Post by jeffan on Mar 11, 2009 6:55:27 GMT -5
More films to give you the heebie jeebies. It was The Exorcist that did it for me first time round. On a recent re-watching it seemed very dated, but not enough for me not to keep my lamp on all night!
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HOLY TERROR: The Catholic Church in Modern Horror Cinema
The Roman Catholic Church has been an inspiration for the macabre and terrifying for, well, centuries. Most recently there was a revival in interest in the religious, supernatural horror film in the early to mid 2000's in a cycle that ran from Stigmata to The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Horror rose to prominence and box office success in the 1970's with a long running series of films peppered with deeply religious themes. The church was under scrutiny in The Omen. a willing participant in the phenomenon that was The Exorcist. Beyond the obvious possession, Antichrist, and exorcism themed ripoffs there was the unique and internationally successful Blind Dead series with this undead crusading Templar Knights. The sleazy child murders of Fulci's Don't Torture A Ducking and the American giallo Alice, Sweet, Alice both featured heavy Catholic overtones. Further back we find the Church and the horrors of the Inquisition serving as inspiration for Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit And Pendulum. The Church has even served as sanctuary for our beautiful, misunderstood monsters like Quasimodo. With it's Gothic cathedrals, supernatural rites, secret societies, and place as a constant lightening rod for controversy it's no surprise that the Roman Catholic church continues to function as a fertile breeding ground for tales of terror.
For several writers here at Icons of Fright our Italian and Catholic upbringing (we can count 2 former altar boys among our staff) means that films featuring the dark and creepy side Catholicism are often remarkably effective. Here we take a look back several films that touched upon these theme. Some you will have heard of, several more obscure. A few are obvious in their exploration of the Church, while others touch upon it in a more subtle, chilling manner.
THE SENTINEL
Often dismissed as a come-lately entry in the 1970's religious horror cycle. However, THE SENTINEL features plenty of whacked out weirdness for any fan of surreal horror to enjoy. Christina Raines stars as model Alison Parker who moves into a beautiful, scenic, and remarkably cheap brownstone in Brooklyn. Amenities include birthday parties for cats; the ashen walking corpse of her dead father, and the portal to hell (no, real hell, not Williamsburg) in the basement. Her tenants are a strange old man (played by the strange old Burgess Meredith) who walks around with a parakeet, a pair of lycra clad lesbians, and a blind old priest who occupies the top floor. They turn out to be spirits of dead psychopaths, quietly leaking out of the portal at night. For her end of the bargain Alison need only provide one months rent and a security deposit on her immortal soul. That's the price when your landlord turns out to be the Catholic church who rent it out every few decades to attract the next “sentinel” to guard the portal. After all that old blind priest isn't going to live forever... The film has a great cast too, featuring familiar faces like Chris Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum, and Christopher Walken showing up in early roles, plus veteren actors like John Carradine, Ava Gardner, Jerry Orbach, Eli Wallach, and Sylvia Miles thrown in to class it up a bit. (Wow, a cast like that in the 70's and I'm almost surprised an earthquake, fire, flood, crashing airplane or sinking ship wasn't thrown in for good measure!)
Full article and list
iconsoffright.com/news/2009/03/holy_terror_11_creepy_catholic.html
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HOLY TERROR: The Catholic Church in Modern Horror Cinema
The Roman Catholic Church has been an inspiration for the macabre and terrifying for, well, centuries. Most recently there was a revival in interest in the religious, supernatural horror film in the early to mid 2000's in a cycle that ran from Stigmata to The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Horror rose to prominence and box office success in the 1970's with a long running series of films peppered with deeply religious themes. The church was under scrutiny in The Omen. a willing participant in the phenomenon that was The Exorcist. Beyond the obvious possession, Antichrist, and exorcism themed ripoffs there was the unique and internationally successful Blind Dead series with this undead crusading Templar Knights. The sleazy child murders of Fulci's Don't Torture A Ducking and the American giallo Alice, Sweet, Alice both featured heavy Catholic overtones. Further back we find the Church and the horrors of the Inquisition serving as inspiration for Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit And Pendulum. The Church has even served as sanctuary for our beautiful, misunderstood monsters like Quasimodo. With it's Gothic cathedrals, supernatural rites, secret societies, and place as a constant lightening rod for controversy it's no surprise that the Roman Catholic church continues to function as a fertile breeding ground for tales of terror.
For several writers here at Icons of Fright our Italian and Catholic upbringing (we can count 2 former altar boys among our staff) means that films featuring the dark and creepy side Catholicism are often remarkably effective. Here we take a look back several films that touched upon these theme. Some you will have heard of, several more obscure. A few are obvious in their exploration of the Church, while others touch upon it in a more subtle, chilling manner.
THE SENTINEL
Often dismissed as a come-lately entry in the 1970's religious horror cycle. However, THE SENTINEL features plenty of whacked out weirdness for any fan of surreal horror to enjoy. Christina Raines stars as model Alison Parker who moves into a beautiful, scenic, and remarkably cheap brownstone in Brooklyn. Amenities include birthday parties for cats; the ashen walking corpse of her dead father, and the portal to hell (no, real hell, not Williamsburg) in the basement. Her tenants are a strange old man (played by the strange old Burgess Meredith) who walks around with a parakeet, a pair of lycra clad lesbians, and a blind old priest who occupies the top floor. They turn out to be spirits of dead psychopaths, quietly leaking out of the portal at night. For her end of the bargain Alison need only provide one months rent and a security deposit on her immortal soul. That's the price when your landlord turns out to be the Catholic church who rent it out every few decades to attract the next “sentinel” to guard the portal. After all that old blind priest isn't going to live forever... The film has a great cast too, featuring familiar faces like Chris Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum, and Christopher Walken showing up in early roles, plus veteren actors like John Carradine, Ava Gardner, Jerry Orbach, Eli Wallach, and Sylvia Miles thrown in to class it up a bit. (Wow, a cast like that in the 70's and I'm almost surprised an earthquake, fire, flood, crashing airplane or sinking ship wasn't thrown in for good measure!)
Full article and list
iconsoffright.com/news/2009/03/holy_terror_11_creepy_catholic.html