SATANIC PANIC (2015)

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BOUC EMISSAIRE
MANIFESTATIONS OF SATANIC ANXIETY IN QUEBEC
By RALPH ELAWANI and GIL NAULT

Chapitre consacré à la représentation du satanisme dans les médias québécois durant la décennie 1980-1990, figurant dans l'ouvrage SATANIC PANIC publié par Spectacular Optical.

SATANIC PANIC
POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980S

In the 1980s, it seemed impossible to escape Satan’s supposed influence. Everywhere you turned, there were warnings about a widespread evil conspiracy to indoctrinate the vulnerable through the media they consumed. This percolating cultural hysteria, now known as the “Satanic Panic,” not only sought to convince us of devils lurking behind the dials of our TVs and radios and the hellfire that awaited on book and video store shelves, it also created its own fascinating cultural legacy of Satan-battling VHS tapes, audio cassettes and literature. The second book by Canadian micro-publisher Spectacular Optical, Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s, offers an unprecedented and in-depth exploration of how a controversial culture war played out during the decade, from the publication of the memoir Michelle Remembers in 1980 to the end of the McMartin “Satanic Ritual Abuse” Trial in 1990. This new anthology, expected to be released in summer 2015, follows on the success of KID POWER!, Spectacular Optical’s inaugural book about cool, tough and sassy kids in cult film and television.

Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s features 20 new essays and interviews addressing the ways the widespread fear of a Satanic conspiracy was both illuminated and propagated through almost every pop culture pathway in the 1980s, from heavy metal music to Dungeons & Dragons role playing games, Christian comics, direct-to-VHS scare films, pulp paperbacks, Saturday morning cartoons, TV talk shows and even home computers. The book also features case studies on McMartin, Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth and Long Island “acid king” killer Ricky Kasso. From con artists to pranksters and moralists to martyrs, the book aims to capture the untold story of the how the Satanic Panic was fought on the pop culture frontlines and the serious consequences it had for many involved.

The book was launched in summer MMXV.

FOREWORD
By Adam Parfrey

INTRODUCTION
By Kier-La Janisse

REMEMBERING MICHELLE REMEMBER
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

THE UNHOLY PASSION: SEX AND GENDER ANXIETY IN RUSS MARTIN’S EROTIC HORROR PAPERBACKS
By Alison Nastasi

DICING WITH THE DEVIL: THE CRUSADE AGAINST GAMING
By Gavin Baddeley

20-SIDED SINS: HOW JACK T. CHICK WAS DRAWN INTO THE RPG WAR
By Paul Corupe

MASTERS OF THE IMAGINATION: FUNDAMENTALIST READINGS OF THE OCCULT IN CARTOONS OF THE 1980s
By Joshua Graham

DEVIL ON THE LINE: TECHNOLOGY AND THE SATANIC FILM
By Kevin L. Ferguson

ALL HAIL THE ACID KING: THE RICKY KASSO CASE IN POPULAR CULTURE
By Leslie Hatton

“WHAT ABOUT THESE 10,000 SOULS, BUSTER?” GERALDO’S DEVIL WORSHIP SPECIAL
By Alison Lang

THE FILTHY 15: WHEN VENOM AND KING DIAMOND MET THE WASHINGTON WIVES
By Liisa Ladouceur

SCAPEGOAT OF A NATION: THE DEMONIZATION OF MTV AND THE MUSIC VIDEO
BY Stacy Rusnak

TRICK OR TREAT: HEAVY METAL AND DEVIL WORSHIP IN 80s CULT CINEMA
By Samm Deighan

STEALING THE DEVIL’S MUSIC: THE RISE OF CHRISTIAN METAL AND PUNK
By David Bertrand

THE TRACKING OF EVIL: HOME VIDEO AND THE PROLIFERATION OF SATANIC PANIC
By Wm. Conley

BEDEVILING BOB: PRANKING “TALK BACK WITH BOB LARSON”
By Forrest Jackson

CONFESSIONS OF A CREATURE FEATURE PREACHER:
OR, HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE MIKE WARNKE AND STOP WORRYING ABOUT SATANISM

By David Canfield

BOUC EMISSAIRE: MANIFESTATIONS OF SATANIC ANXIETY IN QUEBEC
By Ralph Elawani and Gil Nault

THE DEVIL DOWN UNDER: SATANIC PANIC IN AUSTRALIA, FROM ROSALEEN NORTON TO ALISON’S BIRTHDAY
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

GUILTLESS: BRITAIN’S MORAL PANICS, SATANIC HYSTERIA AND THE STRANGE CASE OF GENESIS P-ORRIDGE
By David Flint

FALSE HISTORY SYNDROME: HBO’s INDICTMENT: THE MCMARTIN TRIAL
By Adrian Mack

END OF THE 80s: PARANOIA AS COMIC CATHARSIS IN JOE DANTE’S THE ‘BURBS
By Kurt Halfyard

AFTERWORD
By John Schoole

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