Christian Mythos

 

“Your war is arrogance. That makes it evil. And that’s mine.”

My choices for the best Christian Mythos films

  • Alucarda (1977)
  • Constantine (2005)
  • The Devil’s Advocate (1997)
  • Frailty (2001)
  • The Omen (1976)
  • The Ninth Gate (1999)
  • Prince of Darkness (1987)
  • The Prophecy (1995)
  • Santanico Pandemonium (1975)

The Christian mythos is a fascinating one, filled with heroes, powers, strange angels, and twisted devils. Films in this tradition assume the existence of God, Jesus, angels, Heaven, the Devil, and Hell, and usually latch on to a modified version of Catholicism (note that it’s always a priest who is called in to cast out a demon). It makes for a deep and complex background, but you have to have an interesting set of beliefs for it to work as actual frightening horror.

Christian mythological horror generally ignores Jesus (oh, he exists, but is rarely a player) and takes a more Old Testament version of God. This is a God who is more concerned with letting prophecy play out than stopping the Antichrist from destroying the world. He doesn’t mind devils possessing and torturing children, and if called upon to help, he will, but only after everyone has suffered for a while. People who believe that Jesus is love are unlikely to be frightened by these tales.

Older Biblical horror tended to revolve around a witch (or coven) with magical powers from Satan and one or more heroes destroying her (sometimes him). Things have changed, with a majority of recent films following in the footsteps of either The Omen or The Exorcist. Of note, I am not a fan of em>The Exorcist, so keep that in mind when reading my reviews.

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