Digital Commons Network^™

Realm Of Satan, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Realm of Satan (2024), directed by Scott Cummings.

Between The Temples, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Between the Temples (2024), directed by Nathan Silver.

Sasquatch Sunset, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Sasquatch Sunset (2024), directed by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner.

Natalia, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Natalia (2023), directed by Elizabeth Mirzaei.

Under G-D, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Under G-d (2022), directed by Paula Eiselt.

A Still Small Voice, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of A Still Small Voice (2023), directed by Luke Lorentzen.

The Pod Generation, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Pod Generation (2023), directed by Sophie Barthes.

Plan C, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of PLAN C (2023), directed by Tracy Droz Tragos.

Onyx The Fortuitous And The Talisman Of Souls, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls (2023), directed by Andrew Bowser.

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (2023), directed by Anna Hints.

Divinity, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Divinity (2023), directed by Eddie Alcazar.

Beyond Film: #Mejew: Antisemitism, Authentic Representation And Jewish Identity In Hollywood, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a report on the Sundance Film Festival panel from the BEYOND FILM program: "#MeJew: Antisemitism, Authentic Representation and Jewish Identity in Hollywood" which occurred in Park City on January 22, 2023.

Mamacruz, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of MAMACRUZ (2023), directed by Patricia Ortega.

Aum: The Cult At The End Of The World, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of AUM: The Cult at the End of the World (2023), directed by Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto.

223 Wick, J. Barton Scott

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of 223 Wick (2022), directed by Sergio Myers.

Telos Or Bust, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Telos or Bust (2022), directed by Brad Abrahams.

Racially/Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist (Rmve) Attack Planning And United States Federal Response, 2014-2019, Bennett Clifford, Program On Extremism, George Washington University, National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, And Education Center

Reports, Projects, and Research

After a five-year period between 2014 and 2019 in which the frequency and lethality of domestic terrorism incidents in the United States substantially increased, federal counterterrorism authorities now view domestic violent extremism (DVE) as the foremost terrorist threat facing the country. In March 2021, the Office for the Director of National Intelligence released an assessment that the “most lethal domestic violent extremist threat[s]” to the United States were racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVE).1 This assessment mirrored similar findings by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and National Counterterrorism Center …

The Witch, Paul O'Connor

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Brandon Grafius, The Witch (Devil’s Advocates) (Liverpool, UK: Auteur Publishing in partnership with Liverpool University Press, 2020).

Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics: African Spirituality In American Cinema, Jessica Knippel

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Kameelah L. Martin, Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics: African Spirituality in American Cinema.

Ask No Questions, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Ask No Questions (2020), directed by Jason Loftus and Eric Pedicelli.

Neo-Gnosticism At The Movies, Michael Kaler

Journal of Religion & Film

A number of American films released in the mid/late 1990s drew on, or have been discussed in the context of, gnosticism—a loose, imprecise umbrella term usually applied to a number of heterodox early Christian literary traditions. The Matrix is the most famous of this group of films, which also includes such films as Pleasantville, Dark City, The Truman Show, and Thirteenth Floor. This curious trend would not have been possible had it not been for the emergence of gnosticism in mainstream culture generally; as well, gnosticism’s emphasis on the spectacular, constructed and ultimately illusory nature of apparent reality became especially …

‘I Am That Very Witch’: On The Witch, Feminism, And Not Surviving Patriarchy, Laurel Zwissler

Journal of Religion & Film

While contemporary discussions about witchcraft include reinterpretations and feminist reclamations, early modern accusations contained no such complexity. It is this historical witch as misogynist nightmare that the film, The Witch: A New England Folktale (2015), expresses so effectively. Within the film, the very patriarchal structures that decry witchcraft – the Puritan church from which the family exiles itself, the male headship to which the parents so desperately cling, the insistence, in the face of repeated failure, on the viability of the isolated nuclear family unit – are the same structures that inevitably foreclose the options of the lead character, Thomasin.

"I Do Feel The Fire!": The Transformations Of Prison-Based Black Male Converts To Islam In South Central, Malcolm X, And Oz, Kameron J. Copeland

Journal of Religion & Film

Historically, imprisoned Black male converts to Islam have been known for their narratives of redemption and struggles for religious freedom behind bars. While Islam possesses a strong visible presence throughout predominately Black areas of inner cities, it has become a natural feature of Black popular culture in mediums such as hip-hop, film, and literature. By the 1990s, the portrayal of Islamic conversions yielding Malcolm X-style transformations among young Black men, who formerly embodied self-destructiveness, were visible in films featuring Black male protagonists. The prison-based transformations typically involved highly influential Black Muslim leaders improving the social conditions of the inmate, the …

How To Attain Liberation From A False World? The Gnostic Myth Of Sophia In Dark City (1998), Fryderyk Kwiatkowski

Journal of Religion & Film

In the second half of the 20th century, a fascinating revival of ancient Gnostic ideas in American popular culture could be observed. One of the major streams through which Gnostic ideas are transmitted is Hollywood cinema. Many works that emerged at the end of 1990s can be viewed through the ideas of ancient Gnostic systems: The Truman Show (1998), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), The Others (2001), Vanilla Sky (2001) or The Matrix trilogy (1999-2003).

In this article, the author analyses Dark City (1998) and demonstrates that the story depicted in the film is heavily indebted to the Gnostic myth of …

Coen: Framing Religion In Amoral Order, Richard Goodwin

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Elijah Siegler, ed., Coen: Framing Religion in Amoral Order. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2016.

I Love Dick, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of I Love Dick (2017), directed by Jill Soloway.

Sundance Film Festival 2017, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

Introduction to our coverage of the Sundance Film Festival 2017.

Climbing A Ladder To Heaven. Gnostic Vision Of The World In Jacob's Ladder (1990), Fryderyk Kwiatkowski

Journal of Religion & Film

Contemporary film-makers quite willingly employ motifs typical of various gnostic trends. The author shows that ancient gnosticism is a treasury of motifs and a source of aesthetical and narrative strategies present in contemporary cinema. The article treats Jacob’s Ladder (1990, dir. Adrian Lyne) which is analyzed through Gnostic beliefs. In the author’s opinion, this film can be treated as a model where the gnostic thought has been presented in a coherent and systematic manner.

Partisan, Rubina Ramji

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Partisan (2015), directed by Ariel Kleiman.

The Ring Goes To Different Cultures: A Call For Cross Cultural Studies Of Religious Horror Films, Seung Min Hong

Journal of Religion & Film

Within the field of religion and media, the study of horror films has always been treated as a minor topic, and cross-cultural comparative studies of such films are even rarer. Furthermore, such comparative projects that involve East Asian contexts, despite their influence on the genre of horror, are yet more difficult to find. By attempting a brief American & East Asian comparative analysis of the Ring series as an example and also proposing an empirical comparative audience research, I call for more cross cultural studies of religious horror films.