Satanic Panic (2019) User Reviews

Camp on a Budget

[Neon_Gold · 6/10 · 20 May 2020]

This is a super campy film and Rebecca Romijn really added to that camp, her costumes alone!!

I saw other people's reviews and they say that they found the start great and then it went down hill but I feel the opposite.

During the first 20 i was thinking this was a really cheap student film with an unfunny script but then as soon as Rebecca Romijn shown up I started to appreciate it more.

The script is kinda of wonky too, not so much the dialogue but more like unfinished plots or just completely dropped plots.

It's quite gory but in a campy way so I don't think people would mind.

So even though at times it can feel student-y and definitely more so at the start, I would watch it.

A fun ride

[hungry_nirupam · 7/10 · 24 August 2019]

I got to go to the premiere of this low budget horror flick called SATANIC PANIC. Honestly, I had no idea what this movie was about. The only thing I knew was that Chelsea Stardust directed it. If you don't know who Chelsea is, she directed an episode called 'All That We Destroy' on Hulu's Into the Dark series. I didn't like that episode but I liked the way she presented that episode.

This movie at core is a satanic horror comedy which works so well because of the writing. The jokes are genuinely funny and there's some commentary about class. But what works in this movie is the practical effects. The effects are so amazing! It's gory and fun to watch.

The cinematography in this movie is nothing new, but what is really good is the soundtrack. In the Q/A, Chelsea described it as a mix between Goblin and John Carpenter and I whole heartedly agree.

What I didn't like in this movie is the editing, certain parts feel too choppy and certain parts feels slow. Nothing drastic. Another factor that worked was Chelsea's homage to horror films. From Halloween to Drag Me to Hell, she takes inspiration and builds on them. You can see a horror fan made this. When I make horror films in the future, hopefully, this is what it's gonna look like. A movie that tells it's own story but effectively pays homage to the ones that came before.

The acting is also really good: Hayley Griffith in her debutant performance essentially holds the flick, Ruby Modine really has some good lines and Rebecca Romjin is kind of okay. The scene stealer however was the character of Gypsy played by Arden Myrin.

I highly recommend everyone to watch this movie when it drops on September 6. It will be overshadowed by It Chapter 2 but whenever y'all get a chance, do watch it. It's a fun ride.

I give it a 7/10.

Funny and gory. Great combo

[moisesmaldonado · 7/10 · 13 October 2019]

Throwback 80's b-movie horror at its finest. Lots o blood and lots o fun.

Absolutely fun!

[kyleallencole9 · 7 September 2019]

Not sure if this was suppose to be a satire, comedy or horror, but nevertheless the film kept me entertained. All the characters in this were wacky and fun. Some of the gore effects were pretty cool too. It also has Ruby Modine in it from both of the happy death day films. This is just one of those movies to go in blind and have fun with. These bumbling satanists in the film rule, plus the pizza delivery girl sticks it to them!! Definitely a crazy and fun film

just the tip

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 11 June 2019]

2019 Oak Cliff Film Festival Greetings again from the darkness. Hail Satan! This is definitely the first screening I've ever been to where those are the words the director used to introduce her film. Director Chelsea Stardust is quite passionate about her film, and most of the audience shared in her enthusiasm after experiencing this crazy, wild ride of pizza, secret devil-worshipping societies, virgin sacrifices, campy blood-splattering gore, and upper class hobbies.

Written by noted horror writer Grady Hendrix and Ted Geoghegan, the film introduces us to Samantha (an all-in Hayley Griffith). She's a twenty-something who dreams of Australia, and somehow thinks taking a job delivering pizzas will get her there. She's in such dire straits that she doesn't have the 5 bucks she needs for gas in her Vespa, plus her co-workers stick the new girl with the "no tip" deliveries. I assume there really are classless people who stiff delivery folks, and it's easy to understand why Hayley bangs on the door of a Park Cities mansion after getting the shaft on a 5 pizza delivery.

It's that knock that transforms Samantha's bad job into a matter of life and death. Rather than interrupting a high society neighborhood tea, she stumbles into a Satanic cult led by Danica (Rebecca Romijn, X-MEN). And guess what? It's virgin sacrifice night! And guess who qualifies? That's right ... it's Samantha, our no-tip pizza delivery gal. After a sequence featuring Danica's husband (Romijn's real life husband Jerry O'Connell) and one of the more gory and impressive practical effects of the film, Samantha manages to escape the hell-house mansion.

Soon she has teamed up with Judi (Ruby Modine), who just happens to be Danica's daughter. Judi's inside knowledge proves quite helpful in finding loopholes for temporary reprieves, although the devil-worshippers stay focused on offering Samantha as their virgin sacrifice to Baphomet. While all of this is happening, there is a power struggle within the coven between Danica and Gypsy (a wild-eyed Arden Myrin), adding one more wheels-off element to this carnival of comedy-horror.

Clearly this is campy, but given the low budget constraints, the film's effects work very well, and Ms. Romijn, Ms. Griffith and Ms. Modine (Matthew's daughter) are quite effective in their roles. It's curious just how incredibly naïve Samantha is for her age, but this movie isn't really about thinking and analyzing. Instead, sit back and enjoy the wildest ride you are likely to get from a Vespa-driving pizza delivery person (and please tip these folks!)

A Wild & Also Uneven Ride

[TwistedContent · 6/10 · 8 September 2019]

Occult themes, practical FX, retro synth soundtrack... Of course I was looking forward to "Satanic Panic". However, I was ready for just a slightly more powerful punch.

Make no mistake, it's an entertaining horror comedy, with the horror parts, in the sum, being better than the comedy bits. Can't promise a laugh-out-loud moment, because for me there wasn't one. The funniest bits are in the 1st half of the movie. A lot of "Satanic Panic" resembles old-school, starting with, of course, Practical FX (quite a lot of gore & it's good), that retro-type synthwave original score, the very theme of witches and covens, and ending with the poster. So you know, lovers of all this will be more or less happy - I was. The characters are simple and very much clicheic, as is the plot, even though it's going to hide that to the very end at which moment a little voice in your head might say "Well I guess that's that". My point is, I was craving for a climax that would top the prior crazy moments in this flick. No matter the characters, the actors and their performances were quite fine. And fun. Probably a little more fun for horror buffs, because there are some familiar faces. On a side note, in the end I was a little disappointed with the main character, I feel like there could've been more to her story. As for the visuals, the cinematography was fairly simple, saturated, colorful, low-budget but creative. The gore was great though, classic, proven to be great kind of stuff. Gotta love the gore.

Let's put it this way - if I dissect "Satanic Panic" into bits and pieces, there's a lot of flawed ones, but overall it's a great, fun, no-brakes kind of entertainment for anyone who's into horror enough. My rating: 6/10.

Could have gone so much further, but...

[IdaBarracuda · 5/10 · 25 September 2019]

Satanic panic had its moments. Few pretty funny/well made/well acted, and so many absolutely cringey bad or boring to death. Clearly the movie got worse the longer it went.

One thing I wonder: where did the flying vulva demon disappear and why didn't it come back?

Starts Better Than It Ends

[martinscrimm · 6/10 · 2 May 2020]

For the first 30 minutes of Satanic Panic, I was all in. The characters were interesting, the story was plausible in its own wacky way, and the pacing was pretty good, supplying both some creeps and laughs along the way. Somewhere by the middle of the movie, I found myself scratching my head as things just happen for no reason with very little explanation at all. While some of these things are pretty cool (trees in the forest spouting arms and grabbing people like something out of Disney's Snow White), most of them come out nowhere and makes it seem as if the writers got bored and started throwing everything in they could think of just to keep things interesting.

This isn't to say that Satanic Panic is a bad movie. Even in its most confusing and bizarre moments, it has enough energy and spark for 15 other indie horror films.

Not very Satanic, and not much panic...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 9 September 2019]

I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into when I sat down to watch the 2019 movie "Satanic Panic" from director Chelsea Stardust. I had sort of expected a horror comedy.

And sure, the movie is labeled as a horror comedy, but it utterly failed on both accounts. I wasn't the least bit amused with the events taking place on the screen throughout the movie as the insanely mundane and generic storyline unfurled. It was just atrocious how generic and stereotypical everything in this movie turned out to be.

"Satanic Panic" offers nothing new to the horror genre, and it turned out to be a dead fish in the water sort of movie. The writers sat out to accomplish a heap of things with the storyline, but it wasn't a fulfilling experience to watch on the screen.

The acting in the movie was adequate, but the actors and actresses could do nothing to manage to salvage this train wreck that was fast sliding down a very steep hill.

It should be said that the special effects department actually managed to do a fair job with the effects, both practical and CGI. So that worked well enough in favor of the movie. But sadly it just couldn't do much to salvage everything else that was bad - which was the majority of the movie.

If you enjoy horror comedies, then there are far, far better choices readily available. I am rating "Satanic Panic" a meager three out of ten stars, because it was a boring movie and it failed to be horror and it failed to be comedy.

Not bad for this genre.

[deloudelouvain · 6/10 · 27 October 2019]

Comedy and horror, it's always a delicate genre with not alot of good movies. Satanic Panic is just under the good movies in this genre, it's worth watching once but I don't need to watch it again in the future. The horror parts were actually the funniest parts to me, with a decent amount of well done but funny gore. The cast wasn't bad either, no future Oscar winners here but not cringing to watch either. The title for this movie resumes it all, it's just a bit of fun and horror.

Meh....

[nottoday-572-807361 · 3/10 · 8 September 2019]

Was expecting way more, considering 'Fangoria' put there name to this movie, unfortunately it was yet another modern day time waster. Bad script writing, stupid character decisions, bad acting & some horrendous dialogue, which apparently is supposed to be funny.

Quite a treat to watch

[juanramos-68830 · 8/10 · 12 September 2019]

The amount of creativity Stardust put into this film was pretty high up there. Actors were a little sub-par, but not all were awkward. Enjoyed this film quite a bit since there was some effort put forth in actually making a quality movie. You know? One that you could actually sit through and even eat popcorn.

Gory and funny!

[kperakis · 6/10 · 18 September 2019]

Personally,I enjoyed this movie a lot!It had its share of gore and laughs,with smart references to other horror movies,led by a nice cast with some solid acting. What I didn't like that much to be honest though,was the ending.The last few minutes spoiled it for me,and hence the 6 and not an even higher grade.

Boring

[danielcereto · 4/10 · 20 September 2019]

Im a huge fan of horror movies and slashers. This one is boring. There is no story line, just a pizza deliver girl in the middle of a weird satanic ritual. This movie does no add anything new to the genre, the killings are dumb and the acting pretty bad. Sometimes it looks like a high school play. So, make yourself a favor, and do not ask a pizza here.

Like a virgin, blood-sacrificed for the very first time

[Coventry · 6/10 · 5 July 2022]

"Satanic Panic" is a pleasantly deranged horror comedy, but - in the end - it suffers slightly from the 'not-quite-crazy-enough' syndrome. It's simple, really... If you are going over-the-top, you better do it right. Several isolated moments, like the rotating drill-device used by the babysitters or Jerry O'Connell's brief appearance as wannabe virgin-savior, are gloriously insane but the overall wholesome isn't epic; - or at least not epic enough.

That said, however, should you be looking for a fun and gory new horror flick to relax yourself and grant your brain functions some well-deserved time off, "Satanic Panic" is definitely an apt choice! It's a kind of random and pointless crossover between "Desperate Housewives" and "Rosemary's Baby", with women (men as well but they have nothing to say) from a fancy and upper-class neighborhood indulging in sick and twisted satanic rites to evoke the rebirth of a nasty demon named Baphomet. The coven, led by the furious shrew Danica Ross, needs a virgin to sacrifice (they always do) so when rookie pizza delivery girl Sam comes busting in during the ceremony to claim her tip, she pretty much offers herself on a golden plate.

This a Fangoria production, so you may expect gooey special effects, loads of tongue-in-cheek humor, and some familiar faces in atypical roles. It's undoubtedly Rebecca Romijn's best role in years and, maybe it's because I'm getting older myself, but she looks even more stunning now than when she did Brian De Palma's "Femme Fatale". Unknown lead actress Hayley Griffith is also really great, and so are Ruby Modine (Matthew's daughter), Arden Myrin, and Jordan Ladd.

Cut short

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 31 October 2019]

Not the running time in any sense, but this seems like it could have so much more. Or could have been more and could have been even more fun. Even so there is a lot of good ingredients in this, beginning with Rebecca Romijin. She really cherishes in her role as is her on screen husband (whom you may know from other stuff) ... also there will be bunnies (if you are into them).

But don't let the bunnies distract you (or maybe they will but there is a long way to go for them to appear), there are a lot of things happening to our main character, things that she might not deserve, but that she has to endure ... how will she cope? You'll have to watch to find out

I Personally Loved This!

[Jamie_Seaton · 11 September 2019]

Upon starting this, I was pretty much in agreement with myself it was gonna be absolute rubbish! I was pleasantly surprised! The characters are fun and the story is exciting. I'm really glad I stumbled across this film.

In my opinion it has a fairly fun, light hearted approach to something much darker, there in lies the comedy. Some of the scenes are insane and the lead actors fit their parts well.

It's certainly something different and a fine low budget Horror-Com! Better than most others!

Camp

[jmbovan-47-160173 · 4/10 · 20 March 2020]

At best, camp. So so film without much to redeem it. Over the top in a TV sense, but not much more. If they were trying for laughs, they failed. Been done before and better.

Not quite devilish enough.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 10 September 2019]

Horror comedy Satanic Panic kicks off in promising style, with pizza delivery girl Sam Craft (buxom beauty Hayley Griffith) crashing a party of devil worshippers in search of a tip. When the Satanists realise that Sam is a virgin, they take her prisoner with the intention of using her in a ritual to summon demon Baphomet. Sam isn't too happy about this, and with the help of Judi (Ruby Modine), daughter of head occultist Danica (Rebecca Romijn), sets about trying to spoil their plans.

There's a scene in this film where a woman wearing a huge, rotating drill-bit dildo impales another woman through the chest, at which point I thought I had discovered a really twisted horror gem, one that would only get more and more demented as it progressed; unfortunately, it doesn't. There are still a few fun moments to be had, but nothing quite as outrageous as I had hoped for, making the film feel like something of a disappointment overall.

Jerry O'Connell has a small part as a sleaze-bag who offers to deflower Sam, but accidentally shoots himself in the neck; Danica cooks up a strange bloodsucking sphincter creature and sends it to find Sam; Judi pukes up worms; and a demon in the form of a little girl makes the Satanists pay dearly for a mistake. All of this is reasonably entertaining, but had director Chelsea Stardust seized the opportunity and allowed the lunacy to escalate to epic proportions, it would have been so much more memorable-a bona fide cult classic instead of just a passable time-waster.

Can you really call this a movie?

[fpampaloni-41538 · 1/10 · 17 September 2019]

Poor directing, excruciating acting, absent humor and sad realization. When I think of all the new (and good) productions struggling to be discovered, I am amazed that this waste of desperate talents is allowed to be produced..... These statements are my own opinion. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY

Fun Cult and Ritual Film!

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 7/10 · 17 December 2019]

This was a film that I was hearing a lot about through podcasts. Some people got the chance to check this out during its festival run and I know the director, Chelsea Stardust, went on a podcast to be interviewed as well. I also follow the actress Hayley Griffith on social media, which I happen to find her completely adorable, so that peaked my interest more. The synopsis here is a pizza delivery girl at the end of her financial rope has to fight for her life, and her tips, when her last order of the night turns out to be high society Satanists in need of a virgin sacrifice.

We start this off getting to know the area that will be the main location of the film. We can see this is a rich area and coming up to a door we get a POV shot. This leads us to a room where Judi Ross (Ruby Modine) is having sex with a guy. She is confronted and we know that it is her mother and she is not happy with her daughter.

It then takes us to our star, Samantha 'Sam' Craft (Griffith). She is working as a pizza delivery driver, but we see that it isn't going well. She needs money and she begged Duncan Havermyer (AJ Bowen) for a job. He sees it a bit differently than she did. Through a montage, it isn't going well for her. Her last five dollars are taken by Mr. Styles (Skeeta Jenkins), her boss. They take an order at the pizza shop and it is to an area that is out of their range, the neighborhood we saw earlier.

A man answers the door and Sam drops off the order. When he fills out the slip, she sees that the 100 dollar order has no tip. When her scooter won't start, she goes back to pound on the door. She goes inside and it isn't want she was expecting. Sam is a bit odd and doesn't catch on a first though. This is actually a Satanic cult ran by Danica Ross (Rebecca Romijn). It then becomes a fight for Sam's life as she tries to escape them and their black magic as they try to summon Baphomet.

I should lead off that I personally felt this was a pretty fun film. I'm a big fan of movies with cults. The only drawback I would give for that here though is this definitely feels like watered down version for a more mainstream audience. I don't necessarily see that as an issue though. This definitely could be a gateway film for a younger audience to start checking out some of the more classic ones for sure.

The writing here was really solid if I'm going to be honest. We get some things that are introduced early in the film that come back later and make more sense to the overall story. Examples here without spoiling anything is a song Sam sings and shows her coworkers has a much deeper meaning, she gets duped into helping a frat guy who is also a Sam into helping with a couch and his reasoning is outrageous. This second one for sure has a major callback. It is things like this that I can appreciate.

I also really enjoy the care of detail that they put into the ritual and cult aspects to the movie. Baphomet is definitely a character I've heard of. This one introduces Samaziel, which I haven't been able to find being a real character in Christian or Satanic Mythology. The amount of thought they put into the spells and the effects of them as well.

What really hurts this film for me is that it is a comedy. I didn't necessarily find it that was overly funny though. A lot of it didn't land with me. I will admit there were times though that it got me to chuckle. It doesn't come off though like a true comedy, as there are quite a bit of horrific things that happen here.

Something that I did have an issue with was the pacing. I don't want to come out and say that I was bored as that's not the case. I do feel that the film does lose it way a bit at times and I did lose interest. I feel that the problem is the effects in this film are good and I wanted to see more of that. There's a lot of Sam hiding and trying to survive so it hurt the tension a bit for me.

Since I started covering them, like I said the effects were really good. For the most part they looked to be done practically. We get some wounds that looked real and blood did as well. We also get some interesting creature effects for demons here. The film is also shot very well and I'm assuming there were some CGI, but it never took me out and looked real enough.

The cast for this is quite interesting. Romijn is still attractive and I thought she was solid as the main villain here. Arden Myrin is also good as the second in command who is vying to be in charge. Griffith as I said earlier is adorable. Her awkwardness really worked for me and I like the fight that she has in her. The more we learn about her character, the more things make sense. Modine is solid. Glad to see Bowen, Jordan Ladd, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Jerry O'Connell and Jenkins among others. Many of them play cultists which worked for me as well.

The last thing to cover would be the soundtrack for the film. I think that it definitely fit for what they needed. Griffith has a song that she sings here which is cheesy, but when you learn more about it. It's heartfelt. This isn't a score I would revisit a lot, but it definitely helped to set the mood of the scenes and build tension.

Now with that said, this movie has some really good things that I dug. I think we get some good writing here for sure. The aspect of the cult and being Satanists is good. I think that the acting really helps to bring this to life with the effects being really good as well. This being a comedy does hurt it slightly for me, especially since the film does kind of lose its way in the second act. The ending really worked for me though. There is a slight social commentary as well that rich people stay that way with the power of Satan, which is kind of a thought process for those that take advantage of others around them in real life. With that said though, this film is above average and still pretty fun.

wow

[tecumseh88 · 2/10 · 4 April 2020]

Jus saw someone compare this to night of the demons and return of the living dead...jfc... I knew I was in the wrong hands the minute I saw the pov shot going up the stairs in first minute... it was not evocative in anyway and rather than being slowed down and moody it jus looked like it was only slightly cranked up- but not fast enough to be kinetic or indicative of anything...and the rest of the flick was the same- jus so uninspired like the director suddenly lost the plot when they started shooting and couldnt figure out what they were going for- jus felt so half assed and thoughtless with bad humor and uneven acting and dialogue that I guess is supposed to be pithy but is actually pretty quaint and tired. and theres alot of it....that's what this flick predominantly is- long dialog scenes and short set piece ones... and the canned music is horrible... the synth stuff is not interesting or unique ...jus sounds like bad cheap rehashes of things u have already heard.

Tons of fun!!

[saphira_dragon-80270 · 9/10 · 8 September 2019]

This is a winner! We really enjoyed it. It's the perfect comedy horror! Great script great acting lots of fun. We were blown away. Check it out ASAP!!!

Baphomet needs a virgin

[gedikreverdi · 7/10 · 12 March 2021]

It turned out to be way funnier than I expected it to be. The actors were quite good and it was a very good horror comedy. The pizza girl got into an upscale house to get her tip while the coven inside was in the middle of a satanic ritual. They needed a virgin to summon Baphomet and she's a virgin. The guy that she was locked with offered him to take her virginity but he declined that offer and accidentally shot him in the neck before getting raped. She got away and took refuge in another house in which another girl was about to get killed with a killdo which is a giant dildo driller. The pizza girl accidentally killed both of them and saved the girl whose mother was the head of the satanic coven and wanted to kill her because she lost her virginity. They both wanted to escape but her mother got them. The pizza guy from the same pizza parlor lured into the house and the head of the coven pulled his guts out to do gut reading to find out where the girls are. Someone in the coven put a spike in her skull but she wasn't dead and took her revenge and killed her own daughter. The salt line was broken and another superior meanie was summoned which is a little girl and killed them all and let her go. It was really fun and made me laugh a few times.

Love this one!

[derekaldous · 7/10 · 20 March 2020]

If you're a fan of Night of the Demons, Return of the Living Dead, Sorority Babes In the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama I'd recommend this! Awesome special effects, great cast, like able characters and good dialogue. Check it out!