The Omen: online lecture on Sunday, November 10 · 4 - 7pm EST
I know most folks here are ardent believers in demon possession. And at least one person here likes horror films.
But how are horror films related to religious belief?
While The Exorcist (1973) is said to be the Catholic response to Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Omen (1976) is said to be the Protestant response. Come find out why in a special event with Dr. Joseph Laycock and Drew of Genetically Modified Skeptic. This will be a virtual event and attendees are encouraged to watch The Omen (1976) in preparation for the lecture. The event will consist of a lecture from Dr. Joseph Laycock on the religious/cultural impact of the film followed by Q&A.
Coincidentally, and amusingly, you just happen to land on the one niche of horror I don’t like. It came up in a horror group few months ago and came up again where I told them the only film kind of like this that I’ve enjoyed is a film that just came out , Azrael. But this is from the group.
Then as someone who also does not think demons exist anymore, along with the cessation of miracles preformed through the laying of hands , such as exorcisms, when someone tells me they are an exorcist, I instantly think they are POS torturing mostly young women with psychotic beliefs.
So while I’ve seen the omen, it’s some of my least favorite films for similar but different things from the exorcist. Such as thinking revelation has already happened.
But I’ve seen lots of blogs and stuff on Laycock’s concept of the exorcist effect. It came up once in a discussion on how Frank Peretti’s “Darkness” series affected “Christian spiritual warfare” and in that discussion these films came up as well.
But it does sound like a fun lecture. Peter Law a former pastor and horror author dives into this quite a bit too.
I like films like this because I have always loved science fiction and fantasy as well as religious topics so when there is crossover, I am ecstatic. BUT they are total fantasy! And it certainly doesn’t mean I believe in any of that stuff any more than I would believe in Narnia. The contrast between physics and science fiction provides an excellent example of how you should not let your love of such stuff impact your understanding of reality. However much I might like Star Trek and Star Wars, FTL is nothing but fantasy. People like to say that just is the limit of our technology but it is NOT – it is the structure of space-time and causality. It is not a speed limit – that is a total misunderstanding.
Some of my favorites in this category, (many of which are B grade films or lower)… And while I should perhaps be embarrassed to admit it, I watch them many times. I put these in order of how much I would recommend them (those first I endorse the most).
Ink 2009
The Gathering. 2002
Legion 2010
Constantine 2005
Priest 2011
The Exorcist II, the heretic 1977
Ninth Gate 1999
Demon Hunter 2005 (low grade film)
Dark Angel 1994 (very low grade film)
Left Behind (yep I enjoy this – but fantasy only)
And yes I enjoyed films like Rosemary’s Baby and Omen too.
And while we are on the topic of crossover, I would like to once again mention a book of short stories by Orson Scott Card, “Cruel Miracles.” He has a wonderful intro in that book where he puts forward the thesis… “Science fiction is the last bastion of religious literature in America.” This is distinguished from what he calls “inspirational literature” which he says is all about belief affirmation… “ain’t it great we have the truth and isn’t a shame about all those people who don’t.” So what I think he is talking about is how science fiction addresses the big questions like what it means to be human.
You may also enjoy the Insidious series by James Wan. “Talk to me” is sort of similar but not so much religious. When Evil Lurks is a body horror possession film.
I think in all the examples I gave the horror aspects were milder and more subtle. And they introduce interesting ideas. I think those where the horror aspects dominate are ones I am not going to like much. If it is horror and nothing else then I will not be so interested.
What do you like about “insidious?” I have started watching it… so far it is like a typical haunted house movie.
I’ll do the same for the movies above:
Ink 2009 - use of dreams in battle of good and evil, time and causality issues, how death can distort our perception of things.
The Gathering. 2002 - ancient church focused on those cursed to watch human tragedy forever
Legion 2010 - an angel who rebels is actually the good guy
Constantine 2005 - “God is a kid with an ant farm, lady.”
Priest 2011 - church of future becomes oppressive user of brain washing.
The Exorcist II, the heretic 1977 - victim who grows up powerful in fighting evil
Ninth Gate 1999 - role of lucifer is quite interesting
Demon Hunter 2005 (low grade film) - demons use of human tragedy to gain power
Dark Angel 1994 (very low grade film) - devils serve God in fighting evil
Left Behind (yep I enjoy this – but fantasy only) - people vanish like a sci fi movie
thought of another one…
The Sixth Sense 1999 ghost flick told from the POV of a ghost unaware he is a ghost
…no wait… that is just a horror flick… no religious aspect to it.
Ok… finished “Insidious”. Not great but ok. Of course, I don’t believe in any of this stuff. But the same is true of most of these movies. Exploring different ideas like this is still interesting to me. Doubt I will watch 2nd one, despite the cliff-hanger.
Reminds me a little bit of “Stranger Things”… wandering about in this dark other world. And not sure this deserves the classification of horror crossed with religion any more than that one.
Here is rehash of same list looking specifically at religious aspect
Ink 2009 - not traditional religion for sure, but hits many of its common themes
The Gathering. 2002 - Christianity, sin of just watching and not fighting against evil/tragedy
Legion 2010 - Christianity, focus on need for God to have faith in us
Constantine 2005 - Christianity, Faith and grace message, as well as other comments
Priest 2011 - possible future distorted pseudo-Christianity
The Exorcist II, the heretic - 1977 Christian mythological roots
Ninth Gate 1999 - focus on devil
Demon Hunter 2005 (low grade film) - vaguely Christian
Dark Angel 1994 (very low grade film) - Christian but unusual view of hell
Left Behind (yep I enjoy this – but fantasy only) - Christian of course
great quote from Legion Bob Hanson: You know this is crazy, right? I mean… I don’t even believe in God. Michael: Well, that’s just fine, Bob. He doesn’t believe in you either.
I’m reading “The Exorcist Effect: Horror, Religion, and Demonic Belief” by Joseph Laycock. He is an associate professor of religious studies at Texas State University. It’s so fascinating about the relationship between Christianity and horror films and how they influence each other!
Anyway, the online lecture is Sunday. Don’t forget to sign up. And watch the original film first.
Interesting fact: in the film “The Omen” they quote some "verses’ that aren’t even in the Bible!
It’s very interesting indeed how American society, which includes lots of Christianity influences horror and vice versa. I watched to watch the lecture but have some friends coming over and we are going to watch Thanatomorphose. Which is definitely not a film everyone will enjoy. It’s heavily focused on gore and body horror with sfx pratical effects. It’s a bit of a social commentary playing with the idea of how men perceive women to lose value after they are no longer virgins. It’s told through the story of a girl who gets an std that causes her to start to decompose while alive slowly just rotting and falling apart. Definitely not a family friendly film. The next film is Red krokodil and is about drug addiction told through a drug that drives its victims to extreme mutilation. Both are similar in experiences visually.
In some of these films they just tack on verses which are supposedly in some other version of the Bible… like in “Constantine” it is a “Bible in Hell.” Remember this is fantasy and entertainment not theology.
You didn’t get to watch the lecture? btw, There is a new horror film out about some LDS missionaries (Mormons) who go to some creepy guy’s house. No demon possession though; I don’t think demon possession is part of their culture, as it is in Catholic and Evangelical culture.
Heretic does look like a good film. I was not able to watch it, the lecture. I’m about to sleep. It’s already 830 here and normally I’m in bed. Wanted to watch the Mike Tyson fight but can’t wist up that long. I’ll see it later
On Netflix. Though I’m looking more forward to the found footage horror series “ the creep tapes” on shudder that released tonight. I feel asleep for like 45 mins. Now took a melatonin and hoping to zzz back off to get up at 2am. Make it to the gym, go walking at the beach, come home, cook breakfast then go on a longer hike. Then around 1pm tomorrow going to my mom’s house and we are going to try to make sweet potato sushi, avocado sushi and beet sushi.
Yes, but like I was saying, Christianity and horror films are related and affect each other. A horror film can make many people think they are possessed and seek out exorcism. Sometimes life imitates art.
In 1990 Cardinal John O’Connor told reporters about two exorcisms that had recently been carried out. In a sermon, O’Connor read from Blatty’s horror novel “The Exorcist,” which he described as gruesomely realistic.He acknowledged that the Exorcist is a work of fiction, but was based on actual cases of demon possession. He went on to warn that satanism was on the rise and that a key driver of this was heavy metal music!
I quite ‘enjoyed’ the Omen films, particularly the 1st one (the later ones became just silly) but they are of course nonsense. And I thought it was a shame they quoted passages from Scripture that dont actually exist to support their ideas.
I also quite enjoyed Legion but didnt like the way God was portrayed, as if angels or men knew better. Pretty arrogant to say the least (reminds me of that American Dad ep where in one scene Stan points a gun at God’s head). But a not unsurprising Hollywood message, and rather ironically the very thing satan would have us believe.
Im not persuaded such films make people more aware of the reality of the non-material, rather I think for most they would point to such films and say it’s all fantasy.
Yes, of course. But the value of SF&F is the asking of questions. The questions are more important than the answers. Unless what your real goal is to use religion as a means to power over others – then you don’t want questions, but only for people to accept your authority to dictate answers to them.
As I said above, the essence of the religious aspect of the film “Legion” is to focus on how important it is for God to have faith in us. I certainly do not believe that God will lose faith as the film suggests – not because we deserve it, but because God chooses to find a way to change us. (And I don’t think God loosing faith is what the Noah’s flood story in the Bible was about either – I think it was about God saving us from ourselves.)
And I don’t think saying man or angel knows better than God was in any way the message of that movie either. No. The real message is that it is not about obedience as so many of the abusers of religion would like it to be – so very very convenient for those using religion for power over other people. In the end we see that Michael has God’s approval. And the approval is for faith over obedience, which is the crystal clear teaching of the Bible (Romans 10).
One crazy way that horror has really affected the world within Christian niches also is “the left behind series” and Frank Peretti’s novels like “This Present Darkness”.
There is a joke that nothing makes a little kid remember to say his nighttime prayers than the boogeyman.
In many it invokes a fight or flight mode too. Even if they don’t believe in it they will physically be stressed. Several weeks ago I was listening with a friend of mine audiobook called “Stolen Tongues” and when she went back home we were still talking on the phone together discussing it after she left. Anyways it’s like 7pm and we both knock off early and suddenly she just breathes weirdly and loudly and I hear an odd sound like she fell so I was asking if she was ok what happened and she laughed and said suddenly when she was in her dark house, at night, after listening to the story and was walking up to her bed she suddenly felt terrified and so she leapt from like 3 feet away up onto her bed and crawled instantly under the covers. She’s an atheist. She’s not delusional. She’s in her mid 30s. She knows none of it is real and yet she just flung herself up out of fear.
You can also see stuff like how the film jaws directly affect generations of having fear of the ocean and demonizing sharks to the point the author got into shark conservation out of guilt.
I made a comment about that series once and got asked if I’d read the whole thing. I hadn’t, so I did, then afterward told the guy I’d changed my mind; I no longer considered it theological fiction (he brightened) but had decided it was bad theological fantasy (he stomped off).
I’ve also talked with a gal who said the books gave her nightmares.
