WATCH: Should religious people watch horror movies?

Should Christians be able to watch horror movies? Is it morally permissible?

In this episode of “The Dialogue,” horror movie director Damien LeVeck and United Church of God ministry leader Darris McNeely tackle a topic that’s up for debate every October as Halloween nears. Horror movies often spare no violent act in an attempt to spark fear and shock among viewers, but does this go against Christian values? To that point, should any movie that intentionally stokes fear be avoided? Host Billy Hallowell takes on the haunting topic just in time for the spookiest night of the year.

The claims discussed are those made in the debate and do not represent the views of The Washington Times.

[HALLOWELL] Welcome to The Dialogue from The Washington Times. In this episode, we are covering an important question: Should Christians watch horror movies? Now, if you’ve been following online this past week, there has been quite a bit of viral debate about this topic, so you won’t want to miss what our two panelists have to say today. I’m joined by Damien LeVeck, a movie director who has made films in this genre, and also Darris McNeely, a ministry leader and TV presenter.

We are gonna start with our pitch. It’s 30 seconds that you will each get to tell us where you stand on a central statement: Christians are morally permitted to watch horror movies. Damien, what do you say?

[LEVECK] I would say that absolutely, yes, they’re morally permitted to watch horror movies. I would argue that the horror genre is probably the most Christian genre because it is the only genre that recognizes and draws attention to the existence of good and evil and presents questions of morality in the storytelling.

[HALLOWELL] And you did that in 22 seconds. That’s pretty impressive. Now, Darris, same statement for you. Christians are morally permitted to watch horror movies. What do you say?

[MCNEELY] I would say that Christians are morally permitted to choose what they watch for entertainment of all forms. When it comes to horror movies, a Christian grounded in scriptural teaching should be very, very circumspect as to what they choose in that particular genre.

[LEVECK] I actually agree with what Darris just said. 

[MCNEELY] So we’re off to a good start.

[HALLOWELL] I love this. And that’s what’s great about this, cause you find areas of agreement and disagreement in this show. And that brings us into our focus section. This is where we break down three or four main claims and then you guys respond to them. And so if somebody says something and you want to respond to it, you can just jump in and do that. But I’m going to throw out the first claim in our focus section. And that is: Christians should avoid any movie in the horror genre. Damien, I will start with you.

[LEVECK] Well, I think that’s incredibly short-sighted to say that you should avoid every movie in the horror genre. Because if you take that stance and you really break down what that means, then you’re pretty much not permitted to watch any movie at all in any genre. Because there are things that you could find morally questionable in any form of storytelling, be it in films, movies, TV, theater, you name it. Literature is replete with all kinds of filth that people should not be exposing themselves to. So you do need to use discernment. And I do think that there are some genres, horror in particular, that are filled with a lot of subversive, bad content that is not profitable to indulge in. So again, to affirm what Darris said, you do need to be circumspect. You do need to use good judgment. And you do need to be, I think, a very well-informed Christian about Scripture and what it says on this subject matter.

[MCNEELY] What I say is what I say to my students when I’m teaching them the Book of Acts or the Gospels, which contain episodes of demon possession, demon instruction, whether in Christ’s ministry or that of the Apostle Paul and the church. Based on my own 50-plus years of experience in ministry and working with young people and teaching and camp leadership, that this particular genre is one fraught with a great deal of potential danger to the individual, to their faith, to their own personal well-being, their mental health. And it’s a very real force of evil in the world today.

I tell students that I don’t need to watch horror movies and haven’t in most of my adult life because I’ve lived so much of the experience dealing with people who have been troubled by demons, who have been actually possessed by demons, and I’ve seen this influence. And so I tell them I don’t need to watch it. I have lived it, and I can teach them a path to avoid the pitfalls and the problems of that particular genre by teaching them truth from the Scriptures.

[HALLOWELL] Was there anything in there, Damien, that you’d want to respond to?

[LEVECK] Well, I really respect what Darris is saying here. I think that as somebody who has dealt with people who’ve been exposed to the effects of demonic oppression, choosing to avoid any kind of story that deals with that in movies and TV makes a lot of sense to me. I personally think that there’s not a danger in watching movies that tell stories of demonic possession. In fact, that is my favorite genre. The first movie that I ever directed was an exorcism film. This is the subgenre of horror that I actually think is one of the most profitable to watch and to study because it is a subject matter that is real. And 90% of the world’s population, regardless of their faith, actually believes in a spiritual realm and believes in demons or evil spirits. And it’s a very real aspect of the reality that we live in and of God’s creation. And I don’t think that it’s harmful necessarily to watch it. 

But again, that’s not the case for everybody. So if you choose to avoid that kind of subject matter, that’s fine. However, I do think that there are a lot of Christians who avoid horror because the idea of a horror movie is somehow anathema to them. And they’re speaking out of ignorance. They don’t really know what it is. So I think that we really have to be careful in defining what we mean by horror movies because there are numerous sub-genres within horror, from supernatural horror, monster in the house horror, creature horror, slasher horror, torture porn horror. It goes on and on and on. So you have to really break that down and look carefully at what it is these movies actually are before you say, I’m not going to watch that or I’m not going to expose myself to that.

Watch the video for the full conversation.