Right-wing media have promoted the Christian film Nefarious as one of the latest battlegrounds in so-called “spiritual warfare.” Through strategically cut trailers, influencer promotion, and a Coachella event, the film's creators have worked to “subversively” market it as a generic thriller to a mainstream audience in the hopes that it would “show them the light.” 

The movie Nefarious is a prequel to A Nefarious Plot, a book by right-wing commentator and BlazeTV host Steve Deace, who partnered with directors Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon — the duo behind other right-wing faith-based movies such as Unplanned and God’s Not Dead 1 and 2. Deace has an extensive history of using virulently anti-LGBTQ, misogynistic, anti-abortion, and other bigoted rhetoric such as saying lessons for kids about Pride Month are “right out of the pit of hell.” He claimed that he and his company “invested millions of dollars that [he] frankly didn’t have to make this movie” because “storytelling” is the “last place left where real persuasion can occur.” 

Though marketed to a mainstream audience as a standard horror movie, Nefarious serves as a “Christian allegory, and it is conveyed with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer,” as the Washington Examiner put it, with the two main characters — an atheist psychiatrist and a death-row inmate who claims to be possessed by a demon — debating the existence of the devil and God. The movie also suggests humanity is engaged in a spiritual war against demonic forces, with the demon celebrating and mocking progressive political and social stances that have taken root in American society, like abortion rights and LGBTQ equality. 

The movie’s theme is captured in a scene featuring bigoted conspiracy theorist and BlazeTV founder Glenn Beck, playing himself. Beck asks the psychiatrist, “What happens to an atheist that is confronted by demonic evil?” Later the psychiatrist notes, “There’s a great battle going on, whether we realize it or not — a battle between good and evil — and we’re all participants, willing or not.” 

The film’s promotion of a right-wing Christian worldview on viewers is clear: On his BlazeTV podcast, Deace agreed with an online reviewer who described it as “Christo-facist propaganda.” Yet Deace, Solomon, and Konzelman repeatedly admitted that Nefarious was marketed as a standard horror film to reach viewers who might not choose to see a faith-based movie. The film started streaming on June 2 and it has been playing in hundreds of theaters nationwide for at least seven weeks, grossing over $5 million.

Nefarious’ creators marketed it as a standard horror film to attract “nonbelievers” 

In April, Deace boasted to right-wing group The Family Leader that the film’s trailer was crafted “subversively” to portray Nefarious as a horror movie and hide from potential moviegoers that it was faith-based and contained right-wing ideological themes. Apparently, the trailer played ahead of the nonfaith-based movie Cocaine Bear in at least some theaters. In the same interview, Deace went on to call the Motion Picture Association “demonic” for the R rating that Nefarious received, claiming that it was given this rating only because the group was afraid “unbelieving” kids “would be impacted by it.”

Deace, as well as directors Solomon and Konzelman, repeatedly admitted to trying to attract a mainstream audience.

• In April, Deace described the movie’s marketing campaign as “tricking” the audience into thinking it was a horror movie rather than faith-based, saying: “Now that we're done tricking — I'm sorry, ‘marketing’ it as a horror film to the Ninevites — we're just gonna flat out now be honest about the movie now that it's in theaters. It's a faith-based film. It was always intended to be a faith-based film. We just packaged it in a way to bring people in that are being attracted to darkness to then get them in the theaters so that we can then show them the light.” (Ninevites descend from Nineveh, which is famous for its depiction in the Bible as a sinful city.)

• Discussing online reviews of the movie during his podcast, Deace agreed with a reviewer who described the film as “Christo-fascist propaganda,” saying: “Even most of the critical reviews from users were like, well, it's actually very well-acted and well-made. I just hated the world view. It's Christo-fascist propaganda. OK, which is true, but I digress.” 
• In an interview with a right-wing Catholic site, Konzelman described the movie’s poster as a “Trojan horse”: “Don’t be afraid of the poster — [it] looks pretty intimidating. The poster is a Trojan horse designed to lure the mainstream horror audience into the film, nonbelievers.”
• In the same interview, Konzelman said: “This is the movie for your family member who has fallen away from the faith, or your friend who has never been a believer. You can take them to this film, and under the guise of entertainment, they’re going to be confronted with the greater questions.”
• On his podcast, Deace and his producer, Aaron McIntire, mocked online reviewers, whom they described as being “lured” into the movie by the “effective marketing” and failing to “do their homework about what this movie was.” They also mocked a reviewer who said she “went to see Nefarious completely blindly thinking it was just a scary movie.” McIntire said to Deace of similar reviews from unsuspecting viewers: “Seeing those reactions, you accomplished something.”

The movie was seemingly also promoted through an influencer campaign — a growing tactic within the right-wing ecosystem that can create a false impression of organic public support. 

At least two dozen influencer and meme accounts, including accounts affiliated with right-wing influencer group Today is America, across Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok promoted Nefarious, particularly in late April after it received a 33% review on Rotten Tomatoes. The content of the various posts was very similar, if not exactly the same, generally using the hashtag #WokenTomatoes, and encouraging followers to see the movie. 

It also appears that there was a red carpet event in Palm Springs, California, for the film prior to the Coachella music festival, seemingly hosted by actor Paul Butcher and attended by celebrities including Victoria Justice. Like much of the film’s official marketing, the event seems to have presented Nefarious primarily as a paranormal thriller, not a faith-based movie. From photos shared of the event — which was attended by mainstream social media influencers with hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers — it appears that guests were entertained with a tattoo booth and a vodka company was a sponsor. 

Right-wing media figures are promoting Nefarious using rhetoric from the religious right that warns of an ongoing “spiritual war” 

The larger political context surrounding the release of Nefarious is growing Christian nationalism and apocalyptic political rhetoric on the right, which frames the country as engaged in existential “spiritual warfare” against satanic forces. 

Some right-wing media figures are also labeling trans people and abortion as “demonic,” and Konzelman and Soloman made similar claims in various interviews while promoting Nefarious. In one, they cited the existence of trans people as evidence of satanic influence: “There will come a time when good is considered bad, and bad is considered good, when women will be as men, when all these things that are happening in our world today. … You can see the devil’s machinations.”

Numerous right-wing media figures — and even members of Congress — have endorsed or promoted Nefarious, including Glenn Beck, right-wing influencer and neo-Nazi collaborator Jack Posobiec, BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey, The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, Salem Radio host Eric Metaxas, conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza, right-wing podcast host Elijah Schaffer, former Trump administration official Ben Carson, former Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield, and disgraced former Trump attorney Sidney Powell. 

Several right-wing and Christian media outlets also covered the movie’s message positively, including Fox News, Church Militant, Breitbart, The Christian Post, Western Journal, Christian Broadcasting Network, The Federalist, and The Daily Wire.