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Satanic Panic is a new schlock-horror movie which sees pizza delivery girl Sam Craft (Hayley Griffith, above) getting the worst delivery job ever as her trip ends in a posh mansion where a special evening is going on, and they need a virgin in order to give birth to the child of Satan… or something like that. I think plot comes secondary to everything else in this movie.
Well, for a bit of plot, we learn that to ward off demons, you can put down a line of salt because demons won’t cross it without counting every grain, and “They have more rules than Yahtzee”. Also, Sam meets Judi Ross (Ruby Modine) who’s trapped for a similar sacrifice, but in the buff. Can they sort out this whole bunch of nutters and escape? It’ll only take 89 minutes to get your answer, so it doesn’t outstay its welcome.
Meanwhile, for the baddies, there’s questions over Danica’s (Rebecca Romijn) leadership of the cult, and how they haven’t got time for weak leadership… so, it’s based on the Tory party? 😉
There’s some nice gory moments, such as digging inside an almost-dead body for something to cook; and one thing that’s brilliant to see is that it’s a long time since I saw a horror movie use practical special effects rather than CGI. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a film since soon after the ’80s ended, other than such films being released through Arrow’s other excellent Blu-ray Special Editions, my favourite being Society, which I saw in the cinema on my 18th birthday.
For a great quote, when the cult leaders turn up, Judi tells Sam, “Get your big tits in gear, they know we’re here!”
And earlier, when asked who she is, on entering the mansion for the first time, Sam says, “The pizza… person”. In the trailer and the ‘making of’ detailed below, she says “Pizza guy… er… girl”. I think the latter worked better. Why change it?
Satanic Panic has clearly been made on a small budget, but thanks to some nifty, sharp editing, some brilliant effects are carried out, even with a killer bedsheet!
There’s no issues with the picture, given that it’s a modern film which will have been shot digitally.
The extras are listed below, and they’re all worth watching, but they’re brief:
- FrightFest Intro (1:35): An intro from director Chelsea Stardust which was screened just before the film at the event.
- The Making of Satanic Panic (6:30): A brief piece mixing clips from the film with chat from the key cast and crew.
- Girl Power (3:27): Hayley Griffith, Rebecca Romijn, Ruby Modine, producer Amanda Presmyk (and some men) talk about director Chelsea Stardust.
- Sam & Judi (5:01): The two lead actresses talk about working on the film and how enjoyable playing their characters were. Also, Ms Stardust chats about auditions and why she picked the actresses she did.
- Behind the scenes reel (3:58): Dialogue-free on-set footage with the Satanic Panic theme in the background.
- Theatrical Trailer (1:58): In the original 1.85:1 theatrical ratio.
I just received the disc itself for review, but the retail version also includes a reversible sleeve featuring two choices of artwork, and an illustrated collector’ss booklet featuring new writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.
witfeaturing original and newly commissioned artwork by Vero Navarro, and a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Roger Keen and archive publicity materials.
The menu features music from the film mixed in with clips, there are subtitles in English and the bog-standard 12 chapters.
Satanic Panic is released today on Blu-ray Special Edition and DVD Special Edition.
|
FILM PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
6 10 8 2 |
| OVERALL | 6.5 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 89 minutes
Year: 2019
Distributor: Arrow Films
Released: October 28th 2019
Chapters: 12
Cat.no: FCD1972
Sound: DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio
Languages: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Chelsea Stardust
Producers: Adam Goldworm, Amanda Presmyk, Dallas Sonnier
Screenplay: Grady Hendrix
Music: Wolfmen Of Mars
Cast:
Samantha ‘Sam’ Craft: Hayley Griffith
Danica Ross: Rebecca Romijn
Gypsy Neumieir: Arden Myrin
Judi Ross: Ruby Modine
Duncan Havermyer: AJ Bowen
Kim Larson: Jordan Ladd
Steve Larson: Jeff Daniel Phillips
Samuel Ross: Jerry O’Connell
Kristen Larson: Hannah Stocking
Michelle Larson: Whitney Moore
Gary Neumieir: Michael Polish
Mr. Styles: Skeeta Jenkins
Samaziel: Maya Rae Perkins
Karim: Mike E Winfield
Timber: Jonas Lerway
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.