The Exorcist
1973 · USA · 122m
Obscurity: canon. watchable legally. banned somewherePlays it entirely straight and takes the theology seriously. Still works.
Occult & satanic panic
1968–1990 · 31 films catalogued
Devil worship, possession, and a decade of audiences half believing it.
Films about satanic conspiracy, possession and witchcraft, made during and feeding a real public anxiety.
The prestige wave
Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976) were major studio productions with major casts, and they made enormous money. The Exorcist is the highest-grossing R-rated horror film for a reason: it plays entirely straight, takes its theology seriously, and is hard to sit through.
The imitators
Every industry with a camera responded. Italy produced Beyond the Door and a long line of Exorcist variants, several of which were sued. Turkey produced Şeytan, which is The Exorcist shot for shot with the same score. Britain produced To the Devil a Daughter, which finished Hammer off.
The panic
By the early 1980s the fiction had escaped into real life. American police departments ran seminars on satanic ritual abuse, day-care prosecutions ruined lives, and the evidence for an organised satanic conspiracy turned out to be nothing at all. The films did not cause that, but they were the vocabulary it used.
Where to start
Rosemary's Baby, then The Wicker Man, which inverts the whole thing by making the pagans the ones in charge.
Occult & satanic panic films on file
All 31 Occult & satanic panic films →
Rosemary's Baby
1968 · USA · 137m
Obscurity: canon. watchable legallyNothing supernatural is ever shown. It does not need to be.
The Omen
1976 · USA/UK · 106m
Obscurity: canon. watchable legallyStudio horror with a Goldsmith choir and four very memorable deaths.
Häxan
1922 · Sweden/Denmark · 107m
Obscurity: known. watchable legally. banned somewhereA 1922 documentary about witchcraft that is also a horror film. Way ahead of itself.
Phantasm
1979 · USA · 88m
Obscurity: known. watchable legally. banned somewhereA flying silver sphere, a towering undertaker, and dream logic. Nobody has explained it since.
The Changeling
1980 · Canada · 107m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyGeorge C. Scott versus a bouncing red ball. The best serious ghost film of its decade.
A Tale of Two Sisters
2003 · South Korea · 110m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyKorea's classiest ghost story, and the one that actually rewards a rewatch.
Carnival of Souls
1962 · USA · 84m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyMade by an industrial-film director for $33,000. Genuinely haunted.
Martin
1978 · USA · 95m
Obscurity: known. watchable legally. banned somewhereRomero's vampire film. A boy who needs blood, and no fangs, cape or certainty that he is one.
The Devil Rides Out
1968 · UK · 95m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyHammer's best occult film. Lee as the hero for once, and enjoying it.
To the Devil a Daughter
1976 · UK/West Germany · 95m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyHammer's last gasp. Christopher Lee said it finished the studio off.
The Blood on Satan's Claw
1971 · UK · 93m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyA plough turns up a skull and a village falls apart. Coined the term.
Tales from the Crypt
1972 · UK/USA · 92m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyThe best Amicus omnibus, and Joan Collins versus a killer Santa two years before Black Christmas.
God Told Me To
1976 · USA · 91m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyA detective investigates random killers who all say God ordered it. It goes somewhere insane.
Race with the Devil
1975 · USA · 88m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallySatanists chase a Winnebago across Texas. Better than that sounds.
Veerana
1988 · India · 135m
Obscurity: cultThe Ramsay brothers' witch movie, with musical numbers between the murders.
Şeytan
1974 · Turkey · 101m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyThe Exorcist, shot-for-shot, in Istanbul, with the same score. Astonishing nerve.
Abby
1974 · USA · 89m
Obscurity: cultThe blaxploitation Exorcist. A minister's wife is possessed by a sex demon. Warner Bros sued.
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul
1964 · Brazil · 84m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyThe first Brazilian horror film, and the birth of Coffin Joe, a national icon with terrible fingernails.
Scream Blacula Scream
1973 · USA · 96m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyThe rare sequel that adds Pam Grier and a shred of dignity.
Beyond the Door
1974 · Italy · 109m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyThe Italian Exorcist. Warner sued. It made money anyway.
J.D.'s Revenge
1976 · USA · 92m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyA dead 1940s gangster possesses a mild law student. Blaxploitation crossed with the supernatural.
Messiah of Evil
1973 · USA · 90m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyMade by the couple who then wrote American Graffiti. A nightmare that never explains itself.
Lady Terminator
1989 · Indonesia · 81m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyThe Terminator, if the machine were a sea goddess and had no shame whatsoever.