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octavia_cade's review
informative
medium-paced
4.0
This was really interesting, and for the most part extremely accessibly written, which is not as common as it might be with regards to academic literature. It is in places a little repetitive - I'm not sure that it needed two essays focusing on Constantine, but for the most part it covers the history of Satan in film extremely well, and over the broadest possible time period. Given the subject of the book, the vast majority of the chapters are concerned with horror films, or horror-adjacent films, but there's the odd chapter that deals with non-horror representations, for instance the chapter that looks at The Last Temptation of Christ and The Passion of the Christ. I think the chapters I enjoyed most here were "Agency or Allowance: The Satanic Complications of Female Autonomy in The Witches of Eastwick and The Witch" by Simon Bacon, and "Murnau's Faust and the Wiemar Moment" by Barry C. Knowlton and Eliose R. Knowlton. This last wasn't anything I was familiar with, but it was fascinating nonetheless!
Overall, though, the book's an enjoyable read with a perhaps not-very-surprising conclusion: that portrayals of Satan in cinema are very much set in the cultures of their time, affected by contemporary issues. That it is not a surprising statement takes nothing away from its general validity, I think.
Overall, though, the book's an enjoyable read with a perhaps not-very-surprising conclusion: that portrayals of Satan in cinema are very much set in the cultures of their time, affected by contemporary issues. That it is not a surprising statement takes nothing away from its general validity, I think.
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