Madonna made high art out of sacrilege with her notorious “Like a Prayer” video, a molotov cocktail of melodrama, racial commentary and religious symbolism.
Director Mary Lambert would release a film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary a month later — but for both cola brands and conservative Christians, this was the true horror project.
The rapidly edited scenes — including stigmata, bleeding eyes and the spiritual laying of hands — smashed taboos with madcap zest.
“I wanted to speak about ecstasy and to show the relationship between sexual and religious ecstasy,” Lambert told Rolling Stone.
“I think that subconsciously a lot of people understood this and were either enthralled or outraged by it.” Maybe even both.