A gripping, shocking and eerie look at the story of Michelle Smith and psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder
Elisabetta Bianchini
Fri, August 11, 2023
You've likely heard of the "satanic panic" phenomenon from the '80s and '90s, but a lesser known fact is that it has a Canadian origin story, specifically in Victoria, B.C., investigated in the film Satan Wants You.
In the documentary, filmmakers Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams explore the link between satanic panic and the book "Michelle Remembers," a memoir by psychiatrist Lawrence "Larry" Pazder and his patient Michelle Smith who experienced "satanic ritual abuse" as a child. That discovery came as a result of recovered-memory therapy that Smith participated in following a miscarriage.
Smith, as it's described in the film, was "patient zero of satanic panic."
Satan Wants You is a gripping, shocking and eerie look at Smith and Pazder's story, but for the first time, their friends and family members are going on the public record about what happened during these therapy sessions, and the resulting media frenzy.
Near the end of their filmmaking process, Horlor and Adams were anonymously sent a tape with the recording of a therapy session between Smith and Pazder, which had never been heard before and is included in this film.
"If you have any preconceived ideas or your own opinion of what happened with the 'Michelle Remembers' story and what role it played in the origin story of the satanic panic, that [final scene in the film] might change your mind," Horlor told Yahoo Canada.
The snippets of this audio are a whirlwind to listen to, in a story that is so intriguing we could have watched 17 more hours of this documentary, if not more.
"What was so interesting was there was this really weird balance, there was the crazy dream elements where she was talking about, being in a satanic cult," Adams said. "But then there was the other elements of her questioning what she was talking about."
"Then you were also getting this element of the relationship that her and Larry were having that nobody had ever heard before. So it was this treasure trove for us. It really explained a lot of what we were trying to explain in the film."
Michelle Smith and Dr. Lawrence Pazder on To Tell The Truth in 1980 in "Satan Wants You"
'
Anyone wearing all black was a satanist'
In terms of where this project started for the filmmakers, Horlor grew up in Victoria, where Smith and Pazder lived, so he was intimately aware of the impact of them sharing their story.
"When I was a kid, there were rumours in Victoria that there are certain stores that had altars in the back where they sacrificed animals and killed children, that anyone wearing all black was a satanist," Horlor said. "It's funny to sort of see that local experience that I had spread everywhere."
While Smith and Pazder were regularly making media appearances, where they would share Smith's experience of being abused by a satanic cult as a child, none of their family members were ever featured in the news.
"It was really hard to find a lot of the family members," Adams stressed. "Cheryl, Michelle's sister, did have a fairly large social media presence and a lot of people had reached out to her. So she was kind of our starting point."
"When we spoke with Cheryl, Cheryl was into us because we were from Vancouver. She's from just outside of Vancouver and we shared a lot of commonality there. She trusted us and really started to talk to us about the story. Hearing her side of the story and beginning to understand that there was this whole other side, that didn't really exist anywhere, was the point that we were like, 'OK so this is really interesting.'"
Another core voice included in Satan Wants You is Padzer's ex-wife Marylyn. They divorced after the psychiatrist started having an affair with his patient, Smith.
"When we finally connected with Marylyn for a phone call, it was like 40 years hadn't passed at all," Horlor said. "So she got on the phone and talked for an hour and it was as fresh as it happened yesterday."
"We met her at a restaurant outside of Victoria and she showed up with his box full of binders, and she pulled them all out and walked us through all of them," Adams added. "But anything that had to do with the divorce, because the divorce was really contentious, she kept all of the records of that."
"She did a lot of investigative work on her end to prove that like Larry and Michelle were having this affair."
A therapy session between Dr. Lawrence Pazder and his patient Michelle Smith in "Satan Wants You"
'It's just ingrained within the human psyche to not understand the world around us'
A core element of Satan Wants You is following this trail of discovery to determine what is real, both in terms of Smith's story but, almost more importantly, getting an understanding of what it takes for society to start believing something is real.
While some may remember that rumours of satanic panic were linked to pop culture elements like Dungeons and Dragons, it also started a wave criminal investigations.
A notable Canadian example is a case in Martensville, Sask., in the 1990s. Throughout the small town, rumours were spread that there was a local family daycare service that was part of a satanic cult and was abusing children. More than a dozen people were arrested and faced charges, but only one person was convicted of sexual assault, based on earlier allegations.
"I feel like humans have always had a really hard time deciphering between what's real and what's not real," Adams said. "You can see throughout history that this has come back over and over again."
"I think it's just ingrained within the human psyche to not understand the world around us, and when you can't, you need something to blame. A lot of the times the easiest thing to blame is satan."
While Smith declined to participate in the documentary, Horlor and Adams said they would have simply wanted to ask, "what happened to you?"
"It just would have been nice to get her side," Adams said. "It might have been an opportunity for her to say, yeah she was taken advantage of, or it could have gone a bunch of different ways. But it's also understandable as to why she didn't want to participate."
"She's never recanted publicly," Horlor added. "So ... there's just a big question mark."
Satan Wants You is in select Canadian theatres Aug. 11
In terms of where this project started for the filmmakers, Horlor grew up in Victoria, where Smith and Pazder lived, so he was intimately aware of the impact of them sharing their story.
"When I was a kid, there were rumours in Victoria that there are certain stores that had altars in the back where they sacrificed animals and killed children, that anyone wearing all black was a satanist," Horlor said. "It's funny to sort of see that local experience that I had spread everywhere."
While Smith and Pazder were regularly making media appearances, where they would share Smith's experience of being abused by a satanic cult as a child, none of their family members were ever featured in the news.
"It was really hard to find a lot of the family members," Adams stressed. "Cheryl, Michelle's sister, did have a fairly large social media presence and a lot of people had reached out to her. So she was kind of our starting point."
"When we spoke with Cheryl, Cheryl was into us because we were from Vancouver. She's from just outside of Vancouver and we shared a lot of commonality there. She trusted us and really started to talk to us about the story. Hearing her side of the story and beginning to understand that there was this whole other side, that didn't really exist anywhere, was the point that we were like, 'OK so this is really interesting.'"
Another core voice included in Satan Wants You is Padzer's ex-wife Marylyn. They divorced after the psychiatrist started having an affair with his patient, Smith.
"When we finally connected with Marylyn for a phone call, it was like 40 years hadn't passed at all," Horlor said. "So she got on the phone and talked for an hour and it was as fresh as it happened yesterday."
"We met her at a restaurant outside of Victoria and she showed up with his box full of binders, and she pulled them all out and walked us through all of them," Adams added. "But anything that had to do with the divorce, because the divorce was really contentious, she kept all of the records of that."
"She did a lot of investigative work on her end to prove that like Larry and Michelle were having this affair."
A therapy session between Dr. Lawrence Pazder and his patient Michelle Smith in "Satan Wants You"
'It's just ingrained within the human psyche to not understand the world around us'
A core element of Satan Wants You is following this trail of discovery to determine what is real, both in terms of Smith's story but, almost more importantly, getting an understanding of what it takes for society to start believing something is real.
While some may remember that rumours of satanic panic were linked to pop culture elements like Dungeons and Dragons, it also started a wave criminal investigations.
A notable Canadian example is a case in Martensville, Sask., in the 1990s. Throughout the small town, rumours were spread that there was a local family daycare service that was part of a satanic cult and was abusing children. More than a dozen people were arrested and faced charges, but only one person was convicted of sexual assault, based on earlier allegations.
"I feel like humans have always had a really hard time deciphering between what's real and what's not real," Adams said. "You can see throughout history that this has come back over and over again."
"I think it's just ingrained within the human psyche to not understand the world around us, and when you can't, you need something to blame. A lot of the times the easiest thing to blame is satan."
While Smith declined to participate in the documentary, Horlor and Adams said they would have simply wanted to ask, "what happened to you?"
"It just would have been nice to get her side," Adams said. "It might have been an opportunity for her to say, yeah she was taken advantage of, or it could have gone a bunch of different ways. But it's also understandable as to why she didn't want to participate."
"She's never recanted publicly," Horlor added. "So ... there's just a big question mark."
Satan Wants You is in select Canadian theatres Aug. 11
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