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Looking for movies that combine religion mythology and supernatural elements
After watching The Omen a while back and recently watching The First Omen, I realized I rather like media that combines supernatural elements and religious mythology. Not that I am religious myself but I seem to like religion with a supernatural twist.
Like Supernatural the TV show but in movie format.
Are there really good moves that live in this venn diagram? They don't necessarily have to be horror but that's just what I have come across so far.
Constantine would fit the criteria, Keanu Reeves as a not quite comic accurate version of the exorcist/demon hunter/occult detective who comes in because someone has found and stolen the Spear of Destiny aka the spear that pierced Christ's side. (They act like everyone knows this name in the movie but it was not covered in Catholic School as a child )
Will add that the Lucifer TV show is also an excellent use of this genre but I acknowledge it isn't on point for the recs you're looking for
Fun fact, I actually got to see the "real" Spear of Destiny/Spear of Longinus/Holy Lance (the one the movie modeled theirs after) in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. And if anyone here is ever in Vienna, I highly highly recommend going there too. Not only does it have the Spear, but it also has the Sabre of Charlemagne, Agate Bowl (the OG "Holy Grail"), HRE Crown (which fellow Crusader Kings players will probably recognize), amongst many many others. Of all the treasuries, armories, and museums I've visited in my travels, it's by far the most densely packed with recognizable historic relics out of all of them.
Side fun fact, we commemorate the Holy Martyr Longinus recently on Oct 16.
But in terms of cool weapon design, someone else on this thread mentioned Evangelion, and I prefer the spear being blood red and two pronged.
I remember really liking this movie and being confused at the terrible reception it got. I later read some of the Hellblazer comics and I get why fans might have been upset at Keanu's casting given that he's not really played anything like the character in the comics, but I thought the movie was genuinely good.
I enjoy the movie a lot, it's just of the era where the "adaptation" part was much looser. But also I've seen worse.
I'm wondering if perhaps American Gods fits this description. It's a fantastic show with amazing visuals and shows all the different creeds and beliefs reflected in human form (such as Odin) rallying to prepare for war against the new gods.
Me and Mr. Alpaca recently watched a movie called Sinners. It's a vampire movie that is being advertised as pretty straightforward horror, but it actually has some elements of music, religion, and historical racial tension in it. I'm a big fan of Supernatural and I think other fans of Supernatural who have matured a bit would greatly appreciate it.
The Ninth Gate starring Johnny Depp comes to mind. It wasn't the best movie ever, but it fits your criteria. IMDB: "An unscrupulous dealer of rare books finds himself at the heart of a string of paranormal events when he is hired to find the last two copies of a text capable of summoning the devil."
It's one I felt morally obligated to pirate because it's a Depp+Polanski joint, blehh, but The Ninth Gate fits OP's ask perfectly. I also think it's actually way better than people give it credit for because of the huge twist that is just left almost entirely in subtext, which makes the whole affair rather impressive on rewatch.
Dogma is one of my favorite Kevin Smith movies. It directly deals with nitty gritty details of the Catholic faith, and is pretty hilarious. Catholicism in general is filled with all kinds of crazy orders, sects, and subsects with weird mystical niches. It's responsible for incredible progress and scientific discoveries, and also horrible oppression and atrocities. It's one of the most interesting institutions from history that still exist today, so movies and shows dealing with it are super interesting to me despite being a Jew. Dogma legitimately taught me quite a bit about Catholicism as a kid, and it's pretty hilarious too.
The Devil's Advocate fits that description well. It's a weird movie, pretty uncomfortable in some parts, but I like it overall. I'll see if I can think of any others.
Edit: Not a movie, but I liked the TV series Roar when it came out. This was back when I was 15, mind you. The religious aspect is that the main antagonist is Longinus, who pierced Jesus Christ with a spear and has been cursed with eternal life as a result. I'm starting to realize that this show might actually be why I find this trope so appealing. I think it made a significant impression on me as a teenager.
I know you asked for movies, but the Moon Knight show would probably fit that bill. Note that if you're a fan of him in the comics, like me, the character has some very noticeable differences from the source material. However, the basic premise is the same - Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon (and various other things) has chosen Marc Spector to protect the travellers in the night from things that might prey on them. The show pulls more specific creatures from Egyptian myth, so they kept a tighter focus on that than usual, but I that's why I think you'd enjoy it.
There's encounters with several other Egyptian deities as well, and they delve a bit into the afterlife. If you're into that sort of thing, I'd say give it a go.
I'd like to add that if you're not super into Marvel or comic books at all, I think this would still be enjoyable. It's fairly stand alone and doesn't require having seen any other parts of the MCU.
Love that show a lot!
Carrie (1976).
The Exorcist (1973).
Stigmata (1999).
Rosemary's Baby (1968).
None of these are like Supernatural but they're more like The Omen.
There is also The Night of the Hunter (1955). It is not supernatural but a classic of the scary religion trope.
Stigmata is seriously underrated, and Gabriel Byrne is excellent in it. I almost never see it recommended in these sorts of religious horror/thriller topics either, which is a real shame. Glad to see you beat me to it though. :)
I saw that at the theater. The whole "Exorcist", "The Omen" vibe was not that common at the time. It was most certainly there but it wasn't mainstream.
It certainly made an impact on me. And Gabriel Byrne can really sell the "tortured intellectual" vibe. Being in a Catholic culture probably increased its effect.
Heh, I was raised Catholic, and at the time I saw this in theaters had only recently abandoned the church and declared myself an atheist, so I know what you mean. I suspect it's one of the reasons I like this movie so much, since I identified with both Arquette and Byrne's characters. :P
Neon Genesis Evangelion goes deep into Christian gnostic mysticism and ... robots. Its original form is a TV series, but there's also a film series called Rebuild of Evangelion -- which is basically the series but in movie format.
Hmm big fan but I feel like just watching the movies is just part of the experience, gotta watch the series too.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is "Judeo-Christian religious-flavoured" big giant robots / Kaiju + psychological introspection into depression, generational trauma/neglect. The premise is that big giant monsters called Angels are here to end humanity. 14 years before the series begins, Adam nearly ended humanity during the Second Impact, killing everything in the oceans along with half of all humans. Now they're back to finish the job. My favourite is the angel Ramiel
second favourite is a spoiler
It's Tabris.Midnight Mass miniseries fits the bill.
This show dares to ask the question:
Was Jesus actually a vampire?
Others here have already recommended most of the ones that I was going to as well, but here are a bunch more I don't see mentioned yet that also fit the Religious + Supernatural theme and are worth watching (IMO):
The Prophecy (1995). I don't want to spoil the story so it's hard to entice anyone to watch it without giving anything away, but Christopher Walken is insanely good in this. Viggo Mortensen is pretty 'God damned' good as well. ;) And I really like Elias Koteas too, he's an exceptionally underrated actor, IMO.
Fallen (1998). It's been a very very long time since I watched this, so the details are fuzzy, but I remember it being a decent action thriller. Denzel Washington is great in everything, so it's a pretty safe bet.
The Boondock Saints (1999). This movie is unlike most of the others here, with it being an action dark-comedy rather than horror/thriller, but I really really love it, have watched it dozens of times over the years, and think it also fits your theme too. Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, and David Della Rocco are great in it... but Willem Dafoe absolutely steals the show!
Frailty (2001). Again, I don't want to spoil anything, but Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey are great in it. It's a really different role for Paxton than you're probably used to seeing him in, too.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005). It's been a really long time since I last watched this one too, so the details are also vague in my mind, but I do remember enjoying it.
Saint Maud (2019). This movie is a super slow burn but genuinely tense, unnerving, and disturbing... especially the ending! Morfydd Clarke crushes this role.
uhm... the movies from the Conjuring universe should fit your description even if they tend to be more about religion than supernatural.
For a more lightweighted story, maybe "Good Omens", the first season i quite enjoyable in my opinion.
Daron Aronofsky made two films that focused on Christianity with the tone you’re looking for: Noah (2014) and mother! (2017).
Deliver Us From Evil (2014), Immaculate (2024), The Witch (2016), Legion (2010) are all films that come to mind that vary in quality.
I would say a religious backdrop is relatively common for horror films
+1 for The Witch. One of my favorites.
I think it’s common enough to be cliche, with “good/lightness triumphs over evil/darkness” being a bit of a cop out in my opinion. The religious aspect of the later Paranormal Activity movies comes to mind. Like they couldn’t come up with anything original, or needed to shoehorn something in as an afterthought.
Legion (film, 2010) would be a great fit. I'd say more thriller than horror. A bunch of folks in a diner have to survive a demonic army trying to stop Jesus's second coming. Paul Bettany and Kevin Durand play angels. Dennis Quaid plays Dennis Quaid. All in all, not a groundbreaking film, but I promise it's a lot better than I'm making it sound.
A very similar era of Bettany would be Priest (2011). Kind of Equilibrium meets Van Helsing, post apocalypse (alt universe?) where vampires are a big problem. Van Helsing (2004) also has a fair amount of religious imagery. Definitely more on the action side of thriller.
Like you said, nothing super revolutionary going on but fun enough movies. Similar to the Keanu Constantine movie.
It's unlikely to add any titles to your watch list, but I regard the initial Indiana Jones trilogy in this light. The cults and climactic divine curses are creepy supernatural spectacles, inspired by bizarre takes on Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity, respectively.
You probably mean supernatural as in ghosts and body possessions and exorcisms. But more broadly:
The Lord of the Rings movies.
If interested about the religious aspects of it, there's a crazy nerdy podcast, Amon Sûl: Exploring the Tolkien Legendarium with the (Orthodox) Christian Faith.
I see that the excellent Constantine has already been recommended. Keanu Reeves plays an angel in the recent [Good Fortune], with Seth Rogan and Aziz Ansari. I haven't seen it yet but the trailer looks fun.
Also gotta bring up this year's KPop Demon Hunters. What if the world is permeated by demons that consume souls, and music is what's holding them back? Celebrating Korean American culture and women who sing and kick butts. Surprisingly good.
The Pope's Exorcist (2023) with Russell Crowe didn't get great reviews but I enjoyed it. It's cliched but it's fun in the sort of bargain basement discovery sort of way. I loved Crowe's performance. My wife didn't.
I haven't seen it in decades, but I have very fond memories of the 1987 Hong Kong film A Chinese Ghost Story, which features spirits and demons in a temple setting. It was beautiful and exciting.
Speaking of Hong Kong films :D
The golden era had a lot of Chinese zombie (edit: Mandarin "JiangShi") films that have to deal with Taoist/Buddhist religious folk lore. They're not shambling corpse, they're more like long sharp nailed hopping super strong undead, like Western vampires.
More recently, Rigor Mortis (directed by Juno Mak, 2014) is a loving tribute to the genre, even if the CG is a little "okay". And a companion video (Chinese subtitles) going over all the religious details and symbolism here
replying to myself. Watching the trailer for that super spooked me out =..= need some comedy.
The Mad Monk (濟公, 1993) (yt has the whole movie here with Cantonese subtitles)-- Based on a Southern Song Dynasty folk/myth figure, Ji Gong (wikiepdia), who was a Chan Buddhist monk. The basic premise is that he's a disgraced immortal who has to complete three tasks on the mortal realm to regain his rank. He has to alter the destiny of three people with pre-determined lives: a 9-times-reincarnation prostitute, a 9-times-reincarnation evil villain, and a 9-times-reincarnation beggar. There's a lot of silliness, but at the end it's a story about helping human beings escape pain and evil, and if it's possible for human effort + love + guidance to "beat predestination."
Click to expand spoiler.
I especially like the final fight where he had to ground up his own holy relics skeleton to write exorcism talismans. And the very end where he gets promoted to Miss Hong Kong (complete with music, robe, rod, tiara, and "world peace and love" speech).If you're looking for something spooky, The Possession (2012) might work? Most of the recommendations have been for Christian mythology. I put this movie on randomly one day and was surprised it touched on Jewish mythology. I remember the movie being okay, but being really interested in the mythological aspect.
Another spooky film that delves into Jewish themes is The Vigil (2019), which I'd recommend.
And Servant, the TV show, deals with a supernatural/religious cult. The first season is great, the second season less so, but the third season gets better in the back half.
I just remembered, The Man from Earth fits your criteria fairly well too. I wouldn't read too much about this one, just go in blind. IMDB: "An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he has a longer and stranger past than they can imagine."
Annihilation (2018) might be to your liking
If you’re up for Celtic Mythology then anything by Tomm Moore counts. Wolfwalkers, Secret of the Kells, and Song of the Sea are all great animated movies based on legends and folklore. And they are freaking great!
Another that pops to mind in a similar thread is most movies by Studio Ghibli. Princess Mononoke or Spirited away are a great look at traditional Japanese folklore and religion.
I would recommend the original wickerman with christopher Lee, too. Folklore/paganism contrasted by themes of catholicism.
A lot of Indian movies do this. The Baahubali films have a bit of it and are consciously referencing Hindu mythological heroes. One of the director’s older movies, Magadheera is more explicit about the fantasy/mythological elements.
The Sandman series on Netflix (and the graphic novels it’s based on) are very good at this, as is American Gods. In fact, that’s kind of Neil Gaiman’s whole thing (when he’s not being a sexual predator).
The Gargoyles series skews younger, but as it goes on it starts to blend a lot of mythologies and legends into the story.
There is an anime called Mushi Shi about a guy who wanders the countryside communing with spirits. It’s sort of set up like a detective/monster of the week story but all about his ability to diagnose problems stemming from these varieties of spiritual entities being out of balance. It’s not really based on any real mythology aside from vague gesturing in the direction of Japanese animist lore, but it’s a really lovely show, often times very touching.
Seconding Baahubali and its sequel. They were super fun movies!
Not a movie, but I recommend 30 Coins which is a Spanish TV series. It's supernatural horror and completely steeped in Catholic religion and iconography. It's also completely bonkers. If you don't speak Spanish there are subtitles and maybe dubbing, but I think the dubbing doesn't work in some of the episodes, at least on HBO. There are 16 episodes over 2 seasons.
maybe not exactly what you're after, but Upstream Color (2013) is great. The Green Mile (1999) is also great.
There is a Korean horror film called The Wailing which mixes Christian themes with Korean folklore. I'm a big fan of it.
Horror movie Final Prayer / The Borderlands (2013) is about a team sent from the Vatican to investigate reported miracles happening at an old church. I watched it when I was on a found footage/mocumentary kick and I really enjoyed it.
I think most of the Indiana Jones movies qualify, but I don't remember the details on all of them.
Also the Mummy movies.
The Devil's Advocate was a great movie as well. Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. More subtle at first but grows into a really thought proviking movie.
A few missed ones:
John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness - a syncretic mix of Christian mythology, science fiction, and Lovecraftian horror inspired by the Hammer Films classic, Quatermass and the Pit. I'll also pitch Carpenter's final "Apocalypse Trilogy" film, In the Mouth of Madness, because it's got the same genuinely creepy vibes, even if it's not related to any specific existing religious canon.
Lord of Illusions was written and directed by Clive Barker - it's on the middling side as far as acting and pacing are concerned, but it's another film with a dab of Christian mythology and enough supernatural elements to provide some great cinematic moments.
The Bride with White Hair is an engrossing Chinese ghost saga of doomed love, with spectacular wuxia scenes and occasionally funny subtitling.