Fallen

Detective John Hobbes runs into new murders committed in the manner of an executed serial killer. The reason is simple and horrible: a demon called Azazel moves from body to body and can jump to anyone it touches. The film's best idea is inverting the chase. Hobbes cannot follow one person, because the thing he is following crosses a crowd shoulder by shoulder. The camera does it in a single take, passing between people walking down a street. Azazel's signature is the Rolling Stones' Time Is on My Side. When someone starts humming it, Hobbes knows who is occupied. The ending was argued about. His plan to poison the demon fails, Azazel escapes into a cat leaving the cabin, and its voiceover mocks the audience for believing otherwise. Sympathy for the Devil plays over the credits. Gregory Hoblit made it after Primal Fear in 1996, with Denzel Washington in the lead. It opened on 16 January 1998 across 2,448 theatres at number three with 10.4 million dollars and finished at 25.2 million against a 46 million budget. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 41 percent, and the film has picked up a cult following since. Who it is for: viewers who like supernatural police thrillers and bleak endings. Who it is not for: anyone who needs consistent rules. What the demon can and cannot do shifts as the plot requires.