In Theory: What makes exorcism-type movies so popular?
Almost 40 years after “The Exorcist” terrified moviegoers, possession films are still being released, including a slew in recent years such as “Paranormal Activity,” “The Last Exorcism,” “The Exorcism Of Emily Rose” and “The Rite.” While the quality of these movies varies, there’s one common thread: that of a character being possessed by evil and the struggle to free him or her. A sign of their popularity is given by the fact that recent release “The Possession” has taken in around $70 million worldwide despite being panned by critics.
A 2009 CBS poll revealed that 59% of Americans believe in demonic possession, with the numbers rising if only conservative respondents are counted. Googling “demonic possession” brings up a list of websites that detail the warning signs and what to do if you think a loved one is in fact possessed. While this seems to show that there’s an audience for these movies, it doesn’t explain why they’ve been so popular for the past four decades.
Q: What do you think makes demonic possession-type horror movies so appealing to audiences?
We like to be scared in a safe environment. Look at disaster films; we seem to love those movies, too. And the reason is the same: Something that threatens our own existence seems to fascinate us. I personally have always been fascinated by the idea of a vampire. I don’t for a minute believe in vampires, but I am still fascinated by the idea of them. While I was still in high school or early college, I tried to read Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” but the tale gave me nightmares, so I never finished it.
We human beings are strange creatures, afraid of the unknown and yet inexplicably drawn to it. A case in point: Whenever there is a serious highway accident, we will look for a terribly mangled vehicle or for bleeding victims. And then, after we’ve seen the carnage, we’ll turn our faces away in revulsion. Happens all the time. We look for the blood and then turn away. We somehow want to be shocked, and once we’re shocked, we turn aside and say, “How awful!”
It’s the same with scary movies. We want to see what the demon looks like and then we turn away, or we want to see what the one possessed looks like, and then we look the other way. Why? Why do we seem to be more fascinated with the dark side than with the side of beauty and truth? God only knows.
The Rev. Skip Lindeman
La Cañada Congregational Church
La Cañada Flintridge
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I believe we’re drawn most to entertainment that relates directly to our own real-life experiences. While some may be silly or overly grotesque, movies about demonic possession often deal with very real themes.
The Bible teaches that Satan and demons are real beings. They are angels who were created holy but who chose to rebel against God. Because they oppose God, they desire to destroy the objects of his love — people. Jesus himself cast demons out of many people and commanded his disciples to do likewise. Satan now “prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Religions that steer people away from salvation through faith in Jesus Christ find their roots in “deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1).
Even for people who deny the existence of unseen spiritual beings, demonic possession is an apt metaphor for addictions that control us and threaten to destroy us and the good things in our lives. It illustrates our desire to become free from evil influences in and around us that are bent on our ruin. It’s a picture of wickedness in the world that is often much stronger than we are.
On the cross Jesus completely and eternally defeated Satan and all demons. “Since then the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). When you ask Jesus Christ into your life, “you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Pastor Jon Barta
Valley Baptist Church
Burbank
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As a kid, I sneaked over to a friend’s house to watch The Exorcist on HBO, and begged my parents to let me see Jaws. Both viewings were clearly and wisely against their better judgment. Now I’m pretty much scarred for life, but not in a way that makes me want to terrorize small children, or teenagers in cabins. My scars have rendered me incapable of feeling the appeal of horror movies. I haven’t seen any of them since 1975.
I have asked myself many times — why do people like these movies?
Maximilian Werner, of the Bright Lights Film Journal, hypothesizes that we are reliving and responding to primordial fears. I’m sure that’s part of it, but the increasing violence and gore of these movies leads me to think that something else is going on. They aren’t just an expression of our fears; they are an indulgence in violent fantasies. As theologian Walter Wink writes in “The Myth of Redemptive Violence,” “The psychodynamics of the TV cartoon or comic book [or horror movie] are marvelously simple: Children [and adults] identify with the good guy so that they can think of themselves as good. This enables them to project out onto the bad guy their own repressed anger, violence, rebelliousness or lust, and then vicariously to enjoy their own evil by watching the bad guy initially prevail.”
This frightens me tremendously. When we entertain ourselves with evil without naming and facing darkness within ourselves and our culture, we risk nurturing it. When we buy into mythologies that quash violence with more violence, we risk placing similar frames on real-world problems and nurturing similar solutions. It isn’t difficult to find a politician or media commentator ready to label some person, nation, or movement “evil” so that they can then propose a violent solution to destroy that person, nation or movement.
Clearly, I don’t get why possession movies and redemptive violence still have appeal. Aren’t we tired of them — tired to death?
The Rev. Paige Eaves
Crescenta Valley United Methodist Church
Montrose
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I’d say that interest in this genre has to do with the type of trepidation it evokes. Monster movies strike temporal terror, but we know they’re fake. Serial-killer movies are more real because real people sometimes kill serially, but we think we can handle those; the law will eventually catch them.
Not so with demon possession. Behind such themed films are truths believed existent from biblical times. If then, maybe now? Our society was birthed in biblical spirituality, and saints and ain’ts alike share a nether-worldview that makes the hair on our necks stand. Why? Because if there’s any truth to these possession stories, we’d be rendered helpless. Material difficulties are manageable, but demons are immaterial. We can’t capture them, box them up or incarcerate them. We can’t even see them unless they decide. How do you defend against malevolent entities with divine power and knowledge of the ages?
Demonic displays also make us consider God. If it’s possible that psychotic fallen angels exist, sole protection could only come through a greater spiritual entity: God. It makes us wonder about the state of our own souls and whether we’re in good stead with him, or whether we’re like the masses; vulnerable, godless targets who daily flaunt his moral code and dabble in darkness. People are wishing upon stars, flipping coins in fountains and trusting lucky rabbits’ feet for spiritual safety rather than trusting God. They’ve played with Ouija boards, trying to invoke communication from the other side, and sought psychics to “cross-over,” with nary a thought to God’s commands forbidding such activities (Duet. 18:9-13).
People may fear demon possession, but the only defense is Christ-possession. Without that, sinful angels and sinful people alike will share the same end: an everlasting horror that trumps anything we can imagine during Halloween.
The Rev. Bryan Griem
Montrose Community Church
Montrose
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Forty years ago, one of the most successful horror films of all time, “The Exorcist,” was released. When first released, it was easy to understand that the special effects, strange scenes, novel subject matter for audiences at that time and shock value contributed greatly to its horror index.
But what explains the lasting impact “The Exorcist” continues to have on many viewers today? Journalists resort to everything from evolutionary biology to the dynamic tension in modern culture between science, technology and religion to explain our fascination with the darkness of evil that seems beyond human capabilities.
I think people are interested in the supernatural, including supernatural evil, because we are spiritual beings. We intuitively know that the spiritual dimension exists, and that it contains both good and evil, not exclusively generated by us.
Whether we understand it or not, we react to, and feel uneasy in, the presence of spiritual evil. One journalist, Geraldo Vakero, in writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, describes it this way: “On balance, ‘The Exorcist’ brought me more harm than good, as I believe it is despair that it is best at provoking.”
Christ certainly believed in the existence of spiritual evil, and the power of demons to possess some people. There are numerous accounts of Christ performing exorcisms, including casting seven demons out of Mary Magdalene. In every recorded instance, Jesus clearly demonstrated that his power was far superior to that of any form of spiritual evil.
The presence of Christ neutralizes spiritual evil. Again, Geraldo Vakero describes this well. “Years after the release of ‘The Exorcist,’ ‘The Passion of the Christ’ came out with its own share of disturbing demonic scenes, and yet it managed to leave me with the most positive feelings.”
Pastor Ché Ahn
HRock Church
Pasadena
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There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that people enjoy being scared when they know that they are in no real danger. Witness, for example, the preponderance of haunted houses that spring up during the Halloween season. In such cases, we are given the opportunity to experience a vicarious emotional thrill while knowing that it will be over and we can return to the safety of our homes and normal lives.
However, I have to admit that I do not believe in demonic possession, in contrast to the 59% of Americans cited in the CBS poll in 2009. That is not to say that people don’t do very strange and inexplicable things. But I am convinced that the large majority of such bizarre incidents, if not all of them, are examples of mental illness or physical ailments and reactions, not demonic possession.
The idea that some people are possessed by demons hearkens back to a long-ago time in human history, before we had the scientific knowledge that we have today. We have only to look at the period in Europe and the United States when women were killed for supposedly being witches, and at various unexplained phenomena that were described as actions of Satan and his henchmen, things that scholars and scientists today have been able to explain through investigation and research.
There are certainly a great many terrible things that happen in our world — things such as poverty, racism, illiteracy, homelessness and war. But my hope is that we will work to eradicate these ills in our society caused by natural means, rather than trying to find some supernatural agency that causes them. As a person of faith, I believe that we should join together to make our physical world a better place for all. When these real-life horrors are eliminated, maybe we can be enjoyably frightened by the invented stories of demonic possession.
The Rev. Dr. Betty Stapleford
Unitarian Universalist Church of the Verdugo Hills
La Crescenta
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I believe fright films are popular because they allow viewers to enjoy an escapist thrill and experience a safe scare similar to riding a roller coaster at an amusement park. As for why audiences are enamored of movies about demonic possession, perhaps it’s because the “possession” theme reflects the many facets of human nature. While these movies portray extremely stylized examples of this phenomenon, all humans have flexible personalities that can assume various character traits.
Every one of us can relate to this concept. Sometimes we are extraordinarily nice, while other times we can be mean. There are moments when we’re kind and generous and occasions when we can be stingy or rude. It is normal to go through mood swings, and occasionally these swings can be dramatic enough to make one seem “possessed.” Hence, a common expression when someone displays erratic behavior is, “What has possessed him?”
In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon makes various startling and inconsistent remarks regarding the objectives of man. In chapter seven, he states: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting.” But then in chapter eight, he seems to say the opposite: “I praised rejoicing because man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be merry.” Well, which one is it, sobriety or merrymaking? The answer is that both are true. At times we rejoice and at other times we mourn. We are creatures susceptible to the unpredictable fluctuations of life and we behave differently under changing circumstances. This is the basic nature of man.
We become better people when we embrace our inconsistent tendencies and recognize that regardless of circumstance, every moment of life — the ups and the downs, the good and the not so good — holds immeasurable purpose. It is paramount to remember that there is a lesson to be learned from every experience that life throws our way. And to the degree that we can control our responses, we should strive to behave in a thoughtful manner that reflects our best selves.
Rabbi Simcha Backman
Chabad Jewish Center
Glendale