I once read (sorry, no cite) that Satan is perhaps the most widely depicted character in the history of the cinema. So how many movies can we come up that portray the Prince of Darkness, Lord of Lies, Root of All Evil - Lucifer, in any way, shape or form?
To start the list -
the Exorcist
Rosemary’s Baby
Fantasia (Night on Bald Mountain segment)
Bedazzled
Wholly Moses (Dudley Moore parody of biblical stories - John Ritter plays the Devil)
Angel Heart (Louis Cypher a.k.a. Lucifer)
the Devil’s Advocate
the Passion of the Christ
Oh God, You Devil! (starring George Burns as both God and the Devil)
the Omen
Where else does he show up. (And for this thread, ‘appearing’ can include being a spectral, intangible force like in “the Omen” - as long as he’s called by name or title (the Devil / Satan / Lucifer / Beelzebub, etc.)
The Prophecy.
I don’t suppose Dogma counts as Satan, while his existence is assumed, is an off-camera presence taking no direct role in the action.
Nitpick: Chernobog is actually a pre-Christian Slavic deity.
Favorite Satan: Claude Rains
I like Tim Curry in Legend.
Second. You just know the Evil One talks like that. Smoooooth.
Mr. Frost with Jeff Goldblum.
The Devil and Daniel Webster with Walter Huston as “Mr. Scratch”
End of Days, Satan is played by Gabriel Byrne.
BTW, here is IMDb’s character page on Satan.
I thought Viggo was fantastic in that role.
“Other angels have made this war because they hate you, you and all humans. God has put you in his grace and pushed them aside. They’re desperate. They’ve never been able to conquer the other loyal angels, and so this war has remained in stalemate for thousands of years. And while this state of affairs endures no soul can meet its god. Your parents, and their parents, and so on from the beginning lie still in wormy earth. Of course, some of them do come to me eventually, for while heaven may be closed I am always open, even on Christmas.”
Vincent Price as Mr. Scratch in the abysmal The Story of Mankind
Harvey Keitel in Little Nicky.
One of my favorite Keitel performances, too.
Ignore the Adam Sandler part.
Although the tits on the head bit was funny.
Weird trivia - Tom Baker, one of the many, many folks to portray the title character in “Doctor Who”, wrote a screenplay for a proposed feature film entitled “Doctor Who Meets Scratchman” that would have starred (apart from himself) Vincent Price as ‘Scratchman’ (who would be revealed to be…the DEVIL!!) It never got beyond the writing stage though.
Are we counting TV? Because if we are, we have to add the Twilight Zone episode, “The Howling Man”.
And of course, there’sThe Devil’s Messenger, a Chiller Theater staple.
Best Debil ever: Bedazzled.
Hurley is the sexier, but otherwise, I preferred Peter Cook’s performance in the 1967 original.
