Warning: spoilers ahead!
Why does it seem like so many horror stories have religion as part of the narrative? In everything from Bram Stoker’s Dracula to 2024’s The Deliverance, demons and devils are always seeming to pop into the horror genre, with priests and true believers usually the ones to save the day.
Religion is filled with stories and, as such, lends itself to millennia of strange tales including evil spirits, witches and comeuppance to the immoral. Perhaps the G.O.A.T. of religious-inspired horror movies is The Exorcist, the still-scary 1970s film about a pair of Catholic priests who must perform an exorcism on a 12-year-old girl who becomes possessed by the devil. The Exorcist doesn’t necessarily carry a moral message, but it is the standard good vs. evil narrative, with the protagonists possessing the knowledge to defeat a powerful foe. This is a well-known trope for religion in horror films, which can utilize the following formulas.
Stopping evil is the ultimate goal in a horror movie with religious elements. It often involves sacrifice, usually the priest or family member, who dies for the greater good. Even then, evil doesn’t always lose, but the protagonist wins the day.
The devil and demons are also quite clever. Although evilness may have been removed from the body it possessed, there’s a subtle wink to the audience when the wicked creature finds a new host at the end of the film.
Religion in the context of horror movies is always good, or at least, the most knowledgeable. Priests or clergy may not always help, such as in The Omen but they have the answer to what’s happening. They can point to scripture or other tales of Christian lore that explains the presence of a demon or devil. It also adds stakes as either evil tries to corrupt the purity of the religion or a religious figure must find a way to redeem themselves.
Even as attendance is down in places of worship, most people still have a basic grasp of religion. In North America and Europe, most people are familiar with the concepts of a religious leader, the devil and a bible, even if they couldn’t cite a line of text from it. Even the cross is a common symbol that has been used in horror since it scared off Dracula. This makes religion in horror movies a great way to engage the audience.
Familiarity allows screenwriters to bring a new angle to a subject that many already know about. There are other familiar aspects that audiences can relate to, and worth considering when crafting a story.
Some examples:
There have been several horror films released in 2024 in which religion plays a significant role: The First Omen, Immaculate, Late Night with the Devil and The Exorcism. The latest film is Heretic, which follows two Mormon missionaries whose faith is tested after entering the wrong house. It’s a tense film with long, drawn-out scenes that involve Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) explaining religion in a way that turns the missionaries’ ideas and beliefs upside down. Here are 5 screenwriting takeaways from the psychological-religious-horror film Heretic.
The first scenes in the movie involve two female missionaries, Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher), talking about sex, pornography and truth in God while sitting on a bench in a Colorado town. They admit to certain sexual behaviors but it’s all rather modest as they are young Mormon women who have been taught to stay away from such sins. While walking through town, they are accosted by a group of young women who humiliate them in public. It’s their behavior during these scenes that the audience gets an idea of the differing ideals of these two women and how others view/treat the young missionaries.
Screenwriters can observe how the filmmakers created two characters with the same faith and mission yet with differing personalities and viewpoints, even though both were shaped by the same church. It also shows how they’re treated by others and, more importantly, how they react. It’s a great lesson in establishing main characters through both dialogue and action.
In a time when the average movie scene is 2-3 minutes long, Heretic stretches some of its scenes to 10 minutes or longer. It’s able to hold tension and interest for the entire time through a combination of filmmaking techniques such as dialogue, music cues, camera angles and suspense. There are times when you could imagine these scenes take place on a theater stage.
One trick to writing the long scenes is to break them into scenes within a scene. One such example includes a scene when Mr. Reed is using the game Monopoly and its history in reference to various religions. Then, there is a sudden flip of the switch, the lights go out and a projector illuminates parts of a wall with religious images. This is all one scene, yet the swift change in tone makes it feel like a new scene.
Writers can see how these transitions within the scene helps break up a lengthy scene into smaller bites.
In most horror movies that have a religious aspect, there is some sinister force that requires the help of outside forces to rid the demon or spirit from the protagonist. In The Exorcist, a young girl is possessed by the devil, and in The Omen an American diplomat discovers that his adopted son might be the anti-Christ.
Heretic, however, has no evil spirits, demons or the devil. It’s mostly a series of conversations and games set up by a wicked man who has a point he wants to get across while testing the beliefs of two Mormons.
Screenwriters can see how this movie uses religion to force its characters to question their point of view, which many people with a religious background understand. It constantly makes the audience think and realize aspects of something familiar they never think to question.
Heretic uses suspense in a masterful way. Whether it’s setting up a piece of information or preventing the audience from seeing what a character sees, the filmmakers successfully keep the audience wondering what’s going on and eager to learn the answers.
Heretic does this in two ways:
The first is through words. There are often times when Mr. Reed will allude to something and then hold off on sharing the final piece of information until minutes later. It’s similar to setting up a joke and waiting for the punchline.
The second is through actions. At one point in the movie, the two missionaries must choose between two doors: one labeled “belief” the other labeled “disbelief”. Sister Barnes opens the first door and a tear rolls down her cheek. What does she see? The audience doesn’t learn for quite some time making the viewer wonder what horrible thing did she see? We do learn soon after what’s behind the second door.
Writers can examine the way the filmmakers use different techniques via words and actions to create suspense.
Whether it’s Freaky Friday, Back to the Future or any number of horror movies, one question that always engages an audience is asking, How the hell are they going to get out of this? Freaky Friday asks how the mother and daughter will return to their original bodies, Back to the Future muses how Marty can get out of 1955, and Heretic makes the audience wonder how these two women will escape the inescapable house.
There are so many movies that trap their characters into corners which pulls the audience into the mystery of how they would escape. We know (for the most part) that the protagonist will escape their situation so writers must remember, regardless of the genre, that it’s about the journey, not the destination.
Heretic is a unique and original story that takes the idea of religion in horror films and puts a new spin on it. There is one important thing a writer must consider if they’re writing a story with these elements: they must understand the religion. If you write with assumptions rather than knowledge, the audience won’t believe the story or its characters.