GodWatch: Meet Christian Horror

by Benn Ray

No longer satisfied with just destroying rock n roll via the Christian rock, the devout have now targeted the horror movie genre.

The new issue of Rue Morgue (#87) has an enlightening and terrifying (if you're a horror fan) article by Lea Lawrynowicz titled "Divinity & Darkness: The Rise Of Christian Horror".

So what is "Christian horror?"

Well, it's not simply horror rooted in Christian mythology like you'd think. For example, while The Omen, The Exorcist, John Constantine, Rosemary's Baby all deal with Christian ideas, these films are not necessarily, by definition, "Christian horror."

According to Joshua Ellis of christian-fandom.org:
"Christian horror is 'safe' horror. If a book or DVD is going to be sold in a Christian retail outlet, it will generally follow a set of guidelines: no foul language or explicit sex; violence is implied, not shown; there is usually some sort of redemption story; and there is always an explicit gospel message."
...
"It exists because there is a multi-billion dollar Christian retail industry that caters to a segment of the population that will pay a premium price for products created by Christians, for Christians. Some Christians have what a friend of mine calls the 'come out among them' mentality. It drives them to eschew 'secular' music, books, films, etc. and creates a huge demand for Christian music/fiction/movies."

Scott Derrickson, director of Christian horror hit The Exorcism of Emily Rose, disagrees:
"'I don't know that I accept Christian horror as a defined subgenre,' he explains. 'If you include The Exorcist and The Omen in that subgenre, I'll accept the term, because those films, as well as horror films made by professing Christians, are dependent upon Christian theology for their stories. I certainly object to the idea of defining a subgenre by the religious beliefs of the filmmakers and not the films themselves. But I do recognize that a number of young Christians are becoming interested in the horror genre in a way they haven't been in the past, and I think there are good reasons for this: horror easily presupposes the possibility of the supernatural, by definition it illuminates what is good by defining what is evil, and it invites the use of religious iconogrpahy witouth necessarily alienating a non-believing audience.'"

But when he says The Exorcist and The Omen should be defined as Christian horror, he is not actually "defining the subgenre by the religious beliefs of ... the films themselves." He's using a broader definition that says if a film deals with Christian mythology, it is by definition a Christian horror movie even if it contains graphic violence and nudity and contains an anti-Chrisitan message that wouldn't work with buyers for the Christian retail industry that Joshua Ellis describes.

And this is what Xtian horror looks like. It's a trailer for the movie House  (2008).

Another noteworthy Christian horror site: fearandtremblingmag.com.

So there you have it. Christians are are now co-opting horror.

Scary.

Comments

[William P. Tandy]

And I suppose any "implicit" sex must be confined to the parameters of procreative, heterosexual wedlock, huh? (Oooh - scary.)

[fordprefectajt]

Well, they do have a deep well of religious tradition from which to draw. Forced abortions, stoning of adulterers (women, naturally), general subjugation of women, burning witches, molesting priests. All sorts of good stuff. And that's just the non-fiction stuff.

[Sean Phillips]

Here is a Christian horror novel:

http://atheismvsfaith.blogspot.com/2011/01/freethinkers-child.html