Watching The Omen and other such movies...

[cynatnite]

I've always liked these series of movies. They are designed to be horror movies, but they use religious imagery and the bible to heighten the fear. They never frightened me because I always knew they couldn't come true in real life.

My mother and a few other religious types I know despise these movies and find them also very frightening.

Thinking about it now, I see that because I don't take them as literal they don't bother me. For them, it's different.

However, if they were to watch other "Revelation" type movies such as the "Left Behind" flicks, they'd have different reactions. I'm pretty sure of it.

What do you think?

[zbdent]

1. interesting thought ...

how many Republican candidates for President were born in 1971?

(If, in 1976, the year of the first "The Omen", the child was celebrating his fifth birthday, then Damien would have been born in 1971).

[awoke_in_2003]

2. I went back and re-watched past horror movies...

only one still freaked me out- The Shining. When the twins appear and say "come play with us" my skin still crawls. In fact when I typed it my ski crawled. I don't know how Kubrick imprinted me so much with that one scene.

[onager]

3. I'm with you on liking them.

But they don't scare me, for the same reason. They can't come true. It's just entertainment.

As a bonus, I get big laughs when a character starts seriously explaining the "science" behind demonic possession or psychic powers.

I probably shouldn't admit this, but one movie I've seen in the past few years actually did give me nightmares - An American Crime. A REAL horror story, and one sadly based in fact.

The "Left Behind" movies? HA! I watch them religiously (pun intended), usually on TBN. Though probably not for any reason Kirk Hameron would appreciate.

Then there's "Megiddo - Omega Code 2." It makes "Left Behind" look like "Citizen Kane." The budget was so low they could only afford one tank for the battle of Armageddon, so it keeps driving around the set. And around...and around...

[dimbear]

4. Horror writers have used religious machinery forever. Dante romped in it.

H P Lovecraft, that stern atheist lad, purposely imitated the language of the King James Bible. Because it works to scare.

[uriel1972]

5. The Thing - John Carpenter

Now that is the horror movie that gets me the most. Omen interesting but not thast scary.

[RebelOne]

7. My favorite sci-fi movie. The one from the '50s of course. I didn't like the remake. n/t

[Gore1FL]

6. When it comes to entertainment, I try to suspend disbelief for the purpose of the entertainment.

Obviously, my ability to do so has a lot to do with the cohesiveness of the plot, the acting, etc. Under the right circumstances, I can be as concerned about a people whether they be on an endangered spaceship, in a monster-filled cavern, on a sinking ship in the ocean, in a haunted house in Ohio, or in another dimension.

None of this bothers me after the show, of course.

I don't often watch a lot of movies, so I doubt I'd devote time to "left behind" type christian propaganda films when given the wealth of choices available.