Well if you get a lot of Jesus and good deeds movies ’round Christmas, why wouldn’t you get the finest of Satan and pure evil on Halloween? Meaner than Samuel L. Jackson, more powerful than Chuck Norris and scarier than any imaginable demons, the Devil makes his way in cinema with class.

10. The House of the Devil (2009)

A slow-paced horror with a good atmosphere in a style that pays tribute to older movies of the genre. One of the few glimpses of quality satanic horror in past decade.

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9. The Devil Rides Out (1968)

Christopher Lee (aka Lord of the Rings’ Saruman) plays the Duc de Richleau who has to confront a satanist cult in this UK horror classic set in the English countryside.

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8. Häxan (1922)

Although a silent movie and created as a documentary, this movie is a must for all occult enthusiasts. To this day, this still is one of the bravest explorations linking witchcraft and satanism with cinema. There is also a version of the film narrated by William S.Burroughs, recorded in the mid-1960s.

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7. Angel Heart (1986)

Mickey Rourke and Robert de Niro star in this richly atmospheric horror built around the case of finding a man called Johnny Favourite.

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6. The Masque of Red Death (1964)

A European prince terrorizes the local peasantry while using his castle as a refuge against the “Red Death” plague that stalks the land.

Vincent Price is Price Prospero. ’nuff said.

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5. The Ninth Gate (1999)

A rare book dealer, while seeking out the last two copies of a demon text, gets drawn into a conspiracy with supernatural overtones.

Johnny Depp is the main character in what was a major come-back for Roman Polanski at the time. The movie also features a truly devilish and fascinating Emmanuelle Seigner.

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4. The Omen (1976)

From the golden age of wicked film scores, The Omen remains a classic of its kind, although being considered outdated it also had a remake in 2006 (which I only recommend if you have a problem with 1970s sideburns and want to see how a Hollywood classic is ruined). As an interesting fact, Richard Donner is also the director of Lethal Weapon 1, 2 and 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PuIBNLOeEU

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3. The Black Cat (1934)

American honeymooners in Hungary are trapped in the home of a Satan-worshipping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.

Classic gem that confronts Boris Karloff (Frankenstein) and Bela Lugosi (Dracula). Lugosi’s character has a severe phobia of cats, Karloff is an evil Satanic cult leader and someone gets skinned alive in the movie.

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2. The Exorcist (1973)

When a child is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.

You probably can’t understand the true nature of a Halloween scare if you’ve never seen this.

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1. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life.

There can’t be a movie with a more Satanic theme, nor history behind it than Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby. The movie was filmed just one year prior to Polanski’s wife, Sharon Tate, being murder by Charles Manson & The Family, in 1969. Tate was 8 months pregnant at the time.

The film is also said to have featured Anton LaVey himself (founder of the Church of Satan) as the Devil. The case of Krzysztof Komeda, the composer of the original soundtrack is also a curious one, the Polish musician having also deceased in 1969 in dubious conditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri6uUmEhN40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQFwW8eAy4U

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Is this highway to hell appropriate for you or you’re more of a stairway to heaven-kind of person? If not for a lifetime, then at least for a night, one or more of these titles can charm your poor soul into malevolence. So why resist?

Featured image from Morzellac on deviantart.