My Sweet Satan

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Audience Member Drugs and satanism? Real story. Nice cranial violence. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member I wish they had Van Bebber's other short "Roadkill-the last days of John Martin" because it is far more brutal than My Sweet Satan, so this will have to do. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member <img src="http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Hexenkult/apic10.jpg" border="0" alt="My Sweet Satan (1994)"></a><br> MY SWEET SATAN is an excellent 20 minute short film made in 1993 by Ohio-based independent filmmaker Jim Van Bebber. Van Bebber made his feature film debut in 1988 with the gritty urban action/exploitation movie DEADBEAT AT DAWN. My Sweet Satan is based on the true story of Ricky Kasso, also known as "The Acid King", who was a member of a satanic cult of metalheads known as the "Knights of the Black Circle".<br> <img src="http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Hexenkult/apic1-21.jpg" border="0" alt="Ricky Kasso (The Acid King) at the time of his arrest in 1984"></a><br> They apparently held one of their rituals on the site of the actual Amityville Horror house. In 1984 Kasso and one of his friends were arrested for the prolonged torture and murder of Gary Lauwers, who had stolen 10 bags of angel dust from Kasso while he was passed out at a party. Two days after his arrest Kasso commited suicide by hanging himself in his cell.<br> <img src="http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Hexenkult/apic2-5.jpg" border="0" alt="Ricky Kasso newspaper headline from 1984"></a><br> In MY SWEET SATAN Van Bebber stars as Ricky Kasslin (I assume the name was modified due to legal issues); and like his anti-hero character Goose in DEADBEAT AT DAWN Van Bebber really has a commanding and charismatic screen presence.<br> <img src="http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Hexenkult/apic3-14.jpg" border="0" alt="Jim Van Bebber as Ricky Kasslin (Kasso) in MY SWEET SATAN"></a><br> The film starts off with Kasslin hanging himself in his prison cell, then the story flashes back to the days leading up to his imprisonment. I like the scene near the beginning where an American flag mural on a wall fills the screen as Kasslin walks up and into frame like General Patton about to address his troops. Except Kasslin's "troops" are a group of outcast teens who hang out with him because he has great drugs and they have nothing else better to do. Kasslin and his pals spend their days out in the woods sacrificing animals to Satan, headbanging to metal, drinking, and smoking weed (while proclaiming, "We smoke this marijuana in your name Satan"). At a party one night Gary (Mike Moore) steals $96 out of Kasslin's pocket when he thought Kasslin was passed out. As a result, Kasslin and his best friend Jimmy (Terek Puckett) set Garry up by offering him free hits of acid and taking him into the woods where they brutally murder him as a sacrifice to Satan. Then the film leaps back to Kasslin hanging himself in his cell. I usually don't give away the conclusion of a film in my reviews, but this is a short film which is not about a twist ending or anything like that. You can tell where the film's headed right from the start; and it's told in a semi-documentary fashion where Kasslin's friends are narrating the events after-the-fact. This style of semi-documentary storytelling would be put to effective use in Van Bebber's excellent second feature film THE MANSON FAMILY (which I highly recommend). The Director of Photography on MY SWEET SATAN was Mike King who was also the DP on DEADBEAT AT DAWN. Both films were shot on 16mm, but where as DEADBEAT AT DAWN had a dirty gritty print due to the fact that they were going for a '70s grindhouse/exploitation look, MY SWEET SATAN has a clear clean print (which suits the straightforward semi-documentary aspect of the film). As far as the shock-factor, there's an actual (male) nipple piercing performed at one of the parties. Whether this is shocking to you or not depends on whether you find body piercing shocking. I have piercings and I've seen enough that it doesn't shock me in real life; but there's something about seeing it on film in extreme close-up that's still cringe-worthy. And the murder of Gary is brutal, disturbing, and gory all at the same time (so splatter fans take note). The chilling aspect of the murder will linger with you long after the film's over. Thanks to Flixter friend creepfreak for pointing out a movie called RICKY 6, which is also based on the Ricky Kasso story. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Geez, if he had of just said, "Say you love Satan, please". A great Van Beeber short certain to turn your stomach. He also gives a great performance as Ricky, the Satan loving killer. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member A dark twisted little short film. Honestly though, its not Ricky 6. But like Ricky the film stayed true to the actual events, despite some changes (such as giving The acid Kid" a mohak) Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Pretty decent, nothing special really. Nice head crushing towards the end, but that's about it. The music in this film works really well and Van Bebber is effective as Ricky. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Read all reviews

My Sweet Satan

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