Lots of religious horror movies have a comforting scene at the end where the possessed victim, after undergoing all manner of indignities (vomiting and spewing obscenities and having words come up all puffy on their skin, etc.), finally comes out the other side, sweaty and weak, and they look gratefully at the priests and loved ones at their bedside, thankful to be alive and demon-free.

We’re not talking about those movies today. We’re talking about the other movies, the movies where the exorcism fails, and the priest gets thrown out the window, the movies where the satanic cult packs up and moves to another town undetected, the movies where the possessed child gives a knowing smirk at the camera in the final shot.

Here’s a look at ten religious horror movies where the battle of good and evil is waged, and good is on the losing side.

10 The Omen (1976)

Harvey Stephens in The Omen
20th Century Fox

Gregory Peck’s first mistake as diplomat Robert Thorn in the original 1976 film The Omen is, when his wife tragically loses their baby in childbirth, letting himself be persuaded by a hospital chaplain to swap the baby for one whose mother died in childbirth. And then not telling his wife Kathy (Lee Remick) the truth about their baby boy, Damien. A few years later, things aren’t going great, as their nanny hangs herself in front of Damien’s birthday party guests, animals are terrified of the boy, and a priest tells Robert that it’s all because Damien is actually the son of Satan.

Robert and a photographer friend (David Warner) go back to Rome, where Damien was born, to try and get some answers on Damien’s parentage, and a trip to the cemetery reveals that not only was Damien’s mother a jackal, Robert’s biological child was murdered to set the whole plan in motion. By the time a sinister birthmark confirms Robert’s suspicions that Damien is indeed the Antichrist, it’s too late to do much about it. Kathy and Robert both meet their deaths, and Damien shows his intentions with a little smile at the camera.

9 Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby
Paramount Pictures

Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) makes her first mistake early on in Rosemary's Baby as well, ignoring warnings from her friend Hutch (Marice Evans) that the apartment building (The Bramford) she and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes) are moving to has a distinctly unsavory past. It seems the Devil’s machinations begin early, when an actor goes blind out of nowhere and Guy gets his part in a play, forcing Rosemary to spend more time alone in the new apartment, and with the decidedly creepy and overbearing neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castavet.

Rosemary gets pregnant after a hazy and unsettling night which started with some distasteful chocolate mousse from the Castevets. Anytime Rosemary tries to assert her will or make her fears known, there’s some reason she’s not listened to: she’s made to switch doctors, and Guy teases Rosemary over her suspicions that a coven is operating in the Bramford. As we all know, Rosemary should have listened to her instincts, but after her initial horror at realizing she’s given birth to Satan’s child, the child’s cries win her over.

8 The Devil’s Advocate (1997)

Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate
Warner Bros.

Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) is a real go-getter defense attorney who makes the choice to go after a child molestation victim while defending the very guilty perpetrator. After winning the case, he’s recruited by a swanky law firm led by one John Milton (Paradise Lost, anyone?), played by Al Pacino, and Kevin and his wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron) move to New York. Their relationship quickly begins to suffer as Kevin’s time is taken up with higher-profile cases that demand a loosening of his morals. Mary Ann is increasingly unhappy and afraid, even before an incident where she claims Milton raped her, which Kevin does not believe.

There are a lot of devilish twists and turns in The Devil's Advocate before we find out that Kevin is actually Milton’s son, and Milton was hoping Kevin would conceive the Antichrist with his co-worker Christabelle (Connie Nielsen), who also happens to be Kevin’s half-sister. Just as the characters are committing suicide and being set on fire, Kevin suddenly finds himself back at the original trial, having apparently dreamed the whole thing. He seems to have escaped Satan’s/Milton’s clutches, but a little exchange with the camera reveals that Milton will keep trying until he gets his man.

Related: Best Possession Movies to Watch Next, Ranked

7 The Wicker Man (1973)

Police Sergeant Neil Howie looks back in fear
British Lion Films

Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives at a remote Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. Howie is a devout Christian, and more than a little unsettled to find a decidedly pagan air about the island, and that great preparations are underway for May Day celebrations. He’s especially disturbed by the leader of the island, Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), and the islanders’ refusal to give him any clues at all regarding the missing girl, to the point where Howie begins to doubt the girl ever existed at all.

Howie does manage to discover the girl’s whereabouts, but by the time he realizes that he has been lured to the island for the purpose of human sacrifice, it’s too late, and Howie ends up burned alive in a giant wicker structure in the shape of a man, along with a number of animals, while the islanders sing in anticipation of another glorious harvest.

6 Apostle (2018)

Sharon Morgan in Apostle
Netflix

Former Downton Abbey heartthrob Dan Stevens stars in this gloomy Welsh film as Thomas, a disillusioned former missionary, who has traveled to a remote island in the early 1900s in search of his sister Jennifer, who is being held hostage by a cult, founded by a convict named Malcolm (Michael Sheen), that practices blood sacrifices. Things get even darker quite quickly, with a forced abortion, a murder, and the discovery of a personage called The Goddess, to whom corpses are fed by someone called The Grinder.

Thomas manages to rescue Jennifer from being sacrificed, as well as other villagers, but only by setting fire to The Goddess, which also sets the village on fire. While everyone else flees, Thomas remains, with a transformed look in his eyes that lets the audience know that he’s taken over where the Goddess left off.

Related: Best Horror Cult Movies, Ranked

5 The Sacrament (2013)

Gene Jones holds a man's head in The Sacrament
Magnolia Pictures

Sometimes the devil is just a man, and that’s the case in Ti West’s 2013 found footage horror film. It’s based on the 1978 Jonestown Massacre, where 907 people died by poisoning, either suicide or murder (there were many children poisoned by their parents), at the behest of cult leader Jim Jones, who also perished. In the film, two VICE journalists have traveled to a so-called utopian religious commune in search of their colleague’s sister.

Immediately on their guard due to a strange atmosphere, they meet the Jim Jones stand-in, Father (Gene Jones), who initially seems warm and welcoming, but soon turns more sinister. It’s a frightening examination of a man who has descended into madness, and, through abuse and brainwashing, takes nearly a thousand people with him. Chalk one more up for the devil.

4 Angel Heart (1987)

Robert De Niro in Angel Heart
TriStar Pictures

Alan Parker’s 1987 neo-noir horror caused quite the furor when it was released, due to its initial X-rating. Mickey Rourke plays Harry Angel, a 1950s private eye from New York who takes on a job with Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro), to track down a missing singer named Johnny Favorite with whom Cyphre has business dealings. The whole deal instantly stinks, with Angel finding that most of what Cyphre has said about Favorite is a lie, but a raise in his wages keeps Angel with the case. The hunt for Favorite leads him to New Orleans, where he meets Favorite’s illegitimate daughter Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet in the role that saw her eventually booted from The Cosby Show).

Once Angel learns that Favorite sold his soul to Satan for success, it’s only a small leap to see that Cyphre is Satan. The plot goes a little haywire here, as it turns out that Angel and Favorite are actually the same person, and thus he fathered his own grandson with Epiphany. But safe to say, Harry is on his way to hell by the end, and Louis Cyphre is still firmly in charge.

3 The House of the Devil (2009)

Jocelin Donahue and Tom Noonan in The House of the Devil
MPI Media Group

Ti West’s 2009 homage to the satanic horror films of the '80s starts with that oh-so-'80s trope: pretty young Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) embarks on a babysitting job, but all is not what it seems. The supposed father, Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan) reveals that there’s actually no child, and what he needs is for Samantha to keep an eye on his elderly mother, and Samantha doesn’t feel she can refuse the large paycheck he promises. He is also very insistent that she order a pizza, which arrives just as she’s accidentally found a number of highly creepy photos, of a family that is not Mr. Ulman’s, and of their corpses.

The pizza is drugged, and Samantha wakes up to find herself in the middle of a satanic ritual being performed by Ulman, his wife, and son. Ulman’s mother appears, and wants Samantha to drink her blood. To escape, Samantha must kill the mother and shoot herself. She miraculously survives, but a comment by the nurse reveals that she is now pregnant, and we’re guessing it has something to do with the Ulmans.

2 Requiem (2006)

Sandra Hüller in Requiem
Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk (SWR)

This 2006 German film tackles the very idea of possession, and how in religious circles, possession, and mental illness can be confused, or considered the same thing. It’s also sadly based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, a young woman who was believed by her religious family to be possessed, and underwent over 60 rites of exorcism. She was diagnosed in her teens with temporal lobe epilepsy, but she also claimed to hear voices and have visions of a demonic nature.

Michel died of malnutrition and dehydration at the age of 23, a direct result of having been treated with exorcisms rather than mental healthcare, which she and her parents had chosen to discontinue. The movie is rather spare and sad, with a wrenching performance from Sandra Hüller as the main character. 2005’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on the same harrowing story.

1 The Wailing (2016)

An exorcism rite is performed in The Wailing
Well Go USA Entertainment

Officer Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won) lives in a small mountain village, doting on his daughter, and dealing with generally a small amount of police work, until a strange Japanese man comes to town, and a terrifying infection breaks out among the villagers that cause them to slaughter their families. Jong-goo comes to believe that the Japanese man is a demon, and searches the man’s house, which contains pictures of the local murder victims as well as some of their belongings, including something belonging to Jong-goo’s daughter, Hyo-jin, who consequently falls ill herself.

An elaborate exorcism ritual is undertaken to save her (one of the best scenes of the movie), and the shaman puts a hex on the Japanese stranger. The plot thickens and accusations fly when the stranger survives the hex and Hyo-jin seems to improve, but then disappears. The film is an intensely visceral, bloody affair, and by the end, the stranger has survived against all odds, finally confirmed as the demon who has decimated the village.