Horror Movies: Harmless Entertainment or Spiritual Evil?

This post was first published June 23, 2015 and was updated October 27, 2025

When I was a kid, we had horror movies, of course. There’s Freddy, Jason, Chuckie, and don’t forget Poltergeist. Not wholesome by any stretch of the imagination, but surprisingly tame by today’s standards of what “horror entertainment” looks like.

Desensitized to Evil: How Horror Movies Numb the Soul

And yet, there are enough examples of horror movies from my day that could be categorized as outright frightening and evil. Still, not many could match today’s blatantly demonic media. Even The Exorcist, as terrifying as it was, had a subject and a plot that told an actual story. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were labeled as merely suspense or drama by today’s standards.

In fact, what you can watch on network television today is more graphically evil than many of the horror movies from not long ago. Not to mention the blatantly evil celebration that we call Halloween – another cultural moment where believers must discern darkness – as I explain in my Christian response to dark spiritual themes like Halloween.

Would you agree that we have been desensitized to graphic displays of violence and evil?

It’s like the line that represents shock factor is constantly being crossed and re-drawn. The entertainment industry, and horror movies in particular, seem to be an effective way to cross that line.

You don’t have to go far to find that shock factor, either. I’m amazed at the visual trauma presented just on the television commercials for some movies!

This week alone, I’ve seen 3 ads that are, in my opinion, the definition of what I’m going to call spiritually dangerous media.

Not So Imaginary Friends: Spiritual Beings Behind the Fear

One advertised television show has children communicating with “imaginary friends” who turn out to be not so imaginary. These “friends” turn out to be a manipulative enemy whose goal is to destroy humanity. A suspenseful story and probably very entertaining to some people, but spiritually dangerous nonetheless.

What’s more, this story line is not so far off from the reality of the supernatural world around us.

The Bible calls this divination and God forbids His people from messing with it in any way. In Deuteronomy 18:9-14, God sternly warns Israel against falling in step with those who practice these things.

When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.

Deuteronomy 18:9

In Acts 16:16, Luke writes that he, Silas, and Paul encountered a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. She used fortune telling to make money for her masters, but this spirit recognized Paul and his group as followers of Jesus and harassed them for days. Paul eventually “became grieved” that the evil spirit was controlling the girl.

So he cast it out of her.

Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”

Acts 16:18

Fortune telling, consulting stars, tea leaves, horoscopes, or anything else is spiritually destructive and we have been warned against it, and Scripture teaches us not only to recognize evil, but to hate what is wicked and cling to what is good – which is why believers are called to understand what God hates and why believers must guard their hearts.

More Than a Ghost Story: When Horror Reflects the Demonic

Another movie ad shows the remaking of a high school play that a student died in 20 years earlier. In an attempt to honor that death, present day high school students resurrect more than a badly written play. In this one, the alleged ghost of the dead student returns to go on a horrific murder spree.

Yeah, you’re able to discern that much just from a commercial.

Hey, ghost stories are thrilling, I loved them as a kid. As an adult however, I understand that ghosts, like the one in this movie, are not the wandering souls of the departed. Rather, they’re demonic forces playing the part. It’s not out of the question for a demonic agent to replicate something, or someone from the past.

It’s actually quite a normal practice for demons to do just that.

Spiritual Warfare for Every Christian by Dean Sherman (YWAM) is one of the most instructive, eye-opening, and easy to understand books I’ve ever read on the unseen realm and spiritual warfare. I strongly recommend this book to all Christians. (affiliate link)

The Bible explains that while we are in our earthly bodies we are physically away from the Lord. It’s at death, when we depart from our flesh, that we’re in the presence of God (2 Corinthians 5:7-8). Even more to the point, Hebrews tells us that every person is appointed one death followed by a judgement.

Not a second chance, and certainly not an aimless wandering.

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…

Hebrews 9:27

Ghosts and hauntings can make for wildly entertaining stories, no doubt about it. Yet they are most certainly not an accurate representation of our existence following death. Plus, they ultimately lead people to believe in something else other than the reality of an impending appointment with our Creator.

What would bring the demonic enemies of God to more satisfaction than to convince you of false things about death and the afterlife?

Hope Beyond the Grave: Why Christians Don’t Need Dark Thrills

There’s one more television show that triggered my red flag. It’s a series based on a wealthy man who is dying that offers a surgeon a ton of money to explore what comes after death.

This surgeon apparently probes cases of hauntings, near-death experiences, and reincarnation. That, of course, is the Eastern mystical belief that we get do-overs and multiple chances to “get life right” and to ultimately “find God.”

Or perhaps even become one according to some cults.

Unfortunately, the demonic new age belief that this series represents are more common among American Christians than you might think.

Mankind has always searched for some evidence of hope that death is not final. I’m afraid that this show falls entirely short in finding that hope. Sadly, many viewers will be left with less hope and more questions than before.

Jesus taught many times during his earthly ministry about hope beyond death and the grave. You’ll find one of his most direct conversations in John’s Gospel.

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

John 14:2-3

Horror Movies Are Entertaining, So What’s Actually Spiritually Wrong With Them?

My aim isn’t to ruin anyone’s fun or condemn people for what they watch. The real concern is when believers who confess Christ begin to draw pleasure from stories that glorify the very darkness God warns us to resist. Entertainment is never spiritually neutral, and horror as a genre often celebrates fear, death, and demonic power.

God commands His people to “abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). That means we actively guard what we allow into our hearts and minds, especially through media. This is part of learning to walk in the light with clarity and courage, even when the culture pushes darkness as entertainment, a key part of how to stand firm in a culture hostile to biblical truth.

Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22

I’m also concerned about the minds and souls of people who don’t know Christ. People are being deceived by an evil assault of media that, as horrific as it has become, pales in comparison to the actual spirit world that Scripture tells us is at war around us, completely unseen.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

The call for the Christian is not merely to avoid evil, but to choose what brings life: what strengthens holiness, nurtures peace, and exalts Christ instead of darkness. In a world saturated with fear, believers ought to be marked by discernment, purity, and a mind set on what is good (Philippians 4:8). Turning from horror is not about the entertainment you might be losing, it’s about gaining spiritual clarity.

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