Penny Lane's Hail Satan? starts with a question: what do we know about The Satanic Temple? In 2015 the religion was catapulted to the spotlight after pleading for the removal of the Ten Commandments from the Oklahoma State Capitol in exchange for an 8-foot tall statue of occult deity Baphomet. Their case was successful, and the group has since grown to over 50,000 practicing members. While Lane's documentary could have easily turned toward farce or a biased attempt to interpret the group's message, she instead highlights various members as they tell the story of the Temple's rise and intentions. Humorous, enlightening and inspirational, Hail Satan? offers an inside look at a group that exists outside of the labels that have been placed upon it and has since morphed into an exercise in rebellion against the confining political and religious systems that limit true freedom.
Penny Lane is an independent filmmaker known for Our Nixon (13) and Nuts! (16). Along with filmmaking, she is also an Assistant Professor of Art and Art History at Colgate University.
"Lane sets out to subvert American history with intelligence and wit. Penny Lane's fantastic doc argues that the Satanic Temple isn't the Antichrist — they're American patriots.. {S}he asks us to question why certain religions are deemed "normal," even though, notes one Temple member, Catholic mass is all about the symbolic drinking of blood." - Variety