Episode 21: "The Devil Goes to the Movies - Part Three"
American Hauntings Podcast
Cody Beck and Troy Taylor
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Filmmakers in the 1950s didn’t completely abandon the dry and dusty lore of the Devil even if it did seem audiences were now much more inclined to see threats in the form of atomic bombs, little green men in flying saucers, and giant monsters unleashed by man’s experiments with radioactivity. A new obsession with science and outer space seemed to temporarily put the Devil on hold, largely pushing the mysteries of black magic off the screen.
But the 1950s weren’t a complete loss when it came to the Devil onscreen. They not only introduced an unhinged underground filmmaker who would have a much bigger impact in the decade to come but 1957 also gave us what was, without question, one of the best satanic films of all time – one of the few truly effective films about black magic that can still give you a chill even nearly 70 years later.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to American Nightmares, the podcast dedicated to America's history of horror. |
| 0:08.4 | Through sinister tales of murder, madness, mayhem, spirits, scandals, and sins, |
| 0:13.6 | I'll be presenting the origins of American terror in every form, starting of course, |
| 0:19.2 | with our exploration of the devil and all his works. |
| 0:23.6 | American Nightmares is written, performed, and produced by Troy Taylor. |
| 0:27.7 | That's me. |
| 0:28.5 | And I want to thank you for joining me for episode 21. |
| 0:32.3 | The Devil Goes to the Movies, Part 3. |
| 0:42.3 | Thank you. to the movies, part three. If you've ever cracked open a history book, then you know that America in the 1940s |
| 0:47.3 | was very different from America in the 1950s, not just the music and the clothing and the |
| 0:53.3 | cars and television and the Cold War with Russia, |
| 0:57.1 | but also how we started to perceive the devil. |
| 1:01.1 | Filmmakers did not completely abandon the diabolical lore of yesterday, but audiences were now |
| 1:07.6 | much more inclined to see threats in the form of atomic bombs, little green |
| 1:12.6 | men and flying saucers, and giant monsters unleashed by man's experiments with radioactivity. |
| 1:19.6 | A new obsession with science and outer space seemed to temporarily put the devil on hold, |
| 1:26.6 | largely pushing the mysteries of black magic off |
| 1:29.4 | the screen. Thanks to this, most of the satanic figures in films during this time tended to be |
| 1:35.8 | either comedic or silly, reflecting the generally accepted notion that Satan should only be viewed |
| 1:42.7 | as a quaint character from a less enlightened time. |
| 1:47.0 | The devil was played for laughs in a number of European films, not the least of which was Meet Mr. Lucifer in |
| 1:54.0 | 1953, and even popped up in a dream sequence in Ed Wood's Glenn or Glenda, an exploitation film that was |
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