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I'm trying to find the origin of a scene, possibly at the end, or at a climax of some sort, where an apocalyptic event unfolds and in a nightmarish scene, the camera points to the horizon, and rising slowly is a (probably unconvincing now) burning devil shape. I suppose the shape is like a faceless devil emoji, but with a rounded body.

In my memory of this show or film, it was probably already old when I saw it, and that was no later than the early 1990s. That's the best I have to narrow it down, sorry!

I was watching it as a kid with my dad, and I remember being vaguely disturbed by it, especially as he said something along the lines of "if you're a bad person that's what could happen!". The closest I've been able to find are photos of natural phenomena "the devils horns", except the shape is a more fuller being than just horns.

This memory is seared into my brain now, because of the comment my father made, but it might otherwise be an unremarkable show. I have no idea what this show could have been, it might even have been black and white, because I can't even remember the colours. I've attempted to search for this with google and chatbots but they fall short, so hoping that someone else will remember this.

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    My brain went to The Stand (1994), but the explosion wasn't like I remembered (the imagery is actually of the golden hand grabbing the bomb, and the actual explosion is just a bright burst of light): youtube.com/watch?v=CrD6Qt7Bqvw
    – FuzzyBoots
    Commented Aug 13 at 11:50

5 Answers 5

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I'd offer Quatermass and the Pit (1967). I know it scared the bejesus out of me at a young age.

Quatermass and the Pit

The psychic energy intensifies, ripping up streets and buildings, while a spectral image of a Martian owers above the city, itself resembling the image of the Devil of legend.

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    Thank you so very much for this answer, this is almost certainly the show I remember. The characters were a background memory I was unable to articulate, and it helps me remember an important memory I had with my dad.
    – Lunster
    Commented Aug 13 at 13:09
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There is a short story by Asimov called "Hell-Fire" (1956) that this may have been an adaptation of. It features a group of people (scientists, journalists, politicians) watching the first slow motion film of an atomic bomb exploding.

It ends with

That moment of statis—the fireball had shown dark spots for eyes, with dark lines for thin, flaring eyebrows, a hairline coming down V-shaped, a mouth twisted upward, laughing wildly in the hell-fire—and horns.

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    It's very possible this story was a direct influence on the show, but this wasn't a nuclear blast, rather, an actual being rising into the sky, marking perhaps the end of life on earth.
    – Lunster
    Commented Aug 13 at 11:29
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    That's the one I thought of too, until I realized OP sought visual media.
    – Organic Marble
    Commented Aug 13 at 12:48
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Could it be Hexxus from Ferngully? No horns, but macabre and fiendish nonetheless.

enter image description here

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    We already have an accepted answer, but given this one maps very well to the question, you have my upvote. It may help someone else in the future.
    – FuzzyBoots
    Commented Aug 13 at 20:17
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Sounds like the final scene in The Car. YouTube clip:

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    Hi, welcome to SciFi.SE! Could you include a screenshot of the devil shape rising into the sky? YouTube clips may die over time
    – fez
    Commented Aug 16 at 12:49
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Though not an "end of the world" ending, this reminds me of He Who Walks Behind the Rows from the Children of the Corn.

At the end it appears as a fiery mushroom cloud.

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