Reviews
‘Satan Wants You’ Documents the Untold Story of ‘Michelle Remembers’ and the Satanic Panic
The origin and the aftermath of the Satanic Panic is one of the most complicated and wide-reaching stories in modern-day history. In the 1980s, a collective delusion about supposed widespread ‘satanic ritual abuse’ sparked many to suddenly ‘recover memories’ about surviving satan-worshipping cults. An entire industry of occult ‘experts’ arose as the daytime talk show circuit produced panel after panel to explore the phenomena. These experts also ‘educated’ law enforcement about how to identify ‘signs’ of this abuse, leading to multiple false convictions and destroying hundreds of lives. The Satanic Panic has been the subject of many books, documentaries, and TV shows, including the beloved horror series Stranger Things (read more about that here!)
A Best-Selling Memoir That Kickstarted a Craze
The spark that caused all this mayhem is widely attributed to the best-selling memoir, Michelle Remembers, written by Dr Lawrence Padzer and his patient-turned-wife Michelle Smith. The book documents Michelle’s extensive therapy sessions in which she undergoes deep hypnosis to recover the grisly truth about the year she supposedly spent in the clutches of a satanic cult. The book is salacious, disturbing, and violent, full of details that Padzer and Smith proudly shared with the world during a cross-continent publicity tour. Many experts have questioned and debunked the book’s authenticity, but the lives of Padzer and Smith remained unexamined, until now.
Satan Wants You: A Documentary Exposing the Truth
In their documentary Satan Wants You, writer-directors Steve J Adams and Sean Horlor offer extensive interviews with the people who knew Smith and Padzer best, including her sister, his daughter, and his ex-wife. These interviews provide invaluable context to both of their personalities, and explain the events leading up to the book’s writing. Their perspectives on the celebrity that the couple courted feel like a big puzzle piece that no one realized was missing, and while the true story may lack the sensationalism of an omnipotent devil cult, the truth about their lives is both ordinary and tragic. During last week’s screening at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival, some of the film’s revelations elicited audible gasps from the rapt audience.
Adams and Horlor included excerpts from the never-before-heard therapy sessions between Smith and Padzer (who was known to record everything – the filmmakers received only 1 hour of the potentially 600 hours of therapy sessions), something that investigative journalists have been trying to obtain for decades. Alongside these revelations are an impressive montage of articles, news segments, and talk-show clips that showcase the vast influence of Michelle Remembers. On top of generously sharing her memories, Lawrence’s ex-wife provided the filmmakers with a treasure trove of newspaper clippings and taped talk show segments dating back to the 1980s. She made a point to save anything about ‘satanic abuse’ or ‘recovered memories’ that turned up in the media, and that material on its own makes this documentary a fascinating watch.
A Whole Host of Evidence Debunking the Satanic Panic
Though the film focuses on the Smith and Padzer families, Adams and Horlor provide a particular context to the satanic panic phenomena. They include interviews with investigative journalist Debbie Nathan, Blanche Barton (a leader within the Church of Satan), and several law enforcement officers who have dedicated their careers to debunking the myth of ‘satanic ritual abuse.’ The film also directly refutes many of the elements in Michelle Remembers, which are intensely satisfying moments for anyone familiar with the details in the book. They even offer evidence of the Catholic Church’s active involvement in getting the book published.
During a Q&A after the screening, hosted by Kier-La Janisse (founder of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies), Adams and Horlor were very open about their process. A discussion about the intentionality of Smith and Padzer’s claims soon arose: did Michelle and Lawrence believe the stories they published? Adams and Horlor have different opinions about that, and their film allows us to see both Smith and Padzer as either fraudsters, victims, or a kind of all-too-human hybrid. Horlor added that the revelations in the documentary were fact-checked by the multiple interviews conducted off-camera, including additional family members, friends, and people involved in publishing the actual book.
An Unsettling Glimpse of the Future of Satanic Panic
The film briefly touches on the modern-day versions of the Satanic Panic (pizzagate, qanon), further emphasizing this book’s lasting effects. In a touching moment towards the end of the film, experts who’ve spent their entire lives disproving these claims express their frustration at the recent resurgence of the satanic-cult narrative. “It’s easy to blame Satan,” said Horlor during the Q&A, explaining that blaming “the devil” is often an easy scapegoat for someone’s dark, complicated life.
Satan Wants You is a wonderfully constructed documentary about a conspiracy theory that just won’t die. The film stands on its own, and if this is the first time you’ve ever heard of Michelle Remembers, you’ll walk away with a whole new perspective on how the media promotes and encourages conspiracies. However, the film’s most significant accomplishment is that it finally answers questions that should have been resolved over 40 years ago.
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Luz: The Flower of Evil is a movie simultaneously charged with and mired in ambition. It’s genuinely comical how overly ambitious of a first-time film it is for writer-director Juan Diego Escobar Alzate: a microbudget, shot on location in the mountains of Colombia, character driven psychological horror film meant to explore the very nature of good and evil while also tackling cults and misogyny.
So, it’s shocking how much of it works. Not all of it works, not at all, but it is cohesive enough to serve as a surprising experience with the colorful aesthetic it employs and incredibly dark places it goes to.
What Is Luz: Flower of Evil About?
After the death of their mother Luz, three sisters in a rural cult community find their faith waning. The three are the centerpiece of an elaborate theology crafted by their cult leader father, a man who is becoming more difficult to deal with by the day. So, when he brings a mute boy into town, chaining him up and claiming he’s the people’s messiah, an already tense situation devolves into outright madness. What ensues is the slow dissolution of the cult, and the torturous end of an already fractured family.
Let this usual synopsis section also serve as a content warning: the film does depict sexual violence very early on, about 25 minutes into the film. It’s not Irreversible levels of horrifically long, but it’s also not particularly brief and still graphic content by its nature. It can be difficult to stomach, so I’m mentioning it now for those who would rather avoid that sort of thing.
A Ponderous Arthouse Folk Horror About Good and Evil
The film has shocking moments, but it’s not very interested in shock value. This is first and foremost a slow burn, a piece of arthouse folk horror that is more about bleeding out than it is about a violent demise. The most obvious comparisons are to The VVitch and Midsommar, but even that feels like an inappropriate mix, even when it leans towards Aster’s commercial darling or Egger’s colonial nightmare.
Fundamentally, Luz is a study about people who mythologize suffering and cruelty and excuse it as being driven by outside spiritual forces rather than their own decisions. It’s about deconstructing harmful religious and cult mentalities, and it wears its philosophy on its sleeve (aggressively so). Alzate creates a visually and textually fascinating meltdown of his characters and the community they find themselves within.
I would say it’s a “descent into madness” if it didn’t feel clear that the characters were already in a tailspin right at the film’s outset. The script, especially through its second act, starts to feel repetitive and a little simplistic, with a somewhat anticlimactic ending and dialog that starts to feel less naturalistic and more tedious. But it’s an interesting dissection of a family, even if it’s rough around the edges.
Hyperreal Sense of Color, But Shaky Directing and Writing
The film’s most obvious and striking feature is its hyperrealist palette, bearing a rich Technicolor aspect that permeates throughout the entire runtime. Colorist Felipe Martinez U paints the mountainous countryside with such vibrancy, a simple but very effective contrast to the dying days of a cult the story centers on; bleak, muddy times, punctuated by vibrant nature all around. Aesthetically, it’s pretty clearly visually inspired by the early works of Pedro Almodóvar and the visual warmth of Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man.
Even the naturalistic tendencies of Terrence Malick make an appearance here, though how much of that is just in the gorgeous location scouting and how much is actually emulated by Alzate is up for debate. All around, the film lacks polish. The camerawork is amateurish in some ways, slightly cramped and occasionally uninspired in its framing. Sometimes the oversaturated look of the film can feel a little saccharine and heavy, but the pop of color here feels purposeful enough that I can forgive it as being highly stylized rather than trying to mask the weak points of a first-time director.
Is Luz: The Flower of Evil Worth the Watch?
In the search for great Latin American horror, Luz was an odd duck to stumble upon to be certain. But I’m a champion of strange birds with a lot of character, so you do the math.
Luz: The Flower of Evil is a struggle of a film, hard to watch at points despite how visually appealing it can be. It’s a brutal, bleak piece of psychological folk horror that certainly has a thin audience and will test the patience of even those the premise appeals to. But it does have as much substance as it does style, even when it treads into murky waters, and for that I think it’s worth the watch.
If you’re not watching Indonesian horror, you’re missing out. The region is producing some of the craziest genre movies around right now, thanks in no small part to the efforts of writer-director Joko Anwar. His latest, Ghost in the Cell, which celebrated its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest 2026, combines everything we love about the filmmaker’s work—supernatural scares, inventive kills, and gnarly gore—along with a strong vein of comedy and political satire.
What is Ghost in the Cell About?
Ghost in the Cell centers around Dimas (Endy Arfian), a journalist whose life falls apart after he tries to run a story on corporate corruption and mysterious worker deaths. Wrongfully convicted of the horrific murder of his boss, Dimas finds himself with a one-way ticket to Cell Block C, where he quickly meets a colorful cast of prisoners—the good, the bad, and the seriously nasty. Among the good guys, there’s Anggoro (Abimana Aryasatya), who is constantly getting into trouble for defending fellow inmates, and Six (Yoga Pratama), who claims he can see people’s auras.
As if Dimas’ situation couldn’t get any worse, his arrival seems to trigger a series of brutal killings in the prison. Bodies are showing up mangled beyond recognition and displayed in positions that wouldn’t look out of place in Hannibal. It soon becomes clear that Dimas isn’t behind the murders, which begs the question: what did he bring in with him?
Anwar Embraces Horror-Comedy Whole-Heartedly
Prison is a scary place, and Anwar makes great use of the setting, with the action moving from the dingy showers where predators lurk to the bleak cellblock where inmates are at the mercy of their captors and the cafeteria where rival gangs eye each other up with ill intent.
But for all the human misery contained within the film, Ghost in the Cell is ultimately a horror-comedy, one that isn’t afraid to lean into broad slapstick and quippy dialogue when it wants to raise a chuckle. The tonal shifts can take a little while to adjust to, especially if your previous experience with Anwar comes from his more serious horror outings like Impetigore. This might be a problem if the film wasn’t actually funny, but Ghost in the Cell has enough laugh-out-loud moments to make you forget about any whiplash.
Ghost in the Cell Is a Genre-Bender to the Max
Comedy isn’t the only new flavor that Anwar has tossed into the mix. In Ghost in the Cell, dance sequences and martial-arts fight choreo sit side-by-side with some of the most extreme gore scenes seen outside a Terrifier movie in recent years. Then there’s the eerie way the spirit presents before it kills (trypophobia sufferers, beware) and the extensive critique of political corruption, power, and inequality. It’s an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach that shouldn’t work on paper, but under Anwar’s assured hand, it does.
It helps that for all the slapstick, the film lands a surprisingly earnest message, amplified by its vast ensemble cast. Dimas and Anggoro at times feel like main characters, but everyone in Ghost in the Cell has a big part to play, and that’s the point: in seemingly impossible circumstances, there’s strength in unity.
Ghost in the Cell Is an Endlessly Entertaining Blend of Goofiness, Heart, and Gore
If you’re looking for nonstop scares, you won’t find them in Ghost in the Cell. What you will find is a delightful blend of horror, comedy, and action that is apt to leave you grinning from ear to ear.
The film doesn’t skimp on the gore, throwing flesh and fluids at every surface. But it’s also charmingly goofy, with a cast that doesn’t take itself too seriously and a script that’s all too happy to devolve into a comedic dance scene when it feels like the spirit might strike. In every sense, Anwar is doing the most, and the end result is a film where there’s nary a dull moment in sight.
