146 Book Reviews / ARIES 13 (2013) 141–163

Carrol L. Fry, Cinema of the : , Satanism, and in Film, Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press 2008. 301 pp. ISBN 978-0- 934223-95-9.

Elements of occult lore have surfaced in cinema since the earliest attempts at motion picture production, Georges Méliès’ (1861–1938) Te ’s Manor (1896) and Paul Wegener’s (1874–1948) Te Golem (1920) being two useful examples. Fry however, expresses the conviction that it is only during the last fify years, with the steady proliferation of occult knowledge ‘bubbling into popular imagination’ (p. 13), that scriptwriters have really understood the potential of the combination of the cinematic arts with occult traditions. In the author’s opinion, it is the dawning of the New Age currents that has ‘revitalised occult paths in the second half of the twentieth and early years of the twenty-first century’ (p. 17). By reviewing more than 150 films, Fry’s intention is to provide the reader with a clear depiction of how scriptwriters have processed aspects of non-traditional spiritual paths within the frame of reference of the films. Trough his deep insight into the world of cinema and his strong academic knowledge of , Fry aims to give the reader ‘both knowledge about contemporary occult and a framework for understanding films that adapt to them’ (p. 26). Te book opens with an introductory chapter in which the author accom- plishes two essential tasks: On the one hand, he provides the film scholar with a very brief, albeit functional, history of Western esotericism from Hermes Tris- megistus and Jewish Kabbalah to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Teosophical Society and the early manifestations of Wicca. Te author adheres to Robert Ellwood’s definition of occult movements described as being ‘those whose adherents believe they are custodians of significant truth about reality’ (p. 13). On the other hand he aptly explains some key terms of cinematic jargon in order to provide the scholar of Western esotericism with the basic means to decipher the occult enigmas scattered throughout the films. Adopting philoso- pher Tzvetan Todorov’s approach to fantasy in literature and film, the author describes the occult, taken as a frame of reference, as a means to ‘make the implau- sible seem plausible’ (pp. 17–18), thus achieving the essential result sought afer in the cinema of the occult: suspension of disbelief, or in Todorov’s words, “tempo- rary plausibility” (p. 18). Finally, the author acknowledges the cultural impact of occult lore on celluloid. Agreeing with cultural critic Stephen Greenblatt’s con- cept of the Arts as an ‘occasion for the jostling of orthodox and unorthodox and subversive influences’ (p. 26), Fry considers the occult as the affirmation of strong socio-cultural realities. Following the introduction, Fry devotes individual chapters to New Age cur- rents, Satanism, Wicca and Spiritualism, with a final chapter covering three addi-

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/15700593-01301009 Book Reviews / ARIES 13 (2013) 141–163 147 tional topics: Voodoo, Incubi/Succubi and Entities, and Space and Messi- ahs. Each chapter commences with an efficient overview of the occult path under discussion, and further sub-divisions are utilized in order to provide a clear anal- ysis of the films and subject matter. In the chapter on Satanism, for example, Fry delineates four distinctive plot-lines relating to diabolical influences in cinema: the presence of a satanic , the coming of the Antichrist, the exorcism theme and the Faust stories. Tere have been past studies on the connection between cinema and the oc- cult, most notably by Colin Campbell and Shirley McIver, and by Marcello Truzzi in his seminal article ‘Te Occult Revival as Popular Culture: Some Ran- dom Observations on the Old and Nouveau ’ (Te Sociological Quarterly, 13:1, 1972, pp. 16–36). Yet, academic treatment of the occult in cinema has only substantially flourished within the past ten years and Occult in Cinema is a wel- come addition to other scholarly works on the subject, such as Emily D. Edwards’ Metaphysical Media: Te Occult Experience in Popular Culture (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press 2005) and A Skin For Dancing In: Possession, Witchcraf and Voodoo in Film (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 2002) by Tanya Krywinska. Fry’s style is refined yet accessible, and his sound knowledge of the subject-matter allows him to point out references which would not normally be recognisable by a casual viewer of the films under scrutiny: thus in Jacob’s Ladder (1990) the author highlights a passage taken verbatim from the writ- ings of Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–c. 1327), skilfully links Ralph Waldo Emer- son’s (1803–1882) transcendentalism to Star Wars (1977) and quotes (1688–1772) at length to explain Nicole Kidman’s (1967–) quixotic behaviour in Te Others (2001). Te academic rigour of the book is demonstrated by the consistent theoretical support with citations from leading figures in the field of Western esotericism: Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (p. 20), when discussing Nazi occultism in the Indiana Jones trilogy (1981–1989), and Wouter J. Hane- graaff, when dealing with the Westernised versions of karma and in the chapter on New Age themes (p. 43), to name but two. Fry’s main theory underpinning this work rests upon the assumption that the cineaste’sfascination with occult themes, especially in our times, is tied to broader culture wars as expressed in the strong emergence of alternative and the ensuing tensions they have caused. Te author sees the emergence of a nova era in the twentieth century as the main catalyst for the powerful presence of the occult within movies: ‘It could be argued’, Fry writes, ‘that most of the esoteric systems in contemporary practice are part of the both praised and criticized phenomenon of the New Age’ (p. 27). Moreover, in discussing the portrayal of within occult cinema, the New Age is characterised as ‘an important cultural divide in the Western World’, while the study of film is identified as ‘an excellent barometer of the public pulse’ (p. 36). To Fry, on the one hand, the