Editorials
5 Great Portrayals of the Devil in Horror!
When it comes to horror villains, there are none that are as all-powerful or as epic as the Devil. Sorry Jason, even you went to Hell. Sorry Freddy, but you got your powers from “dream demons“. No baddie really has the pomp and circumstance that good ol’ Lucifer has. After all, when you’re the villain of a religion that boasts over two billion members, you’ve gone from being a cultural icon to one of the most recognized villains in history. Pretty much no matter where you go, people will know who Satan is, if not by name than by concept.
With such a towering entity of evil, it’s no surprise that the horror genre has used the Devil as a character in several films over the years. Obviously, it’s hard to get something like that right but there have been a few instances where the portrayal was something incredible and memorable.
So, let’s go ahead and take a look at some portrayals of actors who brought the baddest of the bad to the silver screen!
Peter Stormare – Constantine
Many consider this to be the best portrayal in movie history. I absolutely wouldn’t go that far but I will say that it’s a damn good one or else I wouldn’t have put it on this list! Stormare may have looked human but there was a strange serpent-like quality about his speech and mannerisms. He plays the role with glee and obviously relishes every moment he has onscreen. After all, if you’re gonna be Lucifer, may as well have fun being bad!
Robert De Niro – Angel Heart
I feel like horror and film noir are two genres that haven’t crossed paths enough times. There’s something delightful about watching a detective movie that feels dour. Plus, horror films are often rather pessimistic, so combining the two seems like a win-win situation. Can you imagine more movies like Lord of Illusions? I’d be 100% into that!
Anyways, Robert De Niro plays Louis Cyphre (Lou Cyphre -> Lucifer), a mysterious man who hires private investigator Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) to investigate the disappearance of a singer by the name of Johnny Favorite. The investigation takes Angel to New Orleans, where a string of murders begin happening and Angel finds himself caught in the middle.
De Niro is 100% classy here. Impeccably dressed and almost aristocratic in appearance, he brings an elegance to the role while still emitting waves of malevolence. It’s a masterful performance.
Al Pacino – The Devil’s Advocate
I feel like someone was watching “Law & Order” and suddenly said, “What if I wrote that but with Satan as the bad guy?” Not that I’m complaining about this film as I think it’s a lot of fun but I was always curious how it came to be.
Pacino is, as always, an absolute delight to watch. It feels like he’s madly in love with playing such a villain and he can’t contain himself. Every moment he’s on the screen is lifted by his exuberance and it makes for one of the most charismatic portrayals of the Devil cinema has ever seen.
Viggo Mortensen – The Prophecy
While this movie, in my opinion, really hasn’t aged all that well, there’s no denying that the brief cameo from Viggo Mortensen is the highlight of the film. He plays the role a bit more subtly than others on this list. Yes, he roars at that weird sycophant by his side but that’s about as far as he goes in his first appearance. Never raising his voice, he knows his presence alone is all it takes to ensure everyone’s attention is set solely on him.
Emmanuelle Seigner – The Ninth Gate
If you thought Satan could only be portrayed by a man, think again. Seigner’s approach to this role is to use seduction, manipulation, and her wiles to get what she wants. It probably helps that her role is kept as mysterious as possible, which only adds to the big reveal. While it’s easy to think of her as a guardian angel for Corso, she’s in reality the means by which the ritual will take place.
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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