The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review
This refers to themes that derive from Biblical and Christian sources. The Bible is divided into two parts – The Old Testament concerning Adam and Eve, their fall from the Garden of Eden, Noah and The Flood, Moses and God’s covenant with the Jewish people, and The New Testament concerning the life of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross to deliver humanity from sin.
For Jewish belief see Judaism. Christianity concerns the belief in God, of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice to deliver humanity from sin and the adherence to a moral code. There are many different interpretations and sects within this – the major one covered here is Catholicism. For films depicting faith in action or critical of religion see Religion in Fantastic Cinema; for strange breakaway groups see Cults.
Many popular ideas in genre cinema derive from the Christian tradition – of an afterlife where the virtuous go to Heaven and the evil and sinful go to Hell. In Heaven, God the creator of the universe lives, and is tended by Angels. Hell is commanded by The Devil, the prime source of evil in Christendom, who command hordes of Demons.
A large number of genre tropes derive from these ideas including stories of angelic intervention, demonic possession, people making Diabolical Pacts to sell their soul, of Miracles from the hand of God. The Vampire Film makes use of the prime Christian symbol, the crucifix, as an icon of power that can drive a vampire away.
There is the popularity of films about the Biblical End Times Prophecies as depicted in The Book of Revelations. The first of these was The Omen (1976) concerning the Antichrist, the coming battle of Armageddon and the Rapture where all true believers are taken up to Heaven. There have also been a number of films concerning the return of Jesus, people who are thought to be Jesus or the retelling of aspects of the story in modern times.
It should be added that the use of these elements in stories do not necessarily denote that the people writing and making them is a Christian believer. One needn’t be a regular church attendee, for instance, to write a story about using a crucifix to fight off a vampire. For films made by Christian believers for other believers and/or to proselytize to non-believers see Christian Cinema.
Katsuhiro Otomo overseen anime about the discovery of Noah’s Ark, an alien artifact that gives a child vast psychic powers in a swathe of destruction not dissimilar to Akira
The Stand is regarded as Stephen King’s best novel, an epic that depicts the final showdown between good and evil in the aftermath of civilisation. The mini-series adaptation was alas placed into the ham fists of one of King’s worst adapters. Mick Garris
The Stand is in my opinion Stephen King’s greatest book. The question is whether this new mini-series version will improve on the laughably failed 1994 version
One of the strangest films of the 1940s, featuring Clark Gable, Joan Crawford and others as a group of Devil’s Island escapees who realise during the course of their journey that one of the company is Jesus Christ
A Christian-made film based on the intriguing idea of Satan on trial in a courtroom. A film that in its bad acting, laughable dialogue and lack of conviction rivals The Room in bad movie stakes. The usually worthwhile Malcolm McDowell, who for some reason also produces, gives one of his worst performances
Film spinoff from the popular Tales from the Crypt horror anthology tv series but with more gore effects, this is competently done but does nothing to distinguish itself
An obscure joke from Alex Cox that has he and Miguel Sandoval as two businessman who go to dinner but keep passing through different cities
This holds the novelty of being a Christian time travel film but plummets into bad movie stakes when it has a 19th Century professor travel into the present to become appalled at seeing couples kiss on tv and lingerie in store … A great idea for a comedy but then you realise the film is serious
Terrence Malick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, maybe the best work yet about the great Lost American Childhood yet – a film that doesn’t seem to be about anything but has far more to say than almost all other multiplex films
The third in a series of Biblical End Times films withGary Busey as a decent cop who wakes up in a future ruled by the Anti-Christ. The heavy-handed slinging of Bible verses makes this hard-going for anyone who is not a believer, while the conspiratorial tone frequently verges on nuttiness
The third film in the series of stoner comedies trips off into gonzo genre territory. A relentlessly and unashamedly vulgar film that also manages to be occasionally quite funny
One of the classic works from Ingmar Bergman, uncreditedly remade by Wes Craven as The Last House on the Left, with Max Von Sydow as a virtuous farmer who is driven to vengeance after three youths rape and kill his daughter
The novelty of the first Christian horror film. As opposed to much of the message-heavy tripe that usually gets peddled in this niche market, this is actually well structured with a number of interesting ambiguities and engaging as a story for the better part
On the scale of weird movies, this is about as out there as it gets – Ryan Reynolds has conversations with his cat and dog who urge him to cut people’s heads off, which continue to talk as he keeps them in his refrigerator. A mind-bogglingly warped film and quite brilliant in its dark funniness when you work out what is going on
Sold as a sequel to The Wicker Man, although works as more of an update and expansion of its themes. Received a muted reception but is a not entirely uninteresting film, if nowhere near the league of the original
Not very funny comedy from Harold Ramis and Judd Apatow where Jack Black and Michael Cera are cavemen who stumble through many incidents from the Old Testament
Bill Zebub is a micro-budgeted filmmaker who contends to be the most offensive filmmaker of all time. Yes, the film features a zombie Jesus who spends his time violating women who parade in a state of undress
A multi-director anthology of zombie-themed short films. As always in an anthology, the episodes vary but these are generally good with the standout being the side-splitting episode where Jesus faces a zombie horde