Top 10 Horror Movies Like The Exorcist – Stream Tonight

Since William Friedkin’s 1973 horror film The Exorcist shocked viewers, the idea of exorcisms has become very popular in movies and in real life. This has led to memorable scenes featuring broken crosses, vomit, and lots of holy water.

In movies, people who are possessed usually look similar: their heads twist, their faces show pain, they hiss, their bodies bend in strange ways, and their bones seem to shake as they fight against a harmful spirit. Many directors keep changing the exorcism horror genre by exploring different ideas, like faith mistakes and psychological issues, providing endless scares for viewers.

From an all-time classic to current chillers, here are 10 of our favourite movies like the exorcist, ranked.

The Top 10 Movies Like The Exorcist:

The Omen (1976)

This 1976 horror movie is about the Antichrist’s birth and early childhood with his adoptive parents, who didn’t know where he came from since their own baby had died during birth.

Even though it made a lot of money, many reviewers at the time didn’t like it. Its fame has increased over time, and at least one scene is known as one of the scariest in movies. Its economic success and continued fame led to several sequels.

The Exorcism of God (2021)

The Vatican treats Father Peter Williams like royalty, and the church members adore him. However, he has been keeping a terrible secret for 18 years. A guilt-ridden priest, trying to forget a failed exorcism, throws himself into helping a small town in Mexico.

The past not only comes back to haunt him, but it also barrels into the present like a barbarian trainwreck packed with possessed prisoners and disease spreading to the townsfolk. Venezuelan director and co-writer Alejandro Hidalgo, known for the 2013 film The House at the End of Time, involves familiar themes in his work, especially similar to The Exorcist. However, he does well by focusing on Will’s personal struggle with the Devil.

The Nun (2018)

The Nun is a spin-off of the Conjuring series and is a religious horror movie filled with intense and scary themes. A spirit dressed as a nun kills some nuns. A priest, who hunts demons, goes to the convent where it happened, along with a young nun from Rome.

It has been discovered that the convent is located over a gap that a demon came through after it was reopened due to bombs. Possessions and exorcisms are common topics.

The Devil Inside (2012)

In 1989, Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) killed three priests during an attempted exorcism one fateful night. Twenty years later, her daughter (Fernanda Andrade) visits her in an Italian hospital to discover the truth. Is she mentally ill, or is she actually possessed by a demon? Four devils are tormenting her, and two exorcists, Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth, are set on getting rid of them.

This documentary-style thriller is filled with brutal attacks, seizures, and crosses cut into arms and mouths. Directed by William Brent Bell, known for 2022’s Orphan: First Kill, it shows how low-budget filmmaking can be a benefit. For example, The Devil Inside made over $101 million from just a $1 million budget.

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Winchester (2018)

Winchester tells the story of Sarah Winchester, the wife of the man who started the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It is based on a real person and true events. After her husband died, she believes that she is being haunted by the spirits of the people who died because of his goods.

She starts building a huge house, just like she did before, but it never seems to get finished. It strays from the real story because it includes ghosts, one of which takes over a doctor who was sent to evaluate her mental health.

This Is the End (2013)

We never imagined that famous stars like James Franco, Jonah Hill, and Seth Rogen would come together for a funny movie about an apocalypse, playing over-the-top versions of themselves.

In addition to humour, co-writers and directors Rogen and Evan Goldberg include unsettling moments of horror and gore in their project. This includes an exorcist scene with Hill that pays tribute to The Exorcist. The actor, who is possessed, has glowing green eyes and is growling while moving wildly on the shaking bed. Jay Baruchel is holding a cross up high. Plus, the clever spoof mostly got good reviews.

The Sentinel (1977)

A model who is feeling very down moves into a house in Brooklyn. Soon, she starts to get strange illnesses and has a lot of trouble sleeping. She goes to a party for her new neighbor’s cat and later finds out that the only other person in the building is the blind priest who lives upstairs.

After some odd and very intense magical events occur, she is placed in a mental health facility due to a nervous breakdown. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the brownstone is located above a gate to Hell, and her future is tied to it.

Deliver Us From Evil (2014)

Deliver Us From Evil leaves behind churches with evil nuns and spooky graveyards and sets its story in the Bronx. At first, the events are sad but not surprising; a baby dies in a back street, and a former soldier hits his wife. But when a mother (Olivia Horton) throws her child into a moat surrounding an enclosure full of prowling lions at the zoo, puzzle pieces come together like a satanic sign.

An NYPD cop named Ralph (Eric Bana), who has become a demon expert, teams up with an unconventional Spanish priest (Édgar Ramírez) to stop a demon outbreak in the city. The story looks at unusual healing methods and pagan beliefs in a scary way, and the music by The Doors adds to the mood.

The Witch (2016)

The film takes place in New England in the 1630s and tells the story of a family that has been kicked out of the Puritan Plymouth Colony before the Salem Witch Trials.

A witch takes the baby from the family, which causes the family to blame the oldest daughter for being the witch. As the family’s treatment of the girl becomes worse and worse, the mysterious events on their farm grow in number and become most drastic.

The Cleansing Hour (2019)

The Cleansing Hour takes the general picture of what an exorcism looks like and tosses it out the window. The story focusses on a live exorcism show led by “Father” Max (Ryan Guzman) and his best friend Drew (Kyle Gallner). Things take a strange turn when Drew’s fiancée (Alix Angelis) decides to be the next person to pretend to be “possessed.”

The show then unravels like a circus, hopping with rabid animals when real devils from the dark steal the stage, feeding off the rising live-stream viewer count. When 17 million people are watching, the crowd, including the president, gets really caught up in it. What starts as a harmless fake exorcism suddenly turns real, creating unexpected and dark entertainment.

Conclusion:

Possession horror remains popular because it combines psychological elements with magical excitement. Movies like The Exorcist and Hereditary provide a spooky experience that lingers in the minds of viewers long after they finish watching. If you enjoyed The Exorcist, you’ll definitely like these scary films.

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