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6 Disturbing Portrayals Of Satan In Film

If I were to bring up the devil to you, how would you envision it? Would you imagine a creature, bent at the spine and fiery red with a forked tongue? Would you imagine some massive, hulking beast, dwelling in a boiling pit of human souls, gorging himself on them and shitting them out only to eat them again? Or maybe you would see Satan as the scariest thing of all: human. Maybe you just imagine the devil as one of us, walking among us, laughing that we don't know he or she is there. Or maybe you are one of those people who just laugh at the thought of imaginary deities that are created to keep us in line.

Viggo Mortensen In The Prophecy

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Though he had done some solid work before, I never noticed Viggo Mortensen until he portrayed the devil in The Prophecy. Put it this way, when you can steal a scene from Christopher Walken (especially in the “creepy” department), you are doing something right.

Mortensen’s portrayal of Satan was interesting. He was a brutal, evil, unrelenting man, but upon first glance, he was well put together and seemed rather sophisticated. This is a trend you will see in the list more than once, as Satan is rarely portrayed as some frothing demon (to which I ask why), but rather, a somewhat seductive (but ruthlessly evil) man.

I suppose there are two ways to look at the idea of the devil. You can see him as the devil. As some evil king of Hell who just sort of looms over his people, grinning. Or you can see him as “Lucifer,” which is how Viggo Mortensen portrays him. Not some crude beast, but rather, a seemingly intelligent man who just has complete contempt for humanity. Though he would go on to become more famous for his heroic characters, Mortensen played one hell of a devil.

Yup, shitty wordplay again. My trademark.