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The Church of Satan Responds to The Satanic Temple’s Lawsuit Against Netflix’s ‘Sabrina’

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Last week, we reported that The Satanic Temple had filed a lawsuit against Netflix’s new series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, citing copyright infringement over their use of an almost exact replica of the Satanic Temple’s statue of Baphomet.

A couple of days after our reporting, The Church of Satan issued a statement about the lawsuit and added their own thoughts about The Satanic Temple while they were at it.

It seems a number of people were confusing the two different organizations, and the Reverend Joel Ethan of the Church of Satan decided to set the record straight calling The Satanic Temple a “political activist group that has nothing to do with us, nor with the religion of Satanism which we founded over 50 years ago.”

For those unaware, The Church of Satan is a religious organization based upon the writing in The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey while The Satanic Temple was created in 2012 under the direction of Lucien Greaves as a politically active organization/religion and has spent most of its time lobbying for separation of church and state, first amendment issues, and the like.

The two do have some common ground, especially in the area of religious freedom and the fundamental rights of consent over one’s own body, but Reverend Ethan went on to speak about the use of the image of Baphomet in Netflix’s Sabrina and his perception that the Satanic Temple is, at best, over-reacting.

“The most popular representation [of Baphomet] by Éliphas Lévi which was published over a century ago is in the public domain and can be easily obtained online,” the reverend explains. “TST appropriated Lévi’s image of Baphomet for their sculpture with the intention of frightening and angering Christians by threatening to place it on public property along side of Christian images, a goal we’ve previously discussed. The TST version removed the female elements which eliminated the balance between male and female, making it a masculine figure.”

The shade didn’t stop with these comments, either, as Reverend Ethan went on to point out that the Church of Satan considered The Satanic Temple’s changing of adults around the statue to children “pedophilic” considering that Baphomet has a large symbolic phallus incorporated into its image.

Ethan also seemed to refute to the idea that the Netflix series had used an exact copy of the statue of Baphomet from The Satanic Temple.

“Differing details in the chest, wings, beard, head and so on make it clear that the Netflix version is not an exact copy of the TST version, rather a situation of fair use of public domain and popular cultural imagery,” Ethan wrote.

The Reverend ended with a final plea for the public to not confuse the two organization as they are not affiliated in any way.

You can read the full statement by Reverend Joel Ethan here.

It will be interesting to see if Greaves and The Satanic Temple responds to the epic shade and allegations made by the Church of Satan. In the meantime, The Satanic Temple’s lawsuit has moved ahead and we’ll be watching to see how this particular legal battle plays out.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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