| John Safran vs God | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Documentary |
| Developed by | Ghost Pictures |
| Written by | John Safran Mark O'Toole |
| Directed by | Craig Melville |
| Presented by | John Safran |
| Opening theme | Peter Isaac |
| Composer | Chris Copping |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Richard Lowenstein |
| Producers | Richard Lowenstein Selin Yaman Ghost Pictures |
| Running time | 28 minutes |
| Production company | Ghost Pictures |
| Original release | |
| Network | SBS Independent |
| Release | 30 August (2004-08-30) – 18 October 2004 (2004-10-18) |
John Safran vs God is an eight-parttelevisiondocumentary series byJohn Safran which was broadcast onSBS TV ofAustralia in 2004.[1] It has been described in a media release as "John Safran's most audacious project yet". It had a much more serious tone than Safran's previous workMusic Jamboree. The show was released by Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions andSBS Independent, was co-written withMark O'Toole, directed byCraig Melville, and produced byRichard Lowenstein, Selin Yaman, and Ghost Pictures. The production team was known as Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions, an amalgamation of John Safran's Ex-Boyfriend Productions, and Richard Lowenstein's Ghost Productions. The series won the 2005Australian Film Institute Award for Best Comedy Series.
The show's opening theme is "Hate Priest" by the band Mozart on Crack. The opening sequence features John in a black suit breaking out of a patch of black scorched earth with his bare hands during a thunderstorm. The words ofRevelation 20:7, "when the thousand years are over Satan will be released from his prison", are spoken in a low pseudo-ominous voice.
The Vodou segment was graphic, featuring the TV crew being attacked,spiritual possession, and a goat having itstesticles bitten off and its throat slit.
The only politician who was found to be a so-called "vampire" wasKevin Rudd who would later becomePrime Minister.
The eighth episode was the most controversial. Instead of its usual format of various segments, the show featured a single story: theexorcism of John'sdemons byChristian exorcist and fundamentalistpreacherBob Larson.[2] There was none of the humour that characterised the preceding episodes. The exorcism was dramatic and realistic and no explanation was given at the end of the episode as to John's behaviour. On theYahoo! "Cult of Safran" web group a stormy discussion started on whether John was actually faking - Safran's lisp is absent while allegedly possessed. Safran appeared in severalradio andtelevision plug spots for the show post-production/pre-screening and only briefly commented on the exorcism episode as a very intense segment to film. After the screening of the episode, Safran appeared in an interview onABC radio and said he didn't remember a lot of the experience. The sales pitch for the DVD is "you've seen the exorcism, now buy the DVD".