The title of this movie is a bit misleading, but it does not take away from the quality collection of mostly 1960s surf rock video clips compiled within “The Beach Boys and Satan.”
The documentary titled “The Beach Boys and Satan” about the quintessential surf band and the presence of Satanism in the surf/hippie scene of sixties California leaves the viewer wanting more. The box and the blurb on the back of the case give the impression of deep connections and horrible revelations, but the movie only tells what has already been understood by most of the world: simply that one of the members of the Beach Boys hung around Charles Manson for a few weeks before the Manson Family killed Sharon Tate.
Though put together nicely with some great interviews from such classic rock ‘n’ roll figures like Dick Dale and Kim Fowley, the entire documentary is less about the influence of Satanism at the time and serves more as a play-by-play for the Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds, one of the most important rock albums of all time.
Given an unfair amount of airtime in a film claiming to reveal the secrets of Anton Le Vey’s involvement in the California Satanic scene and more, Pet Sounds dominates the video with long-winded discussions of the writing process of Brian Wilson.
While a great collection of rare video clips for the ultimate Beach Boys fan, the movie is a let down in the department it claims to portray. There is little of interest for those who truly want to know the history of the connection between the Beach Boys and Charles Manson.
