Over the past decade, Everything Is Terrible has amassed a cult following for mish-mashing together found-footage clips from old VHS tapes to create garbled, writhing audiovisual beasts. The result is chaotic, campy, surreal, disorienting, and a little hopelessāitās a grim reflection of humanity that will likely convince you that everything really is terrible. Thankfully, thereās plenty of pitch-black humor to be dredged from those psychedelic creations.
Members of the Los Angeles-based collective are currently touring the country with a new live show and film, The Great Satan. āFrom the humans who collected over 15,000 Jerry Maguire VHS tapes and remade The Holy Mountain out of dog footage comes a sensory experience like no other,ā its trailer boasts, ācomprised of over 2,000 horror, Satanic panic, and singing Christian duck VHS tapes, remixed, re-edited, and re-contextualized.ā
The Great Satan probably isnāt for everyone. In fact, Iām not even sure itās for me.
If youāre unfamiliar with Everything Is Terrible, the first thing you should know is that they play fast and loose with narrative. As promised, The Great Satan splices together KISS music videos, vintage porn, uncanny valley-style cartoons, god-fearing news broadcasts, Fabio close-ups, scenes from Jerry Maguire, and Christian edutainment for childrenācomplete with raps about the good bookāto tell a story about white Christian Americaās relationship with Satan, their fear of death and eternal damnation, and their hypocritical, often bigoted ideology. At least, I think thatās what itās about; I could just be projecting order onto something that is, by nature, a mess. Or perhaps Iād have a better understanding if I hadnāt been stone cold sober when I watched.
The Great Satan probably isnāt for everyone. In fact, Iām not even sure itās for meāI could never watch it again, but did enjoy the experience of absorbing an overwhelming jumble of gory, lewd videos and attempting to puzzle together a bigger picture. Some moments even made me laugh out loud, particularly when a church full of youths fist-pumps while chanting āVirginity! Is! Cool!ā
If you go to see Everything Is Terrible perform The Great Satan live at Cinema 21 this week, be warned: Their live shows typically feature costumes and lots of yelling.