Sundance 2024 Film Festival – If you’re looking for a documentary that offers interesting and thoughtful commentary on Satanism, Realm of Satan isn’t it. Written and directed by Scott Cummings, the film is more a visual and to some extent, auditory experiment about the everyday lives of Satanists. It has mystical and interesting moments for sure, but also very dull sequences. The visuals, however, outweigh everything.

This isn’t a traditional documentary that explores the Church of Satan’s history. Heck, its founder, Anton Lavey, isn’t even really featured other than various photographs hanging on the wall, often in the background. Yes, I know he’s deceased, but it’s surprising there’s no archival footage of him for some context. There are no interviews here with the Satanists, either. If you want to watch a contemporary documentary that’s more traditional, then I suggest 2019’s Hail Satan?, which is a thoughtful look at the Church of Satan, its members, and some of what it stands for, including freedom of expression. In contrast, this documentary offers none of that, but it still has its positives.

There are some truly striking visuals throughout Realm of Satan, including magic shows, firebreathers dancing and twirling in the woods, and a man in black metal face paint hanging up his laundry during a bright, sunny day. In fact, the visuals are what saves this from being an otherwise pretentious experiment in, well, whatever it’s trying to accomplish. There’s plenty of arresting eye candy here that’s fun to look at and some of the sequences make it impossible to look away.

This film is also notable because, other than some shots of their Satanic rituals, none of the Satanists talk in front of the camera. Instead, Cummings simply focuses on some of their day-to-day activities, like driving a muscle car around town or reading a book. These mundane moments are sometimes juxtaposed with rather surreal images and camera trickery, like one shot that makes it seem like a woman is levitating while reading, and another that makes it seem like a man walks around with goat legs in his house. Still, the long moments of silence can be tough to endure. When sound is used, it’s sometimes the clank of a hammer, or TV programs, including various news reports about Satanism. This film feels like an art project to the max, and it’s not always better for it.

It’s difficult to decipher what exactly the point is of Realm of Satan. Who’s the audience for this? Sure, there’s some stunning and mystifying visuals here and interesting experimentation with sound. But you won’t come away learning anything about Satanism. This film does stun sometimes with some mesmerizing images, but more often than not, it’s a bore.

6 Out of 10