Reality Not Religion

 Back on April 15th I had a post on a review of a movie, Nefarious I had seen. My point at the time, besides that gentle readers might like this movie, was that the horror of this movie was not the typical blood, guts and special effects, but was rather in the nature of the gradual demonic takeover of a person until he no longer believes he can be forgiven. Step by step, half lies and untruths told at just the right moment to trap the victim. As I said at the time, my blood ran cold. You can read my initial review here.

There is another review of the movie at Townhall.com entitled Nefarious: A Faith-Based Horror Film? by Roberto Orlando. Orlando seems to be somewhat afraid to come right out and say that this is in fact a faith based movie, thus the question mark at the end of the title.

The narrative of Nefarious is straightforward: A supposed sociopathic murderer named Edward Wayne Brady (Sean Patrick Flanery in prison and awaiting interrogation. We learn that he's not insane but a nefarious demon who welcomes the electric chair to flee his current host.

Our protagonist is Dr. James Martin (Jordan Belfi) professed atheist sent to judge Brady's sanity and, thus, his life or death; he learns from Nefarious and the world down under (a la The Screwtape Letters) that by the end of their session, he (Martin) will commit three murders. Therein lies the inciting incident that sparks the conflict.

...snip...

In a plot that bespeaks the arrogance of modern man, it works toward proving the moral theme: Judge not, lest ye be judged. It also cautions the audience: dismiss faith (and the devil) at your peril.

Go ahead and read Orlando's article. However, an even better review can be found at Crisis Magazine by Sheryl Collmer entitled Nefarious Is...

Nefarious is not a horror movie along the lines of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Nightmare on Elm Street, which I plan to exit this life without ever having seen (see Carrie, above.) It didn’t have shower scenes, or someone presumed dead grabbing your ankle, or gore galore. It was basically a conversation between an unbeliever and a demon. And the demon had all the muscle.

...snip...

The movie had tones of The Screwtape Letters (without the whimsy) as it drew the curtain back from the strategies and objectives of the dark angels. He tells us exactly how the demons win their game, and thus it becomes a warning for the audience. Like Screwtape, Nefarious plays the long game, waiting patiently as his subjects make tiny decisions wrong and, unexaminedly, go on to make bigger wrong decisions until the sins are so disastrous that the soul despairs and then belongs wholly to the demons.

Nefarious Is... a review by a Christian and a Catholic, and for reasons I don't understand, the Catholics seem to be the most aware of the real demons around us. Prohibitionists used to call alcohol "demon rum." But alcohol is just a substance, entirely neutral, neither good nor bad. The real demon is the living being that tempts the alcoholic to drink to excess. There is no cure for alcoholism, but by turning to Christ each and every day, the alcoholic can live a normal life. And as I read the Bible each day, I find it to be reality, as the archeologists keep finding out.  Indeed, maybe it is time to stop calling it a religion, for as I keep insisting, it is the hard Truth.

The thing is, I was never aware that it was a religious movie. The main character was a demon, yes, so by definition, it was spiritual. But it did not strike me as religious, the way God’s Not Dead did. There was theology, as the demon tells his story, and I went home and fact-checked it to my Bible, but it still struck me as reality not religion. As Frank Sheed said in Theology and Sanity, “To overlook God’s presence is not simply to be irreligious: it is a kind of insanity, like overlooking anything else that is actually there.” Or in other words, a movie that takes account of God and spirits is simply sane, not religious.

I think Sheryl Colmer's article at Crisis Magazine is the bestreview so far.