Religious Horror: Difference between revisions

[[Satan]] is the [[Big Bad]] in a typical Religious Horror story, although he's rarely shown. He is mediated [[Demonic Possession|through a human vessel]], such as a [[Creepy Child]] or a [[The New Rock and Roll|degenerate rock musician]]. The protagonists are usually innocent people trying to live ordinary lives, not sensing anything wrong until their daughter or sonchild starts speaking in someone else's voice, using [[Black Speech|foul languages she or hethey never studied,]], spewing Finnish pea soup, and/or chanting Satanic praises. Members of the clergy (- [[Christianity Is Catholic|most likely the Catholic variety]]; in this case it is (justified by the fact that the Catholic church, of allis the fewmost thatnotable one to employ exorcism, is the most noted, although it does so very rarely) - intervene eventually, with varying degrees of success. If there are human villains, they're evil [[cult]]ists who facilitate Satan's activity on Earth (or, rarely, the Puritans of Salem, Massachusetts, if the author is less favorable toward organized religion in general). A variation is a woman giving birth to [[The Antichrist|Satan's child.]]. This type of horror is often written just to cash in on the popularity of ''[[The Exorcist]]''.

Very rarely, you get a film that actually bothered to do the research, and includes horror either from the point of view of some religion other than Christianity, or more commonly have another religion as an antagonist. In the former cases, even if the movie itself is bad, the concept is very interesting. In the latter case, it ends up a variant of typethe non-Satanic [[Religion of 2Evil]], with the added problem of sounding like something from a [[Chick Tracts|Chick tract]].

* 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.

* Many of the early one-shot ''[[Hellboy]]'' stories revolve around this, particularly ''The Chained Coffin''. HasThis as become less prominent in recentover yearstime, as subsequent story arcs have revealed more of the Hellboy-verse's cosmology, which is more like a mix of Gnosticism &and 1920s weird pulp fiction than Christianity.

* IraThe Levin'sfilm version of ''[[Rosemary's Baby]]'' by [[Roman Polanski]].

* Oddly enough, the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' direct[[Direct to [[DVD]] movie: "''The Lost TalesTale''s," in which a maintenance worker is possessed by what is implied to be a literal demon, but-- specifically not the devilDevil, but rather a lower ranking servant. Colonel Lochley calls an exorcist.

** Subverted because {{spoiler|the [[Batman Gambit|demon]] ''[[Batman Gambit|wants]]'' [[Batman Gambit|to be exorcised... in space, aka "The Heavens"]]. Lochley and the exorcist instead decided to ship his ass back to Earth first.}}

** Given that B5 Earth in ''Babylon 5'' has been [[Ancient Astronauts|visited]] by [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] ''at least'' once for a sufficient timespan to leave their marks in the human genome in the distant past, whether the '"demon'" was a literal one or whether literature in turn and the practice of exorcism were inspired by events caused by him and his friends—whatever kind of entity they might '"really'" be—hanging out on the planet since who-knows-when remains somewhat inconclusive.

** The [[Backstory]] of B5''Babylon 5'' does seem to imply that demons were memories left behind by The Shadows.

* In ''[[Zombie Cult Massacre,]]'', a sleazy cult leader pretends to be a compassionate man of God but is really in league with Satan, raising an army of zombies. It does not end well for him.

** 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 Andand Soldiers]]'', in the context of Deacon'sthe [[Heroic BSOD|hallucinations]] experienced by [[Meaningful Name|Deacon]] (the only character implied to be Mormon). Understandable in that he {{spoiler|accidentally killed a room full of orphans under the age of eight (and thus not accountable for their actions, making them unquestionable innocents) and a couple of nuns with a grenade while fighting Germans in a church, and is only being held together by his faith and desire to return home to his wife as he's dealing with his PTSD}}.

* "''[[The Shrine"]]'' has an interesting twist. At first, the viewer believes the small Polish village is involved in Satanic rituals with [[Human Sacrifice]], but it turns out that they are only exorcising the tourists who unknowingly approach a demon statue that possesses them

* ''[[End of Days]]'', stattingstarring [[Gabriel Byrne]] as [[The Devil]], and [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] as the protagonist Jericho Cane, a retired cop.

* ''[[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[[Propaganda Piece]] for a very specific variety of evangelical Protestant pieceChristianity.

* 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 lifelives, they have no inherent worth as a race.

* Jeffrey Sackett's ''Candlemas Eve'', a fun fiction novel about a rock band that adopts two self-proclaimed witches to add something unusual to the act (plus, [[Evil Is Sexy]]). They turn out to be {{spoiler|time-traveling Satanist Puritans who assumed the identities of two modern-day women because of some kind of curse that forced them to please Satan after their deaths. A faux-Satanic rock musician's kid and his friends let them in by casting a spell on Halloween.}}

* ''[[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|Robert Anton Wilson's]]'s ''The Masks of Illuminati'' reads like a rather moralistic Religious Horror story right up until the very end, but if you're at all familiar with Wilson's other works, you should know that things aren't going to be that simple. Lets just say that it takes the [[Unreliable Narrator]] to new heights.

* ''[[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, "''[[The Visitation]]''."

* 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 -Action TV]] ===

* 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. ''"All Souls''" is a good example.

* "''[[A Haunting]]''," which aired from 2005 to 2007, was a series of reenactments of allegedly "true" ghost stories.

* [[Black Sabbath]]'s "War Pigs" was originally written as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIPlSVN1hk4&feature=related "Walpurgis,"], which was recorded but never released. Hence, why "War Pigs" contains references to witches and Satan.

* Easier for Westerners to get than the ''Higurashi example below, its'' sister series, ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni|Umineko]]'', uses many different motifs from the Bible, including having characters with names related to Biblical characters' and blood runes written near murder sites with passages from the Bible written around them in Hebrew.

* 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 "Heaven"]'', a man dies and learns that [[Be Careful What You Wish For|eternal life in Heaven]] may not be [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|all it's cracked up to be]].

* ''[http://everything2.com/title/Five+Visions+of+the+Ascetic "Five Visions of the Ascetic"]'' introduces us to a future version of Christianity devoted to the brutal weekly execution of a criminal codenamed "the Ascetic,", who dies for our sins.

* Termight from ''[[Nemesis the Warlock]]'' is pretty much this, with religion worshiping [[Fantastic Racism|Hate To All Aliens]]. It was based on Spanish Inquisition.

* ''[[Stephen King]]'s ''|[[Children of the Corn]]'' featured a cult based around "He Who Walks Behind the Rows," revealed at the end of the story to be a demonic-looking monster. In the movie versions, it's revamped to be an entire, nearly omnipresent (within and around the town) spirit whose influence increases when it starts to get dark. Though it is implied to be a devil-worshiping cult, it is never outright stated to be a demon OR''or'' Satan. It's referred to with pronouns by those who don't worship it.

* NotWhile not exactly treated as a religion of evil, Voodoo is not framed in the best light in ''[[The Serpent and the Rainbow]]''.

* Craig Skipp's and John Spector's ''The Scream'', a novel that uses the 1980s [[You Can Panic Now|Satanic Panic]] as a backdrop. The novel revolves around the titular rock band, which is accused of being Satanic, but {{spoiler|actually serves a demon named Momma that the band's manager met in Vietnam}}.

* William Gladstone's ''Cat's Cradle'', which(not to be confused with the [[Kurt Vonnegut]] novel [[Cat's Cradle|of the same name) is about an ancient cult whose religion revolves around [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]]s. The cover is pure distilled [[Nightmare Fuel]], and the novel itself is ''extremely'' violent.

* 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 [[Super Soldier|Space MarinesMarine]]s.

** Somewhat closer to TypeChristian 1horror, {{spoiler|Deus, despite being responsible for creating most of that planet's human population, turns out to be a false god. The real "God" shows up in the form of the enigmatic "Wave Existence", who created the whole universe... apparently by accident, which, in some ways is even more terrifying, especially since he has no particular interest in His creations & just wants to go home. He's not a bad guy, though & does help our heroes along eventually.}}

* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', the Los Illuminados cult mixes this with traditional zombie-styled horror.

* ''[[Blood]]'', anyone?

* 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|tradeofftrade-off]], sacrificing her neighbors and loved ones in order to bring her material fortune.

* ''[[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.

* 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 western viewers (and probably the rest of the non-Japanese audience too)may don'tnot getspot it]], part of the horror of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' for Japanese viewers comes from the ShintoShintô temple with a history of human sacrifice. Shintoism places a high emphasis upon "purity." Shedding- shedding blood in a religious context is anathema to Shinto, as is touching corpses and bodily wastes. Several stories in Shintô exist about villages and shrines that practiced human sacrifice, with the purpose of being moral parables for why this is not a good idea. That Rika's ancestors (beware, really gross) {{spoiler|presided over ritual sacrifices in which the participants ate the intestines of the victims}} makes their religion as much an inversion of ShintoShintô as Satanism is an inversion of Christianity. To westernWestern viewers, it's merely disgusting.; Toto believers in ShintoShintô, it's beyond blasphemy, much like sacrificing a pig on the altar of the old Temple in Jerusalem.

** 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's]]'' sacrifice is probably the least Squicky[[squick]]y of the examples (''Fatal Frame 1'' involves a [[Virgin Sacrifice]] being torn apart by ropes attached to her legs, arms, and neck. ''[[Fatal Frame III: The Tormented]]'' is '''much''' worse.)