I remember the first "demon" I came across in a film. More accurately, it was a poltergeist. Thought not technically a demonic force the actions of this pesky little spirit were demonic enough. You see, I grew up in the town of Poltergeist, the movie. I used to ride my bike past the poltergeist house in Simi Valley, CA. Each time, images of TVs flicking on by themselves, possessed clowns, and bodies emerging from the front lawn would creep into my mind.
The "Poltergeist House" in Simi Valley, CA where I grew up. What wonderful, horrifying, childhood memories.
Shudder.
Then, there were the angels. John Travolta as Michael, the post-modern angel-human romance of Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin), Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life, or the kickass, androgynous, Tilda Swinton Gabriel in Constantine. No matter the angel movie, I have always preferred them to pop-culture demons (though Paul Bettany's angel in Legion may be an exception).
Tilda Swinton as an androgynous angel in "Constantine" with co-star Keanu Reaves.
Any way you cut it, our culture has a seeming fascination with angels and demons in pop culture -- particularly film. Over on the front page for Read the Spirit we are featuring an interview with Greg Garrett in which he talks about his new book Entertaining Judgment: The Afterlife in Popular Imagination. This book, as RTS chief David Crumm shares, covers the "entire cosmos...from Heaven to Hell—including visits with angels and demons, comic book super heroes, TV stars, great authors and even strange characters in video games—all in 200 pages!"