Of course, some lesser actors have too.
Some of them in great films.
Some movies take their ritualistic studies seriously, some make cartoons out of them.
Having poured over these films over the past two weeks, I’m starting with these.
Smithers, who is that cloven-hoofed fellow?
I like the cut of his jib.
Mr. Burns speaks, as he often does, for all of us.
Theres something about the guy with the horns thats just so likeable.
Hes got class, wealth and taste.
Hes the ultimate bad boy, and it never gets old.
Actors always knew the villain was the most fun to play.
In cave plays they all wanted to be the sabre tooth.
Hes got a pitchfork and horns.
He can get you anything you want.
Where would metal be without Mr. D?
Im sure hes played or at least done the voice of god somewhere too.
Maybe in a home movie.
Von Sydow brought more than class and great acting chops, he brought his history.
We believe his wisdom because weve seen him see so much.
He could be the real deal.
This is the guy who played chess with death.
His resume could get him elected Pope.
As Leland Gaunt, Von Sydow is charming and fun.
Just the way you want your Satan to be.
Hes a great salesman and has everything in stock.
Dont blame me, blame it on the bossa nova.
He was an admitted Walter Huston fan and must have known someone would compare their interpretations.
Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise.
Alan Parker unleashes an amused malevolence in De Niro, a cat seducing his prey with menace.
Until he lets his hair down and beads his jaundiced eyes on you.
Let me give you a little inside information about God.
God likes to watch.
He gives man instincts.
He sets the rules in opposition.
Its the goof of all time.
Look but dont touch.
Touch, but dont taste.
Taste, dont swallow.
And while youre jumping from one foot to the next, what is he doing?
Hes laughing his sick, fucking ass off.
Hes an absentee landlord.
The wall that represents hell is an artful allegory, binding the lost souls in love and torment.
Dustin Hoffman, The Messenger, 1999
Dustin Hoffman is a serious student of the method style of acting.
Olivier asked, Why dont you just act?
What is a worse hell than questioning ones entire perception?
He rips apart her certainty.
God was in a sword in a field.
She was sure of it.
There are many ways a sword might find itself in a field.
But she chooses what she wants to see.
Hes slick, this devil.
Dustin Hoffman gives us a very laid back Satan, underplaying him to provoke madness.
Jack Nicholson plays the infernal one as man of uncontrollable appetites.
Hes a sugar and sex junkie and the pits of his personal hell are women.
Of course, when Van Horne makes mistakes, they call it evil.
God makes mistakes and they call it nature.
Van Horne says god made this dog-eat-dog, man-eat-man world, that has no purpose.
Its a terrible creation, this world.
An unholy war of nature.
A parasitic cellular conflagration.
Daryl Van Horne is just trying to survive.
And keep his dick hard.
He didnt particularly like them, but he knew them.
Wheatley put meticulous research into his writing as Hammer Films put meticulous care into the detail of the film.
Hammer tries to make his invocation as realistic as possible.
The Goat of Mendes is perfectly believable, underplayed even.
It is horrifically effective because of that.
Too bad it was cut for reasons of moral decency.
Since the titans ate their kids.
He is a devil of darkness, worships the black.
Oh, Mother Night.
Fold your dark arms about me.
Protect me in your black embrace.
I sit alone, an impotent exile, whilst this form, this presence, returns to torment me.
So many demons measure themselves against god.
They see the dark light conflict as a matter of balance and they always want to tip the scale.
What are you without me?
I am a part of you all.
you’ve got the option to never defeat me.
We are brothers eternal.
When this demon leaves the solace of his shadows, sunshine destroys him.
It is inspired and inspiring.
It has more laughs per square inch than almost any other strip of celluloid.
It has a plot that takes on the world.
Satan is a wounded soul.
Its lonely at the bottom.
And Satans bottom is gigantic and red, not to be confused with Liza Minelli.
He is a needy despot.
His is a simple philosophy.
Without evil there could be no good, so it must be good to be evil sometimes.
Brian De Palma brought them together and threw them into a mix ofFaust, Dorian GreyandPhantom of the Opera.
To play the devilish deed-holder he brought in Paul Williams.
If the audience could believe anyone who might have sold their soul for stardom, who better?
He was built like a munchkin, had Carol Channings voice and Dr. Zaius face.
I knew it when he played a rock star with groupies on the TV show The Odd Couple.
This was the face of Satan.
Swan taught Phil Spector a thing or two.
The Beatles first singles were on the Swan label.
Everything terminates with Swan.
David Warner, Time Bandits, 1981
The Evil Genius inTime Banditsis a forward thinker and a mechanical tinkerer.
He understands digital watches and is on his way to understanding video cassette recorders and car telephones.
Once he gets them hell be able to understand computers.
And then he will be the Supreme Being.
David Warner plays the devil as a curious man, happy in his discoveries, inquisitive and ambitious.
God isnt interested in technology.
He knows nothing of the potential of the microchip or the silicon revolution.
If the Evil Genius had created the world, he wouldnt mess about with butterflies and daffodils.
I would have started with lasers, eight oclock, day one.
It is good, for this is the worst kind of badness that Im feeling.
And we feel it with him and it is good because its bad.
This is a sneaky devil.
This one wants more than the soul.
It wants to challenge the mind.
He knows hes not trusted, not even liked.
He shows up as a cardboard cut-out shooting target with a bulls-eye on his chest.
He aint going nowhere.
But he doesnt want to see his acquaintances waste their lives on misery.
He warns No, wait!
Thats the wrong choice!
That bridge leads to failure and despair.
Youll be dead before youre thirty.
This is the one.
This is the bridge to manhood.
But he is intolerant of bullshit.
Why would people waste their time on such nonsense and why would they waste it so fervently.
Belief is a myth and when he holds the presses, he points out, The storys stopped.
And yet, were still here, the fires still burning.
The winds still blowing.
Youre probably not a betting man are you?
If you were youd cover the line.
Claude Rains, Angel on My Shoulder, 1946
What in my domain is that?
InAngel on My Shoulder,Claude Rains Nick is pleasantly amused by Paul Muni.
Eddie puts a grin on his face and he is absolutely thrilled.
He wishes the the world was filled with Eddies.
Hell is hot, like Florida, but it smells like rotten eggs, hydrogen and sulfur.
Nick is a wise devil, harking back to Satan as a bringer of forbidden knowledge.
He went through the whole gamut of education.
Hes fab and he knows it, Im a fascinating fellow.
He encourages Eddie to deny himself nothing.
Mr. Scratch tells Webster that hes wasting his time writing speeches and worrying about people and their problems.
If he wants to be president, he should begin thinking on his own.
And he should want to be president.
It should be the goal of anyone in U.S. politics.
After all, Mr. Scratch is the first American citizen.
He was there when the first wrong was done to the first Indian.
Scratch stood on deck when the first slaver put out for the Congo.
America is the where the money is printed and Scratch offers Webster all that money can buy.
You like Scratch, hes affable and pleasant.
And then he turns most unpleasant.
He doesnt like losing, but hes got all the time in the world.
One courtroom battle is not the war.
The use of a future killer lends an authenticity to the intent.
Some stark, some warped or superimposed, but all filled with symbolism.
Most images subvert the expectations.
A tattooed albino opens and closes a smaller ceremony before the main event.
A Nazi flag replaces the traditional swastika of Theosophy.
Dope is ritualistically passed in a skull-shaped pipe.
He didnt need to die for their salvation.
There was a lot of controversy over the original book, by Nikos Kazantzakis, and the movie.
But what did the Girl Angel really offer Jesus that was so controversial?
The promise of a normal life, a wife, sometimes two, a family and old age.
She can ride and she can fight and she can fly.
Shes just a student but she has the key to the kingdom of light.
Lucifer was the light bearer and it was all a euphemism for unlawful carnal knowledge.
And it is accessible through a wonderfully unholy union.
That wasnt an apple in the snakes pocket, he was really glad to see you.
Roman Polanski was no stranger to the underworld, or unholy unions.
Under it all Emmanuelle Seigner plays the girl with the undertones of the book, A Devil in Love.
The devil protects the ones it loves.
Shes his guardian angel, if he says so.
Anita Pallenberg, Absolutely Fabulous, 2001
Have some sympathy for this pick.
It inspired the album Their Satanic Majesties Request and the song Sympathy for the Devil.
Anita Pallenberg is said to be quite an accomplished witch who practiced hyper-intense secret rituals.
Cops investigating the scene heard tales of rituals and sacrificed animals.
Anita could play this part in her sleep.
The lusty, scaly one who needs a manicure is played by Clay Tanner.
Tanner also played the role of Satan during the rape scene of Rosemarys Baby.
Sidney Blackmer played Roman Castevet who was actually Steven Marcato, who was based on Aleister Crowley.
Marcato was a play on the character name Mocata from Dennis Wheatleys satanic thriller novel The Devil Rides Out.
This shows a lot of thought went into the study.
Roman Polanski doesnt stray that far from Ira Levins original book.
The movie never strays from Manhattan.
The film also re-enacted historical events, just like on todays various history channels.
Christensen presents a detailed study of the 1400s-era German Inquisitors Handbook, the Malleus Maleficarum.
This book is still referenced today in occult circles.
At the time it was Scandinavias most expensive movie.
It is a classic in my view.
It has a creepy ambiance that you’re free to only get from silent pictures.
German horror films of this time were also very different than anything that was being produced in America.
The Devils Castle, George Melies, 1896
The Devils Castleis considered to be the first horror film.
His hell-hole was pimped out old school.
He was proud of his infernal eternals.
This aint no funeral home.
It aint the Terror Dome, neither.
Welcome to Hell, motherfuckers.
Youll get the shit.
Youll be knee-deep in the shit.
Ive got it hid.
I couldnt even lift it all myself.
Mr. Simms is down, as down as death.
Hes vicious and fun and intimidating as a glock.
But at least we know he wont be calling the cops.
Just going about their day to day duties, beating the shit out of political agitators.
Murnau creates a magnificent Hell.
Viggo Mortensen, The Prophecy, 1995
Viggo Mortensen pulls off a pretty scary Dark Lord in The Prophecy.
Hes well-spoken, quick with a witty rejoinder and gobbles up Christopher Walkens heart.
You might want to bring him flowers though.
Demon sweat emanates from his pores.
Borgnine lets loose here in a way that was almost camp.
LaVey also made a cameo.
Borgnines Demon has heart.
Borgnine rips through the ritual enthusiastically.
The Horned One, an upper crust Brit in a Dracula cape, doesnt do anything about it.
Doesnt try and stop it.
Rather, he could come to terms on a different bargain.
Sort of like a British version of The 2,000 Year Old Man, but not really.
She can give him the world, but stiffs him for four bucks.
Hurleys devil is a not-for-profit cooperation, with subsidiary offices in Purgatory, Hell, and Los Angeles.
She is putting a lien on his meaningless soul.
Its like your appendix.
Youll never even miss it.
You dont have to look very hard for Heaven and Hell.
Theyre right here on Earth.
Rodney Dangerfield, Little Nicky, 2000
God doesnt give Rodney Dangerfields Lucifer any respect.
He threw him out of heaven to rule in hell for ten thousand years.
There was nothing in hell when he got there.
He started it slow.
For years he just gave people hot foots.
But now, retired, he cant enjoy anything.
I go to orgies, I catch everything.
Lucifer abdicated his throne to Satan, who ran it for another ten thousand years.
He thinks things are going fine.
Of course, the last time he told his father that, the renaissance happened.
because the savior couldnt save a young nun from being raped.
Keitel does none of that in Little Nicky.
Sure, hell and existence itself may be at stake, but really, Harveys playing a concerned father.
And a doting son, he lets Lucifer have sex with the gatekeepers head.
Billy Crystal, Deconstructing Harry, 1997
31.
Vincent Price is deliciously insubordinate while presenting the case against mankind.
He snickers through mans history as a knowing and indulgent Dutch uncle.
This is the last film where the three Marx Brothers appeared.
The hell of it is that theyre never in the same scene.
Tom Kane, The Power Puff Girls, 1999
Splendidly evil, isnt He?
Tom Kane plays Him as a vain, cross dressing Chief Blue Meanie in red.
Him has humor, charm, seduction and keeps himself in great shape.
Him is the only villain to best the young superheroes, using their own competiveness to bend time itself.
The Torture of the Christ is a good horror film in theSaworHosteltradition.
Its painful to watch.
The special effects and makeup are top notch.
Celentanos throaty rasp delivers us up the evil.
An impatient imp, he feeds on terror.
Peter Stormare, Constantine, 2005
Peter Stormares Lucifer is a pleasant distraction in an otherwise distracting film.
He saves Keanu Reeves Constantine from cancer and gets him hooked on chewing gum.
George Burns, Oh, God!
After two leisurely turns as the Rocky Mountain High almighty, Burns went solo forOh God.
He plays Harry O. Tophet, you might think thats God, given the past couple pictures.
The Burns and Burns show.
Who else had that kind of experience?
Burns had been around since before Methuselah and knew hell very well.
Hell is these tired fucking jokes that go back before Vaudeville.
These are the jokes that got the chosen people kicked out of Egypt.
Solomon wouldnt tell these jokes.
But it kept him alive and happy.
Give the devil his due.
Light takes on dark dawdlings.
Lon Chaney Jr., The Devils Messenger, 1961
The old grey wolfman aint what he used to be.
back to the land of the living to deliver a one-way passport to join their society, down there.
Nothing is ordinary down there.
Its not what these people have done to deserve the ticket, its what they are about to do.
Chaney seems a little tired.
Hes not the debonair Larry Talbot regretting ever neck hes nibbled.
Hes just a bean counter in hell now.
He comes to life when he has to, but he doesnt really have to.
But isnt that the devil too?
Who is it that finds things to do for idle hands?
He had played Satan before in Der nicht vom Weibe Geborene from 1918.
Director F. W. Murnau sends Satan through the ages searching for a shot at redemption.
He doesnt and is forever damned.
Like us onFacebookand follow us onTwitterfor all news updates related to the world of geek.
AndGoogle+, if thats your thing!
