Cinema of the Occult: New Age, Satanism, Wicca, and Spiritualism in Film

• Author: Carrol Lee Fry
• Year: 2008
• Publisher: Lehigh University Press

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This book explores the adaptations by filmmakers of existing occult religions as framing devices for their work. Chapters on the New Age, Satanism, Wicca, and Spiritualism first introduce the occult path that is the subject, and then demonstrate how specific films have adapted the belief system of that path for film plots. A final chapter briefly discusses three less-traveled occult paths in film. While Cinema of the Occult focuses on adaptation of the occult religions that are its topic, it also discusses the cultural implications of these films, both as flash points in the national discourse on religion and as springboards for social criticism. Thus it offers both useful background on the occult religions that are its topic and perceptive commentary on their adaptations in film. Carrol L. Fry is an independent scholar.