‘Satanic Panic’ Splatters Its Way Through A Subtle Class Struggle

There was a period in the early eighties where parents and politicians believed anything and everything that teenagers and young adults were into was the work of the devil. This era has jokingly become known as the “Satanic Panic.” Sadly, Satanic Panic is not about this fun point in American history. But it is a fun little horror movie.

Satanic Panic is about a pizza delivery girl named Samantha Craft (Hayley Griffith from “All My Children”) whose first day is riddled with bad customers and worse tips. She thinks that her luck might be changing when she gets an order from a remote – and rich – area. Unfortunately, the customers turn out to be a group of Satanists lead by a woman named Danica Ross (Rebecca Romijn from the X-Men movies), and they want more than just pizza from Sam – they want her as a sacrifice. Sam finds an unlikely ally in Danica’s daughter, Judi (Happy Death Day’s Ruby Modine), as she fights her way through the night.

Director Chelsea Stardust is having a banner year, with her Hulu original All That We Destroy releasing at the beginning of the summer and Satanic Panic now ushering in the fall horror season. The screenplay for Satanic Panic was written by Grady Hendrix (Mohawk) from a story that he cooked up with Ted Geoghegan (We Are Still Here), and essentially, it’s a girl-on-the-run story, with Sam trying to escape the Satanists, only to find herself in more dangerous situations as the night goes on. Every time she gets away, she winds up in a worse predicament, sort of like an out of the frying pan and into the fire deal. Sure, it’s ridiculously unbelievable, but that’s the point. As her night goes on, she faces more and more outlandish circumstances. And the audience is completely there for it the whole time.

While it’s not really a retro-throwback movie, Satanic Panic does feel strangely comfortable. It successfully captures the vibe of the old straight-to-video gems of the eighties without ever feeling dated. It’s familiar without being formulaic. There’s very little in the story that hasn’t been done before, but with their relatable characters and clever twists, Stardust and Hendrix manage to keep everything fresh and new.

Satanic Panic is a lighthearted movie, but there’s an undercurrent of sinister-ness that is mostly a product of the modern times. Sam is a working-class girl saddled with a menial low-wage job trying to pay off debt, and she finds herself being hunted by the rich and entitled elite who feel like she owes them her gratitude. Basically, Satanic Panic is a slick combination of Society and The Purge (or, more accurately, The Purge: Anarchy). The message may not be intentional on the part of the filmmakers, but the allegory comes through loud and clear.

It’s unfortunate that Satanic Panic is releasing around the same time as the similarly-themed Ready or Not, because although both are good movies, Ready or Not is a little better and has a way higher profile, so Satanic Panic may wind up getting lost in the shuffle. And that’s a shame, because there’s plenty of room for both movies, and Satanic Panic is well worth checking out.