When it comes to horror movies, there’s very little topics that have seen as much variations and full-blown franchises as demon movies. Whether it’s an entity from another dimension or a religiously inspired possession that takes over an innocent girl and makes her profusely vomit all over a priest (spoilers), there’s a huge amount of creative real estate to be used.
Let’s take a look at some of the best demon movies that were ever made.
The Exorcist
This is probably the first movie people think of when someone mentions demonic possession. Since the first Exorcist movie there have been dozens of exorcism movies, but none manage to capture the charm and dread of the first.
Poltergeist
While Poltergeist wasn’t the most known of the old horror movie franchises, we all remember that the movie starts by trapping a girl inside a TV. If that’s not enough indication that you’re gonna be in for a wild ride, I don’t know what is.
Event Horizon
Often described as Warhammer 40,000: The Movie, Event Horizon deals with demonic possession in space. Whether the ship itself is possessed or people just come back possessed from whatever place they’ve been to isn’t all that clear for most of the movie, but it does have some wonderful sci-fi inspired gore imagery.
The Evil Dead
While these movies shouldn’t be taken all too seriously, Evil Dead only ever became popular after the Army of Darkness sequel. The first movie deals with the demonic possession the most though, as a certain incantation and a somewhat eerie looking book manage to unleash an army of demons on a small cabin.
The Amityville Horror
Where most possession movies deal with people being possessed, Amityville Horror takes an entirely new approach. In this movie, it’s the house itself that is irrevocably cursed and will do anything it can to kill the people living in it. I know what you’re thinking: why don’t the people just move? Well, that’d make for a pretty short movie, wouldn’t it?
Hellraiser
Nobody gets possessed by demons in this franchise, but boy are there lots of demonic entities in it. The movie also heavily deals with other, hell-like realms where people go to get tortured for all eternity so it definitely isn’t for the faint of heart.
The Conjuring
James Wan has made many horror movies in his career, but The Conjuring definitely takes the cake. The movie deals with demonic possession in a very original way and builds suspense at exactly the right pace. Sadly, all the sequels and spin-offs don’t quite reach the same level.
