Deadly Blessing (1981)

The tension in this film centers around the dialectical contradiction between traditional ways of life and the idea of so-called modernity or even post-modernity.  It takes place in an area owned and worked by the Hittites, a fictitious religious Utopian community named after a Bronze Age Anatolian people.  The Hittites are based on the Amish.  According to Deadly Blessing, directed by prolific genre director Wes Craven, beneath the surface of these seemingly peaceful and harmonious communities is a profound authoritarianism and a fire-and-brimstone type demonology.  Ernest Borgnine is classic as the antagonist in the film recalling his role in The Devil's Rain (1975) opposite Tom Skerritt.

Here is the trailer:

Here is the trailer for the Devil's Rain:

This view of Utopian Christian communities is somewhat negated by the documentary The Devil's Playground (2002).  It depicts teens and young adults at a particular Amish community on their Rumspringa.  The Rumspringa is the time in an Amish youth's life where they are tasked with discovering the outside world and deciding whether or not they want to rejoin and Amish community and become baptized, official members of the Amish church.  Many of these youths behave as somewhat typical adolescants in ways, getting into drugs, technology, video games, sex, dancing etc.  Definitely worth a watch.

Watch the first part of it here:

Fantásticos Musicales

Fantastica (1980) is a somewhat surreal, somewhat comical, absurdist French drama with an environmentalist message.  It contains number musical numbers so if films like Tommy (1975),

The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)

or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)

are your thing, this film might be for you.  However, my favorite absurdist musical is the Beatles' Magical Myster Tour (1967).

Check out a clip from Fantastica:


And here is a trailer for Magical Mystery Tour:

And another scene from Fantastico:

Exorcism and Demon Possession Movies Worth Watching

1. The Exorcist (1973)

Well, everybody knows the first film on this list.  It started the phenomenon of Catholic exorcism films.  Dealing with issues of faith, guilt, childhood innocence, demonology, this is probably a more Catholic film than Kevin Smith's Dogma.

Here's what director William Friedkin said to say about the Catholicism he promoted in his film to Time Out London's Tom Huddleson:

Do you believe that the film was, in part, responsible for the resurgence of Christianity in the US?
‘I know it was. I can give you specific incidents. I remember meeting James Cagney when we were both on a TV show. He said to me, “I’ve got a bone to pick with you, young man! For 35 years I had the same barber. He’s the greatest barber I’ve ever had. He saw your movie and he stopped being a barber, he entered the priesthood!”.’
So even as an agnostic, you’re okay with the idea of promoting religion?
‘Even those of us who call ourselves atheists, or think that the whole thing is rubbish, are curious about the mystery of faith. Is there anything to this stuff? “The Exorcist” offers one possible position. While I’m not Catholic, I’m overwhelmed by the idea that a 32-year-old man in a very small part of the world, who never left one word written in his own hand, has affected the lives of trillions of people. I look at the Catholic Church and I see these guys in these far-out costumes with all this gold, and I wonder what it has to do with this young man who went among the people, wore a simple robe and sandals, and healed the sick. But I also wonder how millions of people were willing to give their lives for their belief. And because I wonder, I’m curious about something like “The Exorcist”, which attributes that power to a true belief.’

2. The Last Exorcism (2010)

This is an unsettling and creepy bit of cinema done in the found footage style.  The premise is that it's a reality show.  The film is oddly enough rated PG-13.  This is probably due to the fact that there is not really any real gore or indecency.  Actually, the creepy atmosphere results from the things left unsaid, but effectively suggested.  Altogether a sufficiently interesting and attention holding piece that warrants a second watch.

3. Angel Heart (1987)

This film is a bit of a deviation overall from the list, but there is that scene when Lisa Bonet kills that chicken really erotically when she's possessed by the voodoo spirit.  DeNiro plays the devil and Micky Rourke before his face got all fucked up from Boxing and he had to have plastic surgery plays the Private Investigator in this Neo-Noir a la Polanski's Chinatown or Scott's Bladerunner.  DeNiro peels a boiled egg really creepily.

4. The Possession (1981)

An enigmatic film about a man who suspects his wife of infidelity, but finds the reality to be much more sinister.  This film is a puzzle that reveals itself at an excruciatingly suspenseful pace.

5. The Possession (2012)

This film takes a Jewish perspective on exorcism.  A man's daughter finds a puzzlebox, which as anybody who's seen Hellraiser knows, is never a good thing.  The dad, who is estranged from the mother, seeks help of a rogue rabbi to exorcise the demon.

6. Drag Me To Hell (2009)

This is really a pretty silly film, but still it holds your attention and is actually kind of a fun romp.  It kind of reminds me of El Día de la Bestia in that way.  It is a possession story that draws on Romani lore.