Are you interested in angels, demons, ghosts, spirits, and monsters? Are you curious about their origins, influence, and how to protect against the unknown? If so, then welcome to Southern Demonology, the podcast that explores all of this and more.
As always, I'm your friendly neighborhood Ancient Demonologist JJ. Before we delve into the main topic, I do want to announce a few things. First, there will be one last episode of Bite, my limited run mini series that focuses on horror movie reviews and retrospectives coming on Halloween Day rather than this customary Friday drop. So I hope that you'll look forward to that. Second, I had two guest appearances for Halloween drop on other podcasts. The first is on Your Worst Friend, and this was the third year that I was invited back on the show.
And as always, I had a ton of fun speaking about horror movies, Okigahada, the Suicide Forest of Japan, and Biblical Monsters. Second, I once again joined Chris and Dean of the Wandering Road podcast to discuss the origins of Halloween and various paranormal goings on. Please support both of these excellent podcasts. I'll have links for both episodes in the show notes. Next week, I will be bringing you a really exciting follow-up interview with the father and son duo who have appeared more times at this point than any other guest I have ever had.
And that would be Father Birdsong, The Exorcist from Georgia, and his son, Deacon Josh. I had actually planned to run the first part of that interview. But for this Halloween episode, I want to talk about a movie that was recently in theaters and has just been released on the streaming platforms, namely by my old friend and ultimate arch nemesis Shudder. And the reason why I had a change of plans is I cannot stop thinking about this movie. I had been really excited to watch this one for a few reasons.
First, it is about demonic possession, and given the high that Nefarious gave us, I have some high hopes. Furthermore, this movie has gotten rave reviews. I cannot tell you the number of horror TikTok and YouTube reviews that I have seen about this film just singing its praises. Some even more than the celebrated film Talk to Me. In fact, I can't remember a movie that I had been more excited to watch. Especially considering that the director who made this one was also responsible for Terrified, which is one of my favorite horror movies bar none.
But third, and I have confirmed this, I am able to talk about this film because it is not on the struck list of works due to the SAG Afro strike. Thankfully, the WGA strike has been resolved satisfactorily, but the SAG strike is still going on. And I strongly support the guilds and their effort. And it's not just because I hope to consult for horror movies one of these days. No, I firmly believe in the power to unionize and to ensure that workers get a fair wage.
My mom worked for the phone company before she retired, and the number of times that a strike was required just to get them the minimum of what should be expected is absolutely ridiculous. And with the ever-present threat of AI on the horizon, additional safeguards are absolutely needed. But I digress. The movie I am talking about is When Evil Lurts. And in full disclosure, I actually wrote a vast majority of this review with only having watched half of the movie. And I had very little motivation to finish it.
But for the sake of completeness, I did watch the remainder as I kept thinking, maybe there's a twist or hook that redeems it. Maybe the director had an ace that ties it all together. And as I watched the credits roll, that hope, which had glimmered in my heart of hearts, was completely extinguished. If you know me, and if you've been listening to this podcast for any amount of time, then you do, I assure you, whether you want to or not, you know that I have one cardinal role when it comes to films about demonic possession.
And that is, to put it simply, demons are not substitutes for zombies. Demons do not possess people simply by looking at them, being near them, or touching them. Demons are not a virus, they never have been, they never will be. End of story. This is why Fallen is, in my opinion, one of the worst movies in the genre, and it's not just because they could never pronounce Azazel's name correctly. Although that certainly pissed me off more than a little bit.
Movies that treat demons like a virus are simply looking for a clever way to make those afflicted with the infestation behave more like people. Don't get me wrong. It certainly adds to the effect that if you can have a person acting maliciously with the knowledge that they have, then that is definitely a very scary prospect. If you could have a child say twisted themes or a loved one use their memories to dig into the hearts of others and make them bleed, then yes, you have something there. But that is not the truly terrifying thing about true demonic possession.
And I don't want to spoil this movie very much, but I think you know where I'm going. Yes, this film has some excellent cinematography, it does world building very well, and it does possess more than its fair share of moments that made me gasp and cringe. If the director gave the enemies in this movie any other name than a demon, then I think it would have been fine, but he did not, and this is further enforced by actually naming some of the biggest demons that there are, such as Azrael and Baal Zebub. After finishing the film, I can see where the director was trying to take this movie.
In a way, you can view it as the book of Job, writ large, but without the Hollywood ending. For those who don't know, the story of Job is much more ancient than the one found in the Hebrew Bible. And it was gussied up sometime in the Second Temple period with a better ending than the original Middle Eastern tale gave it. But this movie doesn't have the afflictions of Job happen because of an argument between God and not Satan, but a chief prosecutor, but rather because of their own actions.
In short, this movie attempted to be a grand parable of utter loss, not just for the characters involved, but for all of humanity. But it ultimately fails. And that really makes me angry. If there was ever a movie that I wanted to succeed just based upon its subject matter and pedigree, then this is it. If you've been following along with my many episodes of Bite, then you'll know that in the first episode of season two, I spoke about how much I looked forward to the movie It Follows, and was so let down by the massive plot holes and poor execution of the film.
Well, this frustration and disappointment with this movie made that pale in comparison. It follows might as well be moonlight bearing the reflection of the raging sun. That is when evil alerts. I want to reiterate this here in the hope is that maybe, just maybe, some aspiring director out there could hear this and maybe avoid one of the easiest mistakes that he, she, them, they, whoever it is, could make. The scary thing about demons is that they seek to absolutely corrupt, putrefy, and debase the human that is its target. And writ large, all of humanity.
Unless that person has their spiritual house in order, then that individual could be a target. And perhaps one of the scariest things is we don't know how these targets are selected. Malachi Martin did an extensive profiling on the cases that came across his desk. And he saw no rhyme or reason as to why a person could be a target of possession. However, from previous cases, we do know that if a person goes around opening doors willy-nilly, then that can easily put a bullseye on their back.
The other fascinating and scary thing about demonic possession is that people have an inbuilt mechanism for defense, and that is free will. However, that is not bullproof, it's not bulletproof, it's not a get out of jail free card. Otherwise, there would be no such thing as demonic possession. The pertinatural are the masters of manipulation, trickery, and lies. If they trick a person into accepting them in or in disbelieving that that line of protection exists in the first place, then they have established a chink in the armor and they have their way in.
And once the parasite is there, it is extremely difficult to get out. You can listen to any of the other numerous episodes that I have done on this particular topic, but at least according to the Catholic way of thinking, that requires the church's sanctioned approval, an exorcist fully in the grace of God, and an act of sacrifice on that exorcist's behalf. Because make no mistake, performing an exorcism is and always will be a highly dangerous activity that has been the ruin of many men who have attempted it, or strip them of their joy in life.
It is never something to be entered into lightly. So, to my would-be budding or future directors who may or may not be out there in the world, please, for the love of God.
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Don't confuse a virus with a demon. Don't confuse a zombie with a demon. But most of all, don't treat your audience as idiots. And it's this last point that I really want to harp on for just a little bit, if you can beg my indulgence. I realize that the topic that I am speaking about requires pretty specialized knowledge. I have more years of education than I care to admit, and the debt that proves it. Not everybody may be aware of this, and in days gone by, that may have worked in the film director's favor. However, nowadays, we have this little thing called the internet.
And yes, there is an easily reachable swath of people that anyone can provide knowledge to. Heck, content creators are incentivized by most platforms out there to draw in as many people as humanly possible by offering them money per so many views. And there is no shortage of people trying to draw such an audience, including myself. And beyond there just being a communication vehicle available that many, many people in the world have access to, but this plethora of content creators works exactly against your interests.
Back in the beginning, it was easy to attract people with very broad topics. But the more people that get involved, and they do by the bucket full every single day, then people begin to showcase their more specialized interests. And if one person has an interest, I guarantee you there's a crap ton more out there just waiting to hear about it. In fact, I mean, someone on our Discord server shared a video of someone who had made a fully working V8 engine model.
I myself have been watching videos of talented clay sculptors and people who were able to make medieval and Byzantine books from scratch with traditional tools. And that's not even beginning to scratch the surface. And these highly specialized content creators are gaining rather large audiences. Well, I can't really say that I had that particular curse, but that's neither here nor there, of course. What I'm getting at is that you can hope and pray that your movie may require specialized knowledge in order to fully debunk it. That makes it safer from scrutiny.
But I can assure you that that is not the case. For there are people like me in the world, and I am not unique in my qualifications, I assure you. And I am more than happy to call you out on your utter bullshit when you spew it. But the gravest sin that you would commit by making this mistake, by confusing demons for a virus, is that you cheapen what these things actually are and the dangers that they actively pose. Let's just say that your movie becomes famous.
And I don't mean for that year or becomes a cult hit to be fondly remembered and talked about in reverent tones during Halloween season by those in the know. I mean, let's just say that on the off chance that your film becomes one of the most truly talked about horror films since The Exorcist. Well, congratulations. You have now misdirected attention from the true horrors and dangers of demonic possession and replaced it with a cheap gimmick that many other creatures, mythos, and horror movie tropes have already filled. C.S.
Lewis was always famous for saying the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. Well, my potential future friend, you have aided the devil's work by taking the oxygen from the room, all in the hopes that your little movie would be scary. And by doing that, you have taught people erroneous information and missed a golden chance, if you care about that, to actually educate a little. Could never advocate for anything, especially something as silly as a movie, that gets even the very idea of the subject that horribly and terribly wrong.
Yes, I realize that the demonic infestation that When Evil Lurks is utilizing is perhaps more reminiscent of the pandemic that the world experienced. And metaphors are fine. That all of our lives were horrible in that period and can still stress us out is a okay method of connecting with your audience. But honestly, that's not what you should be going for. If you're wanting to make a movie that is timeless, then you should be catering to the largest common universal denominator that will span decades or centuries.
If you're relying upon a pandemic that will become as much myth down the road as the 1912 epidemic was to us living now, then you're missing the mark. And if you really want to make a modified virus or zombie, then that certainly isn't unheard of. There are such a plethora of similar movies out there that have sought new avenues to distinguish themselves. I mean, dear lord, we even have romantic comedies about zombies. And I'm not talking about Sean of the Dead that deals with relationship issues during a breakout.
I can think off the top of my head of two such films that actually involve the romance between a human and a zombie. And I shudder to think about the number of horrendous, independently published books out there that touch on the same topic in probably overly gratuitous ways. Please remind me to go take a shower after I get through recording this. As an artist, you're free to experiment and have fun when it doesn't matter, when there's no stakes in the venture. Yes, there will always be Romero purists out there who insist that fast zombies are an abomination unto the eyes of the Lord.
But be that as it may, but when that's not the case, when you could actually be introducing danger into the equation, then by God, be at least a little responsible in your quote-unquote artistic vision. Don't go yelling fire in the middle of a crowd. Yet I can envision one last protest these hypothetical directors would voice, and it's that they need the sheer power of ultimate evil in order to tell my grand parable that speaks of human nature and human folly.
If I could avoid talking about the hubris of that very statement, and while I do have a great deal of self-control, I'm not kidding myself by thinking I have that much at my disposal. I would simply respond with, do a little research or hire someone responsible to do it for you. I promise you, there's thousands of years of actual lore and history to draw upon that actually reflects reality rather than a hastily cobbled together bit of world building that's never fully explored to begin with. The true power of any story of the demonic lies within the beliefs and passions of the faithful.
If your lore decides to bypass all of that and even in some ways trample over it, then what the parable becomes isn't that of human folly, but rather your own. For you have decided that your story is of much greater importance than anything else. And in doing so, you have proven your parable by your own actions rather than merely depicting a fictitious one. And that's what saddens me most of all. Rather than being grand, this movie wallows in its own ignorance and self-importance.
And that in and of itself leaves me angry, but it also leaves me deeply saddened and feeling more than a little hopeless. I hate leaving you with nothing but negatives in a review episode. But for the first time in a long time, I am filled with such nihilism after watching When Evil Lurts, that I can't even muster the strength to try to find some light to shine your way, my friends.
When you've spent decades of your life devoted to a particular set of topics, and then to see a movie, nevertheless, a movie that you greatly anticipated, take a giant dump over all of it just to tell a story that I thought was more important than what is truly out there, then it's hard to avoid the negativity. So instead, I will end with a simple plea to all of those who want to touch on this subject in the future. Do better. Be proper stewards of knowledge. Take responsibility for what you unleash into the world. Everything comes with repercussions and reverberations.
We've seen this with the Pope's Exorcist. We've now witnessed it again with when evil works. Yes, we've had one solid representative of this genre in the form of Nefarious, but I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop for the next film that will complete this unholy trinity of bullshit. Sorry for being so negative, and I truly do hope that all of you listening out there have a phenomenal Halloween. You deserve it. Been a rough year. Go have fun. Celebrate the season in the way that will bring you the most delight. I just really hope that that does not include when evil works.
Find us online at Southern Demonology.com, which offers links to all of our social media and episodes. Southern Demonology is solely owned, produced, and edited by myself, and the intro and outro music are composed by me as well. If you have a moment, please rate, like, and share this podcast, as it is the best way to help support my work. As always, I am JJ, and it has been a pleasure to speak to you today.