Denzel Washington’s Underrated Horror Thriller is A Netflix Hit 28 Years Later (And Begging for A Sequel)

Thanks to streaming, cinema is truly becoming timeless. Films that never got their heyday can become overnight viral hits, and entire decades of time now seem meaningless when it comes to connecting with an audience. Netflix is the clearest example of this: the Top 10 Movie rankings are a constantly shifting mix of old, new, and even very old movies, with some titles you would never expect managing to break through.

Case in point: At the time of writing this, a movie from 1998 has broken the Top 10 on Netflix. It was a box office flop when it was released in theaters, but gained a cult following when it was released on home video. Now, 28 years later, it’s become an undiscovered gem that is striking a chord with modern audiences.

Fallen (1998) Cracks Netflix’s Top 10 Rankings

Fallen has entered the Top 10 U.S. movie rankings on Netflix, a week after being added to the streaming service. The film was helmed by TV and movie director Gregory Hoblit (NYPD Blue, L.A. Law, Primal Fear, Frequency, Fracture) and stars Denzel Washington as Philadelphia police detective, John Hobbes.

The movie starts with Hobbes attending the execution of Edgar Reese, the notorious serial killer he tracked down and arrested. However, after Reese is gone, Hobbes gets targeted by a copycat killer who can recreate Reese’s crimes with perfect accuracy. As Hobbes gets closer to the new killer, he gets less and less certain that he’s after a human perpetrator and starts becoming convinced that a demonic force is behind the murders and has chosen to torment him for intervening.

Fallen Helped Launch the “Big Twist” Trend In Movies

As stated, Fallen was a box office flop when it hit theaters in 1998, earning just $25.2 million against a budget of $46 million. However, when it started gaining a cult following on home video and DVD in 1999, it ended up being an early harbinger of Hollywood’s newest trend at the time, ‘the big twist.’ Without getting into spoilers, Fallen is a movie with several big twist moments, including an ending that either hits viewers with a big surprise or falls flat entirely. It is definitely a film that requires a second viewing, once you know how it all plays out.

The next two years, 1999-2000, would see the release of so many big twist films (The Sixth Sense, The Matrix, Fight Club, American Beauty, Memento, Unbreakable, Snatch, and others) that the trope went from being a feature of a few films (Primal Fear, Scream, The Game) to the biggest trope fans started to expect (even demand) from movies for the next decade. Fallen is still ranked among the best twist movies of that era, with good reason.

Fallen Is Denzel Washington’s Only Horror Film

Denzel Washington is one of the greatest actors of his generation. He’s won multiple Oscars and has dabbled in just about every genre of film there is, from mystery to sci-fi to period piece epics, gritty action flicks, and thrillers. However, despite having over 50 films under his belt, Denzel Washington has only ever starred in one horror film, and that’s Fallen.

As the son of a preacher, Washington tends to take religious-themed material fairly seriously and hasn’t been shy about his own superstitions about dabbling in the darker waters of horror. Still, when Fallen was pitched to him, it was intriguing enough to get him on board. “I’m attracted to interesting stories, and the good-versus-evil themes of Fallen interested me a great deal,” the actor told The Standard in 2012.

The Cast Is Stacked

Fallen‘s cast will surprise most viewers who press “play” on the film. In addition to Denzel Washington, Gregory Hoblit is a multi-Emmy-winning director whose filmography now includes some of the most acclaimed police drama TV shows and B-movie thrillers. The supporting cast is all top talent: John Goodman plays Hobbes’ partner, Detective Jones, creating a nice onscreen pairing with Washington. Modern moviegoers will definitely recognize one scene between Washington and Goodman, which spawned the now-famous meme of Denzel holding his chest and looking relieved.

Donald Sutherland plays Hobbes and Jones’ commanding officer, Lieutenant Stanton, while Elias Koteas (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shutter Island) appears as convicted killer Edgar Reese. Emmy-winning Sopranos icon James Gandolfini has a small role as a jerk detective that Hobbes and Jones put up with; also in the detectives’ bullpen is Gandolfini’s Sopranos co-star Aida Turturro, who played Tony’s sister Janice. (That’s a timely mention, as one of Tony and Janice Soprano’s infamous arguments got sampled into the current Billboard-topping Drake song, “Janice STFU”). Embeth Davidtz (Mansfield Park, Army of Darkness) plays Gretta Milano, the daughter of a cop who once took on the same demon, and has since become a demon hunter herself. Even From star Robert Joy and Cress Williams from DC’s Black Lightning appear for brief segments that will make fans point and say “I know him!”

Fallen Needs A Sequel

All in all, Fallen is a small treasure trove of talent when looked at today. It was key to selling the film’s main dynamic, which is demonic possession that spreads through touch. Almost every actor is required to, at one point, play the demon version of their character, meaning the entire ensemble had to have some degree of acting chops.

That creates a rare opportunity that’s shared only by the Final Destination franchise. Fallen only needs its core dynamic of touch-by-touch possession and a solid ensemble cast to work. That makes a sequel, or prequel, an easy low-budget prospect. With the horror genre now being what it is, Warner Bros. could potentially have a lucrative franchise reboot on its hands.

Fallen is now streaming on Netflix.

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