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The irrefutable truth about demons
Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities
Movie propaganda
In the place between what you know and what you fear, demons rule.
All hope is stripped away as demonic forces overcome you.
Doctor Harry Ballard (Karl Urban) has just unearthed the essence of evil. He's a marked man, a living sacrifice, thrown to the depths of the demon world.
At his side is a beautiful young woman - an ex-cult member who's experienced their immeasurable power.
How deep can you descend and still save your soul?
How much insanity can you stand?
When you discover the irrefutable truth about demons can you still survive?
Also starring Katie Wolfe as Benny, Jonathon Hendry as Le Valliant, Sally Stockwell as Celia, Tony MacIver as Johnny, Peter Daubé as Lawrence, Kelson Henderson as Wank, Mel Johnston as Alice, Neill Rea as Richard, Perry Piercy as Detective Chalmers, Adam Brookfield as Officer Jones and Robert Tripe as Melissa. Written and directed by Glenn Standring.
Cinematic intelligence sources
- The irrefutable truth about demons official movie site
- Awards and film festivals
- Birmingham Film Festival 2000: Screening
- Edinburgh Film Festival 2000: Screening
- Puchon Film Festival 2000: Screening
- San Sebastián Fantasy, Spain Film Festival 2000: Screening
- Sitges Film Festival , Spain 2000: Screening
- Toronto International Film Festival 2000: Screening
- Vancouver Film Festival 2000: Screening
- Wales Film Festival 2000: Screening
- Background information about demons and related subjects
Intelligence analyst
Secret Agent Acid Thunder
Theatrical report
Demons are real. They exist everywhere - in New Zealand. It seems that they like the cooler climate and since tattoos are a way of life there they don't stand out from the crowd as much as they would elsewhere. Except the Navy but that's another story altogether.
For a low budget film (only in NZ), The irrefutable truth about demons is a pretty solid flick. Solid in the plot, solid in the evolution of the story and solid in the ending; which makes it easy to wonder if Doctor Harry was imagining it all or if he was really a powerful force against evil. But, had his ex-girlfriend not admitted to wasting his brother, I would still be wondering. Thank heavens for small miracles!
Security censorship classification
R 18+ (Medium level violence)
Surveillance time
87 minutes (1:27 hours)
Not for public release in Australia before date
DVD rental: 22 August 2001
VHS rental: 22 August 2001
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Background information about demons and related subjects
Glossary
- Demonolatry: the worship of demons and/or practicing sorcery with the aid of entities known as demons.
- Sorcery (also magick): practicing divination, black magic, dark sorcery. Calling on infernal spirits to create a change according to the sorcerer's will.
- Demon: defined as a lesser spirit of god or a "devil" in Christian mythology. Literal meaning for demon is "replete with wisdom". Derived from the Greek word "daimon" meaning divine power.
Demons are intelligent and can even be talked to and reasoned with. They will even warn you about their ward (their special defence against particular weapons eg swords). However they can never be dissuaded from fulfilling their mission. Some demons have a nanorian for a heart. The nanorian is a stone that has magical properties.
In scripture and in Catholic theology, the word has come to mean much the same as the devil and denotes one of the evil spirits, or "fallen angels who have sinned".
To early Christians, demons were incorporeal, made of moving vapour - not unlike the holy spirit, who similarly enters believers but with dramatically different results.
The historical context of demons
Ancient Babylonian and Assyrian religious beliefs included numerous demons and priests who performed incantations to protect people from evil spirits. Zoroastrians in Persia believed in a constant warfare between good and evil spirits.
Chinese religion included a large number of devils to be placated or avoided. Many demons in folklore are connected with dangerous or unfavourable aspects of nature and are regarded by anthropologists to be related to animistic belief.
The Old Testament mentions demons comparatively briefly and rarely. Later, Judaism included accounts of a great number of demons, including the fallen deities of other peoples, fallen angels and the spirits of the wicked dead. These invisible spirits, whose leader was Satan, are everywhere and responsible for human ills.
In the New Testament, demons are presented as personal spirits that beset men and even possess them.
Other views:
Justin Martyr, a Christian who lived about 150 CE, believed, (based on Genesis 6:2-4) that demons were the offspring of angels and men whilst the Greeks viewed demons as the spirits of wicked dead men (Hebrew 9:27).
Orders of demons
Demonic lore is the area of magic that allows demons to be raised and controlled. It also allows the control of lesser orders of demonic beings and of hellfire, a common substance on the demonic planes but an incredibly destructive force on the material plane. One of the major sources of power for a demon lorist is the power of the demons he raises.
As monsters, demons are highly resistant to magic often having magic absorption and always having high magic slaves. Almost all demons are fire resistant and able to teleport. Many are resistant to poison and hellfire.
Demons come in four general types:
The weakest are small creatures whose major use is as spies or troublemakers. These creatures are usually called imps. They tend to be size 2 to 3, not too bright, and are often capable of flying or phasing. They are cowards and flee combat at the least excuse. The majority of demons are cannon fodder. These fabled "legions of hell" are made of large (size 0-6) creatures without much brains but with heavy armour, large damage potential, possibly fire auras and very high to hit numbers. These sort of demons tend to be overconfident and have a love of fighting.
The last two classes of demons are more rare: mage and spirit demons. They tend to have shape-shifting ability or lack bodies, and have spiritual or magical powers ranging from the annoying to the devastating. When they take on material bodies they often look like members of whatever race their summoner belongs to.
Demon lords come from the warrior, mage and spirit demon categories often combining the abilities of the various types. The Prince of demons is reputed to have all the spiritual skills as well as knowing fire, air, ether, demon lore and necromancy. There are orders of demons created from each of the six orders of elementals.
The demonic hierarchies
[According to Francis Barrett's The magus (1801)]
- Mammon - prince of tempters
- Asmodeus - prince of vengeance
- Satan - prince of deluders
- Belzebuth - chief of false god
- Pytho - prince of the spirits of deceit
- Beliel - prince of iniquity
- Merihim - prince of the spirits of pestilence
- Abbadon - prince of war
- Astaroth - prince of accusers and inquisitors
Black Lodge
Modern term for a black-magic coven - a society where black arts are performed. Usually under the leadership of a priest, or priestess.
Sigils
A sigil is a type of signature or symbol of intent. Sigils incorporated with other influences can add great direction and focus to spell work. Sigils can be traced in air, carved on candles, drawn on paper and burned, etc. Specific sigils are related to specific demons and their conjuring.
Belial or Beliar (Hebrew)
The earth elemental. Thought to have come from the Hebrew phrase beli ya 'al - meaning "without worth". Prince of trickery. One of the 72 princes of Solomon.
Asmodeus, Asmoday (Hebrew)
The god of lust. A demon most commonly involved in possession cases, particularly noted in the possession of the Louviers nuns.
Kabbalah
The word "kabbalah" (including alternative spellings such as cabbalah and qabalah), means "tradition". The core of this "tradition" was the attempt to penetrate the inner meaning of The Bible, which was taken to be the literal (but heavily veiled) word of God.
Because the word was veiled, special techniques were developed to elucidate the true meaning. Kabbalistic theosophy has been deeply influenced by these attempts to find a deep meaning in The Bible.
It is not clear how kabbalah was involved in the propagation of ritual magical techniques, or whether the ritual techniques were preserved in parallel within Judaism, but it is an undeniable fact that the most influential documents appear to have a Jewish origin. The most important medieval magical text is the Key of Solomon which contains the elements of classic ritual magic.
The combination of non-Jewish kabbalah and ritual magic has been kept alive outside Judaism until the present day, although it has been heavily adulterated at times by Hermeticism, Gnosticism, Neo-Platonism, Pythagoreanism, Christianity, Tantra and so on. The most important "modern" influences are the French magician Eliphas Levi and the English Order of the Golden Dawn. At least two members of the Golden Dawn. (SL Mathers and AE Waite) were knowledgeable kabbalists, and three Golden Dawn members have popularised kabbalah - Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie and Dion Fortune.
Aleister Crowley (and the Golden Dawn)
Edward Alexander (Aleister) Crowley [rhymes with "holy"] was born 12 October, 1875, in Leamington Spa, England. He was the son of fundamentalist Christian Plymouth Brethren missionaries who tormented him with severe beatings, sadistic disciplines and constant abuse.
He attended Trinity College at Cambridge University but left before completing his degree. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to the hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Golden Dawn was an occult society which taught magick, alchemy, tarot and astrology. Notable members included AE Waite, Dion fortune and WB Yeats.
Crowley was initiated into the Golden Dawn in 1898 but the order was shattered by schism two years later and Crowley left England to travel throughout the east. In 1903 Crowley went to Egypt on his honeymoon. The following year he wrote three chapters of verse known as Liber al vel legis or "The book of the law". This book heralded the dawning of the new aeon of Horus, governed by the Law of Thelema (from the Greek word meaning "will").
In 1906 Crowley rejoined George Cecil Jones in England and created a new magical order called the AA (Astrum Argentium or silver star). In 1910 Crowley was contacted by a German organisation called the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), a group of high-ranking Freemasons claiming to have discovered the supreme secret of practical magick. Crowley became a member and eventually took over as head of the OTO which became independent of Freemasonry (although still based on the same patterns).
Crowley died in Hastings, England, on 1 December 1947. His legacy lives on in the Law of Thelema along with dozens of books and writings on magick and other mystical subjects.
The Wiccan religion
The word "witchcraft" dates back many hundreds of years and means literally "the craft of the wise". This is because the witches of old were the wise ones of their village, knowledgeable in the art of healing, legal matters and spiritual fulfilment. A witch had to not only be a religious leader but also the doctor, lawyer and psychologist of the village.
Today, people have reclaimed this word in their pursuit of Wiccan religion. A witch is an initiate of Wicca, one who has earned the right to call themselves priest, or priestess, through study, self-evaluation and spiritual living. Wicca, itself, is an attempt to re-create European (mostly) shamanistic nature religion, adapting it to fit our modern lives.
Witches are worshippers of the Earth and its many cycles. They believe that deity is found not only outside our realm or plane of existence but that it is found within every living thing and all that supports it (which is why Wiccans tend to involve themselves with ecological pursuits). Wicca teaches self discipline, personal responsibility, kinship with our planet and its creatures, open-mindedness and the virtues of diversity.
Wiccans observe the holidays of pagan Europe: eight Festivals spaced evenly about the wheel of the year, at the quarters (equinox and solstice) and the cross quarters (midpoints between the equinox and solstice). Many Wiccans also celebrate the full moon, of which there are thireteen a year.
