HDC Debates #2: Has religion taken a backseat in most contemporary horror films?
 

There was a time in the 70s and 80s (even in some 90s films) when holy water, crucifixes, Bibles, churches, etc. were the chosen weapons to fight evil. Dive into a vampire film and the usual garlics, stakes, sunlight, etc. were the most effective tools by the film's climaxes.

But in most films from 2000-onwards, the ghosts are more driven off by investigating into the root of their evils, how/why they became ghosts, etc. rather than use holy stuff/props against them. We don't see the force of Catholicism, the Vatican or the Church a lot on the silver screen either.

Question is, has religion lost it's significance in most of the latest horror films? Or is it still pretty much a force in them?

With the exception or exorcism films, religion has definitely lost it's significance. Which is why I usually watch the older films.

Religion has become such a touchy controversial thing lately that having it in a film causes people to practically riot and petition and sue for whatever injustice that feel they are experiencing for having different beliefs then their own displayed especially when God or religious individuals are the heroes of the film.

To be fair, religious fanatics do the same thing with movies they find evil, immoral and against God despite once again just displaying a different belief system or by not including God.

Because of how sensitive the issues become, religion isnt being used in horror films as much and instead we have regular individuals defeating the ghost/demon/etc using research, some kind of strange ability like in Insidious, through their own sheer will or through the ghosts own backstory.

This of course leaves viewers with a feeling that even a regular Joe like them can defeat a powerful evil spirit which is actually a good message.

However I still think religion is needed for exorcism movies.

IMO: One of the reasons RELIGION lost it's appeal in genre film making is the way it's been implanted into the story...means other than Exorcism & its related stuffs, we usually doesn't get to see a film where 'religion saves the day' in some other interesting way. I think it'll be worth risk taking & interesting if writers tries & dares to break some conventional ground & come up with a story where 'religion' required to use in some other fashion rather than only for exorcism stuffs.

OR

They can go & try some newer exorcism flicks with different religious belief systems...like possessed by the Jinns in a remote Islamic community, people cursed by Hindu deities etc. etc.

That would be a good idea. It seems like the only religion they touch upon is Catholicism and Christianity. With the exception of The Possessions Jewish leanings I can't think of another horror movie having a different religion involved. It would be interesting if they branched out.

I think it depends on how one looks at it. Certainly religion plays a very different role, but, to me, the fact that demonic movies have become quite popular is evidence that religion still remains important in at least some of the horror movies of the present. To be sure, the role that religion plays in film is definitely quite different than in the 80s or especially the 70s.

Many horror films today do seem to lack religion or criticize it though. The Devil's Rejects, love it or hate it, really comes to mind. Especially the scene when one of the killers asks his victims to pray to their God to strike him down. This is a classic criticism of religion. Further, I recently listened to some of an episode of a popular thriller show, which is practically horror T.V. show, called the Following where similar criticisms were raised in the season finale. I am sure other examples exist. In many ways this is common in many ways. The horror movies of the 2000s+ seem to be much darker and more cynical than even many horror films of the 1990s. With all the events both in the United States (9/11) and around the world (global economic recession, Iran, North Korea, etc), this is not entirely surprising.

To return to my point of demonic films, the role religion plays is definitely different than older films like the Exorcist. Even in popular films like Paranormal Activity, religion does seem to be surprisingly absent. On that point, the characters call a demonologist instead of a priest and there was no classic scene of a priest attempting to bless the house. So, now that I think about it, I would have to say that religion has taken a back seat.

One question would be why is this the case? I think one of the most influential aspects is demographics. Many horror movies are intended to appeal to younger audiences and growing numbers of younger individuals no longer follow an organized religion. Many even view organized religion as a symbol of oppression and traditional practices. These younger individuals want to get away from this symbols of a bygone age.

This development in horror movies is quite interesting and will definitely be something to watch. Maybe religion will make a comeback, maybe it won't. In any case, quite interesting.

Let's not forget the Superman syndrome: a hero that cannot be harmed or defeated gets real boring real fast.

Even though ending a movie with "...and then we turned to religion..." works, it can be a cheap, overused way to resolve a film. I can think of several movies that have & I've wondered if they invoked religion because of cultural priorities or because they had no other way to wrap up their plot.

I can also think of films that tried to make religion itself more of a battle (The Rite [2011], Legion [2010], Constantine [2005], The Prophecy [1995], Warlock [1989], and so on) but they range from hokey to comical - anything but truly horrifying.

So I think religion has taken a backseat but because religion can only play one kind of role successfully (The Last Exorcism [2010], The Exorcism of Emily Rose [2005], Serpent and the Rainbow [1988], The Omen [1976], The Exorcist [1973], etc.) without being an embarrassment (Exorcist II: The Heretic [1977], Exorcist III [1990], Omen IV: The Awakening [1991], Exorcist: The Beginning [2004]) that it may be better off that way... for the movie industry.

"Has religion taken a backseat in most contemporary horror films?"

I'd answer the thread title question like this: religion has always taken a backseat in the US film industry, and it still is. And it's always been the same story in Horror films. There's really only a handful of films in any genre that displayed the religion at hand with any sort of accuracy. Like Totem said, it's used as a plot device or a setting.

In the Horror genre, basically the only films that display religion in any actual form is exorcism films. The repulsing of vampires by a cross became rahter comical... the Van Helsing holding up a cross when the film's story displays Christ has no meaning in the character's life. So much so that Stephen King famously exposed it by having the vampire chide the cross holder, "it only works if you have faith."

So to wrap up my point, religious artifacts in stories may have lessened in contemporary films, but real religion has never had a front seat.