Here we go again. Another Harry Potter film - this one said to be the "darkest" of all the tales. What's worse, this is only Part 1 of the movie rendition of the last book in the series. We'll have to suffer through the release of Part 2 in July, 2011.    For those parents who still insist that this kind of entertainment is harmless, consider the opinion of Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, famed exorcist and author of Exorcism and the Church. In a recent interview with Deal Hudson of Inside Catholic, Fr. Euteneuer said that one of the reasons he wrote the book was to warn parents who allow their children to be desensitized to "the dark world" by books and films like the Harry Potter series and Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. He said possession is almost always the result of someone getting involved in some sort of occult practices, such as witchcraft, Wicca, tarot cards, and Ouiji boards. "Harry Potter and these Twilight vampires glamorize the power of evil," Father Eutenener explained, "and this has lead to many, many cases of possession among young people." It may begin with a child or teenager simply "playing around" with the occult, but that seemingly harmless act is "opening a window" to possession. Father Euteneuer emphasized this point, "Demons do not discriminate between intentions - no matter how innocent - and children lose the clear distinction between good and evil." This interview is definitely worth a read: http://www.catholic.org/hf/faith/story.php?id=37447 Johnnette found another exceptional article on the problem of occult fiction blockbusters such as Twilight and Harry Potter that was written by well-known Catholic author, Michael D. O'Brien and can be accessed on his website. http://www.studiobrien.com/writings_on_fantasy/twilight-of-the-west.html The following excerpt from the article deals specifically with the Twilight series: "Physical beauty is the glue that holds the whole banal tale together. If one were to dim down the prettiness and subtract the horror from these four novels and their films, there would be little left. They would become no more than mind-numbing Harlequin Romances for very immature teenage girls. The sexual attraction and the appeal to romantic feelings, combined with the allure of mystery, all obscure the real horror of the tale, which is the degradation of the image and likeness of God in man, and the false proposal that consuming the lifeblood of another human being bestows life all around." O'Brien goes on to quote E. Michael Jones, who compares vampirism with Christianity: "Both Christ and Dracula deal with blood and eternal life," Jones writes. "Vampirism is, as Renfield makes clear, the antithesis of Christianity. Whereas Christ shed his blood so that his followers could have eternal life, Dracula shed his followers’ blood so that he could have eternal life; Dracula is a reworking of Christianity according to the canons of Social Darwinism. The monster is simply the inversion of Christianity that was taking place throughout Europe as once again the Enlightenment was implemented through one of its pseudo-scientific ideologies. … In a satanic way typical of the reversal of Christian order that the vampire creates, man achieves immortality through immorality and by infecting others—that is, through lust. Christianity exalts love; vampirism—Darwin’s survival of the fittest pushed to its extreme—exalts the hunger of desire." O'Brien goes on to quote from another author, Steve Wohlberg, who asks some interesting (if not terrifying) questions about the similar origins of both Potter and Twilight in an article appearing in the Spiritual Counterfeit Project Journal last year:  "… [The] Twilight saga received its initial spark when Stephenie Meyer had an unusual dream on June 1, 2003. Eerily, the Harry Potter phenomenon began with a similar 'revelation' given to Joanne Kathleen Rowling in 1990 while she was traveling by train outside London. 'The character of Harry Potter just popped into my head, fully formed,' Rowling reflected in 2001. 'Looking back, it was all quite spooky!' She also stated to inquiring media that the Potter books 'almost wrote themselves.' 'My best ideas come at midnight,' Rowling declared. "As with Rowling, so with Meyer. When those mesmerizing tales first burst into the brains of these two women, neither was an established writer. Both were novices. They weren’t rich either. Now they are millionaires many times over. Their experiences are similar, with common threads. Both of their novels are permeated with occultism. Based on this, it’s appropriate to wonder, is there a supernatural source behind these revelations? If so, what is it?" This is a great article that will not only deepen your understanding of the true scope of the problem, but will probably give you a lot of good arguments when confronting all those "oh it's just harmless fiction!" folks.  In the meantime, let's remember to pray for all those dear children who are falling into this diabolical trap while their parents and educators stand by and marvel about how great it is that kids are finally reading. I always like to ask them, "When they start reading porn, will that be good too?" Good grief!