Exorcism is one of the most terrifying and interesting themes of the movies. Mystical, often inexplicable events that, even for skeptics, send a shiver up the spine. This is a list of the darkest, most intense, always mystical movies in which the boundary between reality and the supernatural is often blurred. Who’s ready to take on demonic evil? Here are the 10 best exorcism movies.
Content
- The Exorcist
- Apparitions
- Kuroneko
- The Conjuring
- Mother Joan of the Angels
- The Omen
- The Wailing
- A Chinese Ghost Story
- Constantine
- The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The Exorcist
IMDb: 8.1/10
1973, Horror, Drama
USA, R
Director: William Friedkin
Top Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair
It centers on a young girl, Regan, who gets possessed by a demon. Her mother seeks out two priests to perform an exorcism and save her soul. The filmmakers lead the audience through the ritual from beginning to end. The film is based on a book by William Peter Blatty, which is drawn from real-life events. It was the first horror movie to receive a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The nominations were unimpeded even by the many rumors of a “curse” — a spate of accidents and tragic deaths surrounding members of the production.
Apparitions
IMDb: 7.9/10
2008, Drama, Horror, Thriller
UK, Not Rated
Director: Joe Ahearne
Top Cast: Martin Shaw, Rick Warden, Siobhan Finneran
This is a mini-series about Father Jacob, a Catholic priest who is also an exorcist. The world tests his faith by presenting him with actual instances of demon possession and a premonition of a battle between good and evil. Father Jacob deciphers that demons can also possess the Church, creating divisions and decay in the faith itself. More troubling still, he has the most shocking realization: some demons might even attempt to become saints.
Kuroneko
IMDb: 7.7/10
1968, Horror, Drama
Japan, Not Rated
Director: Kaneto Shindô
Top Cast: Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satô
In feudal Japan, a woman and her daughter are swept up in a samurai attack. They come back to Earth in two spirits, seeking revenge against their murderers. But their revenge meets an unexpected adversary. Probably one of the most famous Japanese horror films. Director Kaneto Shindo used theatrical aspects of Kabuki for an oppressive effect.
The Conjuring
IMDb: 7.5/10
2013, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
USA, R
Director: James Wan
Top Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston
It follows the paranormal investigator couple, Ed and Lorraine Warren. They help the Perron family, who, in 1971, moved into an old country house in Harrisville. Soon after, she and her family experience unexplained yet terrifying events: doors slam shut without human assistance, clocks stop working at 3:07 AM, unspeakable bruises develop on the mother’s body, and one of the daughters mentions a mysterious yet invisible friend. As Lorraine, a medium, enters the house, she learns it’s suffused with evil. The Warrens discover that the house was previously owned by a witch, Bathsheba Sherman, who sacrificed her child to the devil and placed a curse on the house and whoever might live in it.
Mother Joan of the Angels
IMDb: 7.5/10
1961, Drama, Horror
Poland, Not Rated
Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Top Cast: Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit, Anna Ciepielewska
The film is based on the true story behind the 17th-century events known as the “Loudun possessions” in France and the subsequent literary adaptation by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. In a monastery in Poland, all sorts of strange things start to happen — nuns are possessed by demons. A Catholic priest, Father Józef Suryn, is dispatched to the remote monastery from the Vatican to investigate and banish the evil forces. At the center of the plot is Mother Joan, the abbess of the monastery, who says eight demons have taken possession of her body and soul. She behaves oddly — lapsing into fits of hysterics, sometimes seemingly droll, sometimes seductive, and then going limp in a sort of trance. As Father Suryn gets consumed by religious fervor, he takes on the exorcism, but he soon succumbs to the very forces he sought to defeat.
The Omen
IMDb: 7.5/10
1976, Horror
USA, R
Director: Richard Donner
Top Cast: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens
In Rome, American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) receives tragic news — his wife, Katherine (Lancelot du Lac), has delivered a stillborn child. At the hospital, a priest offers to switch the baby, in secret, with another newborn who was abandoned the same night. Robert, too, decides not to tell his wife the truth. The boy is named Damien, and the Thorn family relocates to England, where Robert becomes the U.S. ambassador. But as Damien ages, he becomes increasingly disturbed, and dark events begin to happen around him. Robert goes to Jerusalem and Italy, where he discovers the terrible truth — his son is the Antichrist, born from a jackal. He can only be stopped when pierced through by the Daggers of Megiddo. But would a father be able to kill his child?
The Wailing
IMDb: 7.4/10
2016, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
South Korea, Not Rated
Director: Na Hong-jin
Top Cast: Jun Kunimura, Jung-min Hwang, Do-won Kwak
The setting is a small South Korean village called Gokseong, where a series of brutal murders suddenly starts to happen. Two people are infected with a mysterious illness that turns them aggressive, insane, and ultimately leads to the murder of their families. The local cops can’t get to the bottom of the bizarre happenings, but one online whisper leads from the village to a mysterious Japanese man, who moved alone into the nearby mountains. Police officer Jong-goo starts to investigate, but the case takes a dark turn of a personal nature when his daughter begins showing symptoms of the mysterious illness. Desperate, he consults a shaman for help, but as he digs deeper into the history of the village and its residents, disturbing questions emerge. The movie was internationally praised for its intricate storyline and terrifying ambiance. Not by coincidence, director Na Hong-jin wrote the tale based on Korean myths and folktales.
A Chinese Ghost Story
IMDb: 7.4/10
1987, Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Hong Kong, Not Rated
Director: Siu-Tung Ching
Top Cast: Leslie Cheung, Joey Wang, Wu Ma
The film is inspired by the classical Chinese story “The Legend of Qian-Nü” published in the 17th century, written by Pu Songling. Ning Caichen (Leslie Cheung) is a lowly tax collector who finds himself stranded in a remote village by a storm. Not much else except the decrepit Lanruo Temple, said to be haunted, where you’ll spend the night. There, he meets the lovely Xiaoqian (Joey Wong) and falls for her. But he soon learns that she is a ghost, bound to an evil demon who preys on young women and uses their souls to seduce victims. Ning teams up with a roving exorcist monk, Yan Chixia (Wu Ma), to fight demons and the underworld factions trying to do him and his beloved in.
Constantine
IMDb: 7.0/10
2005, Action, Fantasy, Horror
USA, R
Director: Francis Lawrence
Top Cast: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Djimon Hounsou
The movie is inspired by the DC Comics series Hellblazer, which centers on John Constantine, a detective and exorcist with the ability to see angels and demons lurking among humans. John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is an exorcist detective who banishes demons that upset the balance between Heaven and Hell. He’s not a hero, he’s a man condemned to Hell for attempting suicide as a child. Then one day, a detective, Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz), comes to him asking to uncover the truth behind her twin sister, Isabel’s death. Isabel, according to the official story, took her own life. Their investigation leads to a dark conspiracy — the forces of Hell are trying to resurrect Mammon (the son of Lucifer) on Earth, and the item used to accomplish this is a dangerous artifact: the Spear of Destiny (Spear of Longinus). To prevent the apocalypse, Constantine must battle demons, outwit Lucifer, and confront his fate.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
IMDb: 6.7/10
2005, Drama, Horror, Thriller
USA, PG-13
Director: Scott Derrickson
Top Cast: Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Jennifer Carpenter
This is a true story of Anneliese Michel and her exorcism in Germany in 1975. The story opens with the prosecution of Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson), a Catholic priest accused of negligent homicide in the death of the young woman Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter), who has died after having undergone an exorcism ritual. Father Moore is represented by defense attorney Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), while prosecutor Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott) contends that Emily was never possessed, but fought through epilepsy and psychosis.
