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10 Recent Possession Movies You Shouldn’t Watch Without a Crucifix

Published

4 years ago

June 3, 2022

The Exorcist is going to be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year, and with a sequel on the way, we thought we’d get into the spirit and offer up 10 modern possession movies that are actually good.

Imitation being the highest form of flattery, the below movies certainly stand on their own, but their gene pool can be traced all the way back to William Friedkin’s 1973 masterpiece.

People are still disturbed by The Exorcist half a century later. Just browse YouTube for First Time Watch reaction videos and you’ll see what I mean.

Filmmakers have been trying to catch the same lightning in a bottle the original did ever since it opened in December 1973. Remember Beyond the Door (1974) anyone?

Beyond The Door GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

With such an extensive list of knockoffs spanning five decades, of course, we couldn’t list them all. So instead we’ve compiled a list of worthy possession movies that have been released since 2020. Some are good, some just okay, but all are entertaining and bring their own unique twist to the genre.

So grab your Bible, take your crucifix off the wall, and pour yourself a grail full of holy water. Then sit back, say a Hail Mary and watch what happens when the Devil takes up prime real estate in someone’s soul. (Note: the year indicates the time the film was released and streaming platforms listed reflect the U.S.).

Awoken (2020) Hulu

Melatonin isn’t going to be enough to get this kid to sleep. Nor is a bedtime story read by Samuel L. Jackson. Medical science intervenes. However, as we all know, a lab coat brigade is no match against demonic forces who couldn’t care less about HMOs. Awoken is a fun twist to the genre even though you might be let down by the deflated ending.

Plot: A young medical student attempts to cure her brother of a terminal sleep illness called Fatal Familial Insomnia, where you are unable to sleep until you die. On her quest to help him, a more sinister reason for his condition is revealed.

The Day of the Lord (Spanish) 2020 Netflix

It’s always that one friend with a possessed daughter who needs a favor. Thankfully The Day of the Lord puts that trope to good use. Some of you might be turned off by subtitles, but that would be a shame because this movie is visually stunning. We get a demon temptress and a retired priest who finds himself oddly attracted to her. Who will win?

Plot: A retired priest hunted by his sins is pulled back into darkness when a friend begs him to help his possessed daughter.

The Last Exorcist (Netflix) 2020

Danny Trejo is a national treasure. Put him in a priest’s outfit and he becomes priceless. Although this movie is probably more on the cheaper side, we have to give it props for not only harnessing the power of evil but also the acting chops of everyone’s favorite action movie Mexican-American, Mr. Trejo.

Plot: After every priest trained in exorcisms die in a terrorist attack, Joan Campbell must battle a demon from her past that, this time, possesses her sister.

The Last Rite (2021) Hulu

In yet another film, a woman feels like she’s being slowly possessed by an oppressive demon. She asks for help from the church, but is it too late? This film gets into psychological territory before it unleashes its supernatural battle royale. Crab walks, gaunt faces, and a few self-closing doors later, this one pays off in the end.

Plot: Lucy, a study from home medical student and sleep paralysis victim, moves in with her boyfriend and finds out all is not as it seems, when she falls pray to a demonic force hell-bent on ripping her apart from within.

Torn between sanity and the unknown, Lucy is left with no alternative but to contact a local priest, Father Roberts for help. With time running out and the dark force consuming her from inside, Father Roberts is forced to make a choice, do the right thing and get the church involved, or help Lucy by conducting his own exorcism against the will of the church.

The Seventh Day (2021) Netflix

Training Day meets Deliver Us From Evil, in this above par possession film. Guy Pierce is the Denzel Washington to Vadhir Derbez’s Father Garcia. With plenty of mood and a ton of possessions, this one ought to get under your skin.

Plot: There has been a drastic increase in possessions across the country. Father Peter, a renowned exorcist is serving the church by overseeing trainee priests while they take the last step in their on-the-job training – identifying possession and learning the rites of exorcism. Father Daniel Garcia is Father Peter’s latest trainee. As the priests plunge deeper into hell on earth, the lines between good and evil blur, and their own demons emerge.

While We Sleep (2021) Prime

Don’t dismiss this little film as just a rip-off of The Exorcist just yet, although it follows similar lines. This film packs a mighty punch. Crawling on ceilings, unnatural body contortions, and some entertaining action scenes, this one may not be perfect, but it understands the assignment.

Plot: While We Sleep follows a young girl who suffers from a sleep disorder and haunting dreams. The family hires a radiologist to discover the source of the bad dreams but what she finds is more terrifying and menacing than the dreams themselves.

Agnes (2021) Hulu

Here’s an interesting twist: a possessed nun. Rumors of possession at a convent spark an investigation by two inept priests. When they fail to expel the evil force it unleashes hell on holy ground. Full of jump scares, double-speed head twists, and bleeding eyes, Agnes is as mesmerizing as it is scary.

Plot: Inside a quaint convent, young Sister Agnes explodes with an outburst of rage and blasphemy, causing the church to send veteran priest Father Donaghue and a younger priest-on-the-rise, Benjamin, to investigate the incident as a potential demonic possession.

Demonic (2021) Showtime

This movie didn’t quite get the respect it deserved when it first opened. But, It’s a great film with an interesting concept. Thanks to technology, a young woman is literally thrust into the mindscape of her mentally ill mother who might be controlled by an insidious demon. Who will win? That’s the conflict that will carry you through this high-budget possession film. It’s directed by Neill Blomkamp, the man behind District 9 and Elysium.

Plot: A young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades-old rift between mother and daughter are revealed.

The Old Ways (2021) Netflix

This one is pretty well-liked among genre fans. It’s got strong women, plenty of body horror, and some intriguing special effects. With its Latin American folk vibe and hearty storytelling, The Old Ways isn’t groundbreaking but it sure does entertain. Be warned though, some animals don’t fare well in this film.

Plot: Cristina, a journalist of Mexican origins, travels to the home of her ancestors in Veracruz to investigate a story involving witchcraft and healers. Once there, she is kidnapped by a group of locals who claim that she’s possessed by the devil and that she needs to be exorcised. As she tries to escape this nightmarish situation, the woman starts to believe that her captors may actually be right.

The Exorcism of God (VOD) 2022

Exorcism of God is one of those films that came out of nowhere this year, and it’s got the goods. It would be underselling it to call it a bat-shit crazy possession film that literally lifts some of its imagery from The Exorcist. Great special effects, a really scary demon, and some fancy cinematography are all the more reason to check this out. It’s a mixed bag of genre homage that consists of six parts Evil Dead, six parts The Exorcist, and six parts The Conjuring. Where else are you going to see a possessed Jesus?

Plot: Peter Williams, an American priest working in Mexico, is considered a saint by many local parishioners. However, due to a botched exorcism, he carries a dark secret that’s eating him alive until he gets an opportunity to face his own demon one final time.

So there you have it. Ten modern possession films you can stream or rent right now. As always, let us know the ones we missed or if you disagree with our choices. Also, share with us your favorite possession films and where we can watch them.

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This Week in Horror: The ‘Resident Evil’ Trailer, a ‘Weapons’ Prequel, and Nicolas Cage Has Unfinished Business

Published

19 hours ago

May 1, 2026

Luna Gray

This was the week Zach Cregger stopped being a horror director and started being a horror studio. That is not the only thing that happened, but it feels like it isn’t being stated enough.

The Resident Evil Teaser Is Here

The first footage from Zach Cregger‘s Resident Evil dropped Wednesday, and it does not look like anything this franchise has produced before. Austin Abrams plays Bryan, a medical courier who arrives at an empty house in the middle of a snowy night and spends the rest of the teaser discovering what he is actually surrounded by.

The footage is dark and still and operates as if something has already gone wrong before anything technically has, which is the same register Barbarian and Weapons lived in and that the games, at their best, have always understood.

Cregger Is Also Making a Weapons Prequel

While everyone was watching the Resident Evil teaser, Variety reported that Gladys, the prequel to Weapons, is moving forward at Warner Bros. with Cregger co-writing alongside Zach Shields. Weapons grossed $270 million worldwide and earned Amy Madigan a best supporting actress Oscar.

Gladys is set for September 2028. Cregger is currently writing a Resident Evil reboot and a Weapons prequel at the same time, which is either the most productive stretch a horror director has had in recent memory or the setup for a very good documentary.

Nicolas Cage Has Unfinished Business

Variety confirmed that Nicolas Cage and Osgood Perkins are making a new Longlegs film at Paramount. Not a sequel, but something set in the Longlegs universe, which is a distinction that raises more questions than it answers and is therefore exactly the right way to announce it. The original made $128 million on a $10 million budget. No release date has been set.

Hokum Opens Today

Hokum, the new film from Damian McCarthy, is in theaters today via Neon. Adam Scott plays a novelist who retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes and finds that an ancient witch has opinions about that.

The film premiered at SXSW in March and sits at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. McCarthy made Caveat in 2020, which was underseen and excellent. Hokum is his argument that the haunted house film still has architecture left to explore.

Shudder Is Having a Moment

The full May lineup breakdown is here, but the essentials are: Tales from the Crypt, all seven seasons, begins streaming today after years off the market. The Terror: Devil in Silver, the third installment of AMC’s horror anthology series, premieres May 7 with Dan Stevens. Heresy, a folk horror set in a medieval Dutch village, also drops today as a Shudder exclusive. It is the strongest programming month they have announced in a while, and May is only one day old. What a week.

Someone Let Ti West Near a Christmas Carol

Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, written by Nathaniel Halpern, directed by Ti West, and starring Johnny Depp as Scrooge, has a release date: November 13, 2026 from Paramount. Robert Eggers is also developing a Christmas Carol adaptation. Two of the most formally precise horror directors working today have independently decided this is the assignment. There is no version of that sentence that is not exciting.

That is the week. May is already delivering.

Editorial

HHN35, Jack vs Oddfellow: Place Your Bets!

Published

19 hours ago

May 1, 2026

Piper St. James

Halloween Horror Nights is back for its 35th installment at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida as the Infernal Carnival of Nightmares!

Over the years HHN has proven original houses draw as much of a crowd, if not more, as the intellectual property (IP) houses based off of established horror movies.

Leading each year of fear and headlining some of these original houses includes some of the most beloved and iconic characters. These icons include; Jack the Clown, The Caretaker, The Director, Chance, Dr. Oddfellow, The Usher, Lady Luck, and The Storyteller.

This year Orlando’s convention MegaCon had a highly anticipated and attended panel focused on Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights 35. The masterminds speaking of the 35th year celebration included Michael Aiello, Lora Sauls, and Charles Gray. The creators teased the landmark year to salivating fans.

Gaged by the audience’s reaction as each icon was reminisced about and displayed on the panel’s screen were Jack and Oddfellow. Here it was announced to the fanatical audience that these two icons will be returning to lead Halloween Horror Nights into its upcoming year!

Bring in the Clown!

Jack the Clown, born Jack Schmidt, is an icon created by Universal Studios for Halloween Horror Nights. Jack made his debut during the Halloween event’s tenth year in 2000. He immediately won over attendees and became a fan favorite. His popularity grew so much that he has reappeared again and again in many of the Halloween Horror Nights events.

Jack has been featured in three of the five Universal parks that have hosted HHN; Orlando, Hollywood, and Singapore. He has even claimed a spot in Universal Horror Unleashed.

Unleashed is a haunted attraction residing in Las Vegas that offers a fully immersive experience for guests. Unlike Halloween Horror Nights, this attraction is open year round! Universal Horror Unleashed features haunted houses, live entertainment, and themed bars and dining.

Jack and Chance at Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas.

Here Jack stalks guests year round with his mistress in mayhem, Chance.

Jack’s History

In the late 1800s Jack was born with his brother Eddie inside the walls of Shady Brook Rest Home and Sanitarium. Jack escaped and ran away with the circus, leaving his poor and abusive family behind.

However, it was soon apparent he was not the jolly, entertaining clown he convinced his carnival spectators of.

Jack was a child murderer. As the traveling sideshow made its way through the southern states, a trail of abductions and disappearances followed. This attracted unwanted attention from federal authorities.

As the feds closed in, the clown disclosed his murderous ways to his employer, carnival owner Dr. Oddfellow. As the star attraction of the circus he hoped Oddfellow would hide him. However, the doctor was a man with his own sordid past with the law. He decided the best plan of action would be to cut ties with Jack, for good.

The circus owner had Jack Schmidt murdered, but not before the clown gave Oddfellow his trademark facial scar. A scar none of Oddfellow’s dark magic could erase.

Always the showman, Oddfellow decided Jack’s time in his show had not yet come to an end. Not even in death. The carnival owner hid Jack’s body, in addition to the thirteen children the clown had killed, inside his House of Horrors.

The Doctor is In!

Just like Jack “The Clown” Schmidt, Dr. Rich Oddfellow has a very long and evil history. He was introduced to Halloween Horror Nights in 2000, the same year as Jack. However, unlike the menacing clown, the doctor did not rise to instant fame.

Finally the Doctor found his time in the fog and in 2023 he was established as an icon of HHN.

Oddfellow’s History

Dr. Oddfellow is the notorious, darkly charismatic sideshow owner of Dr. Oddfellow’s Carnival of Thrills. He employed Jack Schmidt, the murderous clown who claimed the lives of at least 13 children. However, the clown was not the only member of the circus who had evil intentions.

Oddfellow was an evil sorcerer, and preyed upon his unsuspecting spectators from town to town. Using the souls of his victims, Oddfellow hoped to gain immortality as well as harness the power of the Dark Zodiac for himself. With this power he would have undying power at his fingertips all harnessed in the skull sitting on top of his trademark cane.

Dr. Oddfellow always left his mark of chaos, destruction and death. From the Jungle of Doom, to the 1939 Dustbowl, and an infamous 1969 Music Festival in upstate New York, Oddfellow reigned down his evil upon the innocent.

A Glimpse of HHN35

Not much has been revealed about how these icons of horror will be intertwined in the upcoming Halloween Horror Nights. However, we do know that despite how much these two despise each other, they will be sharing the spotlight as co-hosts for the much anticipated HHN35.

One of the ten haunted houses will feature the returning duo together. The house is called; Jack and Oddfellow: Chaos and Control.

As you travel through the house the stories of each icon of horror will be unraveled. You’ll wind your way through their evil dimension and see the two battle each other in a deathmatch that has been brewing for decades. However, as you near the end of the house Jack and Oddfellow come to realize that their power is much stronger together than separate. Will the souls of the guests be the fuel to their ultimate evil plan?

Tell us at iHorror who your favorite icon of horror is in the comments! If the two were to face off, who would win?

News

The Severance Writer Found a New Building to Lock People In

Published

20 hours ago

May 1, 2026

Luna Gray

Aiyana K. White spent two seasons on Severance working out what happens when a building decides it is done letting people go. Her next project is set in a high school during a zombie outbreak. The architecture is different, but the logic is basically the same. Welcome to ShootAround.

Lion Forge Entertainment and WEBTOON Productions are teaming up for a live-action YA film adaptation of Shoot Around, the zombie horror-comedy webcomic by Suspu (Susanna Nousiainen) with 28 million views on WEBTOON. White, who also served as executive story editor on The Night Agent for Netflix and got her start on Showtime’s Superpumped, is writing the screenplay.

The Premise

When the zombie apocalypse hits Penny Hall High, the state’s best girls’ basketball team is forced to join forces with the boys they cannot stand for 24 hours locked inside their school. You dont even need the zombies, that sounds miserable.

The official description is Zombieland meets Bring It On, which is either the most accurate logline of the year or an extremely specific promise to have to keep. Lets hope ther PR team knew what they were doing when they through that one out there.

The Source Material

The ShootAround webcomic ran 70 chapters across its first season. White has said she devoured all of them in one sitting, which is a better endorsement than anything the studio put in the press release.

Creator Suspu has a decade of comics experience, including WEBTOON Originals Heir’s Game, The Tattletale Fool, and Bad Plan Man. The fanbase already exists, now they just have to know how to use it.

White is rewriting the script from an earlier draft by Mike Dow and Devon Kelly.

The Production

Lion Forge Entertainment, the Oscar-winning studio behind Hair Love, is producing and financing alongside WEBTOON Productions. Founder David Steward II and president Stephanie Sperber are producing for Lion Forge. President David Madden and head of global film Jason Goldberg will executive produce for WEBTOON Productions.