Lucifer Rising (1974)

So much average

Good movie but grossly overrated

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Egyptian gods summons the angel Lucifer - in order to usher in a new occult age.This film has been on my to-see list for almost twenty years. In the 1990s, I was big into the counter-culture scene and was reading quite a bit on Charles Manson. The name "Kenneth Anger" came up again and again, and his work was something I just had to see. But the opportunity never presented itself.Now (2015) I have seen it, and it did not disappoint. Some have called it an extended music video, which is not far off. Others say it is something "occult", but even there I think that is slightly off. I doubt very much the people involved were taking themselves seriously, blending images and symbols from the Druids, Egyptians and Crowley... what an experience.

I think the most interesting about this short is the back story, which I highly recommend reading up on. For good or for worse, the back story alone makes this movie notable.When it comes to the movie itself, it's visually stunning and the music is brilliant. And that's about it. As an art flick, there's not meant to be an explicit storyline, so if you are not comfortable with that, this movie will probably not be very enjoyable as a "short" - but maybe as a music video of sorts. The previously mentioned music and visuals are good and match somewhat, so watching this is a good way to let your mind wander.If you are interested in the occult/spiritual world Anger taps into in his shorts, then you might get a kick out of this just for that. To me, that's less interesting. While I made an effort to connect the images with ideas and concepts that might lie behind them - I eventually lost interest and started following my own trains of thought.

Of all the shorts directed by Kenneth Anger, this has to be my favorite one.This was a way more ambitious work, filled with lots of complex symbolism and allegories, taking several elements from different mythologies in order to create something unique and incredibly fascinating.While in some ways, "Lucifer Rising" somewhat reminded me the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Particularly, "The Holy Mountain") there are still some notorious differences between those two artistic creations, being both very good and memorable movie watching experiences.In my opinion, this is a wonderful short, having a mysterious and captivating quality that makes it a timeless experience, impossible to forget.

This like Warhol's stuff is so dated and boring that it's pathetic. It is college cinema 101 stuff all the way, with perhaps a better soundtrack. Clichéd images culled from Aleister Crowley's tired ritual magick shtick are interspersed with some stock nature footage. The pulsing psychedelic soundtrack is c-grade but that's better than the low rent cheesy film making.Crowley's beliefs traced a supposed path back through ancient Egyptian mysticism, culminating in his belief in the death of the age of Christ and the beginning of the Age of Horus brought about by Crowley's revelation of the golden dawn of his thelemic system. Seemed really cool to the young pot-head counterculturals and durn it...a couple of them played along with Kenneth Anger when he brought a camera by. bang your head against a wall for ten minutes, it is a more rewarding experience than sitting in the muck and dreck. Thumbs down