Since it's 6/6/06, I thought it would be fun to talk about some of my (and yours, hopefully) favorite films that deal with the devil.
Angelheart
Mickey Rourke plays Johnny Angel, a third-rate PI who is hired to track down a jazz singer who may or may not have sold his soul to the devil for his career, then skipped out on the deal. DeNiro is great in a small role as Louis Cypher. Much of this film is shot in Louisiana, and the atmosphere is great. This is also the film Lisa Bonet got kicked off the Cosby show for- I guess Bill didn't approve of her intense sex scenes or her scenes performing Voodoo sacrifices. Recommended.
Rosemary's Baby
An amazing, excellent, understated film. Rosemary (a luminous Mia Farrow) and her husband (John Cassavetes) move into a new apartment and decide to conceive. But what's up with their clingy neighbors? This is basically a horror movie about trust, and it's quite chilling. The last scene is also a creepy revelation, as Rosemary goes against the audience that has until then sided with her. You should already have seen this. If you haven't, rent it. Cameo by Anton Lavey.
the Exorcist
Not THE devil, but a devil. The tale of a young girl who is possessed, a failed exorcist struggling to redeem himself (Max von Sydow), and the troubled priest who desperately wants to stop the possession. A great movie, both under-stated and over the top. You've probably seen this as well... if not, why?
the Ninth Gate
Johnny Depp is a rare book dealer- more like a rare book grifter- who is tasked to track down the authentic copy (of three existing) of a book that is rumored to have been written by the devil himself. This movie has tons of odd moments and characters, and is never particularly over the top in it's presentation. Depp is perfect as the schiesty Courso, and is supported by a good cast. There are several scenes in this that are disturbing, such as when one character attempts to summon the Devil, also the sequence with a Baroness who owns one of the books.
So, what are your favorite movies that deal with the Devil, or Hell?
neilbert said at 4:33 PM 06-06-2006: Milk, you have not seen the Exorcist? During the "spiderwalk" scene that was restored for the theatrical re-release a few years ago, a black guy next to me actually stood up and yelled out MOTHERFUCKA! I am certain if the spider walk scene had been left in the movie during it's original release it would have actually caused deaths.
milky [email] said at 4:41 PM 06-06-2006: Hey, man, I'm really uninformed as far as a lot of movies go...I'm saving many movies to see "later," but I don't know what inna hell "later" means anymore...
ericanm [email] said at 4:34 PM 06-06-2006: this is terribly, terribly embarassing but i LOVE the devil's advocate. i know it's a bad movie but i love it. i would watch it right now if it was on.
this makes me want to go rent the ninth gate tonight! maybe i will!
cam [email] said at 4:39 PM 06-06-2006: haha i will watch devil's advocate when it comes on tv! i told josh i wanted to add "legend" because i've never seen anyone portray the devil more awesome than tim curry. also where's "leonard part 6" with bill cosby?!
craig [email] said at 4:39 PM 06-06-2006: Legend - Very nice representation of the devil, known in the film as "The Darkness" by Tim Curry.
Last Temptation of Christ - The devil appears in the form of angel and tempts Jesus to come down off the cross and live life as a normal man - to get married and have children. This angel appears as a red-haired somewhat androgynous looking girl.
The Stand - A devil-like figure appears after a super-flu wipes out most of the human race and leads a group of humans against the forces of good. This devil has a mullet and wears lots of denim and cowboy boots.
Constantine - Nice representation of lucifer as a sleazy man in a suit.
The Golden Child - Demonic forces conspire to corrupt the purity of the golden child. Only Eddie Murphy can save his unblemished soul.
The Passion of the Christ - Satan appears as an androgynous decrepid woman figure with a dark rotting cloak, and maggots writhing in his/her nostrils.
josh [email] said at 4:43 PM 06-06-2006: the Beyond
A woman inherits an old Louisiana hotel. She is warned to leave by everyone, including the creepy blind girl who lives in an old house down the street. Clues pile up leading her to believe something terrible happened at this spot... until, eventually she realizes that her hotel may be covering one of the gates to Hell, and forces are conspiring to fling that gate open...
Tom [ url ] said at 4:52 PM 06-06-2006: Omigod, you're a tool! You forgot Crossroads! Every shredder's favorite movie. Ralph Macchio and Steve Vai together at last! Are you kidding me?
"If your hands spent half as much time playing the guitar as they do on her ass, you'd be alot better!"
craig [email] said at 5:07 PM 06-06-2006: Time Bandits - a group of midgets steals god's blueprint of the Universe and are tempted by a flamboyant devil who wants to get the map so that he can escape hell.
kiche [email] said at 5:47 PM 06-06-2006: alucarda satan gay marries to chicks at an all girls school run by nuns in mexico. they turn into vampires and all hell breaks loose.
to the devil... a daughter hammer's last film. probably hammer's best film too. natassja kinski is a nun in a satanic cult who is saving her virginity for satan. christopher lee stars as a priest who has converted to satanism.
city of the dead one of fulci's "7 gateway to hell movies" (the beyond is the best one of these). christopher lee, is again a priest who has converted to satanism. anyway, he commits suicide in order to open the gateway to hell in a small new england town.
kiche [email] said at 6:04 PM 06-06-2006: urotsukidoji: legend of the overfiend japanese cartoon about a sex demon from hell that has come to destroy the earth with his penis.
craig [email] said at 6:23 PM 06-06-2006: Hellraiser and Hellraiser II: Visually compelling, a very sado-masochistic version of hell by Clive Barker. Pinhead steals the show. Two of my favorite horror movies.
brandon [email] said at 6:27 PM 06-06-2006: Oh God! You Devil In a ground-breaking role, George Burns plays God to a Miltonian Devil with a Faustian bargain for a Pandering Musician. This rollicking good ride is one for the ages! BedazzledUr It-girl Elizabeth Hurley spices things up with a Hunky yet lovable Brendan Fraiser, whose misadventures help teach him the importance of thrifty values and Spanish as a second language! Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey
A towering Satan with formal connections to Dante's rebel frozen face down in the ass-end of the universe, devours Bill and Ted and literally shits them out into their respective eternal damnations, unaware that in the upsidedown orientation of hell, he was actually propelling them toward a heavenly destiny. The Forbidden Zone
1980s Richard Elfman farce poses Danny Elfman as an unforgettable Satan who lives beyond the sixth dimension of King Fausto and who delights in word play and chivalry!
jake [email] said at 7:23 PM 06-06-2006: Angel Heart: I tried for years to eat boiled eggs that way. Wait, still do.
Constantine: Pitch perfect, if you ask me. Goes well with a Devil's Advocate chaser.
Little Nicky: A guilty favorite, right there with Dogma. And speaking of movies where the Devil plays a small supporting role, what about Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction?
My favorite though, I'm pretty sure, would be Oh God, You Devil.
brandon [email] said at 7:37 PM 06-06-2006: I love that movie "Angel Eyes" - I cry every time. I think the devil is in it. And, to carry a theme from another post, it pours on the wife-beating.
abby [email] said at 11:22 PM 06-06-2006: all of these are so scary. i liked the 9th gate a lot, and angel heart is promising but i need to stay awake.
reggie [email] said at 8:44 AM 06-07-2006: South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned already. A gay Satan who's emotionally whipped by his abusive lover Saddam Hussein.
And Brandon Bedazzled is actually a remake but one I guiltily found myself enjoying.
And of course there's this little indie film that never saw the light of day. In fact it never became anything more scribblings in my notebook but it was called Fred Knight Goes to Hell.
It's about a yuppie lawyer who has sold his soul to the devil to become a partner at his firm. When a piece of a shooting star is found Fred tries to steal it because he's discovered that you really can wish upon a star.
So one of the goons he has hired to acquire the rock -- it should be stated that I know stars are mostly big balls of plasma it's just a movie -- is contacted by this black dreadlocked midget (who's actually the devil) and he's paid a ton of money to double cross Fred and keep the rock for himself (because the devil doesn't want Fred to back out of his deal.)
So the thief stashes the rock in his girlfriend's house but is later killed for his actions. Fearing her life she skips town. A bitter and jaded young twentysomething writer moves into her room. When the second goon that Fred hired to steal the rock is discovered dead in the house (he broke his neck trying to break in and take the rock) the writer discovers the rock.
Fred Knight goes to the house, holds the writer's roommates hostage and demands he give up the rock. Not knowing what it is he's holding, the writer who has grown so sick of Fred Knight's type that he wishes that Knight and everyone like him would just go to hell.
And that's what happens.
I posted this as a short story but I had plotted out a whole script that had a very Pulp Fictionesque structure. It was going to be my big anti-gentrification/anti-yuppie script.
brandon [email] said at 9:07 AM 06-07-2006: Yeah, that's why I mentioned the remake. Fred Knight goes to Hell sounds fantastic - or awful. Regardless, I'm going to queue it if I can find it.
brandon [email] said at 9:40 AM 06-07-2006: Ah, it's something you wrote! Sorry. I skim most of what I read. Bold makes it worse. It's kind of a GOTO statement. Sorry that I called it potentially awful - though I called it fantastic first. I thought you were referring to something obscure you had seen already and not something you had written.
reggie [email] said at 10:33 AM 06-07-2006: No don't worry about it dude. It probably would've been awful if I'd followed through on screenplayizing it.
rick [email] said at 10:23 PM 07-08-2007: South Park is pretty awesome but it is problematic to me because I liked even more the episode in which Satan has fallen into a slump and goes to talk to God (who is some kind of weird half donkey/half hippopotamus Buddhist who presides over a Heaven that only allows in Mormons).
brandonA [email] said at 7:37 PM 06-07-2006: The Devil & Max Devlin - speaking of Cosby, this movie is one of those that I saw ten million times as a kid for some reason The Prophecy - early viggo mortenson as lucifer, very effective even if the movie was not
