Religious Horror: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[Satan]] is the [[Big Bad]] in a typical
Contrast [[Cosmic Horror Story]], which is mutually exclusive with the first type of this subgenre. If a [[Cosmic Horror Story]]'s [[Eldritch Abomination]] is worshipped as a god, then the story can fit into the second type.
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* Arguably, ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'', which is also a subversion in that the demons are neither good nor evil and the [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|is ''[[God Is Evil|God Himself]]''.}}
* ''[[Bible Black]]''
* For Western audiences, ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' has some elements of this, primarily because it takes Christian/Jewish symbols traditionally associated with good ([[Creepy Cool Crosses|crosses]], [[Our Angels Are Different|Angels]], [[Holy Halo|haloes]], etc.) and turns them into symbols of fear.
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* Many of the early one-shot ''[[Hellboy]]'' stories revolve around this, particularly ''The Chained Coffin''.
=== [[Film]] ===
* William Blatty's ''[[The Exorcist]]'', as noted above.
*
* ''[[The Omen]]''. Because of this movie, many people think that the name Damien means "demon." It actually means "tame," which is used in the story in the sense meaning "kill."
* ''[[The Exorcism of Emily Rose]]''
* Oddly enough, the ''[[Babylon 5]]''
** Subverted because {{spoiler|the [[Batman Gambit|demon
** Given that
** The [[Backstory]] of
* ''[[The Devil's Advocate]]'' featured Satan (Al Pacino) in the form of the head of a New York law firm, and the protagonist (Keanu Reeves) is {{spoiler|his son}}.
* ''[[Constantine]]'', the [[In Name Only]] movie adaptation of ''[[Hellblazer]]''.
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* ''[[The House of the Devil]]'' deals with babysitter and a group of Satanists.
* ''[[The Last Exorcism]]''
* In ''[[Zombie Cult Massacre
* ''[[The Prophecy (film)|The Prophecy]]'' (1995) and its two sequels. About another war in heaven with [[Christopher Walken]] (who's creepy enough even when he isn't acting) as the Archangel Gabriel.
* [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[Prince of Darkness]]'', about a bunch of theology students trying to stop the Anti-Christ from releasing his father, the Anti-God.
** Kinda. ''Prince of Darkness'' is actually a [[Playing With Tropes|fun exercise with]] or [[Deconstruction]] of the Religious Horror subgenre, because most of the characters ''weren't'' theology students. Instead they were scientists of one kind or another, four or five of which were under the direct tutelage of a physics professor who had been selected for a series of televised debates with a Catholic priest because of his philosophical beliefs on science. Those debates happened before the story begins, and the two characters seem to be very [[Agree to Disagree|good friends]] when the movie starts. To be fair, when speaking of said professor, one student said that "he wants philosophers, not scientists," so it is a little [[Your Mileage May Vary|open to debate or interpretation]].
* The LDS-made film ''[[Brigham City]]'' uses elements of religious horror based on the LDS faith and puts them to work quietly in the background. This makes the film jarring to members of the LDS church without being over the top.
* Also the LDS-made WWII film ''[[Saints
*
* ''[[Sin Eater]]'', also known as ''[[The Order (film)|The Order]]'', starring [[Heath Ledger]].
* ''[[Stigmata]]'', starring [[Gabriel Byrne]] as the protagonist, Father Andrew Kiernan.
* ''[[End of Days]]'',
* ''[[The Seventh Sign]]'', starring [[Demi Moore]] and [[Michael Biehn]]
* ''[[From Hell]]'', starring [[Johnny Depp]], Based on the
* ''[[Bless the Child]]'', starring [[Kim Bassinger]].
* The film adaptation of ''[[Left Behind]]'' is ''supposed'' to be this, but it's very easy to see it's more a [[Propaganda Piece]] for a very specific variety of evangelical Protestant Christianity.
=== [[Literature]] ===
* Ira Levin's ''[[Rosemary's Baby]]''.
* [[Dennis Lehane]]'s ''[[Kenzie and Gennaro Series|Darkness, Take My Hand]]'' features a trio of serial killers who model themselves on the Holy Trinity and crucify all of their victims before killing them.
* The ''[[Cthulhu Mythos]]'' often falls into the [[Religion of Evil]] version below, but even its official stance is this. There is no God, nor is there a Devil. There are entities of tremendous power such that humans would call them divine and deific, but these entities, due to their scope and power, have no more concern for humanity than humanity as a whole would care for a dust-scurrying bug. Morality is a human creation, and humans are most certainly ''[[Subverted Trope|not]]'' [[Humans Are Special|special]]. Humanity must make worth of their own
** "Officiality" is a bit subjective where the Mythos is concerned, however, as a lot of figures in the canon (perhaps most notably [[August Derleth]]) have put a more humanistic and/or Judeo-Christian spin on it.
* Parodied in the [[Neil Gaiman|Gaiman]]-[[Terry Pratchett|Pratchett]] collaboration ''[[Good Omens]]''.
* David St. Clair's ''The Devil Rocked Her Cradle'', a ceaselessly entertaining book that should probably not be sold as nonfiction. A young man kills his father, bruises a prostitute, rebels against his Catholic upbringing, becomes a thief, and hears demonic voices. He grows up to be an abusive husband whose daughter goes through on-and-off Satanic possession, especially after her newly widowed father starts living with his wife's sister. This leads her to projectile-vomit green stuff, recite [[Madness Mantra]]s, and gesture obscenely at nuns and priests. It's [[Better Than It Sounds]] because it's [[So Bad It's Good]]. (The book's preface even includes the pricelessly redundant line, "[T]his book is not intended to be anti-Christian or pro-demonic.")
* Jeffrey Sackett's ''Candlemas Eve'', a fun
* John Saul's ''Punish the Sinners'' is a subversion: {{spoiler|the villain is not Satan but the principal of a Catholic high school}}.
* M.G. Lewis' ''[[The Monk|Ambrosio, or the Monk]]'', which not only makes this trope [[Older Than Radio]], but manages to [[Subverted Trope|subvert]] it massively!
* ''[[Petaybee]]'': Shepherd Howling's [[Nightmare Fuel]] cult is heavily influenced by Christianity, most evidently in the title "shepherd".
* Arthur Machen's short story "The White People" is a vastly more subtle example than most. The story combines [[The Fair Folk]], [[Eldritch Location]], [[Ultimate Evil]], and [[Children Are Innocent]] with references to classic narrative poems to create a covertly religious horror tale. However, the frame story, in which one gentleman discusses the "infernal miracle" with a friend of his, reveals that [[Satan]] is afoot in the woods explored by the young heroine.
* [[Robert Anton Wilson
* ''[[The Blood Of The Lamb (novel)|The Blood Of The Lamb]]'' by Thomas F. Monteleone starts out rather mild, with a priest (Peter Carenza) discovering that {{spoiler|he was cloned from the Shroud of Turin, and as a result had the power to heal, walk through fire unharmed, and even raise the dead.}} But [[It Got Worse|it gets worse]]. After {{spoiler|killing his best friend of jealousy, his personality becomes ''much'' darker}}, and by the end he manages to scare the ever-loving shit out of a pair of Jesuit assassins, {{spoiler|''kills the Pope''}}, and has pretty much [[The Unfettered|become]] the {{spoiler|<s>top</s> only candidate for the [[Anti Christ]].}}
* Many of Frank Perretti's novels have elements of this, one of the most prominent being
* Graphic depictions of Rapture fiction like ''[[Left Behind]]'' and the ''[[Christ Clone Trilogy]]'' series can easily become this, whether intended by the author or not.
=== [[Live
* This trope is the very essence of ''[[Carnivale]]''
* Seasons 4 and 5 of ''[[Supernatural]]'', what with the [[The End of the World as We Know It|impending apocalypse]] and all. Religious horror themes kept appearing during the rest of the run.
* ''[[The X-Files]]'' had its share of this.
*
=== [[Music]] ===
* [[Black Sabbath]]'s "War Pigs" was originally written as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIPlSVN1hk4&feature=related "Walpurgis
=== [[Tabletop RPG]] ===
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=== [[Video Games]] ===
*
* ''[[The Binding of Isaac]]'' is an indie game where the child protagonist struggles to escape his insane Evangelical mother. The disturbing imagery lampoons all the worst parts of [[Fundamentalist]] Christian extremism in a [[Black Comedy]] setting.
* ''[[The Last Faith]]'' is a [[Metroidvania]] game scheduled for 2022 release, with trailers showing a [[Gothic Horror]] setting loaded with Western religious imagery.
* ''[[Blasphemous]]'' could quite possibly be called ''Religious Horror: The Game''. The horrific and gory imagery draws heavily from Christianity (specifically Spanish Catholicism), but emphasizes its more morbid traditions.
* ''[[Unworthy]]'' is similar to ''Blasphemous'', where the protagonist (named "Lamb") is attempting to restore a defiled church that has been corrupted by an evil god.
* ''[[Dark Devotion]]'' is a [[Hack and Slash]] where the protagonist is a [[Church Militant]]; many of the villains are named after [[Biblical Bad Guy]]s.
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
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=== [[Web Original]] ===
* While it's not immediately obvious, quite a few [[SCP Foundation|SCPs]] are clearly Judeo-Christian entities, such as Dr Clef's proposal for SCP-001, an angel guarding the Garden of Eden.
* The [[Our Angels Are Different|angels]] in ''[http://everything2.com/user/Jet-Poop/writeups/Requiem+Aeternam?author=Jet-Poop Requiem Aeternam]'' are {{spoiler|[[I Am a Humanitarian|hungry]]}}.
* ''[[The Fear Mythos]]'' gives us the Archangel, which is basically the ultimate perversion of Judeo-Christian beliefs regarding God and the afterlife.
* In ''[http://everything2.com/user/Pandeism+Fish/writeups/Heaven
* ''[http://everything2.com/title/Five+Visions+of+the+Ascetic
== [[Religion of Evil]] Examples ==
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* Termight from ''[[Nemesis the Warlock]]'' is pretty much this, with religion worshiping [[Fantastic Racism|Hate To All Aliens]]. It was based on Spanish Inquisition.
=== [[Film]] ===
* The original version of ''[[The Wicker Man]]'' has {{spoiler|nature-worshiping pagans living in northern Scotland.}} The protagonist is a devout Protestant, and a bit of [[Knight Templar|an asshole]], but by the end, he's become very sympathetic.
** Interestingly, the ending of the original was almost [[Executive Meddling|meddled]] to have {{spoiler|it start raining, putting out the wicker man}}. This was cut because it clashed with the whole point. A deleted scene showed that {{spoiler|the sacrifice ''worked''}} but it was deleted to leave the ambiguity in place.
*
*
=== [[Literature]] ===
* Craig Skipp's and John Spector's ''The Scream'', a novel that uses the 1980s [[
* William Gladstone's ''Cat's Cradle''
=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* The ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' setting occasionally veers into this; there's an entire chapter of the Inquisition devoted to hunting down Daemons and banishing them back to the Warp, supported by a specially-trained chapter of the [[
** Said [[Space Marine]] chapter number is [[Number of the Beast|666]].
** The entirety of the Imperium of Man has religious overtones, from the [[Battlefleet Gothic|ten-mile-long space cathedrals with broadside guns]] to the priests that inspire the Imperial Guard to heights of courage to the [[Jeanne D'Archetype|flamethrower-wielding power-armored nuns]].
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* The ''[[Silent Hill]]'' games have this for the cult that summons/awakens the town's latent evil. The movie goes with vaguely Christian religious fundamentalists.
* ''[[Xenogears]]'' has an entire [[Religion of Evil]] to start, but [[It Got Worse|it gets worse]] towards the end when you discover {{spoiler|God, creator of humanity, is a [[Deus Est Machina|malevolent interstellar weapon]] who created humanity to repair his '''organic parts'''}}.
** Somewhat closer to
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', the Los Illuminados cult mixes this with traditional zombie-styled horror.
* ''[[Blood]]'', anyone?
=== [[Web Original]] ===
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== Eastern/Other Religion examples ==
=== [[Film]] ===
* The Taiwanese film ''[[Double Vision (film)|Double Vision]]'' is a religious horror in Taoist setting.
* ''[[Jigoku]]'', a depiction of Buddhist Hell.
* ''[[Feng Shui (film)|Feng Shui]]'' (not to be confused with [[Feng Shui|the tabletop game of the same name]]) is a movie of Taoism in the predominantly Catholic Philipines. A woman finds a ''ba gua'' mirror, which brings her luck, though the source of her good luck is a [[Equivalent Exchange|
* ''[[Ghouls (film)|Ghouls]]'' (2008) is from the perspective of Celtic Druids. Don't ask me what they're doing in what appears to be Eastern Europe, but it's an interesting film.
=== [[Video Games]] ===
* The Wii survival horror game ''[[Cursed Mountain]]'' plays with the taboos, traditions, and underlying horrors of Himalayan Buddhism as its central theme.
* Although [[Values Dissonance|most
** For added irony, Oyashiro
▲** For added irony, Oyashiro {{spoiler|her}}self is [[Corrupt Church|NOT happy with it.]]
* Ditto with the ''[[Fatal Frame]]'' series, especially with the first and second titles. In Shinto, some deities are malevolent and must be placated, but the All-Gods Village take it to a whole new [[Squick]]y level, with a [[Human Sacrifice]] ritual gone horribly, horribly wrong. It's like a follower of an Abrahamic religion having to fight his or her way through an entire village of Satan-worshippers.
** With the exception of Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, the series feature [[Human Sacrifice]] in order to keep some sort of [[Hell Gate]] sealed up. The sacrifice in ''[[Fatal Frame 2
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