In the 1968 horror film Dracula Has Risen
From the Grave, two men attempt to stake Dracula through the heart and perform a ritual that
will end his reign of terror. Unfortunately, the staking proves ineffective
when the two men – an atheist and a priest with no faith – do not have the conviction
to perform a prayer and vanquish the vampire. It is only through faith that Dracula can
be defeated, at least until the next movie. This goes unquestioned in Dracula Has Risen
From the Grave as well as supernatural horror in general. The enemy of evil is faith, and the accomplice
of evil is doubt or godlessness. [PART 1: CHRISTIAN BY DEFAULT] Supernatural
horror is a film genre that includes fantastic elements such as ghosts and demons. Supernatural horror can also contain elements
of religion. The United States is predominantly Christian
in religious ideology. This is also true of the United Kingdom, Canada
and other western nations that both make and export horror films. Consequently, supernatural horror made in
the west is either understood to be existing within Christian ideology implicitly or existing
within Christian ideology explicitly through Christian imagery. This does not mean that a horror movie made
in the United States can't take imagery from other faiths, but the dominant ideology makes
Christianity a “default” for supernatural horror that deals with the afterlife, spirits,
demons, devils and the power of faith to overcome the antagonist. Supernatural horror from western origins being
Christian by default is the product of dominant ideology. Horror often draws upon supernatural beings,
and if Christianity is the dominant form of supernaturalism in a culture, said horror
will also draw upon Christianity even if the intent is not to create an inherently religious
narrative. Unless contradicted in the text, references
to God in supernatural horror is understand by a Christian audience as the Christian God
by default, references to the afterlife understood by a Christian audience as the Christian afterlife,
etc. Most Christian films are not part of the horror
genre. Christian exploitation films like the God's
Not Dead trilogy or anything dealing with the Rapture, more often than not have an Evangelical
Protestant flavor. Supernatural horror films, however, are more
likely to be unmistakably Catholic. Roman Catholicism is steeped in ancient, sometimes
foreboding imagery and has a powerful, hierarchical system that is naturally intimidating. There aren't too many horror films in which
a family's Presbyterian or Lutheran roots are integral to the plot. Horror with Christian themes is likely to
either be of the Catholic denomination or without any specific Christian denomination. Supernatural horror films generally position
the church or faith or God as the savior that can assist the potential victims overcome
the monster, the demon, the ghost or the devil. Characters in the film who are opposed to
the supernatural entity often actively seek out the help of the church or use Christian
icons or prayers to defeat the antagonist. If supernatural horror movies don't seem explicitly
Christian, that is because Christianity being a norm and the dominant ideology in a culture
can give it a kind of cultural invisibility. We are accustomed to it so much that it's
the background radiation of any discussion or narrative dealing with supernatural elements
in a majority Christian nation. Not all horror will serve as a puff piece
for Christianity, of course. See: The Mist or many other films adapted
from a Stephen King novel. However, supernatural horror made in western
nations generally goes the Jesus route. According to Hauntings and Poltergeists: Multidisciplinary
Perspectives, widespread and frequent repetition of similar stories with similar characters
and similar results can have an impact on the social consensus or individual conviction. When movies feature ghosts, demons and other
supernatural elements, they can't help but comment on belief, the afterlife, doubt and
finally rejection of that doubt and renewed faith. If we understand Hollywood supernatural horror
movies to be Christian by default, then that faith being renewed is Christianity. If media repeats these narratives endlessly,
it reinforces the pre-existing worldview about Christianity or even changes and strengthens
that worldview. James Houran wrote in the aforementioned book:
“The concept of media power suggests that the images audiences consume are infected
by a dominant ideology. In an era in which knowledge of an experience
substitutes for experience itself, moving image media can have a powerful influence
on what audiences think they know.” Most writers and directors of supernatural
horror are not intending to proselytize but instead use the cultural currency to reach
Christian audiences. However, some writers and directors believe
in the source material, they believe in what messages they are conveying to the audience. In an interview with the Christian Post about
The Conjuring 2, writer Chad Hayes said “Conjuring 2 is a story told through the eyes of believers,
whose strongest weapon is their faith in God. Our films allows believers and nonbelievers
to travel their journey with them, and in some ways, maybe affect someone who is on
the edge of faith, and give them the strength they need.” Whether intentional or not, supernatural horror
conveys meaning to the audience. So, what do supernatural horror movies within
the reach of Christianity tell us? [PART 2: Follow Jesus...or Else!] The Conjuring and its related movies are based
on the life work of two scam artists: Ed and Lorraine Warren. The films portray the Warrens as actual demon
hunters rather than frauds. Though, whether the real life Warrens believed
their own fantasies or not is irrelevant to the consequences. In the first Conjuring movie, Ed and Lorraine
are summoned to a haunted house. They conclude that the house itself needs
an exorcism, contact the Catholic Church, but when the priest does not arrive in time,
the Warrens dispel the entity themselves. The movie traffics in reactionary right-wing
politics: women as vessels of evil, and secular society putting the world in great danger. The Warrens' career focus was educating their
followers that no longer believing in the Devil is what gives him his power and that
disbelief and modern thinking will doom us all. The film ends with this weaponized message
to the audience: “The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny as
people hinges on which we decide to follow.” When supernatural horror movies falsely claim
to be based on true events, they re-frame the historical persecution of women and marginalized
people who were labeled witches. Under this revision, this warning that witches
and dark magic are real, the victims of witch trials are portrayed as having gotten what
they deserved. Under this revision, those who the church
mistakenly believes have been tempted by the Devil into a life of sin actually are what
the church says they are. Under this revision, our actions are guided
by spirits, our misdeeds are the work of demons, and the Harry Potter books might actually
be dangerous. Historically, when people get paranoid about
some menace that they can't actually see – whether it's ghosts, demons, secret communists or
secret terrorists – they are most likely to target the most vulnerable people. The Conjuring 2 continues its message. Lorraine is able to defeat the demon Valak
by remembering something she wrote in her Bible. The Nun traffics in even more Catholic imagery. Lest you think the film is anti-Catholic because
the nun is the antagonist, the film makes it abundantly clear that the demon in the
film is not a nun but merely appears as a nun to remain undetected in the cloistered
religious order. The film begins with a Latin phrase “God
ends here” to describe the demon's resting place, features a young man using a crucifix
for self-defense and most prominently features a group of nuns as the best weapon against
the demon. The same actor who played Ed Warren starred
in another demonologist supernatural horror film series: Insidious. The conceit of this film series is the same,
that demons are out to possess us and that only those of strong convictions can stop
them. Although, the Insidious film series has no
pretensions about being derived from “true” stories. Some supernatural horror films go one step
further with their “true story” declarations. Rather than claim to be based on actual events,
the horror movie is based on Biblical prophecy or at least the screenwriter's interpretation
of Biblical prophecy. That way, even though the story in The Omen
is merely a work of fiction, the predominantly Christian audience can believe that something
like this could or even will happen due to it being in the Bible. The Omen and many other supernatural horror
films that quote the Bible are actually misquoting the Bible quite a bit or at least twisting
it to have even more sinister implications – something that better suits a horror film. Horror movies can be critical of faith – such
as The Sacrament – but the conceit of supernatural horror specifically is that the supernatural
exists. This makes supernatural horror movies that
are critical of Christianity, such as Carrie, still exist in a world and with a worldview
that is familiar to Christianity, comforting to Christianity. Some supernatural horror movies, such as Frailty,
give us a setup that makes the audience believe they are watching something critical of religious
zealotry, only to be told that supernatural forces were in play the whole time. [PART 3: Have the Heard the Word of Not Jesus?] Supernatural horror movies made in the west
depict non-Christian religions with suspicion or sometimes outright panic. In The Exorcist, Father Merrin learns of Pazuzu. In Ancient Mesopotamian religion, Pazuzu was
the king of the demons of the wind. In the film, Pazuzu possesses the body of
a Christian girl, Reagan. Pazuzu is not only a demon but a foreign demon
from a foreign religion. The fact that it predates Christianity is
a threat to the Church and to the audience of the film. Pazuzu must be destroyed, and he must be destroyed
by the Catholic Church. Rejected by the Church. Movies like The Serpent and the Rainbow depict
Vudu as inherently dangerous and frightening. In truth, Vudu is a series of different but
interrelated religions which originated in West Africa and became popular in
the Caribbean. Supernatural horror's most common target is
the Church of Satan, depicting them as murderers and a cabal that exists only for human sacrifice. The Church of Satan is actually far less sensational
and does not teach belief in the Devil. Wicca, meaning modern pagan witchcraft, is
perhaps the second most frequent antagonist. Horror movies about witches make no differentiation
between Wicca and diabolical, fantasy black magic, and this purposeful obfuscation has
undoubtedly lead to some ignorance. Often, devil worship and witchcraft are conflated
or at least joined together as if one serves the other. Midsommar features a superficially pleasant
but dangerous cult. Hereditary features a fanatical cult that
worships Paimon. The director of both Midsommar and Hereditary
is not a Christian, but his films still traffic in the “otherness” and villainy of unorthodox
religions. The Wicker Man depicts a group of pagan fanatics
who plan a human sacrifice, but this film is a little more complicated in its messaging
about religious zealotry in general. The protagonist, a deeply conservative Christian,
is also the subject of criticism by the film, and some interpret the narrative as burning
away old conservative ideas. However, most horror films with Christian
elements have no such nuance. According to Christian Horror: On the Compatibility
of a Biblical Worldview and the Horror Genre, horror movies require “...an ultimate good
to frame evil. Horror is horrific precisely because it is
a perversion of something good, pure, normal, right, and/or true. ... Horror intersects with religion because
they both appeal to a supernatural view of the world and grapple with existential questions
about life, being, and nature.” The problem is that supernatural horror made
in western nations by default frame Christianity as “normal” and “true” and subsequently
frame any other religion or a lack of religion as abnormal and false. These movies don't only frame life as a battle
between good and evil but as a battle between the Christian God and anything that might
be opposed to the Christian God. [PART 4: The Skeptic] A supernatural horror
film almost always has a skeptic, a character who exists in the movie to be proven wrong. Usually, the skeptic will conduct a series
of tests to determine what exactly is the real underlying problem. If the skeptic is investigating a demonic
possession, those tests will probably be psychological. If the skeptic is investigating what they
believe to be a staged hoax, those tests might be interrogations of the characters who claim
their home is haunted or that their children have consorted with the devil. In The Exorcist, Reagan is put through a battery
of medical tests, x-rays, scans of her brain and so forth to determine why her behavior
has suddenly changed. The doctors give reasonable explanations,
but naturally, with this being an exorcism film, they are building towards these notions
being disproved and a real demon emerging later in the movie. The doctors, the scientists, these “great,
modern thinkers” can't solve the problem – only the Catholic Church can. He is proven wrong. In Ghost Stories, the protagonist is the skeptic. He is proven wrong. In The Last Exorcism, the skeptics are an
entire film crew trying to expose a hoax. They are proven wrong, too. The identity of the skeptic changes from movie
to movie, but one fact remained constant over the past few decades in supernatural horror
produced in the west: the skeptic is almost always proven wrong. For all talk among right-wing pundits about
secular Hollywood corrupting the God-fearing masses, Hollywood is the most ardent defender
of the supernatural and therefore Christianity by default. Hollywood consistently tells its audiences
that the skeptic is the fool, that modernity and science cloud our perceptions about what
is true. This is not necessarily for reasons of intentional
propaganda. Hollywood is not run by the Pope, thank God. Christianity is the default faith of the characters
of the film due to dominant ideology and demographics, and supernatural horror rejects skeptical
interpretations more often out of necessity than as propaganda – the movie might not
be as exciting if the ghost or demon or devil were revealed to be a harmless prank. Nevertheless, the end result of reinforcing
dominant ideology remains. For reasons of keeping the movie engaging,
the only way the supernatural event can be revealed as false is if the revelation is
as engaging as the presumed supernatural event. For example, in the 1990 film Whispers, a
character at first believed to be some demonic figure returned from the dead is shown to
be the twin brother of the deceased. The skeptic in the film was proven right. These outcomes are rare and have become even
more rare as the years go on. But it wasn't always like this. Skepticism was not always portrayed as so
one-sided. A classic Hollywood story – no longer commonly
used – was that a haunting or other supernatural event was revealed to be a hoax or misunderstanding. And that the characters' skepticism was justified. In these films, belief in ghosts is not only
a mistake but detrimental to the well-being of the protagonist. In some of the earlier films, someone might
be frightened to death by a “ghost” that is revealed not to be a ghost at all. If was often the job of the heroic skeptic
to uncover the truth. In the 1938 film Religious Racketeers, a skeptic
tries to expose fake mediums. The turning point may have been The Exorcist,
a film that is not only Christian by default but features a Catholic priest who has lost
his faith and must vanquish not only the demon Pazuzu but his own doubts about the existence
of God. The demon may be the antagonist, but his character
arc and development doesn't center around saving a child but regaining his faith. In The Exorcist, faith is the key to defeating
Pazuzu. Skepticism actually hinders the investigation
– it is not only unhelpful but puts Reagan in greater risk by not performing the exorcism. The film was incredibly popular and to this
day continues to spawn pretenders to its throne. Atheism as an obstacle to victory is a recurring
theme in supernatural horror movies. In From Dusk Til Dawn, Jacob Fuller is a former
pastor who abandoned his faith following the death of his wife. Jacob is needed to make holy weapons to fight
vampires. The template was created, the repetition and
formula was set, and now every supernatural horror movie requires someone to disbelieve
the supernatural, be proven wrong and often even have that change in worldview be central
to both character development and the victory over the demonic antagonist. Sometimes the supernatural horror movie can
be more nuanced than “skepticism = bad” but sometimes, yes, the underlying message
is, well, skepticism = bad. It is an affirmation of the religious audience. An atheist can't kill Dracula. Only we – the believers – can kill Dracula. Amen.
As a HUGE horror fanatic, this video exposes so many of the qualms I have always had with religious horror, and most supernatural horror films.
Don't get me wrong, there's lots of supernatural horror that doesn't traffic in Christian propaganda (Poltergeist, The Entity), but I am abhorred by films such as "The Conjuring" franchise, which literally enshrine the actions of charlatans and con-artists. Fucking hate these kinds of films. They're often the most lazy and unoriginal, in many other ways as well.
I very much enjoy the influx of more "social", emotional horror that we've been seeing as of late through directors like Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, Robert Eggers and Mike Flanagan. Horror is not just Christian propaganda and mindless misogyny, folks. Some of the most "woke" films of all time, fall into "lesser" genres like horror and science fiction.
I haven't seen Frailty since it was in theaters, but I remember just how angry its message made me.
I actually really like the Conjuring movies, but it's probably the most overtly Christian movie to be that successful. Especially the second one, very anti skepticism and pro faith. I think the fantastic direction by James Wan made those movies so great and overshadowed the problematic messaging for the most part. I would love to see a more subversive religious horror film, maybe one where God is the bad guy. We have Legion, which is kinda that, but that movie is pretty bad apparently.
Great video essay not just on horror movies, but how ideas and symbols we take for granted go unnoticed when we consume media.
What's the verdict on Blasphemous as far as this subject goes?
I enjoyed Prince of Darkness. But that was honestly more 80s cheese than anything actually Christian IMO.
added to my watch later