Christian horror movie??

Blaine said:
EDIT: Okay, you could probably to some kind of horror theme integrated into a Little House on the Prairie kind of thing...I suppose. Of course I could never bring myself to watch Little House, but I'm sure it appealed to a lot of people since it stayed on TV for so long.
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Hmmm....I wonder if Melissa Gilbert is tired of doing infomercials and Lifetime movies yet? :grin:
 
I say let the movie write itself. If you've got a character in a Christian movie that curses...so be it! That's the character. That's life. That's how it happens.

I'm a professing Christian...I've got some ideas for Christian-themed movies, and I would imagine that all of my ideas would contain cursing, violence, etc. I mean, have you actually READ the Bible? Many parts of it are very unpleasant to read. And some of the most violence I've ever heard of has come from the Bible. Yes, Got is Love, but God is also fair. That's a theme that I think any Christian movie should think about showing...might lose some of the hokeyness along the way.
 
I don't think it was mentioned yet- but the Exorcism of Emily Rose definitely falls into the realm of Christian Horror.

Very much a horror film but it really dives into some weighty Christian themes too. (Which is where I think it differs from the The Exorcist, by the way)
 
there's a whole community of christian film fans that would be open to something that does not indulge in the typical conventions of a "christian" movie. i'm not religious by any means, but i post over there all the time, because the forum largely supports good filmmaking from all over the world -- from hollywood to docs to the very obscure.

artsandfaith.com
 
I am currently giving notes for some one on their christian horror script. As a horror script it's pretty good until the big showdown. The main characters, out of desperation in the battle, call on God (in whom the never before professed belief) and then they are able to defeat the evil creatures.

I understand the idea, that God is the ultimate victor and by aligning oneself with Him gives power over the enemy. And this is very much in line with the old testament; while they were battling human enemies many times God stepped in and miraculously brought an end to the battle. But the problem I have with it in a movie (that's not a recreation of Biblical stories) is that it feels like Deus ex Machina.

That's my biggest struggle in giving notes right now, I'm not sure how to change it.

Anyway, I think it's possible to make a Christian horror movie, but at the moment I'm not sure how to remove the feeling that God steps in at the last minute and saves the day only because they become Christians.
 
But that's what professing your faith in God does, Larry. Aside from landing you a new pickup truck, a pregnant wife and the football championship, it means you are granted invincibility against zombies and various evil creatures.

Kidding. Guess I'm still bitter about how ridiculous the Christian faith is made to look in a certain film I just watched...

Sounds obvious, but why not have someone in the climax take one for the team? Nothing more christian than self-sacrifice.
 
Good thought Jared.

Larry, I agree with your concerns. That's why I prefer having a main character who is a Christian from the start, but whose faith is tested by the battle with Evil. Just when all seems to be lost, they find the conviction of faith they need to rise up with the armor of God and defeat the foe.
 
Don't want to hijack your thread, but i just read that post about FTG and yep, we are on the same page. Good analysis. (I too liked EOTS. A lot. It sagged in places, which I think you said as well, but I thought overall it was very moving. The climax at the site of the crash was quite impactful...)

Ok, back on track to Christian Horror. :)
 
Larry R said:
I am currently giving notes for some one on their christian horror script. As a horror script it's pretty good until the big showdown. The main characters, out of desperation in the battle, call on God (in whom the never before professed belief) and then they are able to defeat the evil creatures.

I understand the idea, that God is the ultimate victor and by aligning oneself with Him gives power over the enemy. And this is very much in line with the old testament; while they were battling human enemies many times God stepped in and miraculously brought an end to the battle. But the problem I have with it in a movie (that's not a recreation of Biblical stories) is that it feels like Deus ex Machina..
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That's because it is.

Not to mention the other problem is that pretty much any kind of battle in my eyes, is ANTI-Christian to begin with. The whole fighting and such...In the NEW Testament, you're not supposed to have enemies to defeat.

Thinking about it more, that's kind of the whole problem with the premise of a Christian horror film. Christians are supposed to be loving and feeding the hungry and stuff. Not out killing things and doing battle.

And calling on God for "power" to defeat enemies just smacks of the worst of Christianity, not the best. It reeks of crusades and holy wars and intolerance.

If I were framing a character who used any kind of power at all, it would be sacrificing him/her self to save others. Or look at times when Christians drew on their faith in peaceful resistance, ala Dr. King. These are the kinds of things you want to show if you want to "Glorify Christ."

Or he could just do a movie of the Divine Comedy. That's got some real juicy bits in it...

I know I keep coming back to the Stand, but a great thing to note about it, is that the Good people never really do any battle at all. The Evil undoes itself, basically. There are good people there when it happens, but the Evil destroys itself. Which is a good point to make as well.
 
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Blaine said:
One of the things I would personally find the hardest to reconcile would be the language. From a writer's standpoint, I like to write dialogue that squares with my image of how people talk. This seems to be the biggest sticking point with the "Christian" audience. I mean even a PG-13 is sometimes frowned upon, and just forget the R rating.
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Don't Christians swear? Don't they fornicate?

I'm a Christian, and I'm no where near perfect. I don't even try to pretend like I am. I don't go to church, and I don't buy whatever a guy in a black suit with a white collar is selling.

I think the word 'Christian' has a special meaning in the US, and it basically means hardcore Bible thumpers...the 'I'm more pious' than you crowd.

That crowd can be fickle, and you have to spoon feed them exactly what they want to see in exactly the way they want to see it. Why do you think the Lalonde brothers kept making the same damn movie over and over and selling it through Jack Van Impe? Because the hardcore Bible belters ate it up...they loved it.

We actually had a producer of one of those Christian films speak to our class one night (he is a Toronto guy who started out in rock 'n' roll type indie flicks, of all things). He pointed out that the money is in things like that...hardcore markets with devout followings, and that these two 'unknown' guys from St. Catherines (I think) were making way more money than guys like Atom Egoyan, and Denys Arcand (two of our best known, home-based directors.)

If you want the film to be true to itself, in a sense, then you may have to show real dialogue and real actions that real people might do in everyday life...which may alienate a chunk of the audience. Then again, it may open the film up to a wider, more mainstream audience who don't like sanitised, heavy on the moral lesson type movies.

This kind of thing is prevalent in American cinema. Movies are sometimes targeted at too specific a crowd...like a 'black' film or a 'teen' movie.

Quality aside, don't the most successful films usually appeal to the broadest audience?
 
And I'll throw this out there...

When making low-budget fare (which I assume most of us here will be) wouldn't it be better to target a more specific market than try to compete with TRANSFORMERS?
 
DeSica said:
Don't Christians swear? Don't they fornicate?

I'm a Christian, and I'm no where near perfect. I don't even try to pretend like I am. I don't go to church, and I don't buy whatever a guy in a black suit with a white collar is selling.

I think the word 'Christian' has a special meaning in the US, and it basically means hardcore Bible thumpers...the 'I'm more pious' than you crowd.

That crowd can be fickle, and you have to spoon feed them exactly what they want to see in exactly the way they want to see it. Why do you think the Lalonde brothers kept making the same damn movie over and over and selling it through Jack Van Impe? Because the hardcore Bible belters ate it up...they loved it.

We actually had a producer of one of those Christian films speak to our class one night (he is a Toronto guy who started out in rock 'n' roll type indie flicks, of all things). He pointed out that the money is in things like that...hardcore markets with devout followings, and that these two 'unknown' guys from St. Catherines (I think) were making way more money than guys like Atom Egoyan, and Denys Arcand (two of our best known, home-based directors.)

If you want the film to be true to itself, in a sense, then you may have to show real dialogue and real actions that real people might do in everyday life...which may alienate a chunk of the audience. Then again, it may open the film up to a wider, more mainstream audience who don't like sanitised, heavy on the moral lesson type movies.

This kind of thing is prevalent in American cinema. Movies are sometimes targeted at too specific a crowd...like a 'black' film or a 'teen' movie.

Quality aside, don't the most successful films usually appeal to the broadest audience?
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I'm right there with you. Generally, it seems that Evangelical Christians have co-opted the term "Christian" and that is the audience I was referring to, rather than the more mainstream Christians, a category in which I'd place Catholics.

It tends to be a target audience I'm not interested in writing for because of the severe limitations placed on the storytelling.
 
When you say Christian, I assume you mean your "go to church every Sunday, prayers at meals, live the Christian life" folk and not the other half of the people that say they are Christians. So going by that...

I feel it would be extremely difficult to make a Christian horror film (as the term "horror film" is generally applied).

Evil is glorified in these movies, albeit negatively, but glorified just the same. And it would be hard to find any mainstream Christian who would voluntarily subject themselves to a horror film.

Left Behind might be considered a "Christian horror film", I guess.

Anyway, a very interesting challenge, in my opinion. But here's something to think about:

Watching some killer/maniac/zombie/monster/demon stalk/violate/kill people isn't really "horrifying" to Christians. It's obscene.

Watching a good Chrisitan begin to struggle with his faith in God, turn his back on him, and begin to walk down the path to hell... that would be horrifying.

Cheers! :beer:
 
Bergman's "Winter Light" isn't a horror film, but it reminds me of something. If you haven't seen this film, go do it. On the Criterion discs, there is a BTS of the making of this film called "Ingmar Bergman makes a movie" or something like that. Each part in the series is dedicated to different times in the production cycle (screenplay, pre-pro, etc.) You even get to see Bergman working with his editor on a KEM. Good stuff.

Anyway, his original idea for this film was about a man who loses his wife in some kind of accident, the "act of God" kind. He challenges God to reveal himself and answer the question, "Why?". He locks himself in a church and refuses to leave until God answers him. After many days, eventually, the man dies of starvation.

Bergman didn't make this story, he took it in a different direction with the character of a minister (Bergman's father was a minister). But I always thought about his original idea and felt that it would make a fantastic dramatic piece.

And when I think of a "Christian horror film", I think something like this, with just a little twist of the screw, would definitely fit the bill.


Anyway, just thinking.
 
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