History Main / HollywoodExorcism

** The Ordo Malleus section of the Inquisition is charged with investigating suspected Chaos activity and putting a stop to it before it gets out of hand. Best case scenario is that no more than a dozen people end up getting killed, while the worst case scenario may well involve an Exterminatus -- an order to have an entire planet ''destroyed'' to prevent further spread of Chaos contamination.
** The Exorcists chapter of SpaceMarines take it further: Every member of the Exorcists has survived a deliberate DemonicPossession (well, of something living in the Warp, at any rate, and as weak as they can get) before being exorcised, the end result being a SpaceMarine with PSychicPowers that's invisible to all but the strongest demonic entities and psykers. While even passing familiarity with the Warp would lead one to think it obviously doomed to fail, it somehow succeeded, and the Exorcists' first test run saw them achieve a kill ration of 97 to ''1''.

* Works like ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'' or ''Film/TheAmityvilleHorror1979'' apply this trope to entire [[HauntedHouse buildings.]]

Back in the day, exorcisms used to be all the rage. Any instance of mental 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.

In the Literature/BardicVoices novel ''The Robin and the Kestrel'', the main characters see an exorcism being performed publicly as a church miracle, but Robin immediately recognizes it as false because it features several stage magician tricks that she knows herself. This serves as part of her motivation to take down the [[CorruptChurch evil Bishop]] who serves as the novel's BigBad, as those tricks are supposed to be secrets only her people know.

** The Exorcists chapter of SpaceMarines take it further: Every member of the Exorcists has survived a deliberate DemonicPossession (well, of something living in the Warp, at any rate, and as weak as they can get) before being exorcized, the end result being a SpaceMarine with PSychicPowers that's invisible to all but the strongest demonic entities and psykers. While even passing familiarity with the Warp would lead one to think it obviously doomed to fail, it somehow succeeded, and the Exorcists' first test run saw them achieve a kill ration of 97 to ''1''.

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.

* ''Literature/BreakOfDark'' by Creator/RobertWestall plays this straight in ''Blackham's Wimpy''. Dadda Townsend, the bomber group's resident [[IrishPriest Irishman with some time at seminary]], tries to convince the German ghost in S-Sugar to leave with the Bible, rosary beads, Latin and some just plain understanding and reasoning. It doesn't work.

These affairs are likely to be very dramatic. The exorcist will call upon a deity's name (usually Jesus, but sometimes the Holy Ghost, the Father, or another deity altogether if the religion is not [[CrystalDragonJesus of this world]]). There will be splashing of holy water, physical and emotional battles of will, [[OminousLatinChanting fervent chanting]] [[GratuitousLatin in Latin]] and perhaps some cool special effects. Expect the walls to bleed, the subject of possession to wail and shake in ways no human could imagine, and a demon to emerge either in physical or shadow form. Or so Hollywood would have you believe.

* The ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "I've Got You Under My Skin" shows Wesley attempting and Angel succeeding in performing an exorcism on a possessing demon. There's talk about an exorcist priest which the two had sought before, but the priest in question had been killed by the same type of demon they wanted to exorcise. [[spoiler:In any case, turns out the child was even worse than the demon]].
* A techno-fantasy version in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "Sleeper" (supposedly forcing an alien secondary personality to manifest, but played just like Hollywood Exorcism).

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/KnightsOfBuenaVista'' is a CampaignComic covering ''{{Disney/Frozen}}''. When Elsa's powers are revealed, an NPC shouts that she must be possessed by Satan. Then another NPC wants to get some holy water and a two by four.

* A techno-fantasy version in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "Sleeper" (supposedly forcing an alien secondary personality to manifest, but played just like HollywoodExorcism).

* Gandalf the White casts Saruman out of King Theoden of Rohan in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: The Two Towers'' in a manner very reminiscent of an exorcism. Gandalf primarily uses his power as one of the Maiar to do the deed instead of calling upon any higher power, though.

* The free game ''VideoGame/{{Faith}}'' involves a priest returning to the site of a failed exorcism that had claimed the lives of his colleagues (and the victim's parents) to try to finish the job. As this is a {{Retraux}} video game, his technique consists entirely of aiming a cross in the general direction of what he's trying to exorcise. Somehow, his cross is also able to scrounge up relevant documents as well.

Nowadays, the [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic church]] is loath to declare "possession" and perform exorcisms. Real life cases have proved that many cases of DemonicPossession are 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 the day, exorcisms used to be all the rage. Any instance of mental illness was ruled to be DemonicPossession. You know what that means: 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.

These affairs are likely to be very dramatic. The exorcist will call upon a deity's name (usually Jesus, but sometimes the Holy Ghost, the Father, or another deity altogether if the religion is not [[CrystalDragonJesus of this world]]). There will be splashing of holy water, physical and emotional battles of will, [[OminousLatinChanting fervent chanting]] [[AltumVidetur in Latin]] and perhaps some cool special effects. Expect the walls to bleed, the subject of possession to wail and shake in ways no human could imagine, and a demon to emerge either in physical or shadow form. Or so Hollywood would have you believe.

* ''Film/{{Constantine}}''. The title character's attempt to exorcise Mammon from Angela Dodson. It doesn't work.

* Gandalf the White casts Saruman out of King Theoden of Rohan in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: The Two Towers'' in a manner very reminiscent of an exorcism. Gandalf primarily uses his power as one of the Maiar to do the deed instead of calling upon any higher power though.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

* In ''Theatre/TheLeagueOfSTEAM''[='s=] webisode "Dinner with the Devil", Sir Conrad performs one. It goes awry.
* In episode 4 of ''WebVideo/{{Spooked}}'', the team perform an exorcism, complete with Bible recitals, candles, a circle of salt and a member of the group dressing up in priestly garbs.
* ''WebVideo/PokemonPals'': Parodied when Ash and Brock hire a "pokepriest" to exorcise a Ghastly out of Misty.

* One such ritual takes place in an episode centering on DemonicPossession in ''WebVideo/BedtimeStoriesYoutubeChannel'', where Michael Taylor, a British man, is subjected to three priests armed with crucifixes, who manage to remove all but three demons from him. This comes back to bite all of the parties involved later on...

* ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy''. A Catholic priest successfully performs the ritual to banish a Possessed from the body she has taken over. However it's later pointed out that the ritual only succeeds because that particular Possessed believed it would work, having brought up in a more religious time and spent centuries in [[TheNothingAfterDeath The Beyond]] which she assumed was the Hell she'd been told about. When Joshua Calvert tries the same trick it doesn't work, as that Possessed used to be a Muslim.

Nowadays, the [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholic church]] is loath to declare "possession" and perform exorcisms. Real life cases have proved that many cases of DemonicPossession are 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 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.

** 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.

Related to DemonicPossession.