By
Steve A. Wiggins
Religion and horror have been close companions ever since Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968) showed that their relationship could be brought out into the open. Horror movies that feature Jesus directly are somewhat rare. The 2001 parody Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (Lee Demarbre) really doesn’t count. A low-budget comedy-horror, Demarbre’s film attempts no theological statements, just laughs. It has been suggested a time or two that Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004) could be considered a horror film. It certainly goes for the torture porn aesthetic, and it does have some passing similarities with The Carpenter’s Son (Lotfy Nathan, 2025). The two movies take different texts, however.
