Holy horror! Five religious horror movies you can stream right now

Religious horror movies have experienced a bump in popularity recently. Between 2023 and 2024, we got The Pope’s Exorcism, Immaculate, The First Omen, The Devil’s Bath, Deliver Us, Longlegs…plus many more.

Since I personally like religious horror films, I have compiled a short handy-dandy list for those of you who feel the same way. I will even tell you where you can stream each of them.

The Cleansing Hour (Shudder) – Possibly the least-known film on this list, The Cleansing Hour is clever, funny, and surprisingly scary. Max and Drew have been friends since childhood, and they now produce and host a livestream show called The Cleansing Hour. Max (Ryan Guzman, The Boy Next Door) portrays himself as a priest, and performs exorcisms on camera, and Drew (Kyle Gallner, Strange Darling) does pretty much everything else. But, every episode of the show is faked, and they pay actors to portray the possessed. One night, their actor doesn’t show up, and Drew’s sweet fiancée Lane (Alexis Angelis) reluctantly agrees to play the part. She is doing a very convincing job, and Max is thrilled until he and Drew realize that Lane is not acting – she has actually become possessed.

What really sells this film is the acting performances, which are terrific. Angelis in particular puts her heart and soul into the possessed Lane, she must have been exhausted when the filming was complete. The Cleansing Hour is a unique take on the possession horror trope, and it’s one that leaves the viewer feeling surprised and delighted.

Immaculate (Hulu) – We have all seen the movies about the nun who becomes pregnant with the child of Satan, right? Immaculate takes a slightly different look at the old familiar version of the mysteriously pregnant nun. I won’t tell you how, because I don’t want to give spoilers, but trust me.

Cecilia decided to become a nun when she was a child after having a near death experience. Now she is a young novice (AKA “nun in training”) who has been invited to join a convent in Italy that provides care for dying nuns.

The convent has its oddities; Cecilia notices that one of the elderly nuns has cross-shaped scars on the bottoms of her feet, and one of the relics is a holy nail said to have been used in Jesus’s crucifixion. At least one of the other novices seems to have mental health issues, but she does find a friend in sister Gwen.

When Cecilia turns out to be pregnant, she is bewildered, but the truth turns out to be sinister and terrifying. All big blue eyes and timidity, Sydney Sweeney has the perfect look and temperament for a sweet, innocent nun, and for the sake of her vocal chords, I hope the screaming she does in the final scene was dubbed. The final thirty minutes or so are very intense and bloody, and will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The First Omen (Hulu) – I have loved and been fascinated by horror since I was a child. At the tender age of 12, I convinced my Grandmother to take me to a theater to see The Omen, and was immediately obsessed. So I was skeptical about a prequel, figuring it would not be good at all. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Much like Immaculate, the storyline involves an American nun who travels to a convent in Rome. Amongst the orphans housed at the convent is Carlita, who Margaret sees being mistreated by the other sisters.

 Sister Margaret is serious about becoming a nun, but still allows herself to be persuaded to go out for a night of drinking and dancing with Luz, another of the novitiates. She comes to the next morning with little memory of the events of the evening.

Eventually, a conspiracy begins to come to light, and Margaret is right in the middle of it all. I really appreciated the homages to The Omen, including some returning characters and similar events. Plus, that iconic “666” symbol shows up on more than one character. And Nell Tigar Free as Margaret is a revelation.

The House of the Devil (Tubi and Shudder) – Upon watching this film, you might at first think it’s a 1980s horror movie. You would be wrong (it was actually released in 2009), but it looks that way on purpose. Writer/director Ti West planned it that way, and it is actually set in the 80s – and, as we know from his X triology, West is a fan of making his films look like the era they are set in.

Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is a financially struggling college student who agrees to take on a supposed babysitting job. When she arrives at the home of Mr. Ulman, he lets her know that it’s not actually a child she will be caring for, but his wife’s elderly mother. Though she is initially reluctant, Samantha can’t resist the large paycheck Ulman is offering, so she agrees.

Throughout the night, strange events happen, and Samantha eventually comes to realize that there is evil afoot – evil that includes devil worship and a lunar eclipse. To tell you more would be to spoil the story, so just watch it already! For added fun, watch it as part of The Last Drive-In on Shudder.

Frailty (Tubi) – This 2001 Bill Paxton-Matthew McConaughey-Powers Boothe  flick is criminally underrated. But that’s a good thing, because it sports a great twist, and less coverage means little no spoilers are out there.

FBI Agent Wesley Doyle (Boothe) is paid a visit by Fenton Meeks (McConaughey), who claims that his brother Adam is the “God’s Hand” serial killer, and has committed suicide. He then tells his story to Doyle, beginning with his childhood.

Fenton and Adam’s father (Paxton) was just an ordinary mechanic until he became convinced that he had been visited by an angel of God. As he tells his young sons, the angel has tasked the three of them with destroying demons who are masquerading as humans. Everything escalates when he abducts a nurse who, he says, is one of these demons. When he lays hands on her, he gets visions of her evil doings, and then kills her with an axe in the presence of his sons.

Young Adam claims he shares his father’s visions, but his older brother is shocked and dismayed by what is happening. Saddened by Fenton’s lack of faith, his father goes to drastic measures to try and convince him that they are indeed doing the Lord’s work.

What makes Frailty such a great film is the fact that we as viewers actually sympathize with all three of these characters, even the father. Paxton manages to convince us that he truly believes in these visions, and loves his two boys. Yet, he commits horrific killings in the presence of Fenton and Adam, and even expects them to help.

Frailty is one of those religious horror movies that everyone should see, both for the story telling and for the acting performances.