Enough with this godless secular horror – it’s time to talk about terror with a distinctly religious flavour. Horror movies with heavy religious themes have always been part of the backbone of the genre, as so much of our conception of the supernatural comes through spiritual or religious sources – and some major modern franchises, like The Conjuring, have put them front and centre. Let’s talk about some underrated classics of the genre, movies that take religious themes and turn them into a central source for all things horrible.
The First Omen
Richard Donner’s The Omen is one of the titans of horror cinema. Not only was he a legitimate director taking on a horror movie of the time – something only William Friedkin had done before with The Exorcist – he turned it into a blockbuster. The exploits of Damian, aka the antichrist, were never as good as when an old-school Hollywood hunk was trying to murder him. The sequels were embarrassingly low effort cash grabs and the early 2000s remake was a dud from its conception. All of this meant that there was no real hype about 2024’s The First Omen: a prequel that was sent straight to streaming (in Europe). Except it turned out to be a pleasant – by which I mean horrible – surprise. While it doesn’t match Donner’s original (The Omen has become so iconic that nothing could), it paves its own way as an incredibly tense film with the tension and frights exceptionally rendered by director Arkasha Stevenson (unfairly not known for her work on Channel Zero) and anchored by what should be a star-making performance from Nell Tiger Free as almost nun, Margaret.
Saint Maud
Horror has a habit of providing opportunities for women to brilliantly complex characters – in the last fifteen years the likes of Toni Collette (Hereditary), Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth, a horror movie to me) Essie Davis (The Babadook) and most recently Sally Hawkins (Bring Her Back) have all made their mark on the genre, and the culture with these performances – and no list would be complete without Morfydd Clark for her towering performance in Saint Maud. Rose Glass’ debut is built around Clark as she tries to deal with her faith and her place within God’s kingdom by trying to convert her dying mistress, an acidic Jennifer Ehle. It is the classic horror trap: faith and God are supposed to be a comfort, but what if you are a terrible, judgemental person? Saint Maud is a terrifying film about the deconstruction of faith and the question of just who is Maud really talking to.
The Vigil
The Vigil is the inverse of Saint Maud – Keith Thomas’ accomplished debut takes a Jewish man who, Yakov Ronen played by Dave Davis, has lost his faith due to past trauma who, for money that he desperately needs, takes a job standing vigil for the night over a recently deceased member of the community. To paraphrase an old adage, Yakov may not believe in God or the spirits but they certainly believe in him. The Vigil is am underrated and underseen film in which Thomas puts Yakov through a classic long dark night of the soul but through a Jewish lens that feels like a different flavour to the mainstream obsession (which I share) with Catholic horror popularised by The Conjuring franchise. The Vigil is a tight and creative debut that get under the skin and right into your nerves, with inventive sound design and a profoundly unsetting tone that permeates every frame.
Let’s hear your favourite religious-themed horrors in the comments below – drop some of your favourites, whether underseen classics or modern gems. If you enjoyed this article and want to see more stuff like it, please consider supporting us on Ko-Fi.
By Lou MacGregor and Kevin Boyle
Header Image: LA Times
