Religion, and particularly Christianity, has always been an endless source of inspiration for the film industry. When it comes to good vs. evil, most directors seem to be rooting for the latter. The big screen has hosted its fair share of sinning, hellfire and damnation, with the starring role saved for Satan himself. The 60s and 70s were particularly wicked decades, fertile ground for horror movies. They were decades of decline for the Church, an era of diminishing parishioners when people abandoned their pews to go instead en masse to see movies like Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist.

This month's B to Z is drenched from head to toe in religious symbolism and holy water, first with Richard Donner's The Omen, the first film to even come close to Friedkin's Exorcist. Although most studios first rejected this low-budget movie, it was a box office smash when it came out in 1976. The idea of an impending end of the world and the Antichrist manifesting itself as a little boy with a spine-chilling stare struck a chord with audiences and led to three inevitable sequels and a remake. The Devils is one of the original films of a new genre: nunsploitation. Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave's expressive acting, Derek Jarman's anachronistic sets and director Ken Russell's flamboyant style transform what could have been a simple movie into a unique, baroque orgy of sex and violence with critical undercurrents exposing religion's hypocritical power to commit the most heinous acts in the name of God.

In collaboration with Razor Reel.