The Most Catholic Horror Story

                                                           +AJPM+

THE MILLENNIAL CATHOLIC:

Welcome to another addition of The Most Catholic and just in time for Halloween (which should be called All Hallows but that's another post) I've decided to look at what I think is the most Catholic horror story.
I know what you're thinking and no…it is NOT The Exorcist! Yes, that has Catholic elements, but for all the wrong reasons.
Besides, that's from the 70's and is therefore dated. The one I'm talking about came out in 1992 and is a period piece:




That's right: Dracula is a more pro-Catholic film than The Exorcist. I'll start off with some obvious reasons why and then move on to some from the novel. As the saying goes:

You may not have noticed it, but your mind did.

1. Vampires are repelled by holy water, something found in no other branch of Christianity except Catholicism.

2. Jonathan Harker is handed a crucifix and this proves more effective than a plain cross.

3. What is a vampire? It's a creature that feeds on blood but has no real life in it, a clear perversion of the Real Presence.

4. Speaking of the Real Presence, Van Helsing uses a communion Host to remove Dracula's influence on Mina.

5. When Jonathan is talking to Dracula about the Count's property purchases, one of them is a place called Carfax Abbey. For those who aren't familiar with the term, an abbey is a building where monks or nuns live. Given later on we learn the abbey is used as a hiding place for Dracula during the day, we're left to assume the abbey is not in use anymore. 
In other words, a location used for people to live in common in the spirit of Jesus is now being used by a solitary being who shuns the light.

6. As Jonathan first travels to the castle, one of the villagers points out they're getting ready to celebrate St Georges Day; St George is known as the Dragon Slayer.

7. Jonathan at first dismisses any Catholic elements he comes across but in more than one spot, his Anglicanism doesn't do anything to stop the vampires.

8. Though not mentioned in the movie, Van Helsing is himself a Catholic and is the only one with any idea of what's going on.

9. Mina, an Irish woman (thus Catholic) winds up being the big hero, as she is the one who delivers the death blow to Dracula.

10. Don't think that's significant? Consider this: Van Helsing refers to Mina as "the star of the sea". This title is given to the Virgin Mary, who is the one who directly fights the devil in Revelation. 


This is just for starters and even if you want to watch it just for the sake of watching it, you can't deny the cathartic value in slaying the darkness….a darkness brought about from renouncing God and leading to the idiocy of atheism.