Richard Crouse

In the early 1980s it seemed the Devil was lurking around every corner. Parents, concerned that heavy metal was bringing their kids over to the dark side, played records backwards, searching for hidden diabolical messages. Rumors circulated that a major toothpaste brand had secret satanic messages embedded into their logo and sordid tales of human sacrifices, incestuous orgies and ritual abuse at the hands of Devil worshippers were guaranteed ratings gold for afternoon talk shows.

Ground Zero for the satanic panic was “Michelle Remembers,” a bestselling memoir co-written by Victoria, BC based psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and Michelle Smith, his long-term patient and future wife. The book, and the resulting reverberations caused by its allegations, are the subject of “Satan Wants You,” a new documentary now playing in theatres.

Based on Smith’s “repressed memories,” the book details lurid and often absurd claims of child abuse she says she suffered at the hands of a cabal of satanists led by her mother Virginia Proby. As the book gained popularity, with excerpts in People and the National Enquirer, Pazder and Smith became media celebrities, spreading the now debunked message that satanists lurked everywhere, and no one was safe from their devilish grasp. Despite no actual evidence of satanic activity—Smith claims the Virgin Mary visited her and removed scars and other signs of abuse—their sensational claims got a hold in the zeitgeist.

Directors Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams methodically work their way through the story and misinformation, supported by audio recordings of Smith’s unsettling hypnotherapy sessions with Pazder, cheesy reenactments, loads of archival footage and new interviews with family and friends of the main characters. What emerges is a portrait not only of a conspiracy and moral panic spun out of control, and lapped up by an eager media, but also of the exploitive relationship between the doctor and patient.

The film’s focus on that aspect of the story gives the larger picture a bit of a short shrift. The panic caused by “Michelle Remembers” ruined the reputations of falsely accused people and cost others a fortune defending themselves in costly court trials.

Instead, the film forges a connection between the 1980s satanic frenzy and the recent conspiracy theories promoted by QAnon. In the world or misinformation, the film suggests, everything old is new again.

“Satan Wants You” is a time capsule of 1980s moral outrage, but more than that, it demonstrates how quickly and easily misinformation can cause an epidemic of mass hysteria.