Demonic Possession and Ghosts

In the last post, I took a closer look at what holds up the powerful theme of demons and demonic judgement. This is just one facet of the "Demonic" theme.

Just how many Haunting/Exorcism movies are there??

The Exorcist The Exorcist II - the Heretic The Exorcist III Dominion - Prequel to the Exorcist Exorcist: The Beginning The Exorcism of Emily Rose The Last Exorcism The Rite Paranormal Activity Paranormal Activity 2 Paranormal Activity 3 Paranormal Activity 4 Insidious The Skeptic

Constantine Exorcismo The Devil Inside The Others Devil Prince of Darkness The Haunting in Connecticut The Haunting of Molly Hartley An American Haunting The Haunting REC (remade as Quarantine) REC 2 REC 3: Genesis

The list goes on and on. There is no doubt that the theme is a popular one, and that it can support the trend of horror movies to spawn many sequels. But why are they so scary and/or popular?

It could happen to anyone

By choosing children and characters that are part of tight-knit families and who are loved, parents, children, and the rest of the population are affected by the threat that anyone could potentially turn evil. This also holds emotional weight in families with abusive family members, where a parent can become abusive at the drop of a hat, as can ordinary children.

They prey on the sense of security that people have, which is one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of the movie or game makers. By keeping them off balance, and out of their comfort zone, the audience is much easier to scare.

Your house may be haunted too!

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs suggests that safety and habitat is high on the list of things the audience needs to be content. By merely suggesting that a participant's house may become possessed can be completely unnerving for the audience.

---

Source:

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50, pp. 370.

Demons

In last week's infographic post, I looked at what themes scare people the most. It was a close race between two categories: demons and exorcisms, and ghosts and hauntings. Both are spiritual or religious in nature, and as I pointed out in that post, it isn't surprising; considering that over a third of the United States is part of a Christ-based religion. This is not to say that demonic themes are not scary to non-religious people, or to people who don't believe that that particular manifestation of evil exists.

Demonology and the Bible

“The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” - (The English Standard Bible - Revelation 12:9)

This passage from the Bible is one of many that mentions demons directly. From these passages we know that demons were angels that fell with Satan because of the sin of pride. While the Bible doesn't speak extensively on them, demons and Satan have been the subject of many films, paintings, books, and games. The quintessential description of demons and hell comes from Dante Alighieri, in the second part of his Divine Comedy, Dante explores the nine circles of hell in great detail. It describes what each inhabitant did to deserve their place in hell. From the perspective of a horror story writer, this is a fantastic way to exploit the insecurities people have about their habits.

Demons and Film

Many demonic films focus on punishment, where even the slightest indiscretions are judged severely (See the film Se7en). Other films choose to widen the scope of the judgement to all of mankind, which takes the control out of the participant's insecurities (See the film the Prince of Darkness). If the participant feels a nagging worry that they might be a target of such a beast for their transgressions, they at least have the possibility to rectify their lives. When they're judged on other's actions, they have much less control, removing the "fight" response as a possibility, which as I discussed in the previous post, elevates the anxiety in the participant.

Regardless of our religious alignments, or whether they are real or not, demons and demonic themes scare us.

---

Sources:

The English Standard Bible - Revelation 12:9

The Divine Comedy - Inferno, by Dante Alighieri