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10 Films About Possession, Demonic And Otherwise, For Halloween

10 Films About Possession, Demonic And Otherwise, For Halloween

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Halloween approacheth, but it’s not just demons and restive spirits who occupy innocent souls with their malevolence. Possession comes in many forms such as and addiction and obsession. Here are 10 terrifying films about possession that cover the wide psychological and paranormal range of the phenomenon. Just keepin’ it real at Halloween.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Paranormal Activity

The film that became the sleeper horror film hit of 2007, spawed two (unfortunate) sequels. At first it seems to be about a poltergeist bothering a young couple in their new home. Then the demonic spirit latches itself onto the the couple with terrifying consequences. Jumpy and thrilling, but also evil and alarming, the raw, cinema verite-style  film wraps the suspense tighter and tighter.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Rebecca

Newlywed Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) is confronted with the tragic spell a lost love can cast over a house when she marries the mysterious Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier), and moves with him to his haunted, isolated estate, Manderley. Rebecca is never seen, but her ghost pervades every corner and she’s channeled through the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson). Memories are all consuming in this 1940 Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

The Shining

An entire Colorado mountain resort is possessed by the malevolent guests of its past, and the Torrance family is in trouble. Stanley Kubrick took a sharp turn away from Stephen King’s novel with his 1980 adaptation, and it’s a cult classic. Audiences have watched spellbound and recoiled through the years as Jack Nicholson descends from sober, doting father and husband into madness, aided by the ghosts of bartenders, murderous past caretakers, and naked women in bathtubs. The human element here is the power alcohol and its destructive forces have over a man and his family. This film is an unforgettable viewing experience as chilling as a snowbound winter.

en.wikipedia.orgt
en.wikipedia.orgt

The Conjuring

“The Conjuring” is based on a true story, the opening credits proclaim. Ed and Lorraine Warren are among the most famous paranormal investigators in history, and their account of what happened in the early 1970s to the Perron family in their Rhode Island country home is worth doubting. In this 2013 recreated hit, we watch as the happy couple and their plucky daughters are subjected to some pretty maladjusted spirits that eventually overrun their house and bodies. A rollercoaster of suspense, this film is intriguing in its depiction of a strange couple who dedicated their lives to investigating evil entities.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Birth

A wintery chill rushes through this beautiful and creepy film, but unlike “The Shining,” it’s a very urban rattling of the bones. And unlike a typical film horror film about possession, “Birth” is at heart about a New York City socialite who has never gotten over the sudden death of her husband. Nicole Kidman is flawless as a woman who meets a 10-year-old boy in her Park Avenue highrise who informs her that he is her dead husband, reincarnated. How she goes about dealing with this lends to a very unique viewing experience. This is an under-appreciated film about the depths of grief, how it consumes us to a point of possession, and what exactly it might mean to be reincarnated.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

The Last Exorcism

In the continued tradition of “found-footage” scary movies, (“The Blair Witch Project, “Paranormal Activity”) this unlikely film raises the jump-out-of-your-seat genre to near-arthouse. Nominated for a slew of indie film awards, it follows a skeptical evangelist minister who journeys to a backwoods Louisiana home with a camera crew to perform an exorcism on a 16-year-old girl named Nell. The results are just a spook-and-a-half. The film sidesteps around cliches, carving itself into a legitimately disturbing viewing experience.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

The Master

Is Lancaster Dodd a cult leader? And is Freddie Quell, so entranced by him and his unorthodox methods towards emotional clarity, an allegory for America’s desires to be taken and saved? It’s post World War II, and the alcoholic, violent, ex marine Quell (a very, very intense Joaquin Phoenix) is taken under the wing of Dodd (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman), his Lady MacBeth-esque wife Peggy (Amy Adams), and their well followed school of extremely manipulative thought, The Cause. What exactly are the mechanisms of “cult,” and how can the human brain–especially the vulnerable, needy human brain–fall for it? Paul Thomas Anderson is a master of American cinema, and this film grabs at both our lucidity and our subconscious.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Psycho

Norman Bates’ social skills are inspired by the death of his beloved mother, we all know this by now. Too bad when he sees a pretty girl, it’s Mrs. Bates who springs out of his psyche. It’s just up to Norman to find a butcher knife. There’s never been a film quite like Hitchcock’s 1960 audience screamer, “Psycho,” has there? From his trembling urgent need to connect with Janet Leigh to his straight up crossdressing, wig and all, Normy is the victim of loneliness, heartache, and the ghost of an overprotective mother, an example of a monster made by bad memories. However you feel about Norman Bates, please wait until you check out to take a shower.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Requiem for a Dream

To be possessed by addiction, to have our minds and bodies occupied by an often life-threatening need for drugs, sex, and impossible dreams: that’s what Darren Aronofsky’s 2000 masterpiece explores at a frantic pace. Ellen Burstyn is obsessed with the idea of TV fame, and her only route there is a deadly slew of diet pills. Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly are consumed with the need to escape through the heroin needle. “Requiem” shows unflinchingly the prison of our souls in the face of addiction.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

The Exorcist

I mean, of course it’s on the list, it’s quite literally the grandmommy of all demonic possession films of the satanic variety. The entity inside Regan claims he’s the Devil himself. The pea soup, the head spinning, the misdirected crucifix, the agony of Ellen Burstyn, the kindness of the Jesuit priests, Captain Howdy, and the terrible power of God — it’s all here, still as galvanizing and gut-wrenching as it ever was. The Oscar-winning 1973 classic stands its ground as a film that explores faith, the mystery of religion, and the fervency of a mother’s love.