The Halloween Top 13: The Devil Made Me Do It #1 - The Exorcist (1973)

" The point is to make us despair. To see ourselves as... animal and ugly. To make us reject the possibility that God could love us." -Father Merrin

The above quote is from today's film, and it comes in answer to Father Karras' question, "Why the girl?" In many ways Merrin's words explain why I was able to come up with 13 great devil movies, why the reader lists were filled with titles I didn't picks, and why more Satanic cinema is right around the corner. Nearly each of these films features a "real" devil or demon, but they speak to the real evil that lurks in man's heart. As Merrin calls it, "Animal and ugly." They also intend to inspire faith, to make people stronger in their beliefs, just as the cinematic demons would diminish it. After all, if an evil like Satan could exist and possess a little girl or summon forth his minions to do his bidding, an equal force of good and right must also exist. Even as a devoted Atheist, I found that watching these films, especially today's, made me very hopeful there was such a thing in the universe. (In fact, I told my wife that two minutes in the room with a verified possessed person, and I might well leave behind my heathen ways.) In many ways, #1 on the Halloween Top 13: The Devil Made Me Do It is where the conversation about the devil on film begins and ends, and so what better way to end this countdown and begin celebrating Halloween in earnest than with 1973's The Exorcist. 

 Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) is a normal little girl, but her mother, actress, Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), starts noticing changes in her behavior and speech. She takes Regan to a string of doctors and psychologists looking for some answer to why her daughter is experiencing such strange behavior. When she runs out of places to look for answers, one doctor suggests an exorcism. If the possession is all in the child's mind, then perhaps the ritual would clear it up. Desperate for help, Chis seeks out Father Karras (Jason Miller), a priest and psychologist suffering a crisis of faith. He doesn't believe there's anything he can do, but when confronted with the reality of Regan, the voices she makes, her strength, and personal details of his own life, tKarras begins to take the matter seriously. After catching a recording of the demon sounding fearful, Karras enlists the help of the priest mentioned on the tape, Father Merrin (Max von Sydow). The young priest and the old priest band together to rid the demon from Regan's body no matter what the cost may be. 

The Exorcist was first published in 1971 by William Peter Blatty, who would eventually win an Oscar for this adapted screenplay, and it remained on the best seller list for 51 weeks including seventeen weeks in the top slot. With a built in audience,Warner Brothers was quick to option the film, and in the end they were rewarded with ten Academy Award nominations, winning two, Blatty's and for Sound, and seven Golden Globes with wins for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Blair), and Best Screenplay.  Over the years, The Exorcist has become one of the best known horror films topping best of lists from the American Film Institute and eventually marked for film preservation by the National Film Registry. It also is one of the most debated horror films of all time. When it was released opinion ranged from Variety who called the film, "an expert telling of a supernatural horror story…The climactic sequences assault the senses and the intellect with pure cinematic terror." to Rolling Stone which said it was, "Nothing more than a religious porn film, the gaudiest piece of shlock this side of Cecil B. DeMille." The Exorcist would become the second most popular film of 1973, behind The Sting (which beat out The Exorcist for the Oscar), and would go on to become one of the best selling catalog titles of all time. This is partially because it has gone through more cuts than any film I know of this side of Bladerunner. 

William Friedkin was riding high off the success of The French Connection when William Peter Blatty, exhibiting enormous influence for a writer, leveraged the studio to hire Friedkin for the Exorcist.  Like the Gene Hackman cop classic, The Exorcist is a film that moves on its own energy and tone. Throughout, Friedkin used camera work and gentle use of sound atmospherics and music to enhance the mood. Some of the most effective moments are the silences that punctuate the exorcism sequence. These breaks into the quiet of the house from the cold, vile world of Regan's bedroom help to ramp up the tension as the film comes to its epic conclusion. Friedkin was also not afraid to go the extra mile to get the performance he wanted out of his actors. Many of Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn's effects shots were violently handled to provoke a reaction, and Jason Miller even recalled the director discharging a firearm behind him before a scene was filmed. (Perhaps he went to the Werner Herzog school of directing.) While the director was on a roll in the early 70's, he never regained his footing after The Exorcist, his next film Sorcerer was a box office flop and wildly over budget. However it cannot be denied that he helmed one of the best and most influential horror films of all time. 

While Blatty's script and Friedkin's direction are paramount in The Exorcist, I can't ignore the contribution of the actors. Linda Blair really went through the ringer playing Regan. She had to endure freezing temperatures on the bed room set, a director who was cavalier about her physical safety, and a script full of incredibly adult content. None of the strife shows up on film, her performance is alternately harrowing and heartbreaking, exactly as it should have been. Ellen Burstyn brought depth to Regan's suffering mother, and her scene with Jason Miller's Father Karras when she begs for his help is astoundingly emotional. As for Miller, the stage actor had no experience on screen (Jack Nicholson and Ryan O'Neal were considered for his role.), but he perfectly embodied the doubting priest. In the early '70's, many young people in America felt lost, and Miller brought that unmoored feeling into his character perfectly. Max von Sydow, who was more well known in European cinema, brought a great deal of gravitas to Father Merrin, and with only a handful of scenes and few lines that are not liturgy, he makes the old priest a fully realized character. The last actor I must mention, Elaine Deitz, is never heard from and rarely seen, but the flashes of her face as the avatar of Panzuzu are pivotal to the film's unsettling feeling. 

After a full month thinking about the devil on film and almost two weeks writing about Satan's cinema, I'm starting to feel like I might need an exorcism, but the power of Christ compels me to finish up The Halloween Top 13 first. While The Exorcist might be an expected choice to top this list, that doesn't take away from the fact that it deserves it. While each of the films on this list attempts to address the issues of faith and evil, The Exorcist handles both of these themes perfectly, and it became such a part of pop culture nearly every devilish movie that followed it owes a debt. No matter what version you watch (for the record I watched the spider walk inclusive "Cut You've Never Seen"), no matter how many years pass, the core of The Exorcist will remain the same. There is something out there, something bigger than us that means to do us harm. This need to feel like there is something beyond, good or evil, will never leave mankind, and neither will films like The Exorcist. 

Before I sign off today for the last time in October, I want to thank everyone who read any or all of The Halloween Top 13: The Devil Made Me Do It, all those who sent in a list to participate in the reader lists, and once more Daniel Leslie for his incredible work on the banner. Once again, I can't thank you all enough for making this 4th year of Halloween madness wonderful, and I'm sure I'll be ready to do it all over again in a year. Join me back here in a day or two for more new reviews and nonsense, and don't forget, before you go scroll on down and check out the final submitted list, this time from my wife Kathy "The Lady Bugg" Kelley. 

Bugg Rating

Without the love and support of "The Lady Bugg", Kathy Kelley, none of this would be possible. She inspires me,  helps me keep focused, and encourages me to be all the Bugg I can be. For the fourth year in a row, I close out The Halloween Top 13 with her list of Satanic delights. 

1.The Exorcist - #1 on the Bugg's list and on mine as well. 

2.The Witches of Eastwick - Jack plays the devil. Possibly the role he was born to play. 

3.Rosemary's Baby -The Bugg omited this one, make sure to give him crap about it. 

4.Phantom of the Paradise - A musician sells his soul to the devil, Paul Williams songs ensue. 

5. The Devil's Advocate - The devil needs a lawyer. I thought he was a lawyer. 

6. The Amityville Horror - a good reason to ask the right questions about your new home.

7. The Omen - a.k.a birth control 

8. Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son in Law - Dolomite meets Lucifer, need I say more.

9. Crossroads - Ralph Macchio goes the Robert Johnson route. 

10. Needful Things.  - It's never said that the shop owner is the devil, but, yeah, it's the devil.

The Halloween Top 13: The Devil Made Me Do It #2 -Night of the Demon (1957)

Getting down to the last two selections on The Halloween Top 13 means at this point the films I've left off my list are going to become more and more apparent. One such example is Night of the Demon (1988), a middling demonic entry that plays out like a goofy slasher, but given the choice I decided I was better off dropping the 'S'. (This is despite Netflix twice sending me the Linnea Quigley shocker instead of what I needed.) With the loss of one single letter, the title goes from referring to standard '80's schlock to one of the all time classics of horror cinema. Coming in at #2 on The Halloween Top 13: The Devil Made Me Do It, it's Jacques Tourneur's 1957 classic, Night of the Demon. Tapped to direct by producer Hal E. Chester, Tourneur brought the moody atmospherics of his Val Lewton films, The Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie, and summoned into the world the cinematic demon on which so many after would be modeled.

The film opens with Professor Harrington (Maurice Denham) promising Satanist Dr. Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) that he will call off his investigation into the doctor's activities providing the devil worshiper calls off "what he started". Karswell agrees, but ushers the professor quickly out of his house at the stroke of nine. When the professor arrives home, the winds begin to blow uncontrollably, and through the woods a ten foot tall demon, shrouded in smoke, begins to advance. Trying to escape, the professor's car knocks down a telephone pole and the escaping parapsychology expert is electrocuted on the power lines. The next day psychologist and professional skeptic John Holden (Dana Andrews) arrives in London intending to speak at a conference with Dr. Harrington examining the psychology of witches' covens and satanist sects, but instead he discovers his host has died. John soon is also threatened by Karswell, but Holden merely scoffed at the devil worshiper when asked to drop the investigation. John, aided by Harrington's niece (Peggy Cummings), continues looking into the Satanists and Dr. Harrington's mysterious death. The investigation eventually leads John to mystic cursed runes, a Satanic farmer named Hobart, and even Stonehenge. Along the way, he has to face t unseen assailants and even a cat that turns into a cheetah, but the biggest enemy might be himself. John makes the disturbing realization that the supernatural isn't a flight of fancy as he's always believed and that a demon from Hell is now on his trail.

Night of the Demon, released in America as Curse of the Demon (supposedly to avoid confusion with Night of the Iguana), is a high point of horror cinema of the 1950's. Jacques Tourneur, as far back as his 1942 feature debut Cat People, was able to command an exceptional use of mood and atmosphere on film. Night of the Demon does not lack for either. In particular, the scenes where Dana Andrews is pursued by an unseen force through the Satanist's house stand out as particular stunners.Using only light and shadow, the director makes the translucent threat contain a very real, opaque menace to Andrews' skeptical shrink's life. So effectively built is the tension built that when Andrews wrestles a cat turned cheetah, well, it doesn't seem like Andrews is only fighting a stuffed cheetah.

The same can be said of the demon. While the titular monster's design clearly influenced later movie demons, some dismiss its appearance and wonder what miniature maven Ray Harryhausen, who was offered the job but had to pass, would have done. Depending on the source of the story, Tourneur either added the manifestation of the demon at the beginning and end at behest of the studio or it was done without him. Its appearance is so stylishly handled I find it hard to believe the Maestro of Mood wasn't involved. While parts of the film may seem silly or dated to some viewers, Tourneur's stylistic influence of can be felt in the horror films of Mario Bava and Dario Argento, director Martin Scorsese places it among his favorite horror films, and it is impossible not to see the film's influence on Sam Raimi.

Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes, and passing them used lots of skills. Okay, so he didn't, but if you listen to the lyrics of "Science Fiction Double Feature" from Richard O'Brian's Rocky Horror Picture Show, you may think he did. Andrews did use lots of skills though, but they were more of the acting variety than the scatological. While I love Andrews in Laura and, one of my favorite movie titles ever, I Was a Communist for the FBI, there's something about his portrayal of the skeptic whose foundations are shattered that I adore. Sadly, the same can't be said of his co-star Peggy Cummins. The actress was pleasant, but never added much to her character. In 2006, at the age of eighty one years old, Cummins attended a screening of Night of the Demon in Hertfordshire, UK where she saw her best known film for the first time.

Niall MacGinnis, who plays the Satanist Karswell, is full of gleeful goateed menace, and he nearly steals the whole film from Andrews. His most effective scene comes when Andrews' character comes to his house only to find the devil worshiper dressed as a clown attending to the village children. The dichotomy of his appearance and presence are stunning. (I also wonder if his appearance was at all an inspiration for the creepy clown at Damien's birthday party in The Omen as the makeup was quite similar.) There's one last actor I must mention. I knew I recognized wild eyed Brian Wilde in his role as hypnotized Satanist Hobart, but I could not figure out from where. All I needed to do was add 20 years to his face, and there he was, Foggy from the long running British comedy The Last of the Summer Wine. 

While Night of the Demon is not the goriest, most explicit, or newest film on this list, it is still as effective and chilling now as it was in 1957. While shoddy effects might take away slightly, the mood Tourneur imbued will never ebb. I do want to warn folks that the film suffered several cuts over the years, and the careful viewer is advised to look out for a complete 96 minute running time instead of the cut version which runs only 83. (I believe the popular version that is out on DVD now actually contains them both.)This ensures you don't miss a frame of Tourneur's masterpiece. That brings us to the end of the penultimate review on The Halloween Top 13: The Devil Made Me Do It, and with only one more film left to go, I'm sure there are plenty of guesses as to what it might be. I'm also sure that quite a few of you are correct, but if you guessed Little Nicky then you could not be more wrong. I suppose you're just going to have to join me back here tomorrow, on Halloween, to find out what film made the top of the list! Until then don't forget to keep scrolling down to check out the devilish picks of my hellaciously good friend Fran Goria!

Bugg Rating 

I've been friends with Fran Goria for a number of years, and she's long been my main horror loving cohort. She's also been a vital part of The Lair over the years contributing to the now defunct series "Ladies Night" as well as her ongoing posts "For the Love of Price" so she should be no stranger to my readers. For the fourth year in a row, she's also contributing to The Halloween Top 13, and I could not be more thrilled!

Reader List- Fran Goria

The devil made me write a top 5 list of possession films, so here it is (Editor's note: I made her do this, but I'm not the devil.....or am I?)

1. The Masque of Red Death (1964) Vincent Price, need I say more?

2. Evil Dead  (1981) Okay, technically not devil possession, but possession none the less.

3. Night of the Demons (1988) I thoroughly enjoyed this film, especially the space-filling impromptu Bauhaus video.

4 The Exorcist (1973) Linda Blair gets possessed by the devil, and crazy shit ensues.

5 Reposessed (1990) Linda Blair gets possessed by the devil (again), and crazy shit ensues...plus Leslie

Nealson.

And, an honorable mention for Mad Love  (1935). Aside from the mad doctor, the pianists' hands were possessed by an executed seriel killer.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM FRAN GORIA!

The Halloween Top 13: The Devil Made Me Do It #3 - The Omen (1976)

Sometimes you have to take things as a sign, a harbinger of what is to come. Such as when I walked into a store while in the planning stages of this list, and looked on the rack only to see all three of the original theatrical adventures of Damien Thorne. I knew it meant something. It had to be a portent.  I knew right off the bat it meant that I would own all three films. What I didn't know was that the three films would mirror the #3 position on The Halloween Top 13 like the strange vague foretelling of a gypsy's tea leaves, and that was not all to this prognostication. Yet I couldn't figure it out. So I called up my friend Richard Donner to ask him what he thought these signs, portents,and harbingers might mean. After complaining once more about the cut of Superman 2, Mr. Donner told me it must be an omen, the omen, or more specifically his Omen. Then he made me promise never to call again. Well, he was exactly right, and I'm pleased to say that #3 on the Halloween Top 13: The Devil Made Me Do It is none other than that tale of the Devil in diapers a.k.a Rosemary's Baby's playdate, The Omen (1976).

When Robert Thorne (Gregory Peck) was told that his child came out stillborn, he knew his wife Katherine (Lee Remick) would be crushed. Desperate for a solution, the ambassador is convinced by an Italian priest substitute his own child for another, an orphan born just as his own died. For the first four years of young Damien's life, he seemed like a normal child. After the events of his fifth birthday party, where his nanny hung herself, everything changed. A sinister nanny (Billie Whitelaw) arrives suddenly and a priest keeps hounding Robert warning him of danger and impending doom, but who wants to think that their son is Antichrist. As people begin to die and be hurt around Damien, including Katherine, Robert can no longer deny his suspicion. With the help of photographer Keith Jennings (David Warner), the distraught father pieces together the puzzle of his spuriously aquired son's origins and discovers that without Damien's death there will be no future for anyone. The signs are too clear, and there is only one choice Robert can make.

Legendary actor Gregory Peck took a paycut to star in The Omen in exchange for a percentage of the back-end. It turned out to be the highest grossing film of the star's career, and it featured some of his best acting since his Oscar winning To Kill a Mockingbird. The character arc of Robert and Katherine Thorne, from parents who desire nothing more than a child to believing their son is the spawn of Satan's loins, is intensely compelling. In the early portions of the film, up until Katherine's accident, much of the film's tension is conveyed through the tension building between the parents over their son. Peck and Lee Remick (Anatomy of a Murder, The Detective) are pitch perfect, and while Harvey Stephens' Damien in his schoolboy outfit might be the iconic image, the film belongs to the adults. I think it's to director Richard Donner's credit that he so judiciously used Stephens and didn't rely on the creepy kid factor too heavily which would not be the case in the lesser sequels.

While I know that no parent would want to think or suspect that the kid they received in the middle of the night from a priest you had not previously ever met was the devil, I'm really not sure what took Robert Thorne so long to come around. First, Damien's nanny hangs herself from an outside window in the midst of his fifth birthday party. Then the priest that warns your wife is in danger is impaled. (By a really easily dodged hazard.) Then your wife is almost killed. Yet it still takes Robert a couple more deaths and a sloppily applied haircut before he starts to believe. I would have thought David Warner's experience with concentrated evil, even in a kid form, but sadly this was before he made Time Bandits. Billy Whitelaw, who would go on to appear as one of the villainous townsfolk in Hot Fuzz, adds an essential layer of creepy to the proceedings as Damien's Satanic nanny, and Harvey Stephens, who would not return in 1978's Damien: Omen 2 earns his paycheck and his place in horror icon history with just a small smile in the closing seconds of the film. It was a scene that wouldn't have existed if not for studio head Alan Ladd, Jr. who insisted the original ending be reshot. And who is going to argue with a studio head that says that you can't kill Satan? He would know.

While The Omen was deserving of many acting award nominations, it won composer Jerry Goldsmith his only Oscar for best original score. The demonic theme he penned, "Ave Satani" was also nominated for original song, but lost out to Paul "Phantom of the Paradise" Williams composition "Evergreen" from A Star is Born. Director Richard Donner, best known for Superman II and The Goonies, was just coming out of several years of television work, but it doesn't show here. Donner seemed to think on a bigger scope from the beginning of his film career, and that including enlisting Goldsmith, cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (Dr. Strangelove, Frenzy) and film editor Stuart Baird (Tommy, Lisztomania), all seasoned veterans who had proved their abilities to rise above their contemporaries. Together with the cast, they came together to tell a story that is chilling, compelling, and all too full of real emotions.

These last three picks on The Halloween Top 13: The Devil Made Me Do It are all films that I feel inform the mass public opinion of who the devil and his minions are. The Omen has become so ubiquitous in pop culture that I can't count the number of times I've heard of a tantrum throwing child referred to as a little Damien. The film also deals in the prophetic language of Revelations. Some of the interpretations of the Biblical text talked about in the film have been thoroughly debunked by scholars over the years, but interestingly I was able to find several instances on the internet where the quotes were repeated verbatim an theological sites with nary a mention of David Seltzer (Punchline, Lucas) or his script. The Omen is a film people who have never seen it, who will never see it, who've never even heard of it unknowingly reference. While the devil may not have actually brought his son to Earth, he surely entrenched him firmly in our pop culture.

That brings us to the end of yet another entry into the Halloween Top 13, and that means there's only two more films left to go. Think you can guess what devilish delights I have waiting for you? Well maybe some of them appear on today's reader list submitted by the Deadly Doll herself Emily Intravia of The Deadly Doll's House of Horror Nonsense, scroll down under the trailer to check it out.

Bugg Rating

Emily, that Deadliest of Dolls, is one of my favorite people. Not only do we have fun doing the occasional (semi-regular) film swap, we always have a good time getting together and shooting the bull at Horrorhound weekend. I'll be seeing Emily in person to thank her for her list soon, but until then, I have to say that some of your picks surprised the hell out of me!

13. Night Train to Terror (1985)  God and Satan making bets is a pretty super starting point for any story (see: Book of Job) but when executed with the competence of a banana peel, it's absolutely awesome. This 1985 anthology is a cut and paste job composed of three messes originally intended to be full-length films but wisely stopped mid-filming and thrown inside a box that somehow became...this. The most important things to know about Night Train to Terror are that God is played by a Colonel Sanders impersonator, Richard Moll pulls double duty, a paper mache flying ant kills pornographers, and the most 1985 band of 1985 sings a colorful ditty about having something to do. Also note that Richard Moll is wisely credited as Charles Moll and that more hilariously, Satan is (in the original credits) played by Lu Sifer and God is played by...himself. We live in a wonderful world. 

12. Jigoku (1960) Allow me to teach you some Japanese: Jigoku means hell, and that should tell you a thing or two about this 1960 surreal horror film by Nobuo Nakagawa that follows a guilty driver into eternal torment and a gorily bizarre finale. Now part of the classy Criterion Collection, Jigoku is gross, violent, weird, mind-boggling, and now considered to be one of the true founding fathers of gore cinema. Most importantly is the fact that it presents a hell that will scare you straight into heavenly behavior. 

11. I Don't Want to Be Born! (aka the more porn-ready The Devil Within Her) (1975) Joan Collins plays a retired stripper who spurned the advances of an angry cabaret dwarf named Hercules who in turn cursed her baby to be possessed and now it kills people while wearing a bonnet. I have nothing more to say. 

10. Sheitan (2006) Truthfully, this is one of those rather unlikable films busting with awful awful people and goat milk. What makes it list-worthy, however, is the fact that it stars Vincent Cassell in one of the most bonkers (bonkerest?) performances ever given by a man, woman, or extraterrestrial. As a farmhand/pregnant woman/devil worshipper (?), Cassell takes the idea of 'acting' and runs it over with a mack truck on steroids. It's joyous, weird, and wonderful a sight to behold, even if everything else about this Christmas set film is ugly. 

9. Demonic Toys (1992) When planning a stakeout with your pregnant partner, really the worst thing you could do is end up dying in a warehouse filled with excessively ugly playthings. Because naturally, logic would dictate that your surviving girlfriend will spend the rest of her evening defending her fetus from being replanted (by "doing the nasty," of course) with the seen of a big ugly demon whose minions include a wise-cracking baby doll, sharp-toothed jack-in-the-box, and bicycling blonds in gas masks. Thankfully, the way to survive the eternal torment of being Satan's mom is to just win a card game of war. So there's hope. 

8. Frailty (2001) What I really love about this underrated Gothic chiller--aside from my intense crush on Bill Paxton--is that the demon aspect is actually far less horrifying than what Frailty (SPOILER ALERT) ultimately says about God. If you take the reality of this film, then yes, there are demons in the world and good men are called upon to slay them. Good men who are single fathers trying their best to raise their children, much less teach them the art of murder and maybe even murder them themselves. Who IS the villain of Frailty? Is it Paxton's maniacally devout but surprisingly caring dad? His rebellious son who proves to be an ACTUAL demon? Or a god so cruel as to put what could be good people in such a dilemma? 

7. Lo (2009) This quirky but melancholy indie is practically custom made for any fan of Joss Whedon, particularly those who cite Once More With Feeling as proof of his godlike powers or consider Xander and Anya the cutest television couple to ever try to make sexual innuendos while on roller skates or wearing eyepatches. Lo tells the story of a young man who summons the titular demon to help him find his mysterious girlfriend, whom it seems has been captured and dragged to hell. Musical interludes abound (performed by hellish Nazis, no less) and the theater-like film unfolds with a wonderful balance of weird humor, dark and cruel dialogue, and a sad and sweet romance. 

6. House of the Devil (2010) The indie darling of 2010 has divided some fans, but its retro style, slow buildup, and batch of funny to terrifying performances makes it must-include on this list. 

5. Fear No Evil (1981) "My son's the DEVIL! My son's THE DEVIL!" shouts a grumpy old man in this hilarious hodgepodge of 1980s horror tropes. High school student Stefan Arngrim (who would later terrorize classmates in a different style in Class of 1984) is, quite simply, the Antichrist. In the 1980s, being an Antichrist was awesome. Like, raise a bunch of zombies during a passion play Easter performance awesome. Like, dress like Frank 'n Furter awesome. Like, give the school bully BREASTS awesome. Or, perhaps even more memorably, DEATH BY DODGEBALL awesome. I have nothing more to say. 

4. Rosemary's Baby (1968) Perhaps an obvious pick, but come on: Mia Farrow gives one of the genre's all-time best performances as a weak, willowy soon-to-be-mother of a baby born during a satanic orgy headed by neighbor from hell (and Oscar winner) Ruth Gordon. Though it has its detractors, I consider Roman Polanski's film one of the genre's true classics, a true slow burn that makes its audience want nothing more than to protect the helpless Rosemary straight to the inevitable end. 

3. South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (1999) Has there ever been a more lovable, huggable, and hummable devil?  

2. Tales From the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight (1995) Billy Zane by no means has a spotless track record when it comes to acting (being the worst thing in Titanic isn't something to be proud of when you're competing with a flirtation scene involving spit) but when he's on, the man is charismatic, sexy, dangerous, and gloriously hairless. Demon Knight is one of the sadly unheralded box office genre duds of the '90s, but dangit if it isn't a joyous good time. Between the diverse and interesting cast (Thomas Hayden Church! William Sadler! CCH Pounder! Jade Pinkett Non Smith!), cheeky HBO elevated humor and most surprisingly, neatly dark backstory explaining vampires, Judas, and the apocalypse, it's a strong movie on its own. Add Billy Zane's cowboy demon going haywire and golly is it a fun time! 

1. The Exorcist III (1990) The second sequel to one of cinema's true horror classics, a film practically raped by its studio and saddled with the wrong ending and title has no right to be good, much less the hands-down scariest film of the 90s. Adapting his own novel Legion, author William Peter Blatty brings his tale to the screen with wise eyes AND ears. The dialogue is perfectly written and delivered by the likes of thespian gods George C. Scott, Brad Dourif, and Jason Miller with pure brilliance. The nature of the kills is so horrific that just HEARING about their aftermaths sends chills up your spine, while the visual scares--among them senior citizen ceiling crawlers and a well-known nurse kill that is, I exaggerate not, the most frightening 2 second shot in the history of cinema--are equally brilliant. Yes, the story only makes sense after you read the book and revisit the movie more than ocne and the final exorcism proves fairly meaningless, but flaws included, The Exorcist III remains one of the most tragically underrated genre films of all time.