There has never been a shortage of horror movies: from the era of the classic Universal Monsters in the thirties, the haunted house mania in the seventies, the slasher movies in the eighties, and on to more recent violence-packed films today. The horror genre is always shifting and has the power to influence subsequent generations. Horror movies are almost as old as the film industry itself. The first horror film ever made was a short released in 1896, called Le Manoir du Diable (The House of The Devil), created by Georges Méliès. This short film has an element that's still explored 125 years later through famous franchises and standalone movies: religion.
However, not a great deal of them use religion as one of their main factors, but rather let it set the tone for their stories and characters. Most supernatural horror movies, though, still deal with religion of some kind -- ghosts, demons, curses, priests, exorcisms; the list goes on and on. It could be said that horror cinema is the last vestige of a truly religious register in mainstream popular culture. In what other mainstream genre do we find faith, spirits, and God taken so seriously? The word religion has a lot of meanings related to it.
Update September 4, 2023: In honor of the upcoming release of The Nun II and The Exorcist: Believer, this article has been updated by Federico Furzan with even more great religious-themed horror films.
Depending on what part of the world you're in, religion can mean completely divergent things, such as different beliefs, opposite mindsets, traumatic experiences, and so on. Nevertheless, one thing is certain (and these movies are the proof): things can go bad fast. 2023 has seen a recent resurgence in high-profile religious-themed horror films from The Pope's Excorcist to The Nun II and the upcoming The Exorcist: Believer. In honor of those films, these are the best religious horror movies of all time.
Spoiler alert
13 Carrie (1976)
Carrie, wearing a pink dress covered in blood with flames surrounding her, is almost a cultural icon. The 1976 adaptation of the first Stephen King novel published is still one of the best horror adaptations ever made. Carrie is a cautionary tale about abuse and fundamentalism. The bullied teenager will forever be a part of the horror audience's mind - as well as the deep sympathy she awakens.
Carrie White is bullied by her high school classmates while she is also abused by her religious mother at home. As more unexplainable incidents happen around her, Carrie goes on a journey of self-discovery with her new powers. This is a sad tale about a misfit who turns sour on those who try to harm her and the often tragic results of strict, oppressive religious extremism.
12 The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on a true story that happened in 1952. An interesting movie about belief and faith, it brings the best elements from The Exorcist closer to our day-to-day lives, with some level of social realism. After an exorcism goes wrong, a priest (Tom Wilkinson) faces a murder accusation in court. The movie is set during the trial (with several spooky flashbacks), which becomes the scenario for one of the most ancient battles humans have ever faced: science vs. faith.
11 The Witch (2015)
Robert Eggers' period horror piece released in 2015 has become a go-to for fans of witch movies. The sound design mixed with an incredibly eerie scenario and unusual editing (cutting scenes abruptly and staying in a black frame for a few seconds) only enhances the horror in the movie. The Witch tells the tale of a British Puritan family that moves to the colonies in America. The tragedy starts to unravel after one of the children gets lost in the woods. Religion becomes a weapon the family uses against the evil they believe exists - and the one that actually does.
10 The Omen (1976)
Richard Donner's 1976 film The Omen heavily capitalizes on the fear and paranoia that The Exorcist installed on American audiences in 1973. Only this time, the Devil is actually a small boy called Damien. The Omen tells the story of the perfect family facing disruption from the cookie-cutter daily lives when their new son appears to have some connection with Satanist values.
Not only that, the boy was actually the product of a body swap after Katherine Thorn gave birth. They're actually raising the Antichrist, and through a series of events, they will try to stop the boy from wreaking havoc on modern-day America. This direct attack on America's consolidated Christian values launched a franchise and made everyone afraid of children's birthday parties.
9 Saint Maud (2019)
Another A24 production on this list, Saint Maud was director Rose Glass' debut feature, though you could never tell. The story blended mental illness and religious extremism, causing the film to be highly anticipated by horror fans. The movie is a punch to the gut (or, rather, the soul). Using innovative ways to tell the relation between God and religious fanatic Maud (Morfydd Clark), along with never explicitly stating what is real and what's in Maud's head, Saint Maud tells the story of a young nurse who was recently discharged from the psychiatric wing. She then goes to work as a caretaker for Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a cancer patient. Maud's fanaticism (the voice of God, or perhaps Satan) tells her that she needs to save Amanda's soul from damnation - any way she sees fit.
8 Frailty (2001)
Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey's horror film Frailty, is the psychological genre-bending masterpiece you didn't know you needed to watch. The story is pretty simple. A stranger arrives at a building to speak to an FBI agent. He says he knows the identity of a serial killer. He says it's his brother, and he knows why he's doing all the killing. It has to do with what their father taught them when they were just kids.
This is when the film truly begins. Told in flashback mode, Frailty tells the story of two brothers whose father arrives one day and tells them they have a mission. They've been selected by God to get rid of sinners. This is how the murder streak begins, involving the kids in one man's journey of delusion. Or is it?
7 The Conjuring (2013)
There can't be a religious horror movie list without the film that generated one of the most successful cinematic universes in horror: The Conjuring. Having received an R rating by the MPAA, The Conjuring became the first movie ever that doesn't contain sex, violence, and profanity. It got the R rating because it was simply too scary. With innovative jump scares and compelling characters, The Conjuring quickly became a horror fan's favorite. The Conjuring is based on a true supernatural case from the paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga). The couple has come into conflict with many supernatural forces, including The Nun in The Conjuring II, which launched her own franchise with a sequel set to be released on September 8, 2023.
6 Midsommar (2019)
Ari Aster's second feature defeated a lot of the tropes in the horror genre, including the one most heavily used: darkness. The cult's fundamentalist extremism, going to the depths of murder and torture to appease their gods, guarantees Midsommar's place in the pantheon of religious horror. The pagan rituals in the morning light will be forever embedded in the audience's mind.
Midsommar tells the story of Dani (Florence Pugh), a depressed and traumatized young woman who goes on a trip with her boyfriend and his friends to a secluded village in Sweden. They want to experience Midsommar, a celebration that takes place every 90 years to mark the start of summer. Things rapidly begin to look very different from what the group imagined it would be. The film definitely shows the comforting and communal appeal of religion and its ability to ease the pains of life, but also as a twisted mechanism for coping.
5 The Wicker Man (1973)
The Wicker Man tells the story of Neil Howie, a sergeant investigating the disappearance of a young girl on remote island. When he arrives at Summerisle, things aren't what he thought they could be. People are strange, but they don't mistreat Howie. He's just not used to societies relying on religious values that aren't his own: he follows Christianity to the book. When he realizes they're actually practicing some sort of paganism, he fully rejects them and suspects they had to do with the girl disappearing.
Then the third act arrives, and The Wicker Man turns into a weirdly optimistic film, not because of where the story leads to, but because of how it portrays a community that's sincerely happy with how they live. Of course, Howie is a victim. And as jolly as the people sound in the film, they're just celebrating human sacrifice to their gods. Howie's fate is not very happy, as you may imagine. Make sure you watch the original film and not the 2006 Nicolas Cage one, which is regarded as one of the worst films of the 2000's.
4 REC (2007)
Up until its final scene, Spanish zombie masterpiece REC isn't anything that can be associated with a religious theme. However, directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza decided to provide a twist and make zombies possessed people. That's right. The hungry flesh-munching monsters are actually possessed by an ancient demon whose first vessel is Tristana Medeiros, a girl who has been locked in the apartment upstairs.
If you want to know horror and haven't had the chance to see REC, give yourself the chance to go through one of the most horrific experiences ever put together by a filmmaker. You will get goosebumps when you see the monstrous girl trying to find the terrified survivors in the dark.
3 Rosemary's Baby (1968)
The 1968 Roman Polanski movie Rosemary's Baby is one of the most iconic horror films ever made. Polanski's deep directorial knowledge, combined with an unbelievably good performance from the cast, makes this movie timeless. This is one of the first movies to use the 'crazy woman' trope (or variation of the Cassandra Complex) - where characters dismiss what the woman character says even though she is right - that horror films use so often (and annoyingly) today.
Rosemary's Baby tells the story of a couple, Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy (John Cassavetes), who move to a new apartment building where they meet unique but kind neighbors. The older couple next door offers a highway to success after hearing about Guy's failed acting career, but, of course, it comes at a horrendous price. Satan, the antichrist, and Catholicism all come into play here to make one of the great films about the anxieties in the darkest depths of religion and theology.
2 The Wailing (2016)
A South Korean horror import that blew audiences' minds in 2016, The Wailing is a supernatural horror film you likely never saw. It tells the story of a policeman investigating a strange illness that has caused violent events in a remote village. Somehow, his daughter gets involved in the plot, and then he must race against time to save her. How does religion enter the picture? You will have to go deep in this modern folk horror film that has an insane running time of 156 minutes. Where does horror have that kind of recognition? Only in Asian cinema.
1 The Exorcist (1973)
The 1973 horror classic The Exorcist terrified generations, and it continues to influence people's nightmares. One of the most iconic films of all time, William Friedkin's masterpiece has a permanent spot on this list. The Exorcist is based on the book of the same name by the Roman Catholic William Peter Blatty, who helped write the film. It tells the story of a mother (Ellen Burstyn) desperately seeking help after her daughter Regan (Linda Blair) starts showing weird behavior. After enduring every medical exam she could find, she asks for help from the Catholic Church: she wants an exorcism. This brings together the doubts of a younger, more science-oriented priest and the hardened wisdom and fears of an older priest (the great Max Von Sydow) whose ways are dying out, and the two enact an epic battle against the forces of evil itself.
With anticipation high for the legacy sequel, The Exorcist: Believer, and the sad passing of director William Friedkin in 2023, the original film has been more the topic of conversation in recent years. Now is the perfect time to watch it.