The Devil has been playing with our minds for centuries. No matter what you call him, The Prince of Darkness, Lucifer, Old Scratch, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles…The Devil has been deeply rooted in our psyches since childhood. Modern conceptions of the Devil include the concept that it symbolizes humans’ own lower nature or sinfulness. From Dante’s Inferno to Goethe’s Faust, the Devil is a firm character in the literature, religion and culture in almost every society on Earth.
He spans every genre, comedy, satire, and drama and is a great foil for any hero or anti hero. Now in the age of visual media, the Devil still hasn’t lost his charm. Here is a list of the Top 10 depictions of the Devil in Television and the Movies.
Silly movie, WONDERFUL devil! You’ve got to love female Satans. She offers Brendan Fraser’s character wishes so that he can land the girl of his dreams. But this is Satan we’re dealing with, she traps and tricks him as we would expect nothing less from the Prince, or Princess of lies.
Alan Cumming voiced The Devil in the short lived series “God, The Devil and Bob”. The Devil is trying to persuade God to destroy the world, and is constantly trying to thwart Bob in his attempts to save it. He is a margarita drinker and drives a purple Dodge Charger described by Bob as the “coolest car [he's] ever seen”. Despite appearances, the Devil is needy and co-dependent, often reduced to tears when God ignores or forgets about him.
Dan Castellaneta voiced the horrifying Robot Devil in Futurama. The Robot Devil lives in Robot Hell, which is hidden beneath the “Inferno” ride at the amusement park “Reckless Ted’s Funland” in New Jersey. His function is to torment robots who have committed various sins, though it seems that this right only applies to those who practice Robotology.
Trey Parker voices one of the most misunderstood Satans in popular culture. He presides over Hell and is constantly at war with God, but far from being merciless and innately evil as Satan is often portrayed in other media, he is depicted in South Park as a soft-hearted, misunderstood anti-hero capable of compassion and genuine emotional attachment.
CREEPY! Before he was snogging Liv Tyler in Lord of the Rings, Viggo played a very awesome Lucifer in The Prophecy. Mortensen’s Satan is savage, and just plain vicious. Take this quote “Humans… and how I love you talking monkeys for this… know more about war and treachery of the spirit than any angel.” Well worth the rental.
Every 80′s child remembers being freaked and enchanted by Tim’s awesome Devil. Visually stunning and far before it’s time, The Lord of Darkness stole every scene he was in. Tim’s presence and voice make for an unforgettable devil that all Gen X and Yers will remember well into their old age.
Swedish actor Peter Stormare’s Devil is perfect, dressed in white and virtually dripping with evil. So angered that Constantine is about to slip through his fingers, he pulls Constantine’s cancer from his lungs, forcing him to live his lonely life rather than be taken into heaven. Truly a Satan for the ages.
This Satan was not your usual scaly demon. He was rich, calm, suave and greedy with a lusty charm that Satan always brings to movies. Kevin Lomax, played by a more wooden than usual Keanu Reeves, takes a job at a powerful law firm where his boss, John Milton (get it?) is really the devil. Pacino was the perfect choice for playing this character.
There can be no doubt that young Harvey Stephen’s portrayal of Satan as a child is one of the most chilling around. He doesn’t have to do much – just look on as things go to “hell” around him. The most disturbing scene in this movie is when the Nurse jumps hangs herself declaring “this is all for you Damien!” The follow up movie was also quite good but lacked some of the chilling atmosphere of this original.
Love or hate this movie, you’ve got to admit that Rosalinda’s androgynous Satan was among the creepiest. She taunts and follows Jesus like a snake. I loved her depiction because it is unlike any other I had ever seen. Instead of being an anti-Christ, the devil is depicted here as a perversion of the Holy Family – with Satan mimicking Mary and carrying a foul child in mockery of the baby Jesus. Extremely scary stuff.
Notable Extras: Harvey Keitel in Little Nicky
Contributor: TiffanyH
the devil in Tenacious D and the Pick Of Destiny?!?!?!?!?!
Excuse me but both the south park devil and robot devil have been in mivies, SP in BLU, and robot devil in benders big score.
it was a brief cameo, but I heard that Satan in Rosemary’s Baby was actually played by Anton LaVey the real life leader of the Church of Satan.
Rosalinda Celentano’s character was amazing!!
oh and what about George Burns who played both God and Satan in Oh God You Devil
I know it was mentioned earlier, but De Niro’s Louis Cypher in ‘Angelheart’ is the best devil ever, hands down.
Where is Jason Lee’s portrayal from Dogma?
he was a demon not the devil himself
I know he’s listed as “Evil Genius”, but David Warner was great as the devil in Time Bandits.
Must agree with number 1. Her portrayal was truly creepy.
I’d add the Blues Devil from Metalocalypse, even though he only appeared in one episode, he may be my favorite depiction of the devil to date.
Mortensen’s depiction in The Prophecy was by far my favorite. He tends to be more old school straight up evil than many of the silver tongued variants in other movies. Savage nails it pretty well. Beastial also fits. He comes off as almost human but infinitely more sinister. Even though he kind of plays a good guy, he’s not the type you’d trust or turn your back on.
Another reason to watch this movie is Christopher Walken before he went into the meta “oh ***** Walken is playing Walken” phase of his career. He still took himself seriously and it shows. Playing the part of Gabriel, he does a great job of depicting emotion without humanity. He misses his god but sees humans as imperfect and an object of jealousy. “I’m an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now till kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence is never understanding why” – pretty much sums up his role.
jason lee was a demon in dogma
Very cool list! I will have to see several of these movies now!
I definately agreed with numbers 1&3.I didnt agree with Liz Hurley though.
you forgot the clay satan from “the adventures of mark twain”.
a bit off beat, but what about Kevin Spacey as Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects? hes so good that you dont even know hes the devil until the last 2 minutes of the film. Extremely creepy, in my opinion. Especially the line “The greatest joke the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didnt exist”
ummmmmmm
bonus: Daniel von Bargen in Brother Where Art Thou
hmm?
Sara, I don’t know if he is actually portraying the devil in The Usual Suspects. You might be putting a bit too much into the character.
dave grohl also played the devil in Tenacious D’s music vido for their song “Tribute” which was made in 2002, four years before The Pick Of Destiny
Rowan Atkinson’s Devil sketch is pretty damn funny, get a copy of his standup routine – sheer genius. And elt’s not forget the great John Glover devil in the tragically short-lived series “Brimstone”, that was his warmup for Smallville.
Uhhh, Number 2 is NOT the devil. The omen is about the anti-christ, not Satan, there is a difference, a REALLY big one. I agree about Viggo though, he was great in the Prophecy. Everyone should definately see the first Prophecy, Christopher Walken makes that movie great.
Ah yes, i’d forgotten about rowan atkinson’s devil sketch… Shame on me.
2 more: John Lovitz’ cheesy devil on SNL (“Worship Me!) and Will Farrel as guitar playing Satan w/ Garth brooks. (“Franks got slacks”)
I know it’s not from a movie, but an honorable mention nonetheless; Will Ferrell’s portrayal of the Devil in a Saturday Night Live skit with Garth Brooks is one of my favorite SNL skits of all time!
Your title was “Top 10 Depictions of Satan in Movies” yet you clearly use two examples from televisions shows (I’m letting the South Park reference slide)
Shoddy. Change the title or edit the list.
Notable Omissions (lose the cartoons)
Gabriel Byrne – End of Days
David Boreanaz – The Crow: Wicked Prayer
Frank Welker – Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey
Damn…beat me to it, CP! haha
But I believe it was Fred who had the slacks, lol.
Drclifford: both of the devils you are thinking of are in fact from movies(southpark satan, South Park bigger, longer and uncut)and the futurama robot devil is from bender’s big score
surprising not to see Leland Gaunt on the list. if it were up to me he would be number 1 probably.
Tim Curry was awesome in Legend. i agree Louis Cypher should be here instead of the cartoon devils. but great list otherwise!
Oh no! I hate that Bedazzled remake, it had nothing on the original with Peter Cook as the devil. I hate it when classics are ‘updated’. Peter Cook made a fantastic devil in the original Bedazzled, well dressed and cunning and I love his little speech at the end about how he’s going to make the world disgusting and covered in concrete and fast food places.
It’s not fair that Elizabeth Hurley should top him simply because she’s a good looking woman. And she doesn’t play the devil as *****y as Peter Cook did anyway
yeah i’ll have to agree on Dave Grohl as the devil in Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny. Along with just looking awesome, the portrayal was great and also hilarious
If this list is “Satan in Movies”, why are “Futurama” and “God, The Devil and Bob” on here? Including them and leaving off Deniro’s “Louis Cyphre” is a sin!
SamL: i think Sara’a efering to the line “How do you shoot the devil in the back?” nonetheless, i agree that Keyser Soze is not the devil, but i can see where the inference comes from.
that devil in nr 5… ive seen him before, quite certain. but i havent seen a movie called legend. where else could i have seen that (nearly, at least) same costume?
as a satanist this list amuses me.
stormare should certainly have won this one.
what about David Grohl in the Pick of Destiny, surely he is an honorable mention
Yasha, I don’t know of another movie with a costume like #5, but Dave Grohl in Pick of Destiny comes pretty close.
Also, if you haven’t seen Legend, you should check it out. It really was ahead of its time, and even though it has Tom Cruise in it, it doesn’t suck. Legend was made well before Tom’s couch-jumping bat***** crazy days (it may have even been his first movie).
OMG Robert DeNiro in Angel Heart…HANDS DOWN. CREEPY. Purely disgusting. He made my skin crawl.
This may just be my love of creepy children, but I love #2.
But you haven’t seen anything ’till you see me and my friend’s interpretation of Satan…
Der Sjunde inseglet(The Seventh Seal) by Ingmar Bergman has an awesome portrayal of Satan(or was it something else??) Max Von Sydow, a crusader, plays chess with Satan while Black Death lays the country waste around them. It is a fascinating story and one of the best portrayals of Death.
Sorry for bringing an obscure movie into mainstream comparison. Eventhough not a American movie, i assure you, you will not regret watching it….
its IMDb rating is 8.4
Jack Nicholson in the Witches Of Eastwick scared the crap outta me.
Not meaning to be an arse, I would like to state that Damien isn’t Satan. He’s Damien. hehe.
One of Tim Curry’s best roles, it should be number one
Hands down best Satan in a movie ever is Earl Pastko in Highway 61. You can’t cheat at bingo, lady. If you could, I would. But you can’t.
Peter Cook was a far cooler devil. And *****ier.
Viggo Mortensons Satan was a humdinger, scared the clap out of me, I’d not even heard of the guy prior to this, but he stuck in my mind.
Guys, you have to see The Prophecy and even the sequel, a very good B movie. C+P in to youtube “Satan’s Greeting”
Stormare was another fantastic showing, malevolent and beguiling at the same time.
A special note should be made for Ray Wise (Reaper). You can’t help but be charmed by his version, it even comes as a shock whenhe suddenly turns the evil ‘on’.
A fantastic list though, very entertaining, thanks.
I too think that the devil in Reaper is one of the greatest portrayals. Unlike the others who posted about him, though, I believe he should have been on the list because Futurama and God, the Devil and Bob aren’t movies. Sure, there was technically a Futurama movie, but that isn’t what you’re posting about here.
I heard that Terry Gilliam’s new movie will have Tom Waits playing the devil. That should be great. I can’t wait!
GREAT LIST! I agree that I’d add Jack Nicholson from Witches of Eastwick. He’s just did an amazing job, as always.
@93 – are you sure? watch the movie again with that in mind. why the glow before he kills the explosives expert behind the van?
listen to some of his quotes, “keaton always said, i dont believe in God, but i am afraid of him. well, i believe in God, and the only thing i fear is kesyer soze”.
watch how he transitions from lame to normal, is that how someone faking it would change?
the movie definitely leaves it ambigous as to whether he is literally or figuratively the devil….
the satan in south park is also gay.
dave grohl- pick of destiny, best devil ever.
“i cant wait to take cage back to heyeeell…
im gonna fill him with my hot demon gel”
I am so surprised that Robert DeNiro in Angel Heart didn’t make the list. That is one creepy movie.
great list, i would mention Spawn and the scene in hell.
7 thru 9 interestingly enough, not movies…
call me crazy but Rosalinda Celentano looked hot as satan.
Dave Grohl (from the Foo Fighters) did a good Satan in “Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny”. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365830/).
But the best one on this list is #4. That is EXACTLY what Satan is like – a southern white man (a tar heel to be exact)
ick…that devil in the passion scared me so bad when i saw it back it 6th grade that i worried myself ill at night…of course my mom kicked herself in the butt for letting me watch it…she didnt know it was going to be so brutal…haha
I have seen all of these and still think Tim Curry was the best. I heard that it took 3 hours to put his costume and make up on and that he stook around 9 feet tall with the horns. That was pretty cool! (btw…i love the movie Legend-best fantasy one out there)
i thought it was damien’s nanny who hanged herself declaring “this is all for you Damien!”. really effin scary.
Al Pacino! Harvey Keitel! …and the great Gabriel Byrne!