History Main / HollywoodExorcism

Nowadays, the [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic Church]] is loath to declare "possession" and perform exorcisms; the exorcists in the Church are trained to ensure that what they are dealing with is deemed a genuine demonic possession and not and ''not'' something that can be dealt with by a doctor or a psychiatrist. This trope still gets play in ReligiousHorror and other such genres, but it is more likely to be subverted in works that either treat demons as nonexistent or consider exorcising the BigBad to be too easy and anticlimactic.

Nowadays, the [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic Church]] is loath to declare "possession" and perform exorcisms due to the fact that exorcisms were performed under those who were not suffering from "possesion." This trope still gets play in ReligiousHorror and other such genres, but is more likely to be subverted in more serious works, which either treat demons as not existing at all, or consider exorcising the BigBad to be too easy and anticlimactic.

Another point: Fictional portrayals of exorcism will sometimes involve "bell, book and candle." In real life, the Catholic casting-out ritual of bell, book, and candle is a form of ''excommunication'', something quite different. The particular ritual involved is no longer practiced, regardless.

Nowadays, the [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic Church]] is loath to declare "possession" and perform exorcisms. Real life cases have proved that many cases of DemonicPossession are [[ScienceMarchesOn actually a result of severe psychological disorders (usually epilepsy or schizophrenia)]]. Indeed, there are several symptoms which must be met for the church to consider that an exorcism is needed, such as being aware of events that the possessed individual should not have any way of knowing, and [[HolyBurnsEvil being burned by religious imagery]]. This trope still gets play in ReligiousHorror and other such genres, but is more likely to be subverted in more serious works, which either treat demons as not existing at all, or consider exorcising the BigBad to be too easy and anticlimactic.

Back in the day, exorcisms used to be all the rage. Any instance of mental illness (and sometimes physical illness) was ruled to be DemonicPossession. You know what that means: [[ExorcistHead head spinning]], projectile vomit, and speaking in tongues. Pretty soon you have no choice but to haul in [[BadassPreacher an exorcist]] to cast the demon out of the person in question and send it back to Hell.

** This trope is parodied in "Bring Em Back Alive". Lucifer drops in on a [[Film/TheExorcist very familiar]] DemonicPossession scene and expels the minor demon with a gesture. The demon in question was apparently just messing with the priests for shits and giggles. The priests really aren't happy to discover that ''Lucifer'' just helped them out.

* Nice twist on this in the ''Series/BabylonFive'' DirectToVideo spin-off ''The Lost Tales''. A character on the station was spectacularly demon-possessed, but we didn't see the exorcism as the preacher had him shipped back to Earth for it. The concept was [[spoiler: that demons are trapped on Earth by some mystical barrier, and that this demon was deliberately trying to get exorcised from its victim on a space station so that it could then wander the universe freely.]]

* A very creepy ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode called "Demonology" centered around a [[SinisterMinister priest]] who had been performing ''lethal'' exorcisms. Though it was left ambiguous as to whether he was using poisoned Holy Water (the teams working theory) or if the victims were all actually possessed by "taking you with me" demons.

* ''{{Series/Salem}}'': Mercy's father gives her one, though it doesn't have the usual "The Power of Christ compels you!" bit. Notably it includes making a cut on her stomach, and then a ''snake'' slithers out. Turns out that was how the witches were controlling her, it actually worked.

* ''Series/{{The Sandman|2022}}'', "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E03DreamALittleDreamOfMe Dream a Little Dream of Me]]": Johanna Constantine's exorcisms involve a lot of Latin chanting and dramatic light shows and other effects as the demons struggle to avoid being banished.

** Most cases of exorcism are treated by a quick lasbolt to the head before the daemon can fully emerge (psykers are particularly prone to DemonicPossession, shooting them straightaway is actually a MercyKill). The Exorcists chapter of SpaceMarines takes it a step further: as part of their initiation, every Marine is intentionally possessed by a daemon for a short time before being exorcised. While incredibly risky, this has the advantage of rendering them far more resilient to the taint of Chaos and even affords them a measure of protection when fighting Warp-spawned entities.

->'''Tracey''': What's that?
->'''Dorien''': A sword. I have to imagine a sword that ignites a circle of fire.
->'''Tracey''': You mind my carpet.

* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'':

* The final battle of ''VideoGame/SweetHome'' involves the survivors trying to exorcise [[spoiler: the vengeful spirit of Mamiya]]. This involves [[PuzzleBoss using important items]] and Praying at the right moments.

->'''Tracey''': Wha's that?

Nowadays, the [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic church]] is loath to declare "possession" and perform exorcisms. Real life cases have proved that many cases of DemonicPossession are [[ScienceMarchesOn actually a result of severe psychological disorders (usually epilepsy or schizophrenia)]]. Indeed, there are several symptoms which must be met for the church to consider that an exorcism is needed, such as being aware of events that the possessed individual should not have any way of knowing, and [[HolyBurnsEvil being burned by religious imagery]]. This trope still gets play in ReligiousHorror and other such genres, but is more likely to be subverted in more serious works, which either treat demons as not existing at all, or consider exorcising the BigBad to be too easy and anticlimactic.

[[caption-width-right:350:"The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!"]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2009-03-08 Satan and Baby Blue stage an inverted one, to try to bring Fuchsia back to evil.]]

* Averted in ''The Devils of D-Day'' where it's pointed out that exorcisms are hardly ever used these days, and the only priest who actually believes in the danger is too old and feeble and ends up getting killed. In the end the protagonists have to call up angelic assistance for the task.

''[[DescribeTopicHere By the power of Almighty Christ, I cast the demons OUT of this page description!]]''

Nowadays, the [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic church]] is loath to declare "possession" and perform exorcisms. Real life cases have proved that many cases of DemonicPossession are [[ScienceMarchesOn actually a result of severe psychological disorders (usually epilepsy or schizophrenia)]]. Indeed, there are several symptoms which must be met for the church to consider that an exorcism is needed, such as being aware of events that the possessed individual should not have any way of knowing, and [[HolyBurnsEvil being burned by religious imagery]]. This trope still gets play in ReligiousHorror and other such genres, but is more likely to be subverted in more serious works, which either don't believe in demons at all, or consider exorcising the BigBad to be too easy and anticlimactic.

Nowadays, the [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic church]] is loath to declare "possession" and perform exorcisms. Real life cases have proved that many cases of DemonicPossession are [[ScienceMarchesOn actually a result of severe psychological disorders (usually epilepsy or schizophrenia)]]. Indeed, there are several symptoms which must be met for the church to consider that an exorcism is needed, such as being aware of events that the possessed individual should not have any way of knowing, and [[HolyBurnsEvil being burned by religious imagery]]. This trope still gets play in ReligiousHorror and other such genres, but is more likely to be subverted in more serious works.

* Back in 2000 BBC did a show called ''Everyman'' and one of the episodes was about real exorcism done by real priests.[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh9EAPqM1OA "Everyman- Exorcism "]]