FT383 69when Lila has to take a taxi to the
house and the driver OzzieJones
(Mark Holton, who appeared in
the originalfi lm), talks darkly
about knowing her mother. For
good measure, the inside of his
pick-up truck is plastered with
pictures offour-leaf clovers,
indicating he still needs some
form of protection against the
leprechaun.At the house, Lila
fi nds the students busily engaged
in repairing the cursedwell;
unknowingly, of course, they have
given the leprechaun away of
(literally) erupting back into life:a
geyser ofgreen goofalls upon the
hapless taxi driver and, in a scene
reminiscent of thechestburster
sequence inAlien, the fullyformed
leprechaun climbs out of the man’s
body. Everything is now set-up
for him to track down the pot of
gold thatwas stolen from him in
the originalfi lm and kill off the
students at thisremote location,
dispatching them oneby one using
a multitude of gory and inventive
methods.
The leprechaun embodies the
unbridledforces of the id, and
his lustfor goldabove all else
is symbolic of capitalistgreed.
Leprechaun Returnsis obviously
a cabin-in-the-woods/teen-slasher
movie, and on that level it iswell
executed. It’s a bit sad that the
stereotypical iconography of the
leprechaun is used to producea
monstrous creature who enjoys
inflictinggruesome deaths on
anyone who disrespects him or
gets between him and his gold.
Traditionally, Irish leprechauns
are certainlygrumpy but they
were never this hostile towards
humanity.The franchise simply
hijacks awell-knownfolkloric
fi gurefor its own purposes
and endows it with all types of
supernaturalabilities, including
shape-shifting,fl ying, telekinesis
and being virtually indestructible.
Bothfi lms arewonderfully
inventive, campy gore-fests, it’s
just the luck of the Irish that one
of their best knownmythical
characters is transformed into
a wise-cracking,remorseless
green monster who is the pure
embodiment ofevil.
TheLeprechaun ReturnsDVD
also contains a behind-the-scenes
feature, a stills gallery and an
interview with director Steven
Kostanki.
NigelWatson
HHHcover-ups. Disgusted at
the hypocrisy, some simply
turned from Christianity and
embraced atheism instead.
Yet noteveryone was ready to
ditch thereligious framework
completely. As one interviewee
explains: “Being an atheist
is boring; it’s defining what
you’re not. But Satanism... it
standsfor something.”
Viewers not savvy with the
religion willfi nd some helpful
myth-busting here.The idea
that Satanists don’t believe in
Satanfor example (he’s just
a central symbolfor personal
liberation, afi gureheadfor
a dramatic counter-myth to
Christianity).Their mission to
erect statues of Baphomet in
public spaces, or to institute
Satanic prayers in council
meetings isn’t meant to see the
world at the mercy of an ‘evil
power’; rather they’re calling
out the unfair dominance of
Christianity in post-Christian
US politics and asking just
how freewereallyare today.
I’m a Christianmyself... so
am I encouragingreaders, and
even my fellowchurchgoers, to
watchHail Satan?Hell,yeah!
It’s not withoutfault –for one
thing, it doesn’t cover an y
otherforms of Satanism – but
if you can handle pixelated
testes ongravestones,you’ll
fi nd a funny andfascinating
exploration of how people
respond to a judgmental
and graceless Christianity.
Talibangelicals like Phelps
are aworld away from the
kind-hearted openness of
Jesus, and so it’s nowonder
that so many turnaway from
the Church. It’s also intriguing
to see thateven without the
demands of strictreligious
frameworks, Satanists still
seem to strive for the common
‘good’. Ironically, that might
be evidence of us all having
the spark of divinity after all- even those of us with goats’
horns. In the end,Hail Satan?
isn’t the definitive guide to
contemporary Satanism–
and it doesn’t claim to be.
But for those interested in
the religious and political
landscape of 2019, it’s an
essential window intonow.
Hail Satan?
Dir Penny Lane, US 2019
On UK release from 26 July
There’s a telling moment early
on inHail Satan?when an
American Satanist, complete
with black cape and huge
goats’ horns, getsready for a
political protest on the steps
of the Florida Capital.“Hail
Satan!” he cries dramatically
and fl ips his arm out... but the
pyros on his wrist don’t go off.
He tries again.Anawkward
click, then nothing. He
chuckles and tries once more.
Boom. Fire shoots out and he
cries “Hail Satan!” one more
time. It’s a window into the
heart ofPenny Lane’s latest
documentary, which presents
members of the Satanic
Temple as people just likeyou
and me: human beings, trying
to do what they believe is
right.These aren’t the power
hungry aristocrats of a Dennis
Wheatley novel, plunging
daggers into virgins.They’re
more like a political pressure
group for the millennial
generation, with goals that are
more in step with mainstream
morality thanyou might
expect.
Okay, so their methods
can beeye-popping.At one
point, they protest infamous
‘God Hate’sFags’ preacher
Fred Phelpsby getting gay
couples to make out on
Phelps’s mother’sgrave.
Theyinvokea spell that will
turn her departed soul into
a raging lesbian.Then the
leader gets hisnuts out and
rests them on thegrave for a
selfie. So, yes, these Satanists
can be pretty in-your-face.
Yet thefi lm’s interviewees
claim, quite persuasively, that
trolling people with shocking
performance art like this isfar
less damaging than picketing
gay people’s funerals with
‘Burn In Hell’ placards.
The main target of theirTHE REVEREND’S REVIEWFT’s resident man of the cloth REVEREND PETER LAWS
dons his dog collar and faces the flicks that Church
forgot! (www.theflicksthatchurchforgot.com)Members of theSatanicTempleare people justlike you and meprotests is, unsurprisingly,
fundamentalistevangelicals.
The fi lm charts this as an
antagonism born in the
1960s with Anton LaVey and
significantlyexacerbated
by the Satanic panics of
the 1980s and 1990s.The
teens whowere told to
stop playing Dungeons
and Dragons and burn
their heavy metal albums
grew to see the Church
mired in scandal after
scandal: adultery, horrific
child abuse, and shocking