10 of the Most Interesting Demonic Possession Movies That Aren’t THE EXORCIST

Constantine was not properly appreciated when it was first released. Still, the film that stars Keanu Reeves, about John Constantine, a supernatural exorcist, and demonologist with terminal lung cancer, is remarkable. It has multiple possessions, more than one exorcism, and Tilda Swinton as the Angel Gabriel. Among its many assets is Peter Stormare in one of the best performances as Satan in cinema history as Constantine goes toe to toe with the Adversary. The most traditional exorcism takes place at the film's beginning, so you know that is just the starting point for this spiritual war.

The Medium is a Thai and South Korean co-production set in Thailand about a medium who claims to be possessed by the spirit of a goddess as a documentary crew is making a film. Nim (Sawanee Utoomma) became the medium for the goddess Ba Yan after her sister, Noi (Sirani Yankittikan), refused. Noi's daughter Mink (Narilya Gulmongkolpech), begins to behave strangely, and after an aborted attempt to transfer the spirit of the goddess to Mink, Mink is possessed by multiple malevolent spirits. What follows is a tragedy, and the film's greatest strength is the difference in the setting and religious beliefs in the movie.

The Rite is a much more traditional possession and exorcism story. It features the Catholic Rite of exorcism. What it has in its favor is the presence of actors like Anthony Hopkins, who plays Father Lucas Trevant, Rutger Hauer as Istvan Kovak, Toby Jones as Father Matthew, and Alice Braga as Angelina Vargas. In the film, a young deacon, Michael Kovak, who was only trying to get a free college education and has a crisis of faith, is drawn into the case of an exorcism of a young pregnant woman. After the exorcism fails, he must try to save the exorcist, Father Lucas, who the demon has possessed.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose, directed by Scott Derrickson, differs from many other films because it is based on a real-life case where a priest was charged with negligent homicide after the subject of an exorcism died. The film has a great cast, Laura Linney as Erin Christine Bruner, Tom Wilkinson as Father Richard Moore, Jennifer Carpenter as Emily Rose, Campbell Scott as Ethan Thomas, and Colm Feore as Karl Gunderson. It takes the path of examining the real-life consequences of this religious rite and faith.

Abby is a Blaxploitation exorcism film that was quite successful until Warner Brothers filed a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement. The character Abby (Carol Speed) is possessed by a chaotic spirit that may be the Yoruba orisha Eshu. Again, the cultural difference makes for an exciting entry into the horror canon of possession and exorcism films. The film was directed by William Girdler, who also directed The Manitou, and also stars William Marshall as Bishop Garret Williams, Terry Carter as Reverend Emmett Williams, and Austin Stoker as Detective Cass Potter.

Jennifer's Body has a lot going for it, but it is a story about a teenage girl sacrificed to Satan by a mediocre music group to become successful. The ritual gave them what they wanted, but since Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) wasn't a virgin, she became host to a demonic force. This sly horror comedy centers on the idea that a beautiful young woman's body doesn't belong to her and what happens to the boys who think that Jennifer exists for their pleasure.

Christopher Alender's The Old Ways takes the exorcism movie to Veracruz, Mexico. Brigitte Kali Canales plays Cristina, a reporter who witnessed her mother undergoing an exorcism as a child, is a heroin addict, and who returns home to investigate a story. She doesn't listen to warnings and goes to a forbidden cave. The local bruja, Luz, insists that she is possessed, and Cristina is imprisoned in an improvised cell. The differences in culture and how the bruja seeks to expel the demon is what catches the audience's interest, and the fact that Cristina doesn't know that she is possessed is another point of interest that makes a lot of sense.

Anything For Jackson takes the basic idea of a possession film and turns it upside down. Director Justin G. Dyck and writer Keith Cooper developed the novel idea of grief-stricken Canadian grandparents who desperately want their beloved grandson Jackson back. The idea is that they have decided to perform a "reverse exorcism," which would put the spirit of Jackson into the unborn child of a pregnant woman. The otherwise lovely couple is played by Sheila McCarthy as Audrey and Julian Richings as Henry, who are so Canadian, adding an extra layer to the film's dark comedy.

Lamberto Bava's Demons is more on the purely fun and wild side of the possession movie subgenre. This Italian film is about a mysterious theater in Berlin, where a man in a silver mask, played by director Michele Soavi, passes out tickets in the subway. After a patron scratches her face on a mask on display in the theater lobby, demonic infection is on the loose. The story is paralleled in the film screening in the theater, and Soavi plays one of the characters in the film. There aren't any exorcisms in this film since the main idea is to stay uninfected and escape from the growing demon horde.

While Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity is generally categorized as a found footage film, which it is, it is also a film about demonic possession. This film was a phenomenon when it was released. It stars Katie Featherston as Katie and Micah Sloat as Micah, the couple that moves into a new home in San Diego and finds that the house has a demonic presence. When they set up a camera, a great way to explain the filming that needs to happen in a found footage movie, they start to see unsettling and ultimately horrifying footage as the possession gets more serious. There is no exorcism because the demonologist is out of town, so things quickly go wrong.