Last year we did a history of Vampires in film, so there were several logical choices for the sequel. Werewolves are the vampire's romantic rival. There's the other great Universal Horror monster, Frankenstein. Even zombies would have made sense. But no, this October we have the release of The Exorcist: Believer, the fifth or sixth (it's complicated) entry in The Exorcist film franchise. So 2023's topic for Spookiness shall be DEVILS AND DEMONS.
The Exorcist in 1973 is the classic example of demonic cinema. It is not the first movie about a possession, it is not the first movie concerned with the devil invading modernity, but it is the movie that made America terrified of demons again. Only a decade later the United States and then later much of the world would be swept by actual claims of Satanic cults targeting children. All of which was nonsense, the victims were the accused, it became a shameful modern recurrence of medieval witch hunts. All Jaws did was depress the economies of a few beach towns, The Exorcist induced truly destructive paranoia. So maybe it is indeed, the scariest movie ever made.
We'll get to that movie within the first week, there's a handful of precursors we must visit first. Ffter The Exorcist, demons never really leave horror cinema. Odds are today, if you're going to see a horror movie, the topic is most likely going to be about a supernatural entity invading your house. This what The Conjuring Universe is all about, and all the thousands of movies just like it. Demons are more popular than ever, and sadly just as generic.
The question therefore is, what is a demon? The devil is a demon, the chief demon. Specifically what separates a demon from say, a ghost or the undead or beasts, why are they special? Well, for our purposes, I imagine a demon as an evil spirit that can possess a place or person. They either have no physical form or only rarely can take one. Satan AKA Lucifer AKA *the* Devil is going to be our most prominent demon, but he's hardly alone here. If your culture looks to mystical powers for good in the world, it probably also looks to similar powers that cause evil. So there's demons in Judaism, there's demons in Ancient Egypt, Jesus Christ worked as an exorcist, there's demon in East Asia, there's demons in India.
I'd prefer for this series to focus on "real" demons, as in actual things inspired by folklore. There's plenty of Baguls in cinema, totally made-up creatures that follow the tropes of demonology but without any history of culture. These are less interesting to me. I like that Satan has a history going back thousands of years, was not even originally a demon in the Old Testament, and has evolved and transformed into the red-skinned pointy-bearded fellow we have today.
But also, this is cinema. Demons are scary, sure, but there's a reason we love to see them on the big screen. Satan is nothing if not charismatic. A demon is liberation, they can be joyful chaos, they can just be fun dudes. They're a necessary reaction against the moral conservatism of societies. Both the most awful thing they can imagine, yet also a wish. Maybe they're symbols of sickness and decay and death, maybe they're little freaks out here with horned tails and their tongue sticking out. Demons are fun.
So we're starting with a film made over a century ago, and will end on Halloween with a movie not yet released by the time of this writing. That's a solid history, I feel.
1. Häxan
2. Faust (1922)
3. The Dybbuk
5. Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
7. The Devils
9. The Exorcist
10. The Exorcist III
11. Beyond the Door
12. The Omen
13. Omen II & III
14. Alucarda
15. The Visitor
16. Hellraiser
19. Angel Heart
21. Wishmaster
22. Noroi: The Curse
23. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
25. A Dark Song
26. Hereditary
27. When Evil Lurks
28. The Medium
29. It Lives Inside
