History Main / ReligiousHorror

* The right half of the Art/SistineChapel's altar painting sees dozens of life-like characters drawn with all of Michelangelo's expertise being dragged into pits of fire by hideous demons, with terror plain on all their faces.

* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' features a very twisted but still recognizable version of Christianity. Father Comstock claims an angel came to him with an order from God to build Columbia, a hyper-Christian-American xenophobic flying city that doubles as a superweapon, and use it to cleanse "the Sodom below". Since then, he has tried grooming his child [[spoiler:Elizabeth]], who is repeatedly referred to as "the lamb", to complete his holy task. Warped religious imagery is found throughout Columbia, most of its citizens are more than willing to kill and be killed if Comstock tells them to, and Comstock has total control over the government. [[spoiler:The entire story only happened because an alternate version of Booker [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint severely misunderstood]] the concept of baptism. Whereas Booker saw baptism as [[GoAndSinNoMore the fresh start it's supposed to represent]], Comstock saw baptism as "all my sins are justified by God, and nothing I do is wrong".]]
* Trauma from ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'' is a hulking monster spawned from Ruvik's religious frustrations. Think The Incredible Hulk with it's arms nailed to a plank, and wrapped in barbed wire (crucifixion and a crown of brambles, which tells us the religion Ruvik's frustrated with).
* The Testament of the New Ezekiel in ''{{VideoGame/Outlast II}}'', who are a religious cult of fanatical, child-murdering Christians [[spoiler:possibly driven mad by a Murkoff experiment]] who kill every child that's born in the cult in order to prevent the birth of the Antichrist. And then there's their enemies: the Scalled and the Heretics, who are just as violently deranged.

-->'''Val''', ''VideoGame/Outlast2''

* While it's not immediately obvious, quite a few Wiki/{{SCP|Foundation}}s are clearly Judeo-Christian entities, such as Dr Clef's proposal for SCP-001, an angel guarding the Garden of Eden.

* Again, the Wiki/SCPFoundation have a few of these, most notably [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-231 SCP-231-7.]]

* Trauma from ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'' is a hulking monster spawned from Ruvik's religeous frustrations. Think The Incredible Hulk with it's arms nailed to a plank, and wrapped in barbed wire (crucifiction and a crown of brambles, which tells us the religion Ruvik's frustrated with).
* The Testament of the New Ezekiel in ''{{VideoGame/Outlast II}}'', who are a religious cult of fanatical, child-murdering Christians [[spoiler:possibly driven mad by a Murkoff experiment]] who kill every child that's born in the cult in order to prevent the birth of the Antichrist.

%%* ''TabletopGame/{{KULT}}'' is a good example.

* [[https://www.facebook.com/inferno5e/ Inferno - Dante's Guide to Hell 5e]] is a TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons setting based on Literature/DantesInferno.

* The ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' is full of this in all flavors and varieties.

A subgenre of {{Horror}} that relies on presenting the motifs of a real-life religion as fact within the story's universe. In Western examples of this subgenre, that religion is normally Christianity.

* Ira Levin's ''Film/RosemarysBaby'' is the iconic story of a woman giving birth to TheAntichrist.
* ''Film/TheOmen1976''. Because of this movie, many people think that the name Damien means "demon." It actually means "tame," which is used in the story in the sense meaning "kill."

** In the direct to UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} movie: ''[[Recap/BabylonFiveTheLostTales01 The Lost Tales]],'' a maintenance worker is possessed by what is implied to be a literal demon — specifically not the devil, rather a lower-ranking servant. Colonel Lochley calls an exorcist. Subverted because [[spoiler:the [[BatmanGambit demon]] ''[[BatmanGambit wants]]'' [[BatmanGambit to be exorcised... in space, aka "The Heavens"]]. Lochley and the exorcist instead decided to ship his ass back to Earth first]].
** Given that B5 Earth has been [[AncientAstronauts visited]] by {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s ''at least'' once for a sufficient timespan to leave their marks in the human genome in the distant past, whether the 'demon' was a literal one or whether literature in turn and the practice of exorcism were inspired by events caused by him and his friends — whatever kind of entity they might 'really' be — hanging out on the planet since who-knows-when remains somewhat inconclusive.
** The {{Backstory}} of ''B5'' does seem to imply that demons were memories left behind by The Shadows.
* ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'' focuses on Ripley crash landing on prison planet Fury 161 filed with [[ExtraYExtraViolent XYY chromosome only prisoners]], who are using religion as a means to redeem themselves for their dark history of rape, murder, kidnapping, drug dealing, torture, assault, and child molestation. The Alien in this film comes off as more demonic and controlling than the ones from the previous two films, even mind raping prisoner Golic, an already disturbed man into aiding it to escape a trap. Although most of the religious horror comes from the much longer Assembly Cut of the film, to add to it Dillon compares the Alien to a herald of the apocalypse, and later in the film Ripley agrees with this, stating that if the alien ever got loose on Earth, it would be devastating. In the infamous unmade Vincent Ward 'wooden planet' version, it's outright said that the Alien is a demon, and the ending blatantly rips off ''Film/TheExorcist'', with the character of Brother John dying exactly like Father Karras did; he even 'exorcises' the Alien out of Ripley. To say this would've outraged fans far more than the final film ever could is an understatement.
* ''Film/TheDevilsAdvocate'' featured Satan (Creator/AlPacino) in the form of the head of a New York law firm, and the protagonist (Creator/KeanuReeves) as [[spoiler:his son]].
* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'', the InNameOnly movie adaptation of ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}''. The main villain is Mammon, the son of the Devil, and Catholicism is shown to be almost entirely correct.

* In ''Film/ZombieCultMassacre,'' a sleazy cult leader pretends to be a compassionate man of God but is really in league with Satan, raising an army of zombies. It does not end well for him.
* ''Film/TheProphecy'' and its two sequels, ''Film/TheProphecyII'' and ''Film/TheProphecy3TheAscent''. About another war in heaven with Creator/ChristopherWalken (who's creepy enough even when he isn't acting) as the Archangel Gabriel.
* Creator/JohnCarpenter's ''Film/PrinceOfDarkness'', about a bunch of theology students trying to stop the Anti-Christ from releasing his father, the Anti-God. It's a [[PlayingWithTropes fun exercise with]] or {{deconstruction}} of the Religious Horror subgenre, because most of the characters ''weren't'' theology students. Instead, they were scientists of one kind or another, four or five of which were under the direct tutelage of a physics professor who had been selected for a series of televised debates with a Catholic priest because of his philosophical beliefs on science. Those debates happened before the story begins, and the two characters seem to be very [[AgreeToDisagree good friends]] when the movie starts. To be fair, when speaking of said professor, one student said that "he wants philosophers, not scientists," so it is a little open to debate or interpretation.

* ''{{Film/Antrum}}'' is an interesting example of this. The framing device is that of a supposedly cursed movie that caused a number of people to die after seeing it. The internal story within the titular movie has two children trying to dig a hole to hell to save their dog's soul. The movie is purposefully [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane vague]] as to whether or not they actually ''did'' manage to awaken something demonic.

** There ''is'' a creator deity known as Azatoth who is responsible for creating our universe, but he's not sentient in the traditional sense, and exists as a formless mass of chaos outside physical reality. He's referred to as the "Blind Idiot God".

* David St. Clair's ''The Devil Rocked Her Cradle'', a book that should probably not be sold as nonfiction. A young man kills his father, bruises a prostitute, rebels against his Catholic upbringing, becomes a thief, and hears demonic voices. He grows up to be an abusive husband whose daughter goes through on-and-off Satanic possession, especially after her newly widowed father starts living with his wife's sister. This leads her to projectile-vomit green stuff, recite [[MadnessMantra Madness Mantras]], and gesture obscenely at nuns and priests. (The book's preface even includes the pricelessly redundant line, "[T]his book is not intended to be anti-Christian or pro-demonic.")

* Arthur Machen's ''The White People'' is a vastly more subtle example than most. The story combines TheFairFolk, EldritchLocation, UnseenEvil, and ChildrenAreInnocent with references to classic narrative poems to create a covertly religious horror[=/=]FolkHorror tale. However, the frame story, in which one gentleman discusses the "infernal miracle" with a friend of his, reveals that {{Satan}} is afoot in the woods explored by the young heroine.

* ''The Blood Of The Lamb'' starts out rather mild, with a priest (Peter Carenza) discovering that [[spoiler:he was cloned from the ShroudOfTurin, and as a result had the power to heal, walk through fire unharmed, and even raise the dead]]. But, after [[spoiler:killing his best friend of jealousy, his personality becomes much darker]], and by the end he manages to scare the ever-loving shit out of a pair of Jesuit assassins, [[spoiler:kills the Pope]], and has pretty much [[TheUnfettered become]] the [[spoiler:[[strike:top]] only candidate for the AntiChrist]].

* Creator/MarkTwain's ''Literature/TheMysteriousStranger'' is a [[HumansAreBastards very]] [[CrapsackWorld cynical]] take on this trope and, depending on one's interpretation of it, can also be considered a huge TakeThat at Christianity.
* Steven L. Peck wrote a short story, ''A Short Stay In Hell'', where after death, a man is sentenced to a limited stay in Hell before he can go to Heaven. Of a multitude of hells, he is sent to a library filled with books of every possible combination of characters on a keyboard and tasked to find the autobiography of his life among the nearly infinite number of nonsensical volumes.

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[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Film - Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/UnicornWars'': the teddy bears have a [[CrystalDragonJesus religion based on catholicism]] with the unicorns serving as devil figures, their military expedition to wipe them out quickly devolves into a CosmicHorrorStory.
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[[folder:Live-Action Television]]
* The [[MysteryCult mysterious]] Water of Heaven {{cult}} in ''Series/{{Fujiko}}'' invokes this. While the miniseries' horror focuses mostly on the violence of the titular character, cryptic references made to the sect from the first episode [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadow]] this trope. It is eventually [[TheReveal revealed]] that [[spoiler:Fujiko's [[GreaterScopeVillain aunt Shigeko]] [[PsychoForHire arranged for]] Fujiko's parents' murder, to [[ParentalSubstitute take in]] Fujiko, and to [[MilkingTheMonster collect her insurance money]] over the years to [[UndisclosedFunds donate to the sect]] and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity curry their favor with]]. In her attempts to [[HeKnowsTooMuch tie up loose ends]], she has [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder also killed]] Sakiko (grand-niece and fellow believer, whom she similarly raised), Hatsuyo (fellow believer and [[AssassinsAreAlwaysBetrayed co-conspirator]]), and [[UncertainDoom possibly]] Michiko]].

* ''[[Film/{{Alien 3}} Alien³]]'' focuses on Ripley crash landing on prison planet Fury 161 filed with XYY chromosome only prisoners, who are using religion as a means to redeem themselves for their dark history of rape, murder, kidnapping, drug dealing, torture, assault, and child molestation. The Alien in this film comes off as more demonic and controlling than the ones from the previous two films, even mind raping prisoner Golic, an already disturbed man into aiding it to escape a trap. Although most of the religious horror comes from the much longer Assembly Cut of the film, to add to it Dillon compares the Alien to a herald of the apocalypse, and later in the film Ripley agrees with this, stating that if the alien ever got loose on Earth, it would be devastating. In the infamous unmade Vincent Ward 'wooden planet' version, it's outright said that the Alien is a demon, and the ending blatantly rips off ''Film/TheExorcist'', with the character of Brother John dying exactly like Father Karras did; he even 'exorcises' the Alien out of Ripley. To say this would've outraged fans far more than the final film ever could is an understatement.

* ''[[Film/{{Alien 3}} Alien³]]'' focuses on Ripley crash landing on prison planet Fury 161 filed with male only prisoners, who are using religion as a means to redeem themselves for their dark history of rape, murder, kidnapping, drug dealing, torture, assault, and child molestation. The Alien in this film comes off as more demonic and controlling than the ones from the previous two films, even mind raping prisoner Golic, an already disturbed man into aiding it to escape a trap. Although most of the religious horror comes from the much longer Assembly Cut of the film, to add to it Dillon compares the Alien to a herald of the apocalypse, and later in the film Ripley agrees with this, stating that if the alien ever got loose on Earth, it would be devastating. In the infamous unmade Vincent Ward 'wooden planet' version, it's outright said that the Alien is a demon, and the ending blatantly rips off ''Film/TheExorcist'', with the character of Brother John dying exactly like Father Karras did; he even 'exorcises' the Alien out of Ripley. To say this would've outraged fans far more than the final film ever could is an understatement.

* ''[[Film/{{Alien 3}} Alien³]]'' focuses on Ripley crash landing on prison planet Fury 161 filed with XYY Chromosome only prisoners, who are using religion as a means to redeem themselves for their dark history of rape, murder, kidnapping, drug dealing, torture, assault, and child molestation. The Alien in this film comes off as more demonic and controlling than the ones from the previous two films, even mind raping prisoner Golic, an already disturbed man into aiding it to escape a trap. Although most of the religious horror comes from the much longer Assembly Cut of the film, to add to it Dillon compares the Alien to a herald of the apocalypse, and later in the film Ripley agrees with this, stating that if the alien ever got loose on Earth, it would be devastating. In the infamous unmade Vincent Ward 'wooden planet' version, it's outright said that the Alien is a demon, and the ending blatantly rips off ''Film/TheExorcist'', with the character of Brother John dying exactly like Father Karras did; he even 'exorcises' the Alien out of Ripley. To say this would've outraged fans far more than the final film ever could is an understatement.

* ''WebAnimation/TheBackwaterGospel'' features this with the town's priest deciding that [[TheGrimReaper the Undertaker]] will only go away once someone dies… so they [[spoiler:need to ''make'' [[HumanSacrifice someone die]]]]. [[spoiler:''[[KillEmAll Everyone]]'' [[KillEmAll dies]] in the ensuing all-out brawl.]]

{{Satan}} is the BigBad in a typical Religious Horror story, although he's [[UltimateEvil rarely shown]]. He is mediated [[DemonicPossession through a human vessel]], such as a CreepyChild or a [[TheNewRockAndRoll degenerate rock musician]]. Sometimes Satan is not much or even at all present in the story, but is instead [[GreaterScopeVillain a distant force of evil]] responsible for the actual BigBad in the story. The protagonists are usually innocent people trying to live ordinary lives, not sensing anything wrong until their daughter or son starts [[VoicesAreMental speaking in someone else's voice]], using [[BlackSpeech foul languages she or he never studied,]] spewing Finnish pea soup, and/or chanting Satanic praises. Members of the clergy ([[ChristianityIsCatholic most likely the Catholic variety]]; in this case it is justified by the fact that the Catholic church, of all the few that employ exorcism, is the most noted, although it does so very rarely) intervene eventually, with varying degrees of success. If there are human villains, they're evil [[{{Cult}} cultists]] who facilitate the Devil's activity on Earth (or, rarely, the Puritans of Salem, Massachusetts, if the author is less favorable toward organized religion in general). A variation is a woman giving birth to [[TheAntiChrist Satan's child.]] This type of horror is often written just to cash in on the popularity of ''Film/TheExorcist'' and ''Film/RosemarysBaby''.

* Arthur Machen's ''The White People'' is a vastly more subtle example than most. The story combines TheFairFolk, EldritchLocation, UltimateEvil, and ChildrenAreInnocent with references to classic narrative poems to create a covertly religious horror[=/=]FolkHorror tale. However, the frame story, in which one gentleman discusses the "infernal miracle" with a friend of his, reveals that {{Satan}} is afoot in the woods explored by the young heroine.

* Creator/GarthEnnis's infamous ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', which is heavily influenced by Ennis's disdain for religion. The Judeo-Christian God [[GodIsEvil is a vindictive coward who willfully encourages the worst aspects in his followers, and cruelly manipulates people's lives to fit with his plans]]. He's also only Omnipotent while sitting on his throne in Heaven, which bites him in the ass when the Saint Of Killers finally ambushes him [[GodIsDead and kills him]].

* ''ComicBook/LadyDeath'' in its original incarnation featured Judeo-Christian elements with the main protagonist being a damned soul who usurped Lucifer's throne and became ruler of Hell, but not before being cursed with being trapped there unless all of humanity is wiped out. The following Armageddon would be a plot-point with Death clashing with the Forces of Heaven and the treasonous elements of Hell given this comic was published during the turn of the Millennium, but after 2000, the comic was rebooted as a DarkFantasy that downplayed several of the religious elements with the demons and angels being present, but the setting wasn't necessarily {{Hell}} anymore, but another afterlife plane that was neither good or evil.

* Black Sabbath's ''War Pigs'' was originally written as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIPlSVN1hk4&feature=related "Walpurgis,"]] which was recorded but never released. Hence, why "War Pigs" contains references to witches and Satan.

* The aptly-titled ''Videogame/{{Blasphemous}}'' is built around the more morbid elements of Christianity (specifically Spanish Catholicism), particularly focusing on the obsession with guilt, penitence, and martyrdom. The world of Cvstodia abounds in warped Catholic imagery and faux Latin terminology, and lore reveals that the land used to be ruled by TheTheocracy who preached [[MartyrdomCulture a religion defined by the need to suffer endlessly to atone for one's inherent sinfulness]]. Then came the Age of Corruption, when the Grievous Miracle arose and transformed the land into a hellscape by warping its people into hideously maimed yet undying monstrosities as living manifestations of their guilt and their obsession with being punished for it. The player is presented with equal ambiguous evidence as to whether this happened because the Grievous Miracle [[GodIsEvil is a cruel, sadistic monster]], because it is lashing out at a CorruptChurch that tried to twist and exploit its power, or if it is merely genuinely trying to grant people their wishes... and in a culture obsessed with the need to suffer to prove their spiritual virtue, ''this'' is what people genuinely wish for.

* ''WebAnimation/TheBackwaterGospel'' features this with the town's priest deciding that [[TheGrimReaper the Undertaker]] will only go away once someone dies… so they [[spoiler:need to ''make'' [[HumanSacrifice someone die]]]]. [[spoiler:''[[KillEmAll Everyone]]'' [[KillEmAll dies]] in the ensuing all-out brawl.]]
* ''WebVideo/MandelaCatalogue'' has shades of this, with the alternates implied to have been meddling with humanity since biblical times and the "Metaphysical Awareness Disorder" video advicing people to avoid religion all together. [[spoiler:Probably the biggest example, however, is the revelation that {{Satan}} has disguised himself as the {{Archangel Gabriel}} and has proclaimed himself as [[FalseProphet the true saviour]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' at first seems to be an "Other Religions" example, as the BigBad of the show is a theocratic emperor and prophet for a being caled the Titan that make up the Boiling Isles. "Hollow Mind" reveals that [[spoiler:Belos is actually a puritan witch hunter who co-opted the belief system of the isles (or created it wholesale) as part of his goal to commit genocide against the witches, which immediately reframes the very Christian-like aesthetics Belos has for most of the show]].

* WebVideo/MandelaCatalogue has shades of this, with the alternates implied to have been meddling with humanity since biblical times and the "Metaphysical Awareness Disorder" video advicing people to avoid religion all together. [[spoiler:Probably the biggest example, however, is the revelation that {{Satan}} has disguised himself as the {{Archangel Gabriel}} and has proclaimed himself as [[FalseProphet the true saviour]].]]

* ''Series/{{Evil}}'' is about a trainee priest, a techie and a psychologist teaming up to distinguish between real and false hauntings and possessions; many of them turn out to be real and linked to a diabolical conspiracy to corrupt humanity.

* Craig Skipp's and John Spector's ''Literature/TheScream'', a novel that uses the [[YouMayPanicNow Satanic Panic]] as a backdrop. The novel revolves around the titular rock band, which is accused of being Satanic, but [[spoiler:actually serves a demon named Momma that the band's manager met in Vietnam]].

* The Senpou Temple in ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' is a Buddhist temple whose monks have basically completely abandoned the teachings of the Buddha on the impermanence of the self, and kidnap and kill children in the pursuit of immortality, with ''truly'' messed up results.

* The Senpou Temple in ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' is a Buddhist temple whose monks have basically completely abandoning the teachings of the Buddha on the impermanence of the self, and kidnap and kill children in the pursuit of immortality, with ''truly'' messed up results.