We Summon the Darkness (2019)

We Summon the Darkness (Meyers 2019)

Laura stumbled upon this film and threw it into the episode line-up on the fly. And for good reason! We Summon addresses toxic religiosity in very different ways than our previous episode Red State (Smith 2011). Additionally, it arguably accomplishes the very rare feat of being a film that addresses gender, while featuring women who are characters as themselves rather than representatives of their gender. Even more We Summon touches on the satanic moral panic of the 1980s and 1990s. Gender, religion, and heavy metal; what is there not to like?!


SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE

We Summon the Darkness (Meyers 2019) – please watch the film before listening!

TOPIC INDEX – We Summon the Darkness (Meyers 2019) (times are approximate) 

0:35 – Introductions
3:30 – Discussion begins
5:30 – Laura waxes nostalgic about 80s metal
19:30 – sociology moment – moral panics
26:00 – prosperity gospel
27:30 – transcending the binary of oppressed status
30:44 – religion and gender
39:30 – preacher’s daughter
44:00 – gender inequality
50:30 – Sociology moment: Omi and Winant – negotiating colorblind and essentialist perspectives
1:06:15 – gender dynamics in sub-genres
1:07:30 – critique of religion
1:20:05 – opposite of Summer of 84
1:21:10 – Grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility

Related Episodes
Teeth (Lichtenstein 2007)
Summer of ’84 (Simard, Whissell, Whissell 2018)
Funny Games (Haneke 1997)
Red State (Smith 2011)

Related recommended films
Alien (Scott 1979)
Aliens (Cameron 1985)
Audition (1986)
God Bless America (Goldthwait 2011)

Credits

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Laura@collectivenightmares.com

“Horror films are our collective nightmares.”

Episode 75

Keywords
horror, podcast, sociology, satanic panic, moral panics, heavy metal, music, metal, rituals, prosperity gospel, religion, forced romance, heterosexual imaginary, gender, sexuality, deconstruction, outside the binary, binary, toxic religion