In his preface to The Screwtape Letters (1941), C. S. Lewis playfully suggests that some correspondence between two devils has fallen into his hands by means he will not explain. He must prevent “ill-disposed or excitable people” from trying to lay their hands on similar communication. It’s a trick, Lewis suggests, that can be done by anyone who has “learned the knack.” The danger, as the fictionalized Lewis waxes, is that “there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” If he disclosed his secrets, excitable people would quickly fall into the latter danger of excessive interest in devils.
Looking at the spate of recent movies about possession and exorcism, it would seem that Hollywood has acquired “the knack,” in a manner of speaking. There are dozens of exorcism movies from just the last ten years available to rent on Amazon Prime and at least three films released or slated to release in 2023: The Pope’s Exorcist, Nefarious, and The Exorcist: Believer. Of these latter three, the first two did well financially, and it’s not hard to imagine the forthcoming sequel to the hallmark possession movie — The Exorcist (1973) — terrorizing millions.
Given the rise of Hollywood movies about exorcism and possession movies, it might be easy to assume that we’ve fallen into the danger of unhealthy interest Lewis warned about. But with the rise of the “nones” and a widespread disenchanted worldview, one could just as easily argue that we are far too disbelieving. So, which is it? Are we too materialistic, detached from the reality of the spiritual realm, or overly obsessed with the unseen world?
This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Philip Tallon about his online article, “The Power of the Devil Compels Us: Possession and Exorcism Movies in a Modern Age.”
**Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for The Pope’s Exorcist (2023), Nefarious (2023), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), and The Exorcist (1973).**
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