12 Best Horror Movies About Demonic Possession

Stigmata is stylish as hell. With sexy actors, a killer score from Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and its distinct photography, the whole thing looks, sounds and feels great. It hits the beats of a classic possession film, but it has a different take on those beats. There’s levitating off the bed, there’s the deep voice, there’s talking in strange languages, there’s the mutilation of the body, there’s the horrific decline.

So, Satan can’t be far. Right?

Wrong. Satan is nowhere to be seen. It turns out that the entity possessing the girl is the spirit of a kindly old priest who is trying to spread the direct words of Jesus. Despite being a lovely old priest who wanted the world to know the amazing things Jesus said, the presence of his spirit still tears his host to shreds and generally scares the s**t out of everyone.

So, that’s what the good guys are doing. Meanwhile, the baddies, the evil bishops trying to conspiratorially suppress this secret Jesus gospel, are trying to save the girl. While all this is going on, Gabriel Byrne is running around being all super cool and sexy.

Confused? Don’t worry about it. It’s a cool movie. Not technically a demon doing the possessing here, but you’d never know it.