Review: 'Hail Satan?' offers devil may care treat

Do you recall that chilling shot in "The Exorcist" of the ancient demonic statue unearthed from a Middle Eastern desert?

A similarly sinister statue plays a key role in "Hail Satan?," a wry, thought-provoking documentary directed by onetime Troy resident Penny Lane. Depicting a goat-headed deity called Baphomet, this statue emerged from an internet crowdfunding campaign launched by a group that traces its roots all the way back to 2013, and Tallahassee.

"Hail Satan?" tracks the rise of the Satanic Temple, a cheeky activist group that runs with the devil less out of occultist beliefs than a reverence for puckish rebellion.

The group first gained notice with its 2013 news conference at the Florida Capitol in "support" of Gov. Rick Scott's efforts to get prayer in schools. Scott also was helping little satanists, Temple members told a crowd consisting mostly of media.

Its press savvy helped the group, headquartered in a black house in ... wait for it ... Salem, Mass., spread the word and draw like-minded activists. The six-year-old group now counts more than a dozen chapters.

Free speech and religious pluralism are primary aims, but the Temple also has used its agitprop on behalf of LGBTQ and abortion rights. Members held a "Pink Mass" over the grave of the mother of anti-gay minister Fred Phelps, posthumously declaring her a lesbian.

Then there's the prop-prop, Baphomet. Conceived as a counter-measure to a Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma Capitol, the statue was supposed to go next to the commandments, to represent religious pluralism. But before that could happen, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered the original monument removed, citing separation of church and state.

Although the Baphomet statue never was installed, the Temple subsequently has trucked it out...