Film Course - Satanic Panic! the Devil On the Silver Screen (10 Weeks)

Since cinema was invented, filmmakers have sought to highlight and exploit our fascination with black magic, possession and the very Devil himself. To usher in the witching season, this course - using plenty of clips and discussion - will conjure out of the shadows many known and not so well-known cinematic delights perpetuated with Satanism and a Hellish sense of the occult. As well as examining cinema itself, we’ll also scrutinise the controversies behind many of these features and how cinema became embroiled in the satanic panic scare of the 1970s and ‘80s and how it also got caught in the crossfire of the PMRC’s attack on heavy metal music and devil worship. 

We’ll look at a whole host of films from the silent eras onwards and make detailed studies of movies such as The Devil Rides Out, The Exorcist, The Omen, A Field in England, Late Night with the Devil, Brimstone and Treacle, Wall Street, Naked and many, many more. Expect midnight ceremonies and sacrificial rites as we stare into the eternal flickering abyss.

Tutor: Andrew Graves

Duration: 10 weeks

When: Tuesday evenings from Tuesday 7 October, 7pm - 8.30pm (no session on Tuesday 21 October - course ends Tuesday 16 December)

Price: £75 full / £60 members / £65 concessions / £50 under 25s