Post 2, Group C-- Demons, some scary bois, Kyle Gardner

Deliberating what source of media that I wanted to blog about, I remembered the book I grabbed during class, Sacred Terror, Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen, written by Douglas E. Cowan. The movies that I found the scariest were always the ones that portrayed religion as a vehicle to perpetuate horror. When considering the stark contrast between the two ideas of religion vs. horror, the two should almost never correlate in real life. But when they do, some scary business happens. I hope to cover some aspects of the movie of The Rite and show evidence from Douglas E. Cowan's book to express how mainstreaming Satan, and how sacred places such as churches are good ways to express fear to many people. 

     A slight background about the movie The Rite is critical while analyzing how fear is perpetuated by religion. A troubled young priest that had just about graduated seminary, Michael Kovak, questioned his own faith in the church and was on his way out until a cardinal priest offered him a chance to study exorcisms at the Vatican. An exorcism is a religious act in order to evict a demonic spirit in a person or a place in which they possess. Throughout the movie, Kovak's personal faith was tested as he ventured to find the truth to these so-called "possessions". This movie was basically what you think it is, cliché horror film where people get possessed by demons. Pretty cut and dry.

     A key element of the movie The Rite was the presence of the Devil. He would possess many characters and eventually Andrew Hopkins (another main character). Many movies in the horror industry use the Devil as a key aspect to strike fear into the masses that watch. We as viewers never actually witness the Devil, but we know he's there. So this begs the question, what about the Devil is so scary in movies? Cowan wrote, "it was not so much what was happening on the screen that bothered me; it was my own deeply embedded cultural fear that such things might actually happen" (168). Cowan feared that the Devil knew that he knew that he existed and would take him as vessel during his sleep. This really speaks value to this type of fear because, for those of us who believe, being possessed by a demon is a real fear and it could happen at any moment if we have a lapse of faith. Although this is a fictional depiction of an "actual" exorcist, it strikes terror into our hearts because it externalizes (we can see it) our internal fears. Cowan goes on to tell stories of people in the theater passing out in fear, vomiting, and seeking salvation from local priests (170). It all stems from the majority Western religion, Christianity. Dominating the Western religious world, Christianity doesn't make room for demonic possessions, or perpetuate demonic spirits as a normal practice. However, if we analyzed Haitian religion, demonic possessions are a common practice and seen as a normal way of expressing their religion. I suppose that directors of horror movies really take into consideration their audience because fear is not universal. 

    Kovak and Hopkins are constantly found in churches that have seem to have been torn down, forgotten, or forsaken. Even more so, the exorcisms that take place throughout the movie seem to be staged in a dark, dingy room with many holy relics. Directors never seem to stage exorcisms in a well-lit church with daisies poking out of the garden, and there is reason behind that. Since sacred places direct our attention to the gods to whom they are dedicated, if those gods have been challenged or overthrown, that is often reflected in the way their sites are depicted (Cowan 100). When realizing what is happening during an exorcism, it essentially boils down to a challenge of god. What we usually see is a priest or clergyman of sorts holding a crucifix over a possessed child, screaming, "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!". The space that is occupied by the good of the order of the church is threatened by evil and is made to harness the idea that something evil is present. 

            Overall, I found the movie to be a tad lack luster. However, what I did find interesting was the theory behind religion as a vehicle for fear. The ability of a movie to externalize our inner fears and make us feel fear outside the theater speaks to me more as real fear than just creepy situations. Using religion as a vector  fear in movies sets the stage for evil and externalizes our internal fears.

 Cowan, Douglas E. Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen. Baylor University Press, 2015.