Jesse Romero and Dan Schneider explain that what we watch profoundly shapes our soul, as the eyes are “the windows to the soul.” Watching horror movies, they warn, can open spiritual doors to the demonic, feeding the imagination with images demons may later exploit. Instead, Catholics are urged to guard their senses and choose wholesome, faith-filled media that uplifts rather than endangers the soul.
The Eyes as the Window to the Soul
Listen to the words of Jesus: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Mt 6:22–23). The point of this passage is that much of our lifestyle is determined by how we use our eyes—what we choose to allow into our interiority through what we watch and read. What people see with their eyes shapes their soul because the eyes are the windows to the soul. As stated in a question above, demons traffic through the senses. Accordingly, Saint John Vianney warned, “We must watch over our mind, our hearts, and our senses, for these are the gates by which the devil enters in.” We become what we experience through our senses, or as the old saying goes: “Garbage in garbage out.”
The Dangers of Watching Horror Movies
Three things can happen when you watch a horror movie. On rare occasions, you see the reality of evil which causes you to examine your life and your conscience and have compunction in your heart. This drives you to repentance and back into a right relationship with God. This is extremely rare and unwise to experiment. Two, and more commonly, curiosity leads you to the rabbit hole of the diabolic and you become focused on the demon and enamored by the phenomena. Three, watching horror movies opens you to the diabolic. If you have other openings through past sinful behavior or are in a state of mortal sin, you expose yourself and your home to diabolic influence.
How Demons Exploit the Imagination
Because the demon has access to what is contained in your imagination and memory, watching horror movies builds up stock footage in your brain that demons can use to harass you, often at the most inopportune of times. Father Ripperger highlights the vulnerabilities created by viewing unholy images and advises that Catholics
must be sure to avoid not only sinning themselves but of watching the sins of others. By viewing the sins of others, e.g. watching someone commit fornication on TV or killing someone in a graphic fashion on TV, they provide the sense data for the demons to make suggestions to them by forming images in their imagination. In fact, the more programs one watches on TV, the more demons can influence a person’s actions since they have more data to use. The more we become familiar with the imagery of sin, the easier it is for the demons to coax us into sinning because we have lost our inhibitions with respect to the sin because we are comfortable with it.
Counsel from Exorcists
Similarly, Father Amorth said, “I oppose the viewing of horror films, and I advise people, particularly the young, not to patronize them. If the demon’s mission is to tempt man, then viewing these films—which tend to normalize brutal situations, particularly, where the demon is the protagonist—can seriously upset fragile minds and stir others to sadistic emulation. Why voluntarily subject oneself to evil temptations?” The disordered curiosity with demons and viewing evil can become an entry point for the diabolic to begin to work on you. The words of the Psalmist are good counsel for us in deciding what movies to watch: “I follow the way of integrity; when will you come to me? I act with integrity of heart within my royal court. I do not allow into my presence anyone who speaks perversely. Whoever acts shamefully, I hate; no such person can be my friend” (Ps 101:2–3).
For a Christian to watch a horror movie is like walking into a bad neighborhood at night, by yourself, and with a big sign on your chest that says, “I’m unarmed, and I have a pocket full of money.”
Rather than horror films, watch good, Catholic filming and wholesome movies.
ooo
This article is taken from a chapter in Spiritual Warfare Q&A by Jesse Romero and Dan Schneider which is available from TAN Books.
