Masters of Darkness (TV Mini Series) Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man in the World (2002) User Reviews

Reasonably Informative

[jakethomason · 7/10 · 7 October 2006]

This biography was reasonably informative, but if you knew a little of Aleister Crowley's life then you wouldn't be learning anything new. Focused mainly on his tabloid reputation and his excess. Although entertaining and sometimes insightful it was not quite a fair portrayal. I would probably not have enjoy it if it was a white washing attempt to sanctify Crowley, but i would have enjoyed it if it was an even attempt at both showing his vices and his virtues. All in All in wasn't bad. It was just severely one sided. Although we all enjoy Sex, Drug, and Rock and Roll stories. There is just more to him than that. Portraying Crowley fairly is a daunting task based upon the many mantles that he wore. Good luck to the next guy that wants to wrestle with such a beastly task.

Interesting

[four_star_rock · 8/10 · 16 February 2007]

This is a short program which attempts to rationalise the behaviour of a particularly horrific human being. I did not watch the rest of this series and so cannot say either way as to how it fitted in with the other programs but I have to say that it was interesting from a psychological standpoint, explaining how he saw himself and how he used this self image to manipulate other people. The only problem I had with the program was with the Church of England Minister, Kevin Logan, towards the end of the show he says that "Modern occultism sees a very watered down version of (Aleister) Crowley, they gloss over some of the atrocious things that he did, erm, and they just want to see him as a benign, a humanist who said 'Lets be free, lets go with the flow', erm, and it is to deny an awful lot of evilness that happened in his practises, we should be open and honest about Aleister Crowley" This monstrously hypocritical statement from a Christian Minister, I am in no way trying to play down Aleister Crowley's horrific acts, I just find it amazing that a man who will daily read from a book containing in his eyes 'the word of God' (that had to be edited) in front of a statue of a dead man (Exodus 20:4 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them") and as for watered down history, do 'The Crusades' ring any bells? This program would have been an amazing look into the deep seated psychosis of a disturbed mind but was ruined for me by an over emphasis on the religious issues of his life