Christianised Horror

I watched 'Frailty' a couple of days ago - I think that's terrific Christian horror. How many religions could so successfully blur the lines between vigilante serial killer and humble prophet?

Jessica

Some religious horror films have realy scared the shit out of me. mainly they seem to need to go one of two ways -

1) Someone is worshipping satan

2) Satan is terrorizing good christians.

I guess you could call any film or novel that protrays some form of exorcism, like The Amityville Horror, also a Christian Horror.... I mean, it assumes belief in God and Jesus and Satan, on usually a Catholic level. Apocalypse films too -

The Omen (parts 2, 3, 4)
Rosemary's Baby
The Seventh Sign
The Reaping
Frailty
The Amityville Horror
Poltergeist (and all sequels)
Exorcist
Exorcism of Emily Rose
The Order (remember that one?)
Stigmata
The Devil's Advocate
Fallen
The Rapture
Bless the Child
The Devil's Rain
The belly of the Beast

?
What am I missing?

I find christianized horror to be some of the finest horror out there. Some of my most favorite movies comes from the theory of satin and the christian god 4-ever duking it out:

Exorcist
The Amityville Horror
Rosemary's Baby
Stigmata

This is a bit off topic, but late 60's horror through the 70's, tends to be more scary to me then present day horror.

Although some of my most fav. movies have to do with Zombies. A nice kerplunk to the skull and they are down for the count.

Vampire movies tend to go with the christianized horror theme. They are damned to walk the earth and feed off of others life force. Anything that has to do with the "damned" tends to have some xtianity in it.

I didn't think about it in terms of what has Christian themes. I was thinking of horror that is marketed to Christians as wholesome entertainment; horror you could buy at Family Christian Stores or a Zondervan Christian bookstore. Thus, Frank Peretti's novels, Jenkins and LaHay's _Left Behind_ or Bob Larson's _Dead Air_ (which was originally to be sold as non-fiction, like Warnke's _The Satan Seller_).

To sell horror (or anything else) in this way it has to be packaged as encouraging the audience's Christian growth, "advancing the cause of Christ," etc. Every product in that market has to justify its presence by proving it is "Christian enough." A few exorcisms here or there isn't enough to sell something to the Evangelical market as being "Christian." It needs to somehow endorse or teach evangelical theology.

...and by the way, most of this stuff is wildly sexist.

Also off topic, the Asian horror movies always get to me a bit more than the american remakes.

Yeah and i'm told that the actual Asian film is very disturbing, more so then the American remakes. I've not watched it because of the whole subtitle thing. I really have to be in the mood to read a movie.

Me and Jeff and our frend Rick have a very large collection of Asian horror I think part of the draw is that they don't question the stuf, it just happens. Whereas some of the american remakes, they add stuff make sense to americans, I think...

tangent, askewed

I'm surprised the two haven't been more incorporated before as they've been a part of one another for centuries. The bible is the ultimate horror novel. Plagues ascending on cities (Resident Evil, 28 Days Later, etc.), psychic communication and interpretation, demonology, etc. I've never read the Left Behind books. Revelation is packed with supernatural wars, entities, plus tons of Sci-Fi with the machines and devices described. The things described could be interpreted as everything from Sherman tanks to television to nuclear warfare.