This week on B&S About Movies, we’ll be delving into several of the films on the Church of Satan Film List, originally published in Magistra Blanche Barton’s The Church of Satan as approved by Magus Anton Szandor LaVey.

There are some films there that may not surprise the non-initiated, such as The Car, Evilspeak and It’s Alive. What may shock some are the films that are on the list, such as Steve Martin’s remake of Pennies from Heaven and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

I spoke to Magus Peter H. Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan since the Satanic Panic of the 1980’s, for some illumination on the film list.

“We don’t have official Church positions on various artforms, since the basis of our philosophy is individualism and thus our members react to such things based on their own personal hierarchy of values. Understanding our basic philosophy, one can decipher why Anton LaVey added the works he selected for his film list, but of course our members would each have personal rosters that they find define aspects of Satanism and human behavior in a perceptive manner.”

I’ll be featuring some of his — and other members’ — comments on the movies we’ll cover over the next few days. I trust you’ll all enter into this week with an open mind, ready to learn some new things about some movies you may have only seen from one headspace.