3. Fallen
“I wanna tell you about the time I almost died.” So begins the voice-over of this 1998 horror film as Detective John Hobbes (Denzel Washington) oversees the execution of Edgar Reese, a brutal serial killer he captured. When similar murders occur, Hobbes naturally believes it’s a copycat but the details are way too precise and complete strangers are taunting him on the street just like Reese did.
It turns out Reese was merely the latest host of Azazel, a demon who can jump from one body to another by touch and has been using hosts for centuries to commit brutal murders as revenge for being cast out of Heaven. Hobbes’ soon framed for murder and his own family is targeted by Azazel, pushing Hobbes to an extreme action. Hiding out in a cabin in the woods, he tricks Azazel into coming in the body of Hobbes’ partner. Shooting the demon, Hobbes points out that they’re the only two people around for miles and Hobbes has ingested poison. He shoots Azazel dead and forces the demon to jump into Hobbes’ dying body.
So it appears to be a pyrrhic victory for Hobbes, sacrificing himself to stop this demon once and for all. Unfortunately, Hobbes has made one major error: his assumption was that Azazel can only possesshuman bodies. As the camera pulls up, it appears we’re seeing Azazel’s final fall only for his narration to point out how he’d said at the start this was the time he almost died. We cut to a close-up of a passing cat that looks right at us as Azazel’s voice chuckles “be seeing you.” The cat walks off, letting us know Hobbes’ sacrifice was for nothing and this demonic killer is still out there to continue his work.
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