Demonic Possession movies are a storied enough subset of the supernatural horror genre to deserve their own category.

I’m not a religious man, but for some reason this is the genre that frightens me the most. Something about the creepiness of ordinary people turned into monsters, I guess.

Because of that, I probably have the most gaps in my viewing lineup for these films as well. I haven’t watched the Conjuring or Insidious films yet, and I haven’t fired up Paranormal Activity. I haven’t gotten around to The Omen, either, a movie that always frightened me from afar when I was a kid.

But I have managed to watch some really good demonic possession movies in spite of myself.

One of the best is Roman Polanski’s 1968 Rosemary’s Baby, in which Mia Farrow slowly realizes she’s carrying the spawn of Satan.

I also enjoyed The Evil Dead (1981), Sam Raimi’s directorial debut. It’s a DIY cult classic. I’ve been meaning to get to Raimi’s even more beloved Evil Dead II, as well as the third film in the series, Army of Darkness.

I did watch this year’s reboot Evil Dead Rise, which moved the action from a remote cabin to a big city apartment building. It’s well made, but lacks the goofy charm of Raimi.

Not charming but just plain goofy is Hellraiser, Clive Barker’s 1987 directorial debut. The film spawned multiple sequels and made lead villain Pinhead into a horror icon. It’s not good.

Two recent films that are very good are Robert Eggers’ 2015 The Witch and Ari Aster’s 2018 Hereditary. The former is a gothic folk tale that gave Anya Taylor Joy her breakout role. The latter is a dark family drama featuring some of Toni Colette’s best work.

Strong performances by women are a staple of the horror genre, though they are infrequently recognized by the Motion Picture Academy.

A movie that did land three acting nominations (for Actress, Supporting Actress, and Supporting Actor), and seven more, including Picture and Director, is the late William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973).

The Exorcist is considered by many the best horror film ever made, and I can’t say I disagree. It’s so good because it is first and foremost a gripping drama about a mother desperate to protect her daughter, and a priest struggling with his faith.

Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, and Jason Miller are excellent in those roles, earning their unlikely Oscar nominations.

Fifty years on, The Exorcist remains supremely unsettling, even if the effects are clunky by today’s standards. The head-spinning, pea soup vomiting and levitation still shock, but no more than the hateful epithets spewing from young Reagan’s mouth.

But set the exorcism scenes aside, and the film’s most disturbing set piece may well be an excruciating angiography procedure staged with chilling fidelity. Watching your daughter violated by medical professionals, it seems, is little different than seeing her succumb to an agent of evil.

I had never seen The Exorcist before last year, and I’ve seen it twice now (including a big-screen anniversary showing this month). I anticipate revisiting it again, as it has quickly become a new favorite. Discoveries like this are why I embarked on this horror project in the first place.

Next up: Sci-Fi