From Prison: Young Devil Worshipers 1989 Review

 From Prison: Young Devil Worshipers 1989

 

“From Prison” is another Satanic Panic special by Geraldo Rivera. It’s a continuation of his previous broadcast “DEVIL WORSHIP: Exposing Satan's Underground” that came out in 1988. There’s not much new here in this special, but I just wanted to bring it up because it was interesting to watch, knowing how all of this was fake. The beginning rehashes the same fearmongering from the first broadcast, trying to make King Diamond look like a villain for his Satanic beliefs. Geraldo goes on to “prove” his point that Satanism is on the rise by bringing up convicted killers Sean Sellers and Pete Roland. The two “teens” were talked to like they were the victims, and that the viewer should have sympathy for them. I found this gross, and detracted from me, personally, caring about any potential in anything that Geraldo had to say. The broadcast is pretty short, and easy to find on youtube, it’s not even an hour long. I wouldn’t recommend watching this, as it’s not any different from the original special, and was clearly just a cash grab. Geraldo even said in the broadcast, that they received a lot of feedback after the first special, with people wanting transcripts and tapes of it. In a way, this was alarming to me, because obviously there were viewers who believed what the original special said; surely, there were some people who believed it all to be true. 

To me, this was just a cash grab continuation for ratings, and not something for educating the masses, or bringing up the truth. This broadcast was the first time that Sean Seller’s first victim was mentioned, but it was strange to me that in this continuation, that this person was talked about, and Satanism was later tacked on. Knowing that Sellers was eventually executed, it’s clear to me that this special and others like it, were just ploys for him to potentially be released. 

Thankfully, this has aged horribly, especially with the knowledge that this was all unsubstantiated. This broadcast, and others like it, only show themselves to be fearmongering religious propaganda at its worst. 

Grade: F

 

My video:  https://youtu.be/pqMV3zTpjg0