10 Movie Good Guys Possessed By Demons
We turn heroes into hell-spawn…
It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
The Good Guy: George Bailey (James Stewart)
Regular Quote: "Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building And Loan!"
The Possession: Contemplating suicide, George is visited by a supernatural being. Sadly for him it's not a wingless angel looking to help him find the true meaning of life once more.
No, it's Amon, a particularly nasty breed of Christian-flavoured fiend, with the ability to appear as a wolf with a serpent's tail (subtle!) or a man with a Raven's head.
He forces George to run around vomiting fire, which is good for those who need their driveways cleared, but not so good when he burns down the Building And Loan.
Demonic Dialogue: "F**k Bedford Falls and all who live in it! Every time an overly cute child burns, a demon gets his horns! I'll make violent love to any woman I find!"
Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back (1977)
The Good Guy: Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
Regular Quote: "I won't fail you. I'm not afraid."
The Possession: Just as he's at his weakest moment (hanging from the lower pylons of Cloud City with one hand sliced off), he's taken over by the awesomely named Glasya-Labolas, captain of manslaughter and bloodshed in hell.
Newly empowered, Luke recuperates and gains his full Jedi powers by returning to Dagobah, where he eats a slow-roasted Yoda. Taking down Darth Vader, he then travels to the Death Star, chucks a surprised Emperor Palpatine down the nearest shaft and commandeers the scary space base.
Next stop: every planet that ever annoyed him and a quick blast from the enormous cannon. Bye bye, Hoth! See ya, Tatooine!
Demonic Dialogue: "Rule the Universe as father and son? Screw that! I plan to rule alone! Your mother was a slave, dad! And now she's serving in hell!"
Gandhi (1982)
The Good Guy: Gandhi (Ben Kingsley)
Regular Quote: "Despite the best intentions of the best of you, you must, in the nature of things, humiliate us to control us. General Dyer is but an extreme example of the principle... it is time you left."
The Possession: While meditating on the state of his country, Gandhi is possessed by the spirit of Don Logan, who got sent straight to hell shortly after the events in Sexy Beast.
Britain's rule in India comes to a rather more violent end as Logan gathers the millions of followers he's suddenly acquired and proceeds to beat the living crap out of the local soldiers.
Demonic Dialogue: "You're the problem! You're the f*****g problem you fucking Dr White honkin' jam-rag f*****g spunk-bubble! I'm telling you Aitch you keep looking at me I'll put you in the f*****g ground, promise you!"
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
The Good Guy: Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck)
Regular Quote : "If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."
The Possession: He wishes he hadn't uttered those words when a Psoglav, a particularly nasty doghead demon decides to do just that - climb inside his skin.
Wearing Atticus like a man suit, the Psoglav (personal name: Boris) proceeds to ensure that Tom Robinson is put to death for his alleged crimes, mostly so he can snack on the corpse. Charming.
Demonic Dialogue: "He's guilty! You can see it in his eyes! Throw the book at him, or I'll rip your eyes out and feed them to you, one at a time, you bunch of inbred hicks… Er, I mean, thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen. The defense rests."
Wallace & Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (2005)
The Good Guy: Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis)
Regular Quote: "Oh ho ho, cracking job, Gromit!"
The Possession: Wallace is suddenly possessed by the Wendigo, the Native American mythical creature, which turns him into crazed, hairy, flesh-craving beast.
Ignoring the local rabbit problem, he instead waits for faithful hound Gromit to fall asleep, then skins him alive and eats his brain right out of his open skull.
Demonic Dialogue: "Cracking head cheese, Gromit!"
Transformers (2007)
The Good Guy: Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen)
Regular Quote: "We lost a great comrade, but gained new ones. Thank you, all of you. You honour us with your bravery."
The Possession: One of the original inhabitants of Cybertron, sealed away as too dangerous by Primus, is freed following the planet's destruction. He arrives on Earth and promptly possesses Prime.
Sensing his chance, he picks up Sam, then Transforms as he's in his hand, squashing the kid like a bug and spewing guts over a bawling Mikela.
Demonic Dialogue: "Humans! Hear me! I am now God of this paltry planet! You will all bow down to me or I will crush you like the f*****g insects you are to me! The one called Mikela - lick my love pump. It's next to the oil gauge."
The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)
The Good Guy: Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood)
Regular Quote: "I will take the Ring to Mordor! Though... I do not know the way.."
The Possession: Shortly after the Fellowship leaves Rivendell, Frodo is possessed by a fiendish Middle-Earth demon. Using the ring to turn himself invisible, the creature steals Gandalf's staff, impales him with it and makes for Mordor.
There, he makes a deal with Sauron to share control of all the lands, and enjoys roasted hobbit with stewed dwarf as part of his celebratory meal.
Demonic Dialogue (interrupting Aragorn when he arrives at Mount Doom and makes a speech intended to rally the forces of good against HellSpawnFrodo: "Yo Aragorn, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Sauron is now the ruler of this place! The ruler!"
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Tarzan The Ape Man (1932)
The Good Guy: Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller)
Regular Quote: "Jane. Jane."
The Possession: Innocently swinging between the trees one day, the loinclothed one is suddenly taken over my many-faceted demonic type Legion, one of the most famous Biblical spirits.
Tarzan goes from single-syllable grunting to long speeches about how he's going to use elephants to destroy the jungle and make Jane his bitch.
Demonic Dialogue: "We are many! We are one who is all! We are legion! We… could murder a chimpanzee. No, really, we could. We hear they taste like chicken."
Titanic (1997)
The Good Girl: Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet)
R egular Quote: "I'll never let go, Jack. I promise."
The Possession: Unbeknownst to poor Rose, the Heart Of The Ocean is a jewel that carries with it a seriously hellish curse. Possessed by the jewel, she runs mad-eyed through the ship, eventually reaching the bridge, where she kills and eats the crew then makes sure the ship hits the iceberg.
When fleeing the sinking vessel, she kicks Jack off the bow and makes sure she watches him vanish beneath the waves, off to his freezing, watery grave.
Demonic Dialogue: "Goodbye, Jack, you floppy-haired c********r! See you in hell. About 7:30 works for me…"
Moonraker (1979)
The Good Guy: James Bond (Roger Moore)
Regular Quote: "Bollinger? If it's '69 you were expecting me."
The Possession: Naberius takes over his smug, bushy-eyebrowed mortal form. It's the perfect fit as the demon is a smooth-talking, amiable type.
Under his control, James slaughters several people who get in his way, sleeps with every woman he finds and blows up lots of property, endangering civilians everywhere he goes.
So, basically, no change then. Except he gets better at his job and MI6 gives him a raise.
Demonic Dialogue: "The name is Bond. James, Bond. And if you don't like it, you can stick it up your c***. I'm here to roger you rigid and I don't care if you're not up for it. I'm always… up… for it."
James White is a freelance journalist who has been covering film and TV for over two decades. In that time, James has written for a wide variety of publications including Total Film and SFX. He has also worked for BAFTA and on ODEON's in-cinema magazine.