“Diabolical forces are formidable. These forces are eternal, and they exist today. The fairy tale is true. The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges upon which one we elect to follow.” —Ed Warren
This quote is from what I believe is the best Christian horror movie ever made, The Conjuring, which barely nudges out The Exorcist, to take the crown as my favorite horror flick of all time. The film draws loosely from the actual case files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Catholic Church backs Ed Warren as one of the only non-clergy demonologists.
I've seen this movie more times than I can count, and it still blows my brain out of my ears that the quote above is featured in big, bold letters in the last scene of a film produced by Warner Bros., one of the biggest studios in Hollywood. James Wan — creator of the Saw and Insidious franchises — directed The Conjuring, which made a whopping $319 million worldwide with a budget of only $20 million.
In other words, it was a huge success. A massive number of individuals watched a movie that exposed them to the spiritual realities of our world and then challenged them to make a choice concerning where they will spend their eternity: serve God, or serve the Devil.
While the ending isn't a full-throated presentation of the gospel, it's certainly enough to make the audience begin to think about questions concerning what happens after death. How many souls were inspired to seek out a priest or pastor after being forced to confront the uncomfortable reality that they had been ignoring almost every day of their lives? I have no idea, but I bet more than you or I can imagine.
Many fundamentalists spit out the pill that The Conjuring franchise and The Exorcist are Christian movies as soon as it hits their spiritual palate. After all, doesn't the Bible tell us in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things?"
Doesn't 2 Timothy 1:7 say, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind?"
It sort of seems like the Bible is forbidding us to set before our eyes anything negative or "unwholesome," right?
Well, if that's truly what these passages mean, then that means we can't read the sacred scriptures themselves. Scripture’s pages overflow with graphic depictions of violence, terrifying monsters, demons, murder, and racy sex. If we're never, in any way, to think on these things, then the Bible would be condemning itself. The Bible would be contradictory. It would be telling us that it is a good, holy book necessary for our understanding of God and our salvation, while also telling us it's a filthy read that we should avoid. The law of non-contradiction tells us that something can't be and not be at the same time.
Therefore, the view that one cannot watch or read, within reason, violent, scary content simply cannot be true.
Now, that doesn't mean Christians have the freedom to plop whatever they want in front of their eyeballs without utilizing a lick of discernment. Without a doubt, many horror stories amount to complete garbage. The vast majority of the slasher genre is a good case in point. Some pack in massive amounts of nudity and sexual content; we’re better off avoiding them.
But horror contains a wide spectrum of subgenres that feature little to no questionable sexual content, opting to focus on scares and providing audiences with philosophical and moral dilemmas designed to make viewers think long after they've left the theater.
With that in mind, I truly believe that the Christian faith and horror go together like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. In fact, so compatible are the two that I dare say that horror is probably the best genre of fiction to present the truths of Christianity to a wide audience of likely non-believers.
Someone who shares my view is filmmaker and cultural commentator Brian Godawa, who has penned many pieces over the years in defense of horror.
"Some well-meaning cultural crusaders make claims that horror is an intrinsically evil genre that is not appropriate for Christians to create or enjoy. They believe horror is an unbiblical genre of storytelling. One writer argues, 'Horror is an example of a genre which was conceived in rebellion. It is based on a fascination with ungodly fear. It should not be imitated, propagated, or encouraged. It cannot be redeemed because it is presuppositionally at war with God.' Evidently, God disagrees with such religious critics because God himself told horror stories thousands of years before Stephen King or Wes Craven were even born," Godawa argues in an article he wrote for Equip.
He goes on to write:
The prophet Daniel wrote horror literature, based on images and drama pitched by God to him in Babylon. Not only did God turn the blaspheming king Nebuchadnezzar into an insane wolfman to humble his idolatrous pride (Dan. 4), but He storyboarded horror epics for kings Belshazzar and Darius as allegories of the historical battle between good and evil to come. Huge hybrid carnivorous monsters come out of the sea like Godzilla, one of them with large fangs and ravishing claws to devour, crush, and trample over the earth (7:1–8) until it is slain and its flesh roasted in fire (7:11); there are blasphemous sacrileges causing horror (8:13), including an abomination of desolation (9:26–27); angels and demons engaging in spiritual warfare (10:13); rivers of fire (7:10); deep impact comets and meteors colliding with the earth, Armageddon style (8:10); wars, desolation, and complete destruction (9:26-27). The book of Daniel reads like God’s own horror film festival.
Godawa points out that the book crafted by Daniel isn't simply the work of human hands, but that of God Himself. He makes the claim that God Himself is a fan of horror. Later in the article, Godawa pulls imagery from the book of Revelation that features tons of blood, gore, and monsters ripped straight out of our worst nightmares.
The author and filmmaker provides a prime example of how horror can also provide our culture with much-needed social commentary.
"28 Days Later is about Jack, who awakens in a hospital bed to discover all of London is empty of people—except for roaming zombies seeking human flesh. The zombies are the result of a viral contagion that sends people into a murderous rage. When Jack stumbles upon a fortress of military survivors besieged by the zombies, this isolated human society degenerates into its own animalistic survival. It is a parable of how uncivilized male aggression can become an evil culture of 'zombies within,'" he says.
Horror unsettles Christians — and often unbelievers too — because it forces us to face the dark side of the world around us, and, even more unsettling, the evil within ourselves. We live in a world where people are murdered and assaulted in horrific ways every day. War, famine, human trafficking, and crimes against children. These are real evils that occur all around us, every second of the day.
In order to function, we often push thoughts about these heinous realities far, far from our minds. But in doing so, we risk becoming apathetic to the suffering of others and allowing evil to thrive right under our noses. This is a grave sin.
We are to be God's emissaries on earth, His representatives. God tasks us with taking dominion over the earth and growing His kingdom. God expects us to be confronting evil and alleviating suffering. Horror reminds us of our calling by shoving reality in our faces.
Monsters are real. Physical ones and yes, spiritual ones. But thanks be to God, He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross to save His people from their sins. Through Him and the giftings of the Holy Spirit, we are equipped with the tools we need to destroy wickedness and evil in His name and rescue victims from these despicable creatures, all for His glory.
