Professor Stephen Miles partners up with his wife, a small daughter, and a homeless drifter in this Jack Van Impe Ministries production to live in a harsh world plagued by natural disasters and on the verge of hunger. “More clumsy than inspiring, it pushes its limp agenda with all the effectiveness of a shopping cart that’s missing its wheels,” wrote Shock Cinema Magazine in its review of Image of the Beast. Image of the Beast (1980)įollowing The Rapture in 1972, David is a fundamentalist Christian dissenter who helps others escape concentration camps while also trying to hack computers that administer the mark of the beast, which is used to identify individuals. For those who were left behind after the Rapture, this film promotes the idea that they may still be able to convert to Christianity and be saved before the Final Judgment. While at the camp, Patty and a female friend she made plan to flee into a “free” world that is plagued by food and gas shortages, as well as widespread violence. A Distant Thunder (1977)Īfter the Rapture, Patty is imprisoned in a concentration camp, but she refuses to be baptized in the blood of the beast. That is, until a radio report comes on the air that confirms what she had just dreamed of is happening in the real world. Patty’s refusal to accept the mark results in her being punished. UNITE-United Nations Imperium of Total Emergency-is a menacing new worldwide government that soon establishes itself and requires that all citizens on Earth receive its mark. Her spouse, a devout Christian, and millions of others suddenly vanished one day. (A Distant Thunder (1977), Image of the Beast (1980), and The Prodigal Planet (1981) are the three sequels to this film) (1983).Īs the title suggests, the primary character, Patty, is a purportedly Christian housewife who is more preoccupied with her own happiness than with seeking God’s favor. Russel Doughton and Donald Thompson’s rapture-movie trilogy began here. Also, it established the idea of the anarchy that would ensue after Christians were abruptly whisked away from their jobs: “Speding trains will plunge unknowing passengers into a black eternity as Christian engineers are seized.” 2.
Carlos Baptista, a Venezuelan-born businessman, owns the Scriptures Visualized Institute, which produced the film. The earliest rapture-themed film in cinematic history is considered to be this 13-minute short.
Revelation and a few other passages from the Old and New Testaments serve as their primary source of inspiration. When you’re seeing what you believe is a “coming attraction” of a dreadful event that you believe will happen one day, you feel an extra layer of dread.Īll but a few of the following movies were produced by evangelical organizations and exhibited only at churches and Christian summer camps.
Even if you don’t believe in the rapture, these movies are like nuclear war pictures in that they don’t deal with fantasy, but rather with an impending disaster that will eventually wipe out all life on the world.