witches. Before Leland, no other books existed that contained material from a with practitioner. Leland was a prolific collector and spent most of his spare time collecting Witch lore and purchasing items of antiquity. One of his most prized possessions was the Black Stone of the Voodoos. It is believed that there are only five or six of these stones, or “conjuring stones” existing in the whole of America. The stones are small black pebbles thought to have originally arrived from Africa during the slave trade, and whoever succeeds in obtaining one would become a Master of Voodoo recognized by all other Voodoo practitioners in America. Leland somehow obtained one and this he exhibited at the Folk-Lore Congress in London during 1891.

I posted the youtube video because it shows some great photos of some of these contributors. I will briefly describe each of them and provide links for you to learn more about each if you are interested.

Gerald Garner: Considered a central figure in the Wiccan revival of the 1950's and 1960's. He developed his own coven called Gardnerian Wicca. To become part of this coven involves initiation and works on a degree system. What happens in the initiation is never shared outside the coven. He worked closely with a woman named Doreen Valiente. she disapproved of him when he went public with his coven after England repealed the last of the witchcraft laws in 1951.

Doreen Valiente: The mother of modern witchcraft. She was the High Priestess of Gardner and co-wrote and edited many of his books. Eventually Doreen left Gardner's coven and started her own, Ned Grove. In her later life, she dedicated her time to public speaking to ensure genuine information about paganism and to counter the many misconceptions about it's religion.

Aleister Crowley: We have discussed a good amount about "The Beast", so I will not go into him here except for providing a few links to information concerning him.

Alex Sanders: king of the Witches. He founded the Alexandrian Tradition of Wicca. He claims his grandmother initiated him into the religion having him learn the rite of witches through the Book of Shadows. After she died, he went through depression and fell into the study of "Abra-Melin" magic.

Raymond Buckland: He has studied the occult and the metaphysical for over forty years and has wrote many books the subjects. He also has been a technical advisor for films that involve these subjects. Buckland was the agent for Gerald Gardner and he was the person that introduced Gardnerian Wicca into America. Seax-Wicca was his own personal tradtion of witchcraft.

Lee + Hammer = Height of Horror Films

2008-03-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

He has appeared in over 250 films. He has played villains in blockbuster film franchises such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and James Bond. He holds the world record for number of filmed sword fights. He has appeared with Laurence Olivier, and is an Italian aristocrat. He also got famous for doing horror films for the Hammer studios in London. Who is he? He is none other than Christopher Lee.

Christopher Lee has become one of the most successful and prolific actors of our time. The people at Oracle of Bacon counted, and they decided Kevin Bacon isn't the center of Hollywood. Christopher Lee is. Or at least he's number 2, just .00541 points behind Rod Steiger.

Christopher Lee is not only a great actor, he is also probably one of the reasons the Hammer Films in London became as successful as they were. Lee's talent and personal interest in the occult helped to drive the genre, aiding in the creation of some of the great horror films, including The Wicker Man and The Devil Rides Out.

Lee was a bit actor until he got a part in Hammer's first color film, The Curse of Frankenstein, in which he played the monster. Frankenstein was a success, and Lee landed a lead role in another Hammer film, Dracula. This film broke UK box office records, was considered to be the best Hammer film ever, and made Christopher Lee a star. Lee was considered to be one of the finest actors to ever play the role.

Lee was such a big draw for Hammer, that the studio ended up blackmailing the actor to appear in their subsequent Dracula films. According to Lee, the studio would tell him "Think of the people you'll put out of work if you don't do it!" Lee appeared in many films for Hammer in the following years.

Lee himself had a personal interest in the occult, and much of his private library is devoted to occult books. At his insistence, Hammer made two films based on the occult novels of Denis Wheately, including The Devil Rides Out and To The Devil a Daughter. Wheately was so impressed with Devil Rides Out that he gave Lee the rights to all his black magic books.

After To The Devil a Daughter, Lee veered away from the horror genre. Coincidentally, Hammer Films went bankrupt shortly after Lee left horror. It was also around this time that the British horror film itself began to die.

In the end, horror films, particularly British ones, probably owe a debt to Christopher Lee. He is clearly a talented actor. How else does one become the center of the Hollywood universe? It may not be coincidence that the horror film had its heyday while he was around. But it is also clear that Lee owes a debt to the horror film. Without it, he may never have been exposed to the world.

Film Screening Change, Spring Break and Exam

2008-03-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

I just can't do it.

I cannot show the truncated version of The Wicker Man when we could have the chance to see a longer version (the extended release version is almost ten minutes longer than the theatrical release version).

However, since I do not have the longer version with me (and I was not aware Media Services only had the theatrical release version), we will postpone that screening until the week after break. Please complete the reading assignment by then. If you have time you might also wish to do a bit of research on the film Don't Look Now which was shown as a double bill with The Wicker Man, or view it if you have the chance. It deals with the paranormal in an interesting way that is certainly relevant to the course, and is a beautiful film besides.

Tomorrow, instead, we will watch Roger Corman's Masque of the Red Death. (Nice little blurb on this here; also see the linked article at right on the Black Lagoon website, which has some excellent short reviews of various occult films.)

During the week of March 25-27, we will watch The Omen. That should get us caught up with everything. We can watch some made-for-TV film clips as time allows.

Also: would you all rather have a take-home exam to be finished by the time you return from break? Or an in-class exam the week we return from break? If enough people weigh in before class tomorrow, I will see what I can do. The difference: for a take-home exam, you can use your readings and notes and have more time; it is sort of like writing four short essays. The in-class exam would require two short essays and a number of short-answer responses.

Dungeons and Dragons

2008-03-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons (DnD), has passed away at the age of 69, as detailed in this article. Due to that reason I want to take a small moment to remember a great American past time. Not baseball, but the other one, the one under the bleachers practiced by the kids who didn't make the baseball team: Dungeons and Dragons.

For those who do not know what Dungeons and Dragons is, it is the first published Role Playing Game (RPG) in 1974. An RPG is a game where the players takes on the "Role" of another character, generally in a fantastic setting in which the player is now a hero. DnD in the most generic world (Greyhawk) is similar to a medieval Europe, except with a multitude of mythological beasts such as trolls and dragons which the players would interact with (generally fight and kill). Players would create their own characters, choosing things such as their races, (your basics, Human, dwarf, or elf) and class, such as Warrior or Wizard, with a multitude of rules that centered around the rolls of die. And not just your normal 6 sided dice, but everything from 4sides to 20sides (even 100 sided dice).
Dungeons and Dragons quickly caught on, spawning many other copy-cat games, like the similarly named Tunnels and Trolls. Dungeons and Dragons has itself taken many forms, quickly splitting into Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (ADnD). It is currently owned by Wizards of the Coast, who are working on a 4th edition of the game. Dungeons and Dragons is often cited as the basis of almost any and all Roleplaying Games that we have now. Yes, you closet World of Warcraft players out there, DnD is the forefather of your game (actually...thats a lie. WoW has to thank Battletech more for spawning Warhammer...but still DnD is very important and the main forefather of all MMoRPGs).

Now, to connect this to the occult and end in giving you some fun reading material...the various worlds and realms of Dungeons and Dragons also included entirely new pantheons of gods. Some of these pantheons resembled or took directly from multitudes of pagan gods, or were entirely new constructs, but almost never did they circle around a singular Christian God.
So in the '80's, with the fear of everything occult in nature, DnD was also definitely picked on. Many believed that Dungeons and Dragons was actually being used to help corrupt our youth, a process to select specific individuals to be initiated. The very pagan notions of DnD wasn't helped when a few cases of teen suicide occurred by kids who were known to have played DnD. Obviously, the kids committed suicide because of the game and not due to the fact they were alienated and showed signs of chemical imbalances before hand...it was the game (oh yeah, and any kid who listens to Metallica practices SRA). The evils of DnD were all detailed in Christian pamphlets, such as this one by Jack Chick. No seriously, read it...propaganda at its best, detailing both how DnD leads to suicide and FORCES you to become an evil Satan worshiping heathen that ends in a cry for burning all Witches with bible quotes to boot.

The stigma from this hung heavy for quite awhile. Luckily, since the 2000's quite a few various big names have openly, and with pride, admitted to be huge DnD players. One of these notablye characters is Joss Whedon, who referenced DnD multiple times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Xander, Giles, and Andrew play it). The antithesis of the assumed DnD player may be the most vocal though; Vin Diesel, who has multiple rants about his love for the game (the first two block quotes are about DnD), and had a laugh riot with Conan O'brien about it. So finally, after 30 years, its okay to say "I play a roleplaying game, and enjoy it."
I know a few of you do. So take this moment to also say "Thank you Gary Gygax. Without you I wouldn't be playing WoW or Final Fantasy."

The Mysterious Bohemian Grove

2008-03-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

I don't know if any of you are familiar with Alex Jones, the famous conspiracy theorist, but he has some interesting (true? who knows...) things to say about the Bohemian Grove and the all-male occult practices that go on there. The Bohemian Grove is a campground in Monte Rio, CA and it belongs to a private men's club out of San Francisco called the Bohemian Club. Every year this club hosts a three week camp out and important men from all over the globe attend.

Some quick background, the Bohemian Grove was established shortly after the club's inception in 1872, so it's obviously been around a while. Though the powerful men who attend are urged to leave outside issues "at the door," the Grove is famous for deals that were done during the camp out--even the Manhattan Project was planned in September of 1942. The wait list for the club is 15-20 years with fees of over $25,000. They say that all that takes place inside the grove is entertainment, such as plays where the women are played by men in drag, but for all it's high class secrecy many believe that occult rituals take place. In this picture above you can see Regan and Nixon in the Grove, so to say men such as our country's leader are playing with the occult, well, that's mighty interesting in my opinion. There are reports of men in black and red robes sacrificing something to a huge owl statue, or something like that.

Alex Jones brings these theories to a new level. He infiltrated the grove during a camp out in July 2000 and filmed what he saw. This Article, while maybe not a credible source, has some really interesting things to say about what he found. He confirms that there is a stone owl statue and the ritual takes place praising the owl god Moloch. Jones says he saw a body wrapped up tightly, which begged for mercy and was burned. Apparently Jones caught all of this on video tape and a series on the Bohemian Grove aired in the UK. I haven't seen any of it but I'd be really interested to know if any of this is true or if George Bush is hanging out there sacrificing people.

The Wicker Man

2008-03-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

This website devoted to The Wicker Man is an excellent resource, which includes a PDF copy of the infamous and oft-cited 1977 article on the film from Cinefantastique magazine.

There is a great deal of information on the 'Net devoted to this film. Some of the best examples are:

The various versions of The Wicker Man

Nuada, The Wicker Man Journal

Gary Carpenter's "The Wicker Man - Settling the Score"

Something Wicker This Way Comes", an article by critic Mark Kermode

A collection of writings and press from Compulsion Online

and

The Yahoogroups discussion list

michael bay makes gold out of corn doodie

2008-03-03T21:53:00.000-08:00

we were ALL forced to sit through rosemary's baby (the WHOLE THING!) so we all know what a piece of garbage it is. this is why i was so excited today when i found out that michael bay, savior of cinema, was going to remake it into something watchable. i only assume it's gonna kick a lot of ass because the creative genius behind transformers and bad boys 2 has never made anything that wasn't worthwhile, so why should his take on even a horrible and BORING movie like rosemary's baby be any different?

shocktillyoudrop.com has reported that bay's production company, platinum dunes, is in talks with paramount for the remake rights of the stinker (http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=5008). platinum dunes also did remakes of the snoozefests texas chainsaw massacre, the amityville horror, and the hitcher, so we know they do good things. bay is also (thank god!) doing a remake of the birds. my mom tried to get me to watch that once and there's like, no music or gore or anything! the first hour of the movie was, like, some crappy love story, too. the birds weren't even made by computers! they, like, didn't have computers back then, or something, i don't know. but, yeah, they were so fake looking.

you have to hand it to michael bay. it takes a lot of talent to take movies as mind bogglingly dull as the texas chainsaw massacre and make it as fucking cool and bloody and fast and crazy as that new one. it'll be interesting to see how he makes rosemary's baby good, b/c like, nothing happens in that movie. NOTHING! like, we don't get to see any devil worshippers stabbing people in the eyes and eating their guts or some shit. it's just that dumb broad walking around reading books and walking around and shit. at the end of the movie, like, you don't even get to see the devil baby! we wait the whole damn movie to see some crazy devil baby and all we get is some queer jap dude with a camera! that's fuckin' gay, dude. i mean, i guess the movie had some tits, but still, that was like, one minute out of like a three hour movie.

i hope they cast jessica biel as rosemary. she's hot and has way better tits than that maya farrow chick.

here's my dvd review of transformers.

Rock and Roll and the occult, just friends or something more?

2008-03-01T16:49:00.001-08:00

First of all, I don't know if any of you have ever actually tried to find an examination of rock and roll and the occult that DOESN'T reach the conclusion that the Beatles want you to rape and murder in the name Satan, but let me tell you that it is by no means an easy task.

However, after wading through several pages worth of people trying to convince me that Satanists, the British military, and record companies were all banding together to wage a war on judeo-christian values, I finally managed to come upon what I think is a pretty unbiased and informative paper on the topic.

Firstly, did you know that when people say rock and roll can trace its' roots back to African tribal music it's actually more specifically tracing its' roots back to the kind of music played to honor various tribal and voodoo gods? So in short, rock and roll actually owes its' very beginnings to the occult.

However, after that admittedly impressive first introduction the otherworldy influence took a mulligan from the rock scene as men like Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley came into prominence (though while the devil himself may have been on break, the perennial party poopers on the right were always keen to try and bring old scratch back into the picture.) but came back again in the sixties with your friend and mine Aleister Crowley making an appearance on the cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album.

However, it wasn't until the seventies that the "Rock 'n' Roll= Satan" train really started to get rolling. The first major (and public) link between the two forces came with the alliance of Kenneth Anger and Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, an interest in the occult that was fostered in the stones by self proclaimed spell caster named Anita Pallenberg and carried over into songs like "Sympathy for the Devil."

And for those not content with a history lesson, the paper goes on to advance a variety of reasons as to why popular musicians seem so eager to incorporate occult themes into their work. And while he advances a variety of theories that are all at least partially correct, I personally think the theory that it is merely a reflection and reaction to society of the time that carries the most weight.

As was stated earlier, the first really overt link between the occult and rock came in the seventies, a period in time when Occult films like "The Omen" and "The Exorcist" were gaining particular prominence. This trend continued in the eighties where more "extreme" bands with occult influenced like Iron Maiden could be considered comprable in style to more graphic occult films like "House by the Cemetery" or "The Evil Dead."

When considered in this context, it seems fair to say that when one wants to consider the link between the occult and rock 'n' roll, one should really look no further than the societal context of the piece in reference to its' time of release because that very arguably seems to be the most decisive factor. And now that this opinion has been advanced over the internet, I'm sure even the staunchest opponents of the occult and rock 'n' roll will be sure to give it a read and lay down their arms so we can move on into a new age of peaceful coexistence.

....But, you know, I'm sure we gotta give it a few days to sink in.

The Dunwich Horror

2008-02-28T10:44:00.001-08:00

I have found a couple of worthwhile bits of writing on this film online.

Here, the author gives it a rather unenthusiastic review, but it does contain a good synopsis.

This author rates it slightly higher, and there are some nice piccies...

And lastly, this guy seems to have a genuine interest in Lovecraft which colors his review nicely.

Enjoy! And please read them for next week, bwa ha ha....

Abortion and the Occult

2008-02-26T13:57:00.000-08:00

This website is primarily a pro-life organization's platform, but the occult angle discussed is simply fascinating.

Though it may be tempting to dismiss the writing as emotionally manipulative and devoid of factual information or evidence, what may be more interesting is the analysis of why and how this article would in fact convince people of its "truths."

(Image: "Baby Satan" from Wikiality.com. See also "How to Make Your Own Satanic Baby")

Interesting article on the OTO

2008-02-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

This article from an Australian newspaper portrays an intriguing situation in which a website described alleged atrocities committed by an OTO group, including SRA-tinged accusations of murdering and eating children.

When OTO members challenged the allegations and asked to have them removed, the website creators refused and now face jail time for their slanderous communique.

Many news stories in recent weeks suggest we are on the verge of a vast "satanic panic" resurgence...thoughts?

(Image from Eyes Wide Shut)

A Short Post On How Crazy We All Are

2008-02-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

(posted by Professor Peg for Billy Chew)

"It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools."
- Ecclesiastes 7:5 (New King James Bible)
(used as a warning by many very literal Christians as a warning against Pop Music)

"This the land of the free! Why, if I say anything that displeases them, the free mob will Iynch me, and that's my freedom. Free? Why, I have never been in any country where the individual has such an abject fear of his fellow countrymen. Because, as I say, they are free to Iynch the moment he shows he is not one of them."
-D.H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature

This songwas written by Charles Manson during his brief stay with Dennis Wilson. This was obviously performed before the killing of Tate and company (1968 - just one short year, though). Although he had probably already killed.

Makes me think of that "National Treasure" exhibit put up in Washington by Condi Rice recently. Set up no doubt to debunk all the pop-theories revolving around the Nicholas Cage movie. Seems a little silly, but maybe the Catholic Church, or most churches in general, would have benefitted from doing just the same a few years ago with The Da Vinci Code, and Holy Blood, Holy Grail before that.

Americans - and maybe just human beings in general - seem obsessed with finding hidden meanings directly in front of us. Satan as a kind of "purloined letter." Charles Manson did write a Beach Boys song before disappearing off into the desert. Maybe all this paranoia's not without justification. Or maybe we're all just paranoid and stupid (see: D.H. Lawrence quote above).

Take for example, The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie", here.

Not exactly a "purloined devil", but definitely "purloined obsenity" (whatever that means). Just a side-note, the F-word does actually show up in the original Louie Louie when the drummer messes up and yells it. If you listen, you can hear it. That's as vulgar as it gets.

But it's not just vulgarity. There's "Paul is Dead", too. Perhaps after the deaths of MLK, JFK, RFK, Malcolm X, Brian Jones, Van Morrison, Mama Cass, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin, it was only logical that a Beatle would die, too. And the world couldn't wrap its head around the fact that things were fine. So, the Beatles became a "purloined death" - ghosts on vinyl - a kind of code system explaining not only what happened to Paul, but perhaps what the Hell was going on in the world.

Suddenly, all these disparate images in Kenneth Anger don't seem so odd (let's face it, we all think they're at least ODD). We may not be the Elite, mythologically- and Crowley-read scholars he wants us to be, but we are indeed at least attempting to read into systems of symbols we're familiar with. Album art, Pop Music Lyrics. Film, too.

Just look down a ways at the Poltergeist and Exorcist business. Rosemary's Baby, too. "Cannibal Holocaust" in another way, too. A controversial, Italian exploitation film directed by Ruggero Deodato released in 1980 about (duh) cannibals. It was shot much like The Blair Witch Project in that it was about a documentary-gone wrong. Blair Witch actually blatantly stole from it.

Anyways, as Wikipedia explains:

"After premiering in Italy, the film was seized by the local Magistrate and Deodato was arrested for obscenity. He was later accused of making a snuff film based on circulating rumors that the film's actors were slain for the camera. Though Deodato would be cleared of these charges, the film was banned in Italy, the UK, Australia, and several other countries for graphic gore, sexual violence, and for the genuine slayings of six animals featured in the film. While many nations have revoked the ban, it is still banned to this day in other countries around the world."

So what do "Louie, Louie", The Da Vinci Code, National Treasure, "Paul Is Dead," Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and Cannibal Holocaust have in common? I have no idea. But I will say that we seem to enjoy reading into all these things. They're all pieces of art/consumption that we've "read into", that supposedly have more to them than meets the eye, if you can read it right. Seems occult to me.

But why do we treat them as such? They're all obviously nothing more than what they are (innocuous objects of consumption). That's a question I can't possibly answer. But it's something I've been wondering about. So I thought I'd maybe let y'all in and maybe y'all could wonder, too and maybe help me out.

http://www.factnet.org/Scientology/hollywoodsatancult.html

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Rock-n-Roll/led_zeppelin.htm

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Rock-n-Roll/imagine.htm

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/devils_music.htm

Class cancelled today Thursday Feb 21; please read!

2008-02-21T05:53:00.001-08:00

Students: I am out sick today.

We had been planning to watch The Dunwich Horror (if it comes in on time). We should be able to get caught up on screenings in the next couple of weeks.

For Tuesday, along with your essay that is due, please write a one-page (250 word) response to the chapter assigned for this week from the reading packet "Sucking in the Seventies"; focus on the author's comparison between trends in British horror films in the Seventies and American horror films in the Seventies.

You can email these responses to me at amberapple at gmail dot com, or hand it in with your essays next Tuesday.

First Blog Post deadline: last Thursday!

2008-02-20T06:11:00.000-08:00

Three students have yet to post to the blog. Only one has contacted me regarding any problems, so I assume the other two simply did not bother to complete the assignment. This means your first grade of four (which together count for 20% of your total grade for the course) is an F.

The deadlines for the remaining three blog posts are included in your schedule handout.

Exorcisms on the rise?

2008-02-19T10:25:00.000-08:00

This post over at the The Wild Hunt Blog looks at a couple of recent articles concerning the increasing prevalence of exorcisms in Europe and Australia. The rhetoric of both articles seems to be suggesting that those who believe in growing numbers of demonic possessions also think there is a correspondence to involvement in various New Age practices, as well as yoga...

Are we heading for a second age of Satanic Panic like the one that last through the early Nineties?

Werewolf Order

2008-02-16T07:21:00.000-08:00

So, I got my copy of The Satanic Screen today and thought I would try to find out some information about the books author, Nikolas Schreck. Unfortunately, most of the sources I found weren't exactly the most credible, but, nevertheless, the search sent me in some pretty interesting directions. Here are a few of the things I found:

Nikolas Schreck (born Barry Dubin) is an occultist who is married to Zeena LaVey, only daughter of Anton LaVey and Diane Hegarty, founders of the Church of Satan. Shortly after their marriage in 1988, Zeena renounced her family name and Schreck, who had been in good standing with LaVey, also had a falling out with the family after his delayed promotions to Priest in the Church.

Since their separation with the Church of Satan, Schreck and Zeena have been affiliated with several occult organizations, including the Temple of Set, formed out of philosophical differences with the Church of Satan in 1975. In 2002, the two broke from this group to form their own organization worshiping the Egyptian God, Seth (alternately spelled Set), called The Storm, though I could find little more information than just that.

The most fun parts about Schreck happened before this, however. He was the lead singer of a truly goofy goth band in the early 80s called Radio Werewolf, heard here. Pay particular attention to the very original and spooky lyrics in "1960 Cadillac Hearst" such as "Then I saw here there behind the tombstone/Yes, it was her the girl of my dreams," or "The worms and maggots are my only friends" in "Buried Alive" I was ready to write it off as a fun, tongue in cheek sort of thing, until I started reading up on the band and found that it was intended to be the media outlet for Schreck's Werewolf Order, a group apparently set on staging a violent takeover of Satanic principals and destruction of Judeo-Christian teachings. Now I'm not so sure what to think of it all.
Zeena, served both as a member of the band as well as the Werewolf Order. Like The Storm, however, I couldn't find very concrete documentation of their principals. Here, you can check out a letter from their Minister of Ideological Purity, who describes the group as "an elite Satanic militia who has taken on the responsibility of preparing the spearhead for a radical Satanic dominion." Zeena speaks about briefly it here in an interview saying:

"The Werewolf Order trains those who are drawn to it in the art of magical predation, as well as shape-shifting and transformation, thus the archetype of the Lycanthrope.

The Werewolf Order is often criticized as being not politically correct, due to our ruthless policy concerning elitism and inequality. It differs from some other magical societies in that it is aimed towards leadership rather than gathering followers."

Also, here is a pamphlet created by the order, outlining its principles. (This site also contains some bizarre phone interviews with individuals like Charles Manson and Richard Ramirez).

Schreck, like his co-editor of The Manson Files Boyd Rice, has voiced his support for Charles Manson and made a television appearance on the Wally George show calling for his release from prison (I looked pretty hard for this to no avail). In 1989, he released his film "Charles Manson Superstar" which was made of interviews with Manson with a video camera Schreck had snuck into prison. Film threat magazine calls it "The best documentary ever on Charles Manson."

A 'Poltergeist' Curse?

2008-02-15T12:19:00.000-08:00

The three films of the Poltergeist series have been plagued by rumors of curses since the release of the original Poltergeist in 1982. In fact, it was the focus of an E! True Hollywood Story.

Among some of the eerie facts from the E! True Hollywood story, JoBeth Williams stated that producers told her the skeletons used in the famous swimming pool scene were, in fact, real skeletons.

Will Sampson was told that the skeletons used in Poltergeist II were also real. So Sampson performed an exorcism to cleanse the set.

Sounds to me like the producers just liked to mess with their actors.

But the main urban legend is that four of the stars of the series died of strange deaths. But in reality, two of the deaths were not all that strange. The website Snopes has explored the deaths and discovered that not much is out of the ordinary. They were just tragic.

Julian Beck, (creepy preacher Kane from Poltergeist II, pictured) died of stomach cancer on September 14,1985. He was 60. Ohhh spooky!

Will Sampson, (Indian spirit specialist Taylor from Poltergeist II) died on June 3, 1987, from heart/lung transplant surgery complications – severe pre-operative malnutrition and post-operative kidney failure along with a fungal infection. He was 53.

While both of the aforementioned older gentlemen’s deaths could easily be coincidences, it’s the deaths of the two young female stars that are somewhat ominous.

At the age of 22, Dominique Dunne (Dana from Poltergeist) was choked to death by her obsessive boyfriend, John Sweeney. Sweeney was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to only six years in prison. He was out in two and a half years.

Heather O'Rourke (Carol Anne from all three films) died near the end of filming Poltergeist III. In fact, a body double was used during the final scene of the film. (You only see said double from the back.) O’Rourke was diagnosed with what doctors thought was the flu, but turned out to be a bowel obstruction which caused toxins to enter her system. (The unoriginal misdiagnosis reeks of The Exorcist.) She died during an emergency procedure to remove said obstruction. She was only 12.

O’Rourke and Dunne are buried near each other in the Westwood Memorial Park cemetery in Los Angeles.

There are other “curse” related urban legends that revolve around Poltergeist ranging from first hand accounts to the utterly absurd.

JoBeth Williams (Diane Freeling) claimed that every day when she returned home from filming, pictures on her wall were always crooked. She would straighten them, only to find them crooked again the next day.

During the scariest Poltergeist scene, where Oliver Robins (Robbie Freeling) was choked by the creepy clown, Robins was reported to have been actually choked. Steven Spielberg even praised the young actor for his authenticity until he realized he was in real trouble.

One of the absurd theories involves a parking lot used to film a scene in Poltergeist III – the same space where the Utah Jazz basketball team plays their games. The “curse” apparently explains why the Jazz suck so much.

In you're interested, this website offers up a whole bunch of fun Poltergeist facts.

So, is there really a Poltergeist curse or are the events just a series of unfortunate coincidences? I would lean towards the latter.

Christploitation Films - Thief in the Night

2008-02-15T10:40:00.000-08:00

Christplotation films are a unique genre of Christian film that “employs the same horror techniques, overstated acting, and brutal violence as their secular counterparts, except with the higher purpose of saving souls” (North, Brew Magazine ). Today, many of the films have become slick. Movies like The Omega Code, Left Behind, and numerous knock-offs have recently dealt with the idea of an oncoming apocalypse. A popular belief held by all of these films is that of the rapture. The rapture is the idea that before the world ends all Christians will be taken to heaven, leaving everyone else behind (Wikipedia's explanation here ). Most of the rapture films deal with doubters or fence sitters who must deal with their newfound understanding in the wake of the mass disappearance of God-fearing Christians everywhere. Modern rapture films have the mediocre budgets, B-list casts, and semi-grand scope to put up a good fight amongst the straight-to-dvd racks, but they simply do not deliver the scares of their predecessors. The Thief in the Night series one of the earliest in this subgenre of Christplotation films is also undoubtedly one of the best, combining the low-budget thrills, unintentional laughs, and genuinely chilling sequences worthy of “a [Lucio] Fulci- if not an [Dario] Argento,” (V-X, End Time Movies ).

I remember watching this film when I was growing up and it having a profound effect. Made in the 70’s, it is the biggest inspiration to the imitators. I consider it’s crude, amateurish filmmaking a boon to the film’s presence (much like with Romero’s Night of the Living Dead). The first film in the four part film series is about Patty, a doubting woman, who is repeatedly informed about the coming rapture by her Christian friends, particularly her newly-wed husband. When the rapture comes, reacting more out of paranoia than genuine belief, Patty joins up with some “rebels,” hiding out from the Anti-Christ’s new world order. As tensions increase, people like Patty, who scrape to get by, begin to get hunted down. The film climaxes with an awesome (well, its pretty shoddy, but its an awesome idea) guillotine scene. The other films follow the further adventures of those that have been “left behind,” The fear the Christians had of the rapture and apocalypse really shines through in this fascinating little horror film, and much like with Jack Chick’s work, (as seen here ) the sincerity can create actual moments of terror, if not belief . It may be trashy, misguided, and downright incompetent, but the any horror film that left a wake of traumatized victims in it’s wake can’t be all that bad.

2008-02-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

Recently I stumbled on an article online. It was entitled 5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen. Among the reasons listed is Mad Cow Disease which "attacks the cow's spinal cord and brain, turning it into a stumbling, mindless attack cow." Called Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans, the symptoms include; changes in gait, hallucinations, lack of coordination, muscle twitching, myolonic jerks or seizures, and rapidly developing delerium or dementia........ you know, stuff that ZOMBIES do. (A/N: At #4 on the list is an exciting bit about a haitian guy buried in 1962 and found wandering the city in 1980)
Well since we're not in a Cinema and Zombies class, where does the relevance lie? If that's what you're asking you should loosen up, I'm getting to it.
This listing got me thinking. If medicine can explain away zombies, can it also explain away DEMONIC POSSESSION!?!?!
In the beginning of the article in the packet, Regression, Possession & Cinematic Neurosis, Mikita Brottman lists Robert C's symptoms as including, "aggressive behavior, physical violence against those who are trying to help him, the spontaneous appearance of words on his abdomen, the sound of strange voices coming from his mouth, speaking both in Latin and in reverse, and a grotesquely swollen belly and throat." She says, "His limbs twist and then untangle violently, and he vomits up vile-smelling fluids."
An article in the web-based North Texas Skeptics Newsletter discusses A.A. Allen, a man said to be one of the most controversial deliverance evangelists in the 50s and 60s. A reporter for the Sacramento Bee in 1956, notes one instance of Allen performing an exorcism on a young boy said to be possessed. The article discloses that the boy had encephalitis.
"Hey Claudia, what are the symptoms of encephalitis?", you ask.
I'd be glad to tell you, the symptoms of encephalitis can include; severe headache, nausea and vomiting, stiff neck, confusion, disorientation, personality changes, convulsions and seizures, problems with speech or hearing, hallucinations, memory loss, drowsiness, or coma. Encephalitis can appear without warning and usually lasts up to a week, but recovery can take several weeks or even months.
So does everyone who seems possessed just have encephalitis?
No, Multiple personality disorder is also a possibility or Schizophrenia.
Just these three illnesses alone seem to share an alarming number of symptoms with demonic possession.
"Well, you haven't offered enough proof to disprove demonic possession as a whole", you say.
No.
No I haven't.
The truth is I have no idea whether or not there are demons, and I have even less of an idea of whether or not those demons possess human beings. What I can see is that with the progression of medical science has come a decline in the number of demonic possessions. Geez, that's weird.
It sure makes you wonder, (if you haven't already) if there is any real example of a human being possessed by a demonic force.
I'm going to keep looking...

Meet me at the waterfront, after the social...

2008-02-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

So, a couple of weeks ago, I invited my friends over and we decided to watch a movie. I popped in one of my favorite slasher films, Sleepaway Camp (1983). The movie came out a few years after Friday the 13th, during the heyday of 80's slasher films, and was overlooked during its small theatrical run, but has since gained a strong cult following on vhs and dvd. I have shown this movie to countless people over the years, and it has always been greeted with much enthusiasm... except during this screening. My friends seemed to wonder what I saw in this crappy little film. They were mad that I made them sit through the whole thing, telling them over and over again "just wait for the ending, it gets so much better." (for those of you who have seen this movie, you know what i'm talking about. for those of you who haven't seen this movie, i'm going to go out of my way not to give anything away).

i became a little more offended than i should have been when the film conjured up these reactions in my friends. this led me to go into a bit of analysis as to why the film strikes such a chord with me, and with many others who have seen it.

i'll give a brief synopsis before i go on. so, angela lives with her cousin ricky and her crazy aunt martha because her brother and her father were killed in a terrible boating accident years earlier. angela and ricky go to camp arawak one summer. angela has trouble being accepted by the other campers (still traumatized years later by the boating accident) and is continually made fun of and tormented (especially by the girls in her bunk, who doubt if she's ever gotten period and describing her as "a real carpenter's dream. flat as a board and in need of a screw!"). that's when people start to get murdered. but only people who piss off angela.

no doubt this movie is completely over the top and ridiculous, but the film is called sleepaway CAMP, and i really don't think it's unintentional. the dialogue is cheesy, the murders are fairly tame, the acting is pretty awful, and the 80's costumes are embarrassing, but something about this movie has staying power. underneath all of that campiness, there lies certain truths about adolescence and fears of growing into one's sexuality. and the sexual politics are not merely byproducts of having a movie about teenagers, the themes are incredibly important to the film. these themes are also aided highly by the fact that the actors in the movie actually ARE teenagers, and not 25 year olds playing 16 year olds.

in the movie, there are a couple of scenes that seem to break through the campiness - scenes that elevate the film to another level, almost by suggesting the creators of the film KNOW they're making a shallow horror film with ALMOST subliminal commentary on a teenager's fear of accepting their sexuality. but these scenes are very brief before the movie resumes at its regular pace. when the film reaches it's shocking twist ending, it's only about two or three minutes of the movie, but something feels amiss. like the film has decided to drop completely it's veneer of shitty, exploitative slasher film and take on a whole new life of its own. i've had the discussion with a friend of mine who agrees that in the last few minutes of the picture, we're taken out of this safe campy world we'd been following for the past 80 minutes and are introduced to adolescent hell. the revelation of the killer and the killer's motivations are kind of devastating if you look at it a certain way. it's so easy to look back on adolescence and treat that time as a campy nostalgic fun time, but in this movie, the characters can't sustain that kind of happy go lucky charm and the film seems to break apart and say, "look! teenage life was confusing and fucking scary as hell! it shouldn't be so easily dismissed!"

seriously, see this movie.

1980's: We Are the Monsters.

2008-02-14T09:41:00.000-08:00

With the right in control, more and more things were becoming demonized. Hippie movement is damned and everything involved with it, like sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. Its all that, and of course the occult and satan-worshiping, that is ruining our society, our world, and ruining the chance for Reaganomics to really work.
The very movies you think might try to counter this cultural wave with the greatest tie to occultism, the Horror genre, are some of the movies that pressed this hatred to a new step.
Starting with Psycho (1960), we were given a new perspective on a violent crime. No longer were we watching, unable to participate in the crime, we were involved in the crime. Further more though, we were the attacker. We were in the villains eyes, and we, the audience, were wielding the knife, slashing deep into the showering woman.
Hitchcock may have done that as an experiment, to see how the audience would react and try to give a new spin to cinema, but it took root. Re-emerging later, with Halloween (1978), we are again behind the hockey mask taking part in the murder of individuals. We are the werewolf, vampire, or ghoul stalking behind the bushes, watching our victim, and charging out to get them. Movies like these don't do it randomly though. We aren't put into the eyes of the monster killing innocents. No, we are targeting individuals who deserve death. In The Blob remake (1988) its two drunk college students up on lovers lane, just about to commit the horrific act of...SEX! Other people, like African Americans, drug dealers, rock'n'rollers (who are also doing drugs, and having sex) people who don't listen to their parents are all targetted, all stalked, and WE, the audience, get to be the one to kill them. We get to see through the eyes of the monster attacking.
Of course, the sweet innocent Jamie Lee Curtis won't die though. We might watch her and see her through the monster's eyes, but we'll never get close, we'll never be stabbing her from the monsters perspective. We're given her perspective, a sympathetic one. One we can relate to, and in the end we kill the monster side of ourselves. We destroy the side that condemns those horrendous sinners, the college lovers, even that black drug dealer.

...or do we? The Monster always rises again in the denoument., and so does the hatred and intolerance of such people.

Baphomet; The Sabbatic Goat

2008-02-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

This article involves that great and oft misunderstood religious figure of Baphomet. I wasn't able to find too many good sites on the infamous figure, the wikipedia site will lead you to many good books on the subject. The name Baphomet first appears in the writings of the Inquisition papers against the Knights Templar. Baphomet, as accused by King Phillip IV of France, was a heretic idol worshiped by the mysterious group, and was used as one of the pieces of evidence that eventually brought about the downfall of the Templar. The odd thing about this was that the charge of "worshiping Baphomet" was a charge leveled uniquely at the Templars. Phillip IV threw heretic charges at many during his reign, but not until the Templars did the idol of Baphomet come up. To historians, this usually means something isn't quite as it seems. Many have postulated that "Baphomet" is actually an Old French mispronunciation of "Mahomet", Muhammad. The Templar were formed as a group to guard Crusaders on their way to the holy land, so they spent much of their time in Muslim areas. So it could be deduced that Phillip was in fact accusing the Templar of converting to Islam.
The Goat we all know and love didn't really exist in its current form until the 19th century when the occultist Eliphas Levi wrote Dogmas and Rituals of High Magic. In this tome he included an illustration (shown) that would shape the look of "The Sabbatic Goat" we still see today. Levi considered the figure of Baphomet to be the "absolute in symbolic form".
Aleistor Crowley appropriated the figure of Baphomet as a figure of fertility. To Crowley, the androgyny of the "Goat Head" fit well into his beliefs concerning dualism. The Baphomet represented the self, and the demon brother or Holy Gaurdian Angel all in one. Crowley so revered the Baphomet that he chose it as his name when he rose to the appropriate rank within the Ordo Templi Orientis.
Today Baphomet is misunderstood by a large population. Like Evangelist Jack Chick who uses false information to tell his followers that Baphomet was a demon worshiped by the Freemasons. And it doesn't help that both Levi's and Crowley's Tarot decks include the visage of the Baphomet on the "devil" card, and Anton LeVey's official symbol for his Church of Satan is the "Sigil of Baphomet". I hope that this will shed some light on this important historical symbol of duality, not of evil.

The Satanic Screen on eBay!

2008-02-13T21:26:00.000-08:00

For those who are trying to order this...

It is up for auction on Ebay.

Starting bid: $6.66. I thought that was cute. Yes, I did.

Exorcisms for all! But do we need them?

2008-02-13T18:51:00.000-08:00

You too can get an exorcism! Just google the word “exorcism” and you will find a paid advertisement by a pastor named Bob Larson, whom you can e-mail to arrange an exorcism. Not only that, you will be filmed for his new reality tv series!
Am I the only one that finds this odd? And how did a centuries-old spiritual rite go to on-demand service advertised on the web?
The demand for exorcisms have gone up dramatically in recent years. In the early 80's, the US Catholic church had one sanctioned exorcist. Now they have ten. In Poland, the number of sanctioned Catholic exorcists has doubled in the past five years.
And that doesn't even count the unsanctioned practitioners or the evangelical version of the practice, called “deliverance”. In 1999, the Catholic Church revised the rites of exorcism for the first time since they were written in 1614, in order to accommodate modern demand.
One of the more interesting, and thorough, things I've read on the subject is the book American Exorcism by Michael Cuneo. You can find an excerpt of it here. In this example, he talks about a deliverance he witnesses. In the book he describes the many exorcisms he attended, including a graphic multi-day mass exorcism.
But the most interesting part of the book explores why we need, or think we need, exorcisms.
One important question is did media like The Exorcist expose us to the reality that we need this spiritual cleansing, or does it give us a convenient scapegoat for our personal fallacies? Does believing someone is possessed blind us to the possibility of personal failure? Or worse, a severe psychiatric need?
Or, perhaps these rationalizations are placed in our heads by our demons, in order to hide their evil deeds. You can't empirically prove it isn't necessary, because there is much anecdotal evidence that it does. But you can't prove it is, because we haven't built a machine to measure demon levels in people. It's a bizarre thing to think about.

Women are the Devil.

2008-02-13T18:42:00.001-08:00

In the last class we talked about the use of children, babies or the unborn in terms of the devil and cinema. This anxiety about children and Satanism, or evil in general, affected society’s fear for children’s safety from the occult. On a related note I wondered what role women might play in terms of Satan and popular movies, and if their role or depiction could be boiled down to affects on society or cinematically.
While as a film major this may be embarrassing to admit, but the first thing that came to my mind was the semi-popular, critically unclaimed 2000 film starring (the possibly dead, certainly forgotten) Brendan Fraser and more significantly (at least to this) Elizabeth Hurley as the Devil. While the latest version might be little more than pure entertainment the original Bedazzled was a 1967 Stanley Donen film, and while the concept of the devil appearing before a down-on-his-luck guy and purposefully messing up his wish granting was the same, the devil was in fact played by a man; possibly confused with Raquel Welch who was acting the part of Lust. Both of these stories were based off the Faust legend, which is “the story of the German necromancer and astrologer who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power" (source: http://www.mystical-www.co.uk/faust.htm)

While the Faust legend is extremely significant seeing as it influences literature, films, and art dealing with the occult, it deviates just a bit from my original topic—women playing the devil. I’ll offer another seemingly quite different example that will actually tie in with the point you may have doubted I had. Like a lot of the occult cinema, Girlfriend from Hell, was labeled and distributed as a B-Movie. Because of the environment (high school) and main situation (house party) the movie is also one of the teen-romp genres but the nerdy girl attending the party has been taken over and made over by the devil. A fellow high school girl is of God’s power and there in lies the heavenly catfight. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girlfriend_from_Hell)

What these two movies (and even Raquel Welch’s character in the original Bedazzle) illustrate in relation to the woman’s role as the devil is that the woman is merely used as a tool of seduction; seduction both in the literal sense, but mainly of the soul/faith sense. Putting the devil in an hourglass package only physically embodies the idea of temptation or the attraction that evil has on certain people (like the down-on-his-luck Brendan Fraser or the nerdy girl at high school). While I can’t really explain why women aren’t depicted as the devil more (I don’t mean that in a negative way) I can only assume that part of it is contributed to the fact that the Devil has largely, in all forms of culture, been depicted as a male, and this possibly stems from the fact that men have been doing the majority of these depictions.

Other Things to Check Out / Consider:

- Since we discussed the color use in Danger’s films, a more blatant yet significant use of color appears in Elizabeth Hurley’s portrayal of the devil in terms of her wardrobe and in the wishes she grants for the man.

- This New York Times article on the general portrayal of the Devil in media, mainly focuses on male actors and therefore if you want the gender-equal discussion maybe take a look at this…I feel like the male portrayal of the devil centers more on the sense of “power” (ala Al Pacino in the Devil’s Advocate) rather than the “attraction” or “seduction” aspect that woman tend to embody.

-also IMDB has an entry for all the movies mentioned in here…

Hope this isn’t too far off topic, just thought it was an interesting thing to consider; the idea of gender in terms of the cinematic representation of the Devil. I’m sure there are more examples as well; a more extensive search or prior knowledge and one could illuminate me further.

The Seal's Occult Secrets Revealed!

2008-02-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

Today on AOL News, amid the usual celebrity claptrap and grisly headlines, is an intriguing story about an exhibit at the State Department attempting to debunk myths that the United States Seal is a repository of occult symbolism and hints of secret society influence in American government...

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.

2008-02-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

At this year's Sundance Film Festival, director Marina Zenovich premiered her new documentary, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired". The film containing a lot of archival footage of interviews with Polanski, Sharon Tate and others was the first film to be bought at the festival.

Roman Polanski was a very interesting one to say the least. However, out of everything he went through and experienced, Zenovich chose to focus on the infamous sex scandal involving Polanski and a thirteen year old girl. (It is said he raped her in a pool at Jack Nicholson's home). While it is true, Polanski did commit the crime (there is a lot of controversy about this), the documentary focuses a lot on Judge Laurence J Ritterband who worked on this case because he used this publicity of the case to his advantage. However, he is actually not intereviewed in this documentary. Rather, the victim, attorneys, film industry reporters, Polanski's lawyer, and others were interviewed. On MSN.Com it is said that "they all revealed troubling behavior by the judge, now deceased, who was so driven by media coverage that he kept a scrapbook of clippings. Polanski presumably fled because he feared unfair treatment amid the media frenzy"

Zenovich says her documentary does not apologize for the French-Polish director, but rather a take on the murky justice and media hype around the Polanski case.

Interesting fact:

"Perhaps the most fascinating fact (and this was something I did not know) came in the reveal that, when a new judge was assigned to the case in 1997, he agreed to throw out the charges if Polanski were to return to the States - on one condition: that the hearing be televised. Because of that, Polanski decided against coming back," notes Erik Davis at Cinematical. "And who can blame him?"

ALL IN ALL....Go see this movie when it is released!!!
"Even for those familiar with the general details of the case," writes Mike D'Angelo at ScreenGrab, "Wanted and Desired will likely prove revelatory."

Another interesting fact I didn't know...Roman Polanski was raised in Poland and his home was imprisoned in a jewish ghetto. His mother was sent to a concentration camp to never be seen by Roman again and his father left him with a family so he could escape getting caught.

Ordo Templi Orientis = Freemasons?

2008-02-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

So I was doing some random surfing online about occultism, Crowley, and the OTO. when I came across a few articles linking these things to the Freemasons. I'm not totally sure if we talked about it during class, but apparently the Ordo Templi Orientis group that Crowley was a memeber of was actually a part of the high ranking Freemasons BEFORE he took over. I had no idea that the OTO. was originally supposed to be a part of the Freemasons, but apparently Crowley had other ideas. This article talks about him reorganizing the OTO and has some more biographical information about him. His reorganization of the OTO made me wonder if he was opposed to Freemasonry, and if the Freemasons really do have any link to the occult because we all know Crowley was totally into that stuff.

This got me thinking about how the Freemasons have been tied to the occult in history. I'm sure most of you know about the history of the Freemasons, which dates back to the 1600s but this got me interested in how the occult could be tied to this mysterious fraternal organization. Of course, I'm not completely sure of the authenticity of these two articles, but they are actually pretty interesting. Freemasonry is a Religion says that "Freemasonry currently serves as the conduit between the political organizations of the global elite...and the occult groups of the Theosophical network." Maybe a bit of an extreme decleration, but it can't be argued that for centuries people have blamed the Freemasons for magical practices and some have seen it as an evil power.

This article offers the answering that Freemasonry is part of an occult partially because occult means hidden, and what could be more hidden than what happens in the Grand Lodge? It goes on to talk about how the first users of the Grand Lodge, the Illuminati, were developing evil plans of some sort and using magick, and that in the past century many groups who have played a part in the occult revival can all be linked to Freemasons.

It's obvious that we'll never know exactly what part the Freemasons have played in occult revival, or if behind those closed doors they're lighting candles and chanting spells. I think that the mystery surrounding the Freemasons is the only thing that keeps it interesting, and keeps people conjuring up those rediculous conspiracy theories.

Hooray!

2008-02-06T19:00:00.000-08:00

The Believers has arrived at last. I can't wait to watch it this weekend. Must also dig out my VHS tapes of the Satanic Panic talk show footage from Oprah, Geraldo, et al. Despite the film's focus on voodoo, it's a close parallel to the satanic cults portrayed in 1970s films, but with the added bonus of 1980s-style paranoia of children being snatched up for human sacrifice.

Why doesn't anyone else post to the blog??? Dudes, it's a requirement. Just sayin'.

Oops

2008-01-29T17:33:00.000-08:00

I forgot to collect the "Name This Blog" contest entries! I am sure this was troubling for all of you.

Please give them to me this Thursday.

P.A.

The Satanic Screen--now required

2008-01-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

This wonderful book is available used or new on Amazon for between $8 and $14.

I recently found out that having articles copied from it into a packet will cost at least that much and take a while, so I'd like to ask students to purchase their own copy. I can also put copies of the reading assignments on reserve in the library, but the book will be much more convenient for everyone. This will make your total cost for texts for the course no more than $23, and far less if you get a used copy of this. Not bad.

So please get a copy of this as soon as possible! Within a week. The readings will, along with the others, form the basis for paper assignments and the mid-term exam. Sorry to drop this on you now, but I only found out Friday that the bookstore failed to order these when I requested them at the end of last semester...

Readings, etc.

2008-01-24T09:34:00.000-08:00

Please read over this short article on Kenneth Anger's career for next week. The reading packet also has an excellent article on the color structure of Invocation of My Demon Brother entitled "Magick in Theory and Practice" (which also happens to be the title of a book by Aleister Crowley), which should also be very applicable to some of the issues concerned with this week's second viewing, Night of the Demon, and next week's. The Devil Rides Out. As well, the discussion of color structure will be very relevant to our viewing of Rosemary's Baby.

Next week we will be discussing the elements of occult imagery in cinema, as well as the social context of the occult revival of the 1960s.

Beginning the following week, we will start having oral presentations in class.

Contest!

2008-01-24T09:13:00.001-08:00

As we discussed in class, I am conducting a contest for a new name for this blog.

The contestant who comes up withe the most pretentious name for the blog will win a prize!

Also, the contesant who comes up with the best name for the blog will also win a prize!

Entries must be handwritten on small scraps of paper and submitted in class on Tuesday January 29, 2008. The decisions of the judges will be final. Winners will be announced on Tuesday February 5, 2008.

Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome...

2008-01-18T06:35:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Les Bijoux Macabre, the blog for The Occult in Cinema, a seminar being offered at Emerson College this semester, Spring 2008. This blog will feature articles, links, musings and other resources for students and anyone else interested in the topics we'll be discussing. This is a public blog, so readers who are not enrolled in the class are also welcome to visit and participate. Students will be expected to participate regularly throughout the semester, responding to readings and posting their own thoughts and resources.

Although we will be looking briefly at the history of the occult in cinema, beginning with Melies and his interest in magic and illusion, we will mainly be concentrating on contemporary cinema from the 1960s onward. Experimental, mainstream and documentary forms will be screened and discussed, along with the social, artistic and cultural contexts pertinent to the various film texts. We'll mainly focus on American cinema but some British and European films will also find their way into the mix.