Draft:Christian cinema
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Christian cinema - also called spiritual movies, faith movies, biblical movies or Christsploitation - is a movie genre and subset of religious cinema[note 1], being movies that either have its story inspired by some Christian biblical texts, present moral themes or Christian messages, and are produced primarily for a Christian audience.[note 2]
A fair number of these have been made by major Hollywood studios (particularly when biblical epics were profitable in 1950s and 1960s), though ultimately most of them are shat out by a decentralized network of independent film companies, collectively known as the Christian film industry. They more or less treated as a "frontier" of Christian media and their culture wars, and while there are some serious Christian films - that are critically well-received and even considered culturally important - most of them range from below mediocre, to white-hot trash.
History[edit]
The beginnings[edit]
The paths of cinema and Christianity are believed to have first met circa 1646, when Athanasius Kircher began promoting a device called Magic lantern
- which is a early form of a image projector. As you'd expect, it being abused was one of the earliest thing to happen, with individual priests (as well as freemasons) starting to use them to trick their naive followers that they wielded Godly powers of manipulating light. They were also used by missionaries traveling in Africa around 1800s, with them using the magic lanterns to demonstrate the gospel to the African people.[1][2]
Vie et Passion du Christ (Life and Passion of the Christ), a French movie that was released in ten different incarnations between 1897 and 1914, is considered the first major narrative film (or films rather) to have a Christian theme. As with the magic lantern exploits, this thing was conceived as Catholic church propaganda by presenting biblical stories to mass audiences for educational and spiritual purposes. Its release paved the way for other religious films and the development of Christian cinema, as it was one of the first films to be shown in a commercial context and had a significant impact in film history.[3]
1910s and 1920s (A time of innovation)[edit]
1910s saw the first feature-length Christian-themed movies, with some of the earliest being 1911's L'Inferno and 1912's From the Manger to the Cross.
Another notable film, though not solely a Christian movie, was D.W. Griffith's 1916 epic anothology film "Intolerance"
(ironic considering what Griffith's best known film is), which intercuts four historical storylines, one of which depicts the events surrounding the crucifixion of Christ as a Judean story of religious intolerance, with the sequence considered a monumental achievement in early cinema.
In 1920s, the two notable Christian films were Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments (1923) and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), which established the Bible epic genre. Coincidentally, these two films were later remade in the 1950s. Another influential film was Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), a humanist drama focusing on the trial of Joan of Arc that became a classic for its artful use of close-ups and the lightning-in-a-bottle performance by Renée Jeanne Falconetti
as title character.[4][5]
A less impressive yet somewhat well-known 1928 Christian-themed movie with a female protagonist was DeMille's The Godless Girl, which is a early progenitor of the wishful thinking-driven Christian films in which everything just aligns in favor of the Christians over atheists. While not completely trashed by the critics, it was a office disaster in the U.S. in 1928, failing to recoup its costs primarily due to its outdated silent film format, as at the time, sound films were becoming a thing. Nevertheless, it was pretty big in in the Soviet Union[note 3] and the Weimar Republic, with certain Adolf Hitler liking it so much that he sent a fan letter to its star, Lina Basquette.[6]
1930s and 1940s (Popularity increase)[edit]
The 1930s did not produce overtly "Christian" films in the modern sense, but The Sign of the Cross (1932; dir. Cecil B. DeMille) and Gabriel Over the White House
(1933) were early influential films with religious or divine themes. The Sign of the Cross is notable for being one of the first films that lead to protest by Christian groups (including original novel writer's daughter, Dorothea Barrett) and tried to get the film cancelled, as it was a pre-code movie
with explicit content (particularly Claudette Colbert's
milk bath scene and a depiction of same-sex attraction).[7] Meanwhile, Gabriel Over the White House - co-produced by William Randolph Hearst
- became controversial for its flirtation with fascism and Christian nationalism.[8][9] Another notable film was The Great Commandment
(1939), a costume drama focused on a village life between Jerusalem and Jericho rather than a direct depiction of Jesus.
The volume of Christian-themed movies increased during the 1940s. Notable films from this time include Sergeant York (1941), One Foot in Heaven (1941), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and Heaven Can Wait (1943). The increase in Christian movies in the 1940s stemmed from the growth of film as a popular medium, the emergence of Christian filmmakers and distributors, and the use of biblical stories as compelling narratives for audiences familiar with them. Pioneers like Irwin Moon and Carlos Baptista established studios for evangelism, while events like World War II made people more reflective and open to spiritual themes.
1950s and early 1960s (The Biblical epics)[edit]
The 1950s and 60s were when Christian cinema arguably peaked, in terms of success both critically and commercially. Hollywood put out large budget epics such as Quo Vadis (1951), The Ten Commandments (1956), and the 11 time Academy Award winning Ben-Hur (1959). This was also at a time when Christian values of that era were tested in the backdrop of the Cold War.
Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960) was a notable exception to Christian cinema insofar as not being particularly preachy, and for slipping in a homoerotic scene that made it past the censors until rerelase in 1967. It was exceptional for several reasons, being directed by a Jew, being the first film to openly break the Hollywood blacklist by having screenwriter Dalton Trumbo listed in the credits, and for overlaying subtle civil rights and anti-McCarthyism themes.
Eventually, the biblical epic genre became oversaturated and audiences started to turn away from it. The downward trend was present not just in biblical epics but historical costume epics in general, with early indicators of this trajectory being the underperformance of the much hyped The Fall of the Roman Empire and Cleopatra.
Shifting tastes had part in the decline with moviegoers instead started to go with more experimental and artistically accomplished films that characterized the New Hollywood
movement of the late 1960s and 1970s.
Although not the main cause of the decline, the stark under-performance of 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told is often pointed to being when the genre fell out of moviegoers' favor. The film itself was a flop both with critics and at the box office, failing to find favor with audiences and suffering from mixed reviews. Critics found the film to be plodding, solemn, and filled with distracting, anachronistic celebrity cameos (like John Wayne as a Roman soldier), which broke the immersion.
The last biblical epic blockbuster during the period was The Bible: In the Beginning..., one year after The greatest Story Ever Told. Directed by the allegedly atheist John Huston, the film was moderate success in the box office, being the second highest grossing movie of 1966 in North America,[10][note 4] but it received mostly negative reviews and couldn't save the genre from its decline.
Late 60s and the 1970s (Niches and precursors)[edit]
Thanks to social upheaval of late 1960s, things were about the get strange. While the edgy, counter-cultural New Hollywood stuff was the "it thing" of the time, the rise of the Jesus Movement provided niche that some money-eyed frauds wished to milk for its money's worth. Additionally, due to the biblical epics fell out of favor with major studios - as they were no longer ready to sink exorbitant amounts of money on a genre that was no longer consistently profitable - this had the effect that the smaller, independent movie companies started to take over in proliferation of Christian movies.
What ensued was the beginning of the slowly-but-surely escalating deluge of low-budget trash, and although probably not the first one, a peculiar specimen indicating things to come was 1971’s If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? Directed by Ron Ormond
and featuring producer/Southern Bapist preacher Estus Pirkle,
Footmen is considered the grand-daddy of Christian exploitation (aka Christsploitation) cinema, introducing handful of tropes and other tricks that can be seen in 2010s and 2020s Christsploitation flicks. The Footmen, served as the first part in the "Pirkle-Ormond" trilogy, being followed by horror film Burning Hell (basically their vision what biblical hell is, though its hell on the viewer too) in 1974 and the much The Believer's Heaven (which is their vision of heaven) in 1977, with the third film going largely ignored.[12][13]
Indeed, it was through scares and horror that Christian-themed movies thrived in the 1970s, with two peculiar films that defined the genre emerging in 1973; seen best in The Exorcist and its worst with A Thief in the Night.
The Exorcist was a seminal supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and based on the book by William Peter Blatty
, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. At its most basic, its about the demonic possession of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil and her mother's desperate attempt to save her through an exorcism performed by two Catholic priests. The film is lauded for its masterful direction, powerful acting, and groundbreaking practical effects, which continue to be influential. It redefined horror films and elevated the genre itself to a respected art form, as well as paving the way for future award-winning horror movies. It also achieved massive financial success, becoming a highly profitable R-rated horror film and securing its place in cinematic history. It became a profound cultural touchstone, sparking public discourse on faith, science, and mental health.
Meanwhile A Thief in the Night was a independently-produced Christian horror film by director-producer Donald W. Thompson and writer Russell Doughten. Unlike The Exorcist, A Thief in the Night is influential for completely different and utterly sinister reasons. It depicts a skeptical young woman named Patty who is left behind during the Rapture after she refuses to convert to Christianity, unlike her born again husband who disappears. She must then survive the ensuing Great Tribulation, navigating a world where the United Nations forms a global totalitarian government that forces the "mark of the beast" on those who reject Christ.
A Thief in the Night drastically changed the Christian film industry - being as if not more influential than If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? - and became one of the 1970s' most widely distributed films.[14][15] It introduced many bad Chrisplotation tropes (refining what was previously introduced in Footmen) and is considered a trailblazer in the Christian apocalypse film genre, being credited as the main influence for the Left Behind series, and inspiring other copycat films with a similar rapture/globalist anti-Christ horror gimmick.[16] It was also controversial for its senseless scare tactics -- notably traumatizing many who were young during at time and leaving them with "rapture anxiety".[17][18] The film got three more sequels in late 1970s and early 1980s, with the series getting shit-canned before three additional sequels could had been made.
Besides horror films - along with rock operas like Godspell (which Christians like) and Jesus Christ Superstar (which is divisive amongst Christians) - Christian movies mainly survived by TV movies and mini-series, with Franco Zeffirelli’s
1977 Jesus of Nazareth
acclaimed as one of the best showings of the decade.
In 1974, the Christian Film Distributors Association (CFDA) was formed for the purpose of creating a more structured environment for the production and distribution of Christian films. In addition, the backlash towards 1970s malaise and the dour, uninspiring movie protagonists (that got associated with liberalism) of the time started to mount. Things started to change from the middle of the decade, with more "positive" movie characters – like Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa – began to be shown more religious, and movies like Superman 1978 were observed to contain Christ allegories.
1980s (Reaganism)[edit]
Although the Reagan revolution lead to Religious right taking over various aspects of American life in the 1980s, it appears they didn't quite take over the American film industry of the time. The early 80s were not kind to the independent Christian cinema, as not only did A Thief in the Night series prematurely end in it's fourth installment - The Prodigal Planet - in 1983 (there were three additional films were planned), but 1982 saw the release of the notorious Rock: It's Your Decision, which has gone down as one of the best known and much ridiculed example of Christian propaganda films.
Things were not going much better in Hollywood land, with there being only few major studio-made motion pictures with any kind of clear-cut Christian themes. This is further expounded by the fact that the best known "Christian" movie of the decade is arguably the 1988 Martin Scorsese movie The Last Temptation of Christ, which is considered sacrilegious and was (and still is) widely detested by Christians globally. The only other Christian-themed films of any note from the decade being Chariots of Fire, Agnes of God and The Mission. Arguably the highest regarded Christian-themed movie of the decade was 1987 Danish film Babette's Feast, and although it got various accolades, its not particularly brought to discourse in regards to Christian cinema much anymore.
But true to Reagan's more insidious undertakings, there was a hidden catch in regards to Christianity's furtive influence on American cinema at the time. While American TVs were spewing garish fluff of the Bakkers and like, the movies instead entertained with more subtle means of conveying Christian beliefs. Its presence was more psychological and expressed by the movie protagonists of the time, especially the machismo variety approved by Conservative moviegoers. The violent, squad automatic weapon-waving kill 'em all heroes like Stallone's John Rambo and whoever Charles Bronson was playing, were usually motivated by proverbial righteous anger towards perceived injustices and often unleashed Old Testament-grade destruction on enemies of America, be it aboard or home.
Apocryphally, the most Christian movie series of the 1980s were the Friday the 13th films. While on the surface these films seem like a Reaganite moral guardian’s worst nightmare, deep down these films speak the truth about the deranged bloodlust of the religious right of the time. Many viewers and critics interpret the Friday the 13th films as containing Christian allegories, particularly seeing the murderous villain protagonist Jason Voorhees
as an agent of divine punishment for the "sinful" behavior of sexually active teens. The series often portrays the "good" characters who are abstinent and respectful as surviving, while those engaging in sex, drugs, or other "debauchery" are punished. This creates a kind of demented scare campaign that promotes abstinence, a "virtue-cemented moral high ground," and functions as a conservative morality fable with religious undertones.[19]
The 1980’s biggest contribution to Christian cinema is not the movies themselves, but rather the actors. Most of the future Christsploitation stars and other Christian celebrities either began their acting careers (David A.R. White, Kirk Cameron) or saw their careers peaking (Mel Gibson, Chuck Norris) during this decade.
1990s to early 2000s (End times hype and little else)[edit]
Christianity's influence in the 1990s was not what it was a decade prior, and it reflected not only movies, but pop culture in general. While gothic and demonic imagery were considered cool at the time, there weren't really any remarkable movies that thematically tried to get any kind of “spiritual” message across in the 1990s. Not only that, but due to major terrorist attacks by the likes of Jihadists (1993 WTC attack), Christian Identity followers and associates (Oklahoma bombing and the Centennial Olympic Park bombing) and other loons (Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo, Heaven's Gate) – religious fanatics of all stripes were actually villain fodder for pop culture of the time.
Nevertheless, Christian Cinema saw limited yet impactful innovations in their bullshit during this decade. In particular, this was the time when various companies dedicated for pushing Christspolitation started to emerge. Firstly, the pre-established Trinity Broadcasting Network threw it's hat in the film-making ring around the turn of 1980s to 1990s, with release of China Cry. Off their heels, Cloud Ten Pictures
began operations in 1994, initially producing schlockumentaries.
Presumably due to combination of premillennialist delusions and panic over the Y2K, the second half the 1990s saw a trend of Christian-themed end times films, with some of them not quite finishing in time and being released around early noughties. Cloud Ten answered with the Apocalypse series, while TBN made The Omega Code
and its sequel. Cloud Ten also produced the first film adaptations of Left Behind, which starred Kirk Cameron as their lead. Even Hollywood wanted a piece of the action, as evidenced by 1999 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle End of Days.
Around 1999, ChristianCinema.com, Inc. was founded. Their first movie was 1999's The Moment After, though arguably their best known films are the insane time travel movie Time Changer
and A Thief in the Night/Left Behind inspired Six: The Mark Unleashed.
2004 to 2013 (A rising tide, and Nollywood)[edit]
The time-frame between 2004 and 2013 served as a veritable prelude to the upcoming Chrisploitation wave of 2014. Major catalyst for the revived interest in spiritual cinema came in part thanks to Mel Gibson’s 2004 Hollywood-backed vanity project The Passion of the Christ, which gathered a lot of buzz (both good and bad) and brought Christian movies back on the talking table.
The following year, the infamous Pure Flix Entertainment (now going by Pinnacle Peak Pictures) was founded in Arizona by actors David A. R. White and Russell Wolfe - amongst other money men. Pure Flix would be a major catalyst for the 2010's Christsploitation wave, though the company company's input was slow at first, before beginning the spam of Christian-themed movies from 2009 onward.
Also in 2005, The Chronicles of Narnia film series (based on Christian apologist C.S. Lewis' fantasy books) began with its first installment, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. While the Narnia films (nor the books) are not outright religious, its generally understood that lot of the writing and its themes come from a Christian mindset. Many Christian parents saw the Narnia movies as a "spiritually sound" family fantasy movie alternative to the Harry Potter movies that were very big at the time, with Christians viewing Harry Potter negatively due to its portrayal of magic and witchcraft. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the 4th highest-grossing film of the year, though its sequels exhibited diminishing returns.
The rise of Christian film festivals, DVD distribution, and church-based screenings also helped these films - notably the crappy ones - find an audience beyond traditional cinemas. In 2006, Ted Baehr of Movieguide (Christian-slanted movie and TV show review site) claimed that nearly 50 Christian-themed movies were made that year, and that they had grossed some $39 million at the box-office. He also claimed that “major Hollywood studios have created marketing departments to target the growing demand for faith-based and family fare.“[20] The same year, motivated by the profits that The Passion of the Christ gathered, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire established the Fox Faith brand with an intent to release “dozen religious films annually”. It did not go well, as reportedly only two films were "middling successes" with rest of their theatrical films flopping, with the division closing in 2009.[21]
Also in 2006, Nigeria's film industry (a.k.a. "Nollywood") started to become a major player in Christsploitation. Many of their films were sold by the "Dove Studios" (run by Redeemed Christian Church of God
megachurch), which was a leading distributor of such trash at the time. Christian films were and remain a significant part of Nollywood, with around 20% of Nigerian films in the industry being thematically Christian.[22]
One of the two notable Christian films from 2006 was the the biblical drama The Nativity Story which not only had a (unearned) world premiere at the Vatican, but is also infamous due to Keisha Castle-Hughes
(who plays Virgin Mary) becoming pregnant at the age of 16 shortly after finishing filming for movie, drawing controversy due to the "life imitating art" nature of the situation. She became pregnant with her boyfriend's child and, after facing some backlash, defended her decision to have the baby and eventually gave birth in 2007.[23][24] The other was the sports drama Facing the Giants,
which is considered the breakthrough film of Kendrick Brothers (Alex and Stephen
), being a successful independent film made with a low budget and amateur actors from Sherwood Baptist Church. Though 2006 also saw films that were critical of Christianity, like the 2nd highest-grossing film of the year Da Vinci Code (while nice that it does, has its own set of bullshit) and the documentary Jesus Camp. Also the Omen remake
was released on June 6, 2006.
2007 was pretty quiet, but 2008 saw the release of Fireproof, which was another Kendrick brothers surprise hit, grossing over $33 million against a small budget and becoming the highest-grossing independent film of that year. Although film critics trashed it, its success was driven by a strong word-of-mouth marketing campaign within the evangelical Christian community, which resulted in massive audience engagement and a strong presence at the box office. 2008 also saw the release of a notorious creationist propaganda film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
The time frame between from 2009 before 2014 serves as the proverbial foreshock preceding the 2014 Christsplotation wave. In 2008, there were roughly 10 noteworthy Christian-themed movies released, with the number increasing to 25 in 2009. From this point on, it was quite normal to see 20-25 Christian-themed movies released a year -- with most of them being low-budget films released to die at the theater. This is partly due to PureFlix company's input, as they really started to crank out their Christsplotation fare in 2009, with most of them starring the company co-founder David A.R. White.
Another peculiar film from this time frame was the 2012 film Last Ounce of Courage, which is not known for the movie itself (its a total POS War on Christmas hissy fit) but rather a robocall campaign promoting it. The robocall marketing campaign violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), leading to a massive class-action lawsuit and a $32.4 million award to plaintiffs in 2017. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was involved in promoting the 2012 film through this campaign, which involved millions of calls made under the guise of political surveys.[25]
2014 to 2020 (The Christploitation era)[edit]
Then came 2014 and shit started to get proper weird. As early as January of 2014, the year was being dubbed the "Year of the Bible Film", with commenters having noticed that there was a unprecedented deluge of Christian-themed movies about to hit theaters that year.[26][27] There was at least 25 Christian-themed movies released that year that were notable enough to get a entry at Wikipedia.
That year Hollywood released Darren Aronofsky's Noah, which while financially successful and got good reviews, got banned in many Islamic countries (plus China) and was criticized by Christians for its loose faithfulness to the Bible. Another sorta big thing was a new filmization of Left Behind starring Nic Cage and armed with a $16 million dollar budget, which was largest budget an independent Christian production to date. It gathered $27.4 million at the box-office, which, while making its budget back, it was not a full on financial success.[note 5]
However, neither of them were really game-changers that revolutionizes the Christian cinema. Instead, Pure Flix’s "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" strategy finally bore fruit when God's Not Dead (released March 2014) became that year's big sleeper hit. Accompanied by likes of Son of God, Heaven Is For Real and documentary The Bible, the success of God’s Not Dead opened the floodgates for a wave of low budget faith-based cinema. While many of these movies were critically panned - with critics noting that many of these films were heavy-handed and preaching to the choir rather than offering nuanced storytelling - they proved popular with audiences and were highly profitable. This success led to increased interest and production of similar faith-based films. In 2015, The Guardian analyst Jacob Oller dubbed this fad as "Christsploitation".[28]
That year also saw the release of Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas, which swiftly became one of the worst movies in human history. Following its overwhelmingly negative critical reception and extremely low audience ratings - which led to the film's failure and numerous awards for its poor quality - Cameron became upset by this at social media, accusing atheists of carrying out a smear campaign against his movie. He defended the film by suggesting that the low review scores were a coordinated effort by atheists on Reddit to discredit it, a claim that was widely debated and largely dismissed by many observers.
Between 2015 and 2020, some 130 Christian-themed movies (consisting of live-action, animated and documentaries) was made, with nearly all of them being the low-budget theatrical trash variety. Most notable of the trash including the likes of Do You Believe?, Old Fashioned
, War Room
, The Trump Prophecy
and Unplanned.
Meanwhile, sequels for God's Not Dead was released 2016 and 2018, with diminishing returns. The third one especially took a hit, as it was less hostile in its intent against the perceived enemies of Christianity.
Amidst the deluge of Christsploitation crap, there were some attempts by Hollywood and more artistic film talent to create something worth a damn. 2016 saw attempts by Hollywood to have a repeat of 2014. The most successful one came from Mel Gibson, who helmed Hacksaw Ridge - based on the story of Seventh-day Adventist Desmond Doss
- that got good reviews, was successful at box office and was nominated for several Oscars, though it attracted controversy regarding Gibson's anti-Semitic antics of the past, as well as debates over the film's historical accuracy, the sensationalization of Desmond Doss's story, and the film's depiction of violence and religious themes. Less successful was the 2016 remake of Ben-Hur
, which was declared dead on arrival by industry professionals, with there being zero interest in this unnecessary remake. Since it was filmed with a high budget and due to nobody seeing it, it lead to significant financial losses and being labelled as the biggest box office bomb of that year's summer, earning a place amongst the biggest box office bombs in history.
Martin Scorsese helmed Silence
was also released that year, and while it was a loved by critics, it didn't do much at the box office.
2018 fared better, mainly by documentaries. Amazing Grace recounting Aretha Franklin's
recording of her titular 1972 gospel album got rave reviews, while Wim Wenders
made the impressive Pope Francis: A Man of His Word,
focusing on the life and goals of Pope Francis. The last good Christian-themed movies from 2019 and 2020 included
A Hidden Life
, The Two Popes
and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
2021 to present (Angel Studios and gradual mainstreaming)[edit]
The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything, including affecting how movies were consumed, and this too had an effect on Christian cinema. In particular, the low-budget Christsploitation movies took a hit, with the pandemic denting the momentum and the volume of releases it had from 2009 or 2014 onward. Indeed, the Christsploitation wave trailblazer God's Not Dead and the franchise it built had run its course, with God's Not Dead: We the People (2021) and God's Not Dead: In God We Trust (2024) getting ignored both critically and commercially. Even as of 2021, the makers of the aforementioned film series, PureFlix, had sold their rights to Sony, and beginning operation now under the name Pinnacle Peak Pictures. Although Christsploitation is still supposedly going strong, there’s been speculation about its decline.
Its also around this time when it appears that Christian film interests started to game review scores around the internet. If using a social cataloging application for films like IMDb and Letterboxd, the ratings for modern Christsploitation can become hard to discern. As while there is review bombing involved, there is also reverse review bombing (i.e. flooding with excessively positive reviews), with many of these films getting having an abnormal number of perfect scores at the aforementioned social cataloging sites. As such, one should instead consult trusted critics to see past through the zone flooded with shit.
Around 2021, Angel Studios (currently Angel Inc.) media company was founded in Utah, which emerged from the bankruptcy of VidAngel
with the help of equity crowdfunding. It operates the over-the-top video on-demand service "Angel", and from 2022, have began distributing movies.
While the niche Christsploitation films appear to be on the decline, higher-budgeted Christian films instead have started to slowly become more mainstream in conservative circles in tangent with the right wing rise in the late 2010s and early 2020s. This was most evident in 2023, when two unexpected hits of the year were the Sound of Freedom and Jesus Revolution.
Despite being its own religion, Falun Gong has also began to fund Christsploitation movies via subsidiary of The Epoch Times. Their first film, The Firing Squad, was released on August 2 2024. The film is a prison drama loosely based on the Bali Nine Australian drug smugglers and starred Kevin Sorbo and Eric Roberts.[29]
Reoccurring elements and common themes[edit]
The protagonists[edit]
Bourgeois lifestyles[edit]
“”This is a movie about people so well off, and so privileged, that they just -- have to feel victimized and persecuted about something, anything. They wanna feel that they are victims too. Even though they're not -- and they live pretty fucking solid lives.
|
—Brad "Cinema Snob" Jones talking about the movie "Last Ounce of Courage" (though this statement can be applied to most of Christsplotation films)[30] |
The people making these movies must have missed the "you cannot serve both God and money" part of the bible (Matthew 6:24), as if you pay attention to main characters in these movies - particularly those made by PureFlix - you can see that more often than not, the protagonists are doing quite well for themselves financially. (Gee, wonder why.)
Even African-American Christians - in movies like 2015's War Room - are shown being very affluent, which is somewhat detached from reality, as not only is median Black household wealth is significantly lower (est. about 1/8th to 1/10th that of White households), African-Americans Christians usually rely on Churches and their communities for economic support, which in grand scheme of things doesn’t eliminate broader economic inequality.[31][32]
Our heroes ladies and gentlemen[edit]
Even though these Christian movies have very black-and-white worldviews and are occupied by obvious, mustache-twirling villains, its not unusual to see the supposedly righteous protagonists to behave absolutely heinously -- in what TV Tropes refers to as "Designated Hero" and/or "Glurge" tropes. For instance, lets consider the protagonist from first God's Not Dead movie - Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper) - who is more of an entitled brat than an religious person who is being repressed. As pointed out in TV Tropes' YMMW Page on the the movie:[33]
The reason [Josh] is arguing against Radisson is because he mocked something he believed in, rather than how the movie portrays him as "fighting against an evil professor." Let's face it, if Radisson told all the students to write down "Allah is Dead" (ignoring that Allah is Arabic for God, as even Arab Christians use), there is a strong chance Josh would have written that down without a second thought. Later, he admits that he himself isn't sure that God does exist, but since now a good chunk of his final grade rides on this, he sets out to get an entire class to believe that God does exist, which is the exact same thing Radisson wants, just in reverse. He is also upset that Radisson dismisses his belief, only for Josh's arguments to consist of him dismissing every other belief, claiming only Christians are right and are good people. Then his girlfriend who he has dated for six years and who turned down two better colleges just to stay with him, seeing that doing this will most likely hurt his future, tries to get him to stop and suggests they break up when that doesn't work, which he agrees to without a second thought, shocking and hurting her. He then seems to hook up with Ayisha at the concert not too long after, suggesting he completely forgot about his ex. This is the opposite of what Radisson does when his girlfriend breaks up with him, where he is genuinely filled with guilt and sadness and soon tries to make amends. Then there are his "debates" where he makes snide comments just to tick off Radisson, then gets overly emotional and just starts angrily badmouthing Radisson till he breaks, things Radisson [the designated villain] himself was doing during the debates as well. It seems like the only reason we are to see Josh as the hero is just because he is fighting for Christianity, which he is only fighting for because he believes in it, rather than a moral reason.
The antagonists[edit]
Romans[edit]
Christian experience with Roman dictatorship is kind of part of their history, considering Jesus lived in the 1st century during reigns on Augustus and Tiberius -- and by extension the entire religion emerged and spread within the Roman Empire. So obviously, Romans are usually the villains in the more historical movies, with them being particularity common during the height of the cinematic biblical epics in 1950s and early 1960s.
Commies[edit]
Due to decline of biblical epic, Romans went out of style as the Christians' go-to villains. Therefore, Christian cinema searched and found a new enemy, the one that was the #1 threat to the God-fearing American's way of life: Communism.
A notable early one to make a big plot out of it being 1971's If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?, in which the film segues between baptist Estus Pirkle preaching sessions and a imagined communist regime that has taken over America and ruthlessly oppress Christians. In addition to communist tyrants, these films also tend to point fingers towards progressives and social liberals for their loose way of life infecting and disarming America's ability to be ready for this atheist commie dictatorship. Maybe the best known recent one using this theme is 2025 - The World enslaved by a Virus in which a global communist system with a one world government emerges after the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak, leading to the suppression of Christianity and a restriction of personal contacts.
And if its not communism...
Globalists[edit]
... then its globalism. The anti-globalist strain arguably began with 1973 rapture-horror film A Thief in the Night, in which United Nations declares a task force "UNITE" to go over all the people in the world, putting the mark of the devil in the willing followers of UN, and those who have second doubts (and want to find Christ instead getting) killed. This theme was plagiarized in Left Behind, with early noughts movie series featuring the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia (played by Gordon Currie with a campy faux-Russian accent), who like in the original novels, is the Secretary-General of the United Nations (before he takes it over and converts it to some Global Supreme Potentate). Meanwhile, the villain of 1999's The Omega Code is ALSO the Antichrist, but this time he is the head of European Union instead (played by Basil Exposition from Austin Powers.)
Atheists[edit]
But of course, disciples of Age of Enlightenment get the burnt of Christians' dismay. Atheists usually serve as mustache-twirling intellectual challenge to the Christian protagonists and their beliefs, and as these films are not particularly nuanced, the Christianity's triumph over atheism is about always a foregone conclusion. After being proven wrong, the atheist either converts, dies or converts and then dies.
As these films are mainly made to confirm the audience's worst impulses escapism, the filmmakers have free reigns to distort and/or come up with totally bullshit excuses why the atheists are the way they are, in the most church-friendly way possible.
Factually, people leave Christianity for numerous potential reasons. These including intellectual doubts, disappointment with the church's negative behaviors like hypocrisy or abuse, personal struggles like family conflicts or spiritual disillusionment, and disagreement with the faith's social stances on issues like LGBTQ rights or racism. Sometimes it's a result of stressors or a lack of commitment, but for many, it stems from deeply held values conflicting with Christian doctrines or experiences.[34][35]
Instead, you'll be seeing the movie atheists professing completely different motives. Common one being the "God failed me" thing, in which people become atheists due to something bad having happened to them - like wife dying. This is most clearly present in early God's Not Dead movies with Kevin Sorbo's atheist professor and Ray Wise's insidious prosecutor.
The "God failed me" trope is a informal fallacy as while "God failure" is one of the reasons why somebody might leave Christianity/deconvert, its portrayed as being way more common than it actually is. Rarely will the other reasons - like church's misconducts, one's intellectual growth or finding a better way to be a ethical person - be addressed, as God forbid if audience gets upset when the church is made the bad guy or the atheists' reasoning being actually be sound.
This reason is also stupid in that even Christians do not generally believe that atheists don't follow God because God failed them, with the common view being that atheism is a result of a fundamental lack of faith, rather than a response to God's failure or neglect.
ACLU (+ "Liberal government")[edit]
Of course the bedeviled ACLU that prevents Christians from using religion to discriminate others is portrayed as force of evil in these movies. Since ACLU has been designed to secure free speech for all - including non-Christians - this naturally is a grievous offense to Christians' freedom of religion. ACLU do their villain duties in movies like God's Not Dead 2 and Last Ounce of Courage. Sometimes them "virtue signalling liberals" (read: Democrats) from either state-level positions (mayors and governors) get involved, and sometimes these culture wars reach all the way to the US Congress.
Other religions[edit]
As their religion operates on the principle that their religion is the right one and/or the only way to reconcile with God, this naturally puts Christianity in odds with the religions that are "not Christianity."
Judaism gets fair bit of evil eye in these movies, particular due to the Caiaphas and co.'s role in dooming Jesus to crucifixion by the Romans, as well as not recognizing Jesus as the messiah. As such, there is air of antisemitism seeping through in a good number of these movies - especially those that recount Jesus' crucifixion - with there being sometimes little finger pointing and sometimes outright damnation of the entire Jewish religion.
Islam gets shit flung at it too, especially after 9/11, because... you know. Notable instances includes the Muslim family from God's Not Dead (appearing in the 1st and 4th movie), where the family patriarch (played by Marco Khan) is portrayed as a violent backwards-ass monster who throws her daughter out after she gets interested in Christianity. Another notable one is the villain in Assassin 33 A.D., who is a vengeful Muslim who funds some student scientists' time machine project to go back in time to kill Jesus to stop Christianity from ever existing (no really, that's the plot of that movie).
Overarching elements[edit]
Parroting right-wing culture war talking points (+ the unsubtle cameos)[edit]
Its not unusual to see Christsploitation movies echo conservative culture war talking points, which the right-wing outlets are spewing at any given time. Some of these movies are outright created as response to some recent woe starting, such as Christmas with Capital C (2010) and the Last Ounce of Courage (2012) created as a response to the "War on Christmas" donkey-doo.[note 6]
Often repeated narratives range from Christianity being “under attack" by the secularizing culture (God’s Not Dead), Critique of Secularism and Academia (distrust of “liberal elites” in education/media), Pro-Life messaging (Unplanned), championing traditional gender roles, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment or erasure and patriotic nationalism (reinforces the “Christian nation” narrative common in conservative rhetoric). This of course stems from the fact that target Christian-audience usually includes the politically conservative, with these movies being a way to confirm their cultural values and beliefs.
To make sure that their stupid audience understands that these movies are made by right-wing interests, they usually shoehorn right-wing pundits and speakers into these movies, usually in cameo roles as themselves. These include the likes of Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty (appearing in first God's Not Dead), Sean Hannity (appearing in Let There Be Light, which Hannity also co-produced), Michele Bachmann and William G. Boykin (appearing in Trump Prophecy, being two of various interviewees) and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell (appearing in Unplanned, which he co-produced).
Calm the fuck down everybody[edit]
Related to the "culture war talking points", a thing that happens in lot of these films is everything being relatively fine until one of these culture war things/other sort of first world inconvenience is brought up. Once the point is brought up, everybody goes fucking berserk like its a kindergartners trying to secure playtime with some popular toy. Adult responsibilities and safeguarding moderated environment appears to be no concern to any of the grown-ass people in these films.
Many of these movies have the film's protagonist(s) running into inconvenience by happenstance, which makes them realize that Christianity - and thus their personal freedom - is being threatened. One notable case is Christmas with Capital C, where the main character goes positively berserk for others not making a hullabaloo about "Happy Holidays". Same occurs in another "war on Christmas" movie, Last Ounce of Courage.
Sometimes these movies try to make the non-Christians to be the hysterical ones, such as in God's Not Dead 2, in which teacher with Christian beliefs getting sued for talking about Jesus in class. If you think there's no legal ground on that, well...
How do I anything?[edit]
One telling thing that happens in these movies is characters (both protagonists and antagonists) being unable do things normally or not understanding general facts. And this is not just "dad can't figure out how to use a computer" or "there's this newfangled teen trend" trope you may see in other junk-food media, but literally there are times when the viewer might start to worry that the characters in these movies spontaneously forget how to breathe. If every instance would be added here, this would read longer than Lord of the Rings, but for clarity's sake, here are few examples.
Besides the implausible lawsuit that occurs in God's Not Dead 2 (because its exaggerated church-state conflict, misrepresentation of the legal process, and relies on unlikely motivations for the students' parents, high school board and attorneys involved), the first God's Not Dead has a similar issue also. It's plot hinges on the atheist professor not using his authority to stop the escalating argument over God's existence, when he is entitled to do so as the teacher of his own damned philosophy class. The protagonists' triumph over him is not due to their argument being good, but the atheist professor just making inexplicably bad decisions on his own.
Notably, the failed 1982 satanic panic propaganda Rock: It's Your Decision gets various facts wrong; incorrectly associating rock music with satanism and the occult, failing to understand song lyrics or themes, and misrepresenting popular artists by linking them to evil practices. As the film treats these as fact (and as a religiously righteous cause to go after), it turns the main character unlikable, overtly judgmental dingus.
The 1991 TV movie A Little Piece of Heaven features Kirk Cameron "rescuing" orphans from bad situations by taking them and hiding them on a remote farm, with his motive being giving them a better life. Legally, this is fucking kidnapping, plain and simple. Not only that, him pretending to be some kind of angel comes off as really deranged, under different circumstances, he'd be an effective serial killer villain. But the film frames it in a sympathetic and even righteous light.
Then there is the Pro-Life propaganda film The Life Zone, which portrays a scenario where women who want abortions being kidnapped and forced to carry to term (with the kidnapper is the one that's depicted righteous.) In most jurisdictions where abortion is legal, that would be illegal, unconstitutional, and/or criminal. It misrepresents how law, medical ethics, and individual rights work. Such extreme measures are not supported by legal frameworks in countries where abortion is permitted. Also, the The film’s twist reveals that the main character(s) died during the abortion procedure and are in Hell (or Purgatory, who the fuck knows...) In real life, the overwhelming majority of abortions do not result in death of the woman. Mortality in abortion is very rare (especially in a well-regulated medical environments). Presenting death during abortion as common or default is factually incorrect.[38]
Racism[edit]
It might not come as a surprise that about all of these films are made from a white person's worldview. Either everybody is white or the non-whites are background fodder. Even when there are black characters in visible roles, they are often negativisticly stereotyped as either the "black friend", dimwitted housewives, criminals (drug dealers, white-collar criminals, wife-beaters) or as full-on magic (n-word)s.
Sexism[edit]
Sexism in Christian movies is common, being reflection of theological, cultural, and societal influences of Christianity. This primarily stems from theology and culture, as well as audience expectations; with filmmakers holding conservative interpretations of scripture (which informs how they portray gender), as well as the audience being primarily evangelical or traditionalist audiences, who prefer unchallenged gender roles.
One key to this is the "Submission Theology", as these films are influenced by complementarian theology (a belief that men and women have "different but complementary roles") that emphasize female submission to male authority as a spiritual virtue. This is portrayed as being part of "God’s design" and discouraging women from leadership or independence. As such, traditional gender roles are reinforced, with males typically shown as the spiritual leaders or decision-makers, while the women are often portrayed in "traditional" roles (mothers, wives, homemakers) and being defined only in relation to men (as wives, daughters, temptresses, or supporters). There is also a distinct lack of female agency in any of these films, with the woman usually needing to be "saved" — spiritually or emotionally — by male characters, with women’s personal struggles being minimized or resolved solely through submission or passivity.
Meanwhile, women who are career-driven, outspoken, or non-traditional are sometimes portrayed negatively — as "cold", "lost", or in need of "correction." Modesty and purity are often heavily emphasized for women, sometimes with a tone of shame or fear.
One of the two prime examples of sexism in Christsploitation being Fireproof, in which the wife of the relationship is portrayed as something that needs to be "won back" through unilateral male effort, with the wife's concerns being minimized. The other is 2015's War Room, in which the wife is abused and made to tolerate her husband's poor behavior, with her having no options but personal submission and praying that God fixes her husband.
Sometimes sexism is a contextual trap, as sometimes not only are female characters are portrayed as one-dimensional, so are the male characters too -- stemming from the fact that people writing these movies are not terribly good at their jobs.
Homophobia[edit]
Christian films treat the LGBTQ community in two ways: they don't exist or they are topics of some fearmongering documentaries. Even when institutions that allow LGBTQ to live their damn lives are mentioned (such as ACLU), the actual LGBTQ people usually never visible in the narrative-driven movies. Instead they are generally targets in the shlockumentaries like Ray Comfort's Audiacity (2015) or Mark Archer's The Mind Polluters (2021), which are designed to stoke the fires of moral panic by enabling the hateful audience's worst delusions by providing them "the evidence" that homosexual agenda is real and its there to ruin you, your friends and your entire country.
Fire fighters[edit]
Inexplicably, there are fair few Christsplotation movies in which its lead character is a fire fighter. With exception to possibly being some kind of a kink, their inclusion can be interpreted to symbolize the ideas of service, protection, self-sacrifice and sometimes even a metaphor for the difficult but noble calling of a Christian, making them a thematically relevant character.
Basketball[edit]
One funky trope that appears more than excepted is the good guy characters playing basketball, be it a short scene (Last Ounce of Courage) or entire movie built around it (Hoovey, Overcomer).
There is actually a method to madness here, as basketball's roots have Christian origins, in that it invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a YMCA instructor. The narrative structure of sports, particularly basketball, naturally lends itself to the usual Christian themes of struggle, sacrifice, ultimate triumph and such. As such, these conventions can be translated to movie tropes, showing characters overcoming challenges not just through their athletic skill but also through their faith and belief.
The usual suspects[edit]
If you pay attention to these movies enough, some common names tend to pop up. Besides select individuals (including FOUR creative teams made of two brothers) -- Christsploitation films commonly feature has has-been actors who, after falling off, hand found Christsploitation as their meal ticket, as well as actors who just can't say no if they get paid (Eric Roberts) and occasionally croynism with noted Christian public speakers and pundits.
Mel Gibson[edit]
Kirk Cameron[edit]
Kevin Sorbo[edit]
David A.R. White[edit]
One name you will be seeing a lot in the realm of Christian film industry is David Andrew Roy "A.R." White. Born May 12, 1970 in Dodge City, Kansas, White is the son of a Mennonite pastor. He studied at Moody Bible Institute
before deciding to move to California at the age of 19.
There he soon landed a minor role on the TV series Evening Shade, where he acted in 8 episodes of the show. He had various small roles in moderately big TV shows of the time. His first movie role was in a 1990 Geronimo film, with his him having a uncredited role as a army pilot in the 1995 movie Outbreak
(which saw resurgence in early 2020s due to COVID-19 pandemic, and is also detested by Christian anti-vaxxers.)
His first Christian movie (that's worth Wikipedia entry at least) was the Jon Gunn-directed Christian thriller Mercy Streets. Subsequently he landed a major role in Chuck Norris Christian Horror flick Bells of Innocence.
In 2005, he co-founded the Christian film production company Pure Flix Entertainment.
White has over 38 acting credits in movies (plus 17 TV roles), with him also taking roles of director, producer and/or writer -- the only movie in which he does all four is 2010's "Holyman Undercover". White is also somewhat confrontational, usually wanting to speak with whoever has criticized him and wishing Christian goodwill in kind of passive-aggressive manner.
Dean Cain[edit]
Dean Cain (born Dean George Tanaka) - like fellow Christsplotion star Kevin Sorbo - was a fairly respected figure in the 1990s and early 2000s television landscape, being best known as Superman in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
as well as being the host of the 2000-2003 incarnation of Ripley's Believe It or Not.
After which he started Jesusing, with his notable Christsplotation roles including Christmas Rush (2002), Heaven’s Door (2012), God’s Not Dead (2014), Break Every Chain (2021), No Vacancy (2022) and Miracle at Manchester (2022). Also like Sorbo, he is real dink on Twitter, as well as a Trump-humper. Having played Superman once, he thinks everybody cares about what's his opinion about the character going "woke" is.
In August 2025, Cain announced on Fox News that he would be sworn in as an official with the ICE to assist in the mass deportation of migrants from the United States, as he deems that the immigration system was "broken."[39]
John Schneider[edit]
John Schneider is best known for his roles as Beauregard "Bo" Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) and Jonathan Kent in Smallville (2001). He also had a sorta successful country singer career in the 1980s.
Schneider became a born-again Christian in circa 1998 while living with Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. This significant spiritual transformation happened later in life, though he had a childhood belief in God thanks to his grandmother, and a "pivotal moment of understanding Christ" occurring when he was 29. Around the time when he became a born again, he founded FaithWorks Productions, a company specializing in productions for "family audiences", which includes making Christian and faith-based movies.
John Schneider has starred in several Christian and faith-based films - quite a few being Pure Flix productions - including Hidden Secrets (2006), Season of Miracles (2013), WWJD What Would Jesus Do?: The Journey Continues (2015) and Finding Faith (2024).
Schneider's best known recent controversy was in December 2023, when Schneider wrote in a controversial Twitter post - that was later deleted - accusing then-President Joe Biden of treason and suggesting Biden be publicly hanged (how patient). He later stated that he had not threatened the president, as many other public figures have allegedly done in the past.[40] This post led to the cancellation of his Fox press appearances after his exit from the show The Masked Singer. Schneider has stated that he voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Stephen Baldwin[edit]
Stephen Baldwin is one of the two right-wing asshole Baldwins, along with Adam. Though unlike Adam, Stephen has leaned on Jesusing in regards to film industry relevance. By his accounts, he became a born again Christian due to the 9/11 -- though the truth of this Chrisplotation path might actually be that his career prospects in Hollywood had already derailed prior to the event. Indeed, despite having some promise early on, his Hollywood career was already going bad with disasters like Bio-dome and Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas.
His first Christian film was likely the skateboarding documentary Livin' It in 2004, which he produced and featured Christian rock and interviews with skaters about their faith. The same year, he starred in the Downes brothers' Left Behind clone Six: The Mark Unleashed, co-starring with David A.R. White, Eric Roberts and director Kevin Downes. His best known Christsploitation film role appears to be Graham Staines in the 2019 "true story" film The Least of These: The Graham Staines Story.
Since his conversion, he's mainly supported Republican politicians, with him first supporting Sam Brownback as president in 2007, before Brownback dropped in October 2007, with Baldwin then choosing to with Mike Huckabee. Like his brother Adam, he is a supporter of Donald Trump, being one of the first "celebrities" to do so in 2016. He then backed Trump in 2020 and 2024.
Eric Roberts[edit]
This one's bit of a contextual trap, as Eric Roberts, besides being brother of Julia Roberts,
is also known as the actor who just can't say no. By 2022, Eric Roberts had acted in over 700 movie and TV roles, having been in everything from critically acclaimed films like The Dark Knight, to lot of shit, including in ad rem Christsploitation.[41][note 7]
Unlike most other Christsploitation mainstays, Eric doesn't outright identity himself as Christian. While he was born to a Catholic family he doesn't broadcast his Christianity across the planet. He's probably too busy acting to actually attend church.
It still doesn't absolve him of taking part in complete propaganda. He was actually pretty integral in the early noughties Christploitation environment, having major roles in flicks like Mercy Streets (2000), Christmas Rush (2002) and Six: The Mark Unleashed (2004). His best known Christian-themed movie role is a mentor character named "Hickey" in Worth: The Testimony of Johnny St. James (2012); while his more recent input includes likes of The Firing Squad (2024) and In the Blink of an Eye (2025).
Ray Wise[edit]
You might know Ray Wise as the possessed abusive father from Twin Peaks
or that one psycho criminal from original RoboCop,
but his career spans many genres and projects, having appeared in a number of films from production companies like Pure Flix, which focuses on faith-based content. His biggest Christsploitation contributions being the villainous God-hating prosecutor Peter Kane from the 2nd and 5th God's Not Dead movies, as well as appearing the Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End.
Wise describes himself as Christian, having grown up attending a Romanian Baptist church and later a Methodist church with his family. Though unlike many of other Christsplotation stars, Wise seems to comprehend and put the virtues of religion to use. While he makes bad decisions in taking part in these terrible propaganda films, he's not completely terrible, as he has also agreed to sell pro-Trans rights merch on his social media accounts.
Bruce Marchiano[edit]
Bruce Marchiano is an Italian-Syrian American actor and Christian ministry leader who really, really, really likes playing Jesus. Having first played Jesus in the 1993 Visual Bible series,
he's played Jesus at least ten times. His most recent Christsploitation movie of note is the 2019 Kendrick Brothers project Overcomer,
in which he doesn't play Jesus.
Ashley Bratcher[edit]
One of the reoccurring female actors, Ashley Bratcher is primarily known for portraying Abby Johnson in the 2019 anti-abortion drama Unplanned, which she considered "worth it", even at risk of supposedly "getting blacklisted by Hollywood." She's also acted in Princess Cut, War Room and A Walk with Grace. Much like her best known role, she is an anti-abortion activist nutjob too.
Candace Cameron Bure[edit]
Younger sister of Kirk Cameron. Like her elder brother, she too wastes her time on Christsploitation.
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Shari Rigby[edit]
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Cecil B. DeMille[edit]
While it might seem absurd to place a highly regarded film-maker amongst this list of shlockmeisters, the fact remains that Cecil B. DeMille was a major contributor to the Christian film industry, in both good and bad.
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Ron Ormond & Estus Pirkle[edit]
Ron Ormond and Estus Pirkle
were the 1970's power duo, responsible for the notorious Ormond-Pirkle trilogy. Ormond was a B-movie director known mainly for schlock like Mesa of Lost Women, but after surviving a plane crash, Ormond converted to Christianity. Pirkle meanwhile is a Southern Baptist pastor from Mississippi. 'nuff said.
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Donald W. Thompson[edit]
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Jon Gunn[edit]
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Harold Cronk[edit]
Harold Cronk (no, not the dimwitted lackey from Disney’s Emperor's New Groove) is one of the main directors employed by Pure Flix.
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David Nixon[edit]
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Timothy A. Chey[edit]
Timothy A. Chey is a Asian-American (mixed Korean and Japanese descent) film director who was formerly an atheist before turning to Christian faith. He actually made one good film, Fakin' Da Funk in 1997, before being mostly known for garbage. His Christsploitation input includes stuff like Suing the Devil, The Genius Club, Final: The Rapture, David and Goliath, Slamma Jamma, and Falun Gong-funded The Firing Squad.
Matthew W. Crouch[edit]
Matthew W. Crouch is a Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) bigwig who began his work there when he was a child. He's gotten far, as in 2015, he became the goddamn president of the company.
Crouch had a major hand in the network's production of movies, being an associate producer for TBN's first movie, China Cry. In 1995, he and his wife would establish Gener8Xion Entertainment to produce Christsploitation crap like The Omega Code, One Night with the King and Preacher's Kid.
Cary Solomon & Chuck Konzelman[edit]
Cary Solomon & Chuck Konzelman have been "partners since childhood", collaborating on numerous films as writers, producers, and directors. They're best known for having written some of the really notorious Christsploitation films, including: the first, second and fourth God's Not Dead films, Do You Believe?, Unplanned and Nefarious.
LaLonde Brothers (Peter & Paul LaLonde)[edit]
Founders of Cloud Ten Pictures, they started by producing documentaries relating to Christian theological issues and such. Unlike the other creative teams consisting of two brothers, almost nothing is known about LaLonde brothers individually. Though they really have a thing for Left Behind, as they released a documentary with a same name in 1994 before the Tim LaHaye book (which released 1995), followed by them creating the Apocalypse quadrology - series of films with very similar premise with Left Behind - in late 90s and early noughts, and then adopting LaHaye's Left Behind itself in the early noughts.
After the third Left Behind in 2005, Peter jumped off, with Paul taking charge. Paul failed to salvage the company due to publishing various crappers, with the final Cloud Ten movie being released 2010 and their last documentary in 2014. Paul Lalonde then formed Stoney Lake Entertainment to co-produce the Nic Cage Left Behind in 2014. He was apparently one of the co-producers for Sorbo's Left Behind sequel for the Nic Cage one.
Downes Brothers (Bobby & Kevin Downes)[edit]
Founders of ChristianCinema.com, with both acting as producers, while Bobby was the former manager of the company and Kevin also serving as a writer and a actor in their and others' Christploitation movies. Their best known film is probably Like Dandelion Dust.
They've also partnered with Lionsgate to make faith-based movies.
Kendrick brothers (Alex & Stephen Kendrick)[edit]
The Kendrick Brothers are American filmmaking siblings Stephen and Alex (sometimes joined by third one, Shannon) known for producing and directing faith-based films like Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous, War Room, and Overcomer. They initially operated as Sherwood Pictures
(which was founded by Alex), with them subsequently founding and operating under Kendrick Brothers Production from 2013 onward.
Erwin brothers (Andrew & Jon Erwin)[edit]
The Erwin brothers, Jon and Andrew, are a Christian filmmaking duo known for directing, producing, and writing successful faith-based films like I Can Only Imagine, Woodlawn, Jesus Revolution, and American Underdog. Their father is Hank Erwin,
a former Alabama state senator from GOP. The Erwin brothers are the co-founders of the production company Kingdom Story Company, which produces gospel-centered films in partnership with Lionsgate.
Examples[edit]
The good[edit]
These are considered the films that have some artistic merit and academic recognition:
- L'Inferno
(1911): technical marvel for its time and a perfectly adequate filmization of the Inferno arc of The Divine Comedy.
- The Passion of Joan of Arc
(1928)
- Quo Vadis
(1951): was nominated for multiple Academy Awards and is still critically well-received.
- The Ten Commandments
(1956):[note 8] Cecil B. DeMile's remake of his previous 1923 filmization starring Charlton Heston. Not only was it the most financially successful film of 1956 (and second-most in the entire decade), at $122.7 million at the box office and adjusting for inflation, it ranks as the eighth most successful film of all time. In 1999, the film was chosen for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress because it was considered culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
- Ben-Hur
(1959): A remake of the 1925 film,
William Wyler's biblical epic also stars Charlton Heston was the most expensive of its time. The film's technical prowess and daunting scale have helped it remain as a highly-regarded film to this day. This 3 and half hour biblical epic went on to win a record of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a feat that would only be matched decades later, by Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). In 2008, the American Film Institute
listed it as the second greatest American epic film of all time, after Lawrence of Arabia (1962)[43]
- King of Kings
(1961)
- Becket
(1964): movie with strong Christian themes, focusing on the conflict between King Henry II and his former friend Thomas Becket, who becomes the Archbishop of Canterbury. The film explores themes of religious duty, spiritual transformation, and the complexities of church-state relations as Becket ultimately chooses his faith and the Catholic Church's interests over his loyalty to the king, leading to his martydom. Bears huge amounts of prestigious film industry nominations and some wins.
- The Gospel According to St. Matthew
(1964): This adaptation comes from acclaimed Italian filmmaker, Pier Paolo Pasolini, the same director for very raunchy movies such as The Canterbury Tales and The Decameron, as well as the controversial Salo: or the 120 days of Sodom.
- Andrei Rublev
(1966): Regarded as one of the greatest films of all times not only (but also) by the Vatican,[44] this Soviet historical drama tells the story of the famous 15th century Russian icon painter while showing the afflictions of a a very troubled time in Russia's history. Due to the state atheism that prevailed during the Soviet Union during the period, the film was censored for a decaded in its home country.
- The Exorcist
(1973): Highly influential supernatural horror film. Considered Christian movie because it was written by a Catholic and based on a (supposedly) real event, features a Catholic priest as the protagonist, and explores themes of faith, spiritual battles, and sacrifice through a distinctly Catholic lens, despite the director's own agnostic views. The film depicts the power of faith to overcome evil, a central tenet of Christianity, and ends with a self-sacrificial act by the priest to save the possessed girl. Even though its director - William Friedkin - was an agnostic Jew, who was more interested in exploring themes of doubt and uncertainty than in creating a "commercial for the Catholic Church", the film's narrative and its depiction of Catholic exorcism remain central to its story. With the exception to The Exorcist III
(based on Blatty's sequel book Legion
) and technically The Ninth Configuration
(also adapted from a novel sequel by Blatty), the rest of the Exorcist movies suck.
- Babette's Feast
(1987): its widely considered a Christian film due to its overt religious subject matter, exploration of Christian themes and symbols, and profound religious artistry. The film portrays a pious 19th-century Danish Christian sect and contrasts different forms of Christian apprehension. It incorporates elements like sacrifice, grace, and the Eucharist, ultimately revealing a sacred dimension in reality through the lens of Christian thought.
- The Prince of Egypt
(1998): Second movie by Dreamworks Animation, telling the story of the Exodus. Has gained more recognition since its release for Hans Zimmer's score, the performances by Val Kilmer and Ralph Fiennes, the animation, and the mature handling of the story, with retrospective reviews considering it one of the greatest animated movies of all time.
- Cavalry
(2014): deeply rooted in Christian themes and is even considered a significant Christian story by many, though it is not an overtly preachy or simplistic "Christian movie". It explores the anguish of clerical sex abuse and the concept of Christ's atonement through the life of a good priest in rural Ireland who faces a death threat. The film uses a dark, honest, and sometimes cynical portrayal of the human condition to highlight the strength and power of faith, virtue, and forgiveness.
- Silence
(2016)
- Amazing Grace
(2018)
- Pope Francis: A Man of His Word
(2018)
- A Hidden Life
(2019)
- The Two Popes
(2019)
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
(2019)
The bad[edit]
These mostly consist of commercial junk that have major Hollywood studio backing, with usually have middling/mixed critical reception. Also includes ones that might have been considered good previously, but are now seen much less positively.
- From the Manger to the Cross
(1912): While a super-early filmization of the gospel/Jesus' story, it has not survived the test of time like some other 1910's films have.
- The Godless Girl (1928): Cecil B. DeMille
's drama and one of his noted failures. Its about a atheist girl and a religious boy who are sent to a reformatory after another girl dies in a clash between the two's groups.
- The Greatest Story Ever Told
(1965): The biblical epic is based on the life of Jesus, who gathered admirers and enemies around him, from his humble beginnings in Bethlehem to his resurrection. It's credited for being the film that broke the camel's back in regards to audience tolerance towards biblical epics, leading to the genre's quick death afterwards.
- The Bible: In the Beginning...
(1966):[note 9] by that produced by schlockmeister Dino De Laurentiis,
it covers the first 22 chapters of Genesis. Let's just say that the book is better.
- The Passion of the Christ (2004): Mel Gibson's Hollywood-grade torture porn about the final hours of Jesus Christ on earth, mainly known for its excess brutality, such as the whipping scenes and the crucifixion at the end. Although it was critically well-received and has win some half-important awards and gotten nominations at the Academic Awards, there's been some re-evaluations recently that question if it is really a good movie or a glorified vanity project.
- The Nativity Story
(2006): Subpar account of the Nativity of Jesus, more well known for the controversial real-life teen pregnancy of the actress who played Virgin Mary.
- Exodus: Gods and Kings
(2014): 2014 flop by Ridley Scott. Widely considered a bad film due to several major issues, including significant whitewashing in its casting, a lack of narrative coherence and poor pacing, the film's divergence from its biblical source material, and a generally weak screenplay with wooden dialogue. Critics also pointed to the choppy editing and a general lack of focus and identity, stemming in part from the studio reportedly forcing a drastic cut from a much longer version. Also its portrayal of Judeo-Christian God as a petulant child drew some criticism -- although it's not a lie.
- Hacksaw Ridge
(2016): Although it was critically well-recieved like Gibson's prior Passion of the Christ, the film actually has a fair amounts of problems. Its premise essentially white-washes a seventh day Adventist, and its also very simple-minded, sentimental and godlessly violent to no real purpose.
- Ben-Hur
(2016)
- The Young Messiah
(2016): got a mixed reception, with critics citing issues like historical inaccuracies, a weak story that recycles later events, a lack of emotional depth, questionable casting, and whitewashing. Though some praise was given to its portrayal of the Holy Family and the humanistic elements of the story.
- Sound of Freedom (2023): produced by a faith-centered studio, Angel Studios, while the film itself is a thriller focused on combating child trafficking and isn't overtly religious in its narrative, it appeals to a faith-based audience and was promoted with messages like "God's children are not for sale". It has been supported by conservative Christian communities and figures like Mel Gibson. It received mixed critical reception, but it was a box-office success, making $251 million with a $14.5 million budget.
And the "this film is why I am an atheist."[edit]
And finally we come what is pretty much the meat and potatoes of Christian film industry. These films are mostly independent and made cheaply by studios a common moviegoer is likely unable to recognize. A lot of these are considered some of the absolute worst movies ever made. These include:
- Gabriel Over the White House
(1933): Proto-Trumpian schlock about a corrupt President that has a vision of the archangel Gabriel after a near-fatal car accident. The divine experience transforms him into a "benevolent but dictatorial leader" who uses any means necessary to end the Great Depression, solve social ills, and establish world peace. Since its release, the film has been controversially discussed as a possible advertisement for a totalitarian leadership, being released around the time when both Hitler and Mussolini were taking over their perspective countries.
- If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (1971)
: Red scare exploitation horror directed by Ron Ormond featuring Southern Baptist minister Estus "will you come" Pirkle. Its considered the first in the Pirkle-Ormond trilogy. Despite supposedly advocating Christian values and condemning social degeneration, it has no qualms to show some absolutely deranged violence. Indeed, its director is an exploitation filmmaker and it shows, from instances of mass murder to a scene where a communist officer cuts off a child’s head and tosses it tumbling on the ground.
- A Thief in the Night series
(1972-1983): series of Evangelical horror films about people who don't get raptured away. As a result, United Nations forms a task-force called UNITE, to track down those who didn't receive the mark of the beast and detain them. Its main protagonist(s) choose Christ instead and try avoid UNITE's wrath. If it sounds familiar, you are not crazy, as Timothy LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins acknowledged series as Left Behind's inspiration.[16]
- Burning Hell (1974): second film in the Pirkle-Ormond trilogy, its about Pirkle warning people about the reality of Hell, presenting it as a literal place of eternal torment for those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their savior. The narrative uses dramatic reenactments and graphic imagery to portray Hell, including depictions of biblical figures and various types of sinners suffering eternal punishment. Very much Old Testament-fear mongering, using biblical scripture and fire-and-brimstone preaching.
- The Believer's Heaven (1977): third film in the Pirkle-Ormond trilogy, that, unlike its fearmongering predecessors, focuses on the rewards of salvation rather than punishment. It still features some exploitation violence, but not to degree the prior two in the trilogy do. Its mostly ignored because Christian moviegoers (and moviegoers in general) wanting blood. Also features Jack Hyles as one of the guest speakers along with Pirkle.
- Rock: It's Your Decision (1982): Tragicomically miscalculated propaganda piece in which some stupid-ass self-centered teenage convert is throwing hissy-fits about his friends listening to the wrong kind of music -- SATANIC ROCK MUSIC.
- A Little Piece of Heaven
(1991, TV movie): Early Kirk Cameron Christploitation flick, in which he plays a insane person living at a pig farm who drugs and abducts children from a local orphanage to come play with his sister (Jenny Robertson going full Simple Jack). He tells them that he is a angel and that the children are dead, with his pig farm being the heaven. Rest of the movie is as normal as the premise suggests.
- Apocalypse
film series (1998-2001): developed by Peter and Paul LaLonde, these films are a A Thief in the Night/Left Behind rip-off(s) about rapture, great tribulation and the Antichrist running an one world goverment. Somehow, LaLonde brothers would get a chance to adapt Left Behind books into movies, despite making such a blatant copy-cat story.
- The Omega Code
(1999): independent apocalyptic thriller made with a church-based marketing campaign and financed by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. In it, a Rabbi in Jerusalem discovers a hidden code in the Torah that allows him to access predictions of future events. This upsets Media Mogul/European Union Chairman Stone Alexander who wants the code to take over the world, but popular author/motivational speaker Dr. Gillen Lane (played by the Starship Troopers guy
) rises up to oppose the ambitions of this globalist anti-Christ. It was followed by a sequel/prequel Megiddo: The Omega Code 2
in 2001. The first film almost made twice its budget back, with the sequel bombing hard by making only $6 million of it's $20 million budget back.
- Mercy Streets
(2000): Jon Gunn actioner made with shoestring budget and it still only made est. 29% of its budget back. One of David A.R. White's early major Christian films.
- Bless the Child
(2000): Kim Basinger flop about her trying to rescue her child from a satanic cult. The film earned her a Razzie nomination and at 4% Rotten Tomatoes score, it's one of Top 100 worst rated movies on that site.[45] It presents the usual battle between good (Christianity) and evil (Satanism) and incorporates several Christian allegories, symbols, and Catholic elements, though it also blends some aspects of the New Age with its themes of spirituality and battling evil.
- Left Behind franchise: based on the apocalyptic Christian novel series by Timothy LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, this series has not only been adapted to movies once (a trilogy stemming from 2000-2005), but twice (2014 + 2023). The original trilogy had Kirk Cameron as protagonist Buck Williams, navigating the post-rapture world. It was later rebooted in 2014 with Nic Cage in the lead, followed by a crowd-funded sequel (campaign lasting between 2015-2017) that was released released 2023, being directed and starred Kevin Sorbo. It made some $4.2 million at the box-office.
- Time Changer
(2002): time travel movie about a scholar in 1890 writing a book about how "Christian morality can be taught without the authority of Jesus", with a wiser professor warning him to not publish it and introducing a time machine, with him taking the scholar to year 2000. There, the scholar will see how decadent society has become and makes the scholar rethink about publishing his book in the past.
- Christmas Rush (2002, TV Movie): technically Dean Cain's first Christian movie in which he is the lead. Its a Die Hard clone in which there is less "Yippee ki yay motherfucker" and more praying for Jesus to disarm the terrorists.
- Bells of Innocence
(2003): horror-drama starring son-father actors Mike and Chuck Norris (plus David A.R. White, because of course). Its about Mike Norris' character, whose faith in God is hanging by a thread after his daughter was murdered. In order to carry out some kind of mission, he and some friends hand out Bibles on a plane to Mexico. The plane crashes and they end up in the wilderness, and it's not long before they discover that there's something strange about the place. It's only claim to infamy being that it's the worst reviewed Chuck Norris movie ever, along with his 2024's Agent Recon.
- Six: The Mark Unleashed
(2004): Trinity Broadcasting Network-distributed action-drama about post-rapture world in which the Antichrist rules with the help of a satellite and "mark of the beast" chip implant technology. Three heroic political prisoners eventually encounter a mysterious stranger who holds the key to their escape and humanity's survival. The four allies must escape execution, outwit the authoritarian police and team up with the world's most wanted fugitive: the leader of the resistance.
- The Ultimate Gift
(2006): Fox Faith-produced sentimental and heavy-handed drama dud.
- Fireproof (2008): indie Christian drama starring Kirk Cameron as Caleb, a firefighter who works hard to save lives. At home, Caleb and his wife's marriage is crumbling and they have decided to file for divorce. Caleb's father manages to convince him to try a method he calls "The Love Dare" for forty days that will get their marriage back on its feet. Made with $500,000, it made $33.5 million at the box-office.
- Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008): Creationist propaganda film featuring Ben "Bueller... Bueller..." Stein that's presented as a documentary, promoting the claim that academia unfairly suppresses and excludes those who support intelligent design.
- C Me Dance
(2009): thriller about a 17-year old girl who wants to joint the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, but she then finds out that she has leukemia. Distraught, she starts rebelling towards her father and - GASP - God. This prompts her father to keep his daughter close to God, try to make her heart softer, and help her live out her dream before she passes away, all while the father struggles with the pain of losing her so young. God responds by giving her the power to bring people to Christ against their will.
- Loving the Bad Man (2010): an extremely distasteful "film" that is about a woman who has to learn to forgive her rapist, it also spouts some of the cheapest production values you'll ever see.
- Christmas with a Capital C
(2011): vindictive War on Christmas movie, that not only has a rage-boner towards atheists, but also disdainful towards Judaism and Kwanzaa as well. Hope you like Brad Stine's comedy antics!
- Jerusalem Countdown
(2011; alternatively titled just "Countdown"): based on a 2006 John Hagee book of the same name, this Harold Cronk directed espionage thriller is about a FBI agent played by David A.R. White, who has to find some nuclear bombs that have been smuggled to America and stop them before they go off.
- The Life Zone (2011): anti-abortion "horror" film. Most of the runtime is just characters watching anti-abortion propaganda.
- Last Ounce of Courage
(2012): Christian persecution complex/War on Christmas film about a Christian superpatriot motorcyclist's community and their freedom of religion being under attack by "totally not ACLU" and da gobernment. Also notorious for its robocall campaign involving Mike Huckabee.[25]
- I'm in Love with a Church Girl
(2013): "based on true story" romance-drama about a wealthy drug dealer finding faith and redemption when God puts a Christian girl in his path. It got its ass torn by the critics, though it has its fair share of unintentionally funny scenes, such as the one angry monologue delivered in a church.
- Revelation Road trilogy (2013-2014): trio of Mad Max-inspired post-apocalyptic movies starring David A.R. White.
- God's Not Dead series (2014-2024): Credited for the 2010's Christsploitation wave, these films namely follow a Christian pastor named Rev. David "Dave" Hill (played by David A. R. White), who often challenged by straw atheists to show evidence to prove that God is real to support their beliefs. They were originally financially successful, but they've been on a steady decline with the 5th installment going largely ignored.
- Old Fashioned
(2014): crack-brained love story by PureFlix, between a screwy young woman and an demented Modesto Manifesto-believing carpenter guy (oh, subtle), who also happened to film and sell college girl gone wild videos. All this happening in a town where the only radio show is a one-trick pony misogynistic shock jock, who was the male protagonist's old friend. Any similarity between how characters in this movie and normal people romantically connect in real life is purely coincidental.
- Persecuted (2014): If you are thinking this is about Christian persecution complex, then you are correct!
- Saving Christmas (2014): Kirk Cameron stars as thinly-veiled version of himself where he explains his own Christian views on Christmas to his brother, that's supposed to be the audience surrogate. Due to getting wide enough distribution, it has been labelled one of the worst movies of all time, with Cameron not being happy about it on social media.
- A Matter of Faith (2014): Movie about a young Christian girl is struggling with her faith during a biology lesson, and her dad tries to help her stay true to her beliefs.
- The Principle (2014): documentary film that, while not a traditional Christian movie, explores themes of geocentrism and Christian creationism, including skepticism of the scientific consensus. It gained notoriety for promoting pseudoscientific arguments and for misleading some of the scientists interviewed, who later claimed they were tricked into appearing in the film to promote a hidden agenda. The film suggests a connection between science, faith, and a belief in Earth's central position in the universe.
- Christian Mingle: The Movie
(2014): romcom based on a eponymous dating app.
Vince Mancini of Uproxx
said it best when he described the film as an "unintentional parody of whiteness."
- Do You Believe?
(2015): "smug, self-satisfied mediocrity" that Evangelicals really loved for some reason. Lots of heavy-handed preaching, reliance on stereotypes, and ridiculous, over-the-top plot points, particularly a coincidental pileup of accidents that feels like a contrivance to bring events together.
- War Room
(2015): dramedy about a black couple whose marriage is failing. Thankfully, the wife's insane client, a black elderly woman who likes to use banal military jargon played by Karen Abercrombie, convinces her that prayer can save their relationship and by creating a prayer room in her dress closet, she hopes to "wage war" to maintain the unity of her family and stop her husband from cheating on her. The film's biggest narrative issue is that the husband is a dickbag that doesn't change as a person nor faces real repercussions for his actions to prompt this change. Instead, everybody around him has to do the heavy-lifting or gets the burnt of the husband's actions. Also there's bizarre, arguably racist, running gag about the wife's feet smelling bad. Then it ends in a bizarre tangent by the black elderly woman, who calls the audience to raise a generation of prayer warriors that won't surrender to Washington's atheist liberals. Regrettably, while the film was pretty roundly trashed by film critics, it was sleeper hit that became the most watched movie in USA during its second weekend of release. Ultimately it earned $74 million worldwide against a production budget of just $3 million. In 2024, it got a sequel/spin-off named The Forge,
which sees Abercrombie's crazy old lady returning.
- Audacity (2015): Christian message movie produced by Ray Comfort that's supposed to explore how "Christians can share their beliefs about homosexuality with gay individuals from a perspective of common sinfulness, rather than condemnation." The movie presents biblical views on sin and its consequences, encouraging Christians to share the Gospel and highlight that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are in need of a Savior. Its generally received negatively with Ray Comfort using lot of presuppositionalism about the LGBT people, as well as the whole thing coming off as Ray Comfort just patting himself in the back despite not actually properly addressing any real issues.
- Faith of Our Fathers
(2015): David A.R. White flick about two grown men who lost their fathers during the 'nam. One of the worst faith-based films, with criticisms directed towards a mediocre script, crap acting, and a heavy-handed message.
- Let There Be Light
(2017): Kevin Sorbo's vanity project, he liked that scene from God's Not Dead where the atheist gets hit by a car so much, he made a entire movie about the premise.
- The Trump Prophecy
(2018): based on some prophecy by a crank fire-fighter who apparently called Donald Trump's 2016 election win. The film presents Trump's election as a divine act of God and includes alleged prophecies about Trump, such as arresting corrupt officials and finding cures for cancer and Alzheimer's (yeah, about that). The film ends with interviews of conservative talking heads.
- The Reliant (2019): action film about a 19-year-old girl struggling to care for her siblings after an economic collapse causes widespread rioting and social unrest. The story follows the family as they try to survive, facing debates about self-defense versus pacifism amidst the chaos. The movie explores themes of survivalism, self-defense, and Christian pacifism, as the protagonist grapples with the ethical questions of violence in a lawless world.
- Unplanned (2019): often described as a Christian film because it is an anti-abortion drama based on the true story of a former Planned Parenthood director, Abby Johnson, and it features religious themes and a message of pro-life activism that appeals to a Christian audience.
- Assassin 33 A.D. (2020): real bonkers Terminator clone in which student scientists at an university create time travel, but a wealthy tech mogul/Muslim extremist uses the technology to send killers back in time to assassinate Jesus and stop the rise of Christianity.
- Finding Jesus (2020): Christian mockbuster of Finding Nemo. Hope you like CGI abomination aquatic life staring into your soul.
- The Mind Polluters (2021): propaganda doc warning Christian parents that public schools are grooming their children.
- 2025: The World Enslaved by a Virus (2021): dystopian thriller directed by Simon Wesely and starring his groomer brother Joshua[46], in which communism took over the world during COVID-19 pandemic, during which Christianity was outlawed. Now the oppressed heroes form a underground resistance by spreading the good word... Which is pretty much lot of sitting around involving people with very thick German accents. Needless to say it's the worst film to come out of Germany to not have either Leni Riefenstahl
or Uwe Boll
helming it. It's at the top 10 worst rated movies at Letterboxd and has a dire 1.0 score at IMDb - being rated even worse than Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas.
- The Firing Squad
(2024): Epoch Times/Falun Gong money-laundering scheme which is "based on a true story" about "Bali Nine" drug smugglers, with makers turning it into a Christian film just because real-life smugglers sang "amazing grace" before they were executed. Features Kevin Sorbo, Eric Roberts and fucking Cuba Gooding Jr. (presumably because he's gone to hide behind right-wingers to avoid the P. Diddy scandal that he's a suspect/accessory in.)
Plus films that are contentious if Christian film or not[edit]
These films come in two varieties. The first half consists of films that look Christian films but do not fully embrace Christian ideals/are rejected by Christians for not being Christian enough. The other half are movies which don't come off as Christian movies on the surface, but are observed to have Christian strong themes that make them like the film.
- Spartacus
(1960): a historical epic based on the real-life Thracian gladiator Spartacus and his slave revolt in the first century BC. There is a noted a Christ-like parallel with the film depiction of Spartacus, with the character representing a moralistic, good vs. evil struggle against the oppressive Roman system, with the narrative structure also following a similar path that of Jesus'. Although the film is set before Christianity, its themes of a rebellious leader fighting for the oppressed, a defiant stance against an unjust system, and a final, public display of his body for symbolic warning, mirror aspects of the Gospel story, leading to its interpretation as a figure prefiguring Jesus.
- The Agony and the Ecstasy
(1965): historical drama about the painting of the Sistine Chapel (a significant event in Catholic history), focusing on the artistic and personal conflicts between Michelangelo and Pope Julius II. While it contains religious themes and depicts spiritual devotion through art, its primary focus is the interpersonal drama, the relationship between art and faith, and the artistic quest for perfection.
- Jesus Christ Superstar (1973 + 1999 remake): filmatization of the Andrew Lloyd Webber rock-opera. Although it is about Jesus and the biblical events before his crucifixtion, it's despised by lot of Christians for playing down/lacking the spiritual angle, as well as for humanizing Judas.
- Superman
(1978): while not explicitly an Christian film, it is widely considered to contain significant Christian allegorical elements and functions as a secular analogue to the Jesus story. Themes like a father figure from "the heavens" (Jor-El) sending his son to save humanity, Superman's sacrifice and rebirth, and his embodiment of traditional moral values are frequently compared to the life of Jesus Christ. According to co-writer Tom Mankiewicz,
the Christian allegories were intentional.[47] Some Christian organizations (such as Christianity Today and Plugged In) use the film as a basis for discussions about traditional moral values and faith, highlighting these parallels.
- Friday the 13th film series
: one of the biggest slasher franchises in the 1980s about a endlessly-resurrecting serial killer Jason Voorhees[note 10] going around and killing bunch of sex-addled and drug-using teenagers. While Jason is technically the villain, these films usually don't give a damn about the character's victims, with most of the movies instead constructed to make Jason's killing them look as impressive as possible. Additionally, most of these victims are guilty of what Saint Ronnie and the religious right considered moral failings in the 1980s, with the series is essentially just a massive murder fest of what 80s conservatives saw as degenerates, with characters who survive Jason often being more conservative in their morals.
- Witness
(1985): neo-noir crime thriller film starring Harrison Ford that takes place within an Amish community - which is a sect of Christians - and explores cultural contrasts between the city and their simple way of life. While the film's plot involves the Amish community, its focus is on the thriller and romantic elements of the story rather than serving as a spiritual film.
- The Last Temptation of Christ (1988): directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the 1955 novel Nikos Kazantzakis, it depicts the life of Jesus as a human being who, like all people, faces temptations such as fear, doubt, depression, reluctance, and lust. Christians at the time did not respond to it positively - especially in regards to Jesus being tempted by “the sin of the flesh” - trying to get it cancelled to oblivion.
- End of Days
(1999): Hollywood action-thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger that uses Christian themes and biblical prophecies about the end of the millennium as a backdrop for its story of Satan trying to procreate the Antichrist. It features positive Christian elements such as faith vs. force and a climactic church confrontation and overall theme of God providing strength to defeat evil. However, the Christian audiences apparently found its graphic sex, nudity, swearing, portrayal of biblical concepts and level of violence objectionable.
- Sunday School Musical (2008): A mockbuster of High School Musical made by The Asylum of Sharknado fame, under Faith Films. More interested in cashing in on crowd than making a message.
- Ida
(2013): Holocaust film that explores themes of religious and cultural identity, featuring a protagonist who is a Catholic nun but discovers she is Jewish. The film centers on her journey to uncover her past and her family's history, which was rooted in Judaism and tragically ended during World War II. Got a hell of a lot of accolades
and angered Polish far-right.
- Noah (2014): an epic biblical drama directed by Darren Aronofsky, inspired by the Biblical story of Noah's Ark but with significant creative liberties taken. While it features elements of faith and biblical themes, the film does take a fantastical and interpretive approach, leading to some controversy and debate among religious groups about its accuracy and faithfulness to the original text. The general consensus among many Christian groups and commentators was negative, with strong warnings against the film's inaccuracies and thematic deviations. While a few individuals or groups found merit in it, the overwhelming sentiment from conservative Christian perspectives was that the film was not a trustworthy or appropriate depiction of the biblical Noah story.
- First Reformed
(2017): while deeply connected to Christianity, it's not a traditional faith-based film per se. Rather, its a provocative exploration of faith, doubt, and despair within a Reformed church setting. It critiques "pop Protestantism" and the institutional hypocrisy of mega-churches while also grappling with themes like environmental crisis, personal suffering, and the difficulty of maintaining hope and faith in a troubled world.
Parodies and movies criticizing Christianity[edit]
Wonderful thing about freedom of speech is that you can criticize any other religion, ideology, or belief system -- including Christianity. As the religion as its dirt and other instances of stupid, it has generated movies that examine this dirt and stupidity.
Parodies/satire[edit]
- Elmer Gantry
(1960): story about the titular villain protagonist who is a charismatic and opportunistic traveling salesman, who teams up with a evangelical sister to peddle religion to small-town America. While not a full-throathed attack on Christianity, it serves as a searing critique of the exploitation and moral compromise that can exist within highly visible religious movements. The film uses satire to expose how charlatans like the titular character exploit public faith for personal gain, blurring the lines between genuine spirituality and opportunistic self-interest.[48]
- Life of Brian (1979): Monty Python comedy movie about a very naughty boy named Brian who happened to be born on the same day, as well as next door to, Jesus, and is thusly mistaken for a messianic figure. It satirizes religious conventions and it did not go down well with the fundamentalists.
- Leap of Faith
(1992): satirical comedy in which Steve Martin plays a religious shyster. Not the greatest comedy, but functional.
- Dogma
(1999): One of the better Kevin Smith films, it uses Catholic doctrine and Christian mythology as its subject matter to examine at themes of faith, heaven, and hell, and features elements like a "Buddy Christ"
and a "doo-doo demon". Even though its creators apparently made it to just be a irreverent film, it caused protests from religious groups who found it blasphemous.
- Saved! (2004): a satirical comedy that parodies certain aspects of evangelical Christianity, particularly focusing on the hypocrisy, judgment, and intolerance found within some Christian communities and high schools. The film uses dark humor and exaggerated characters to highlight these issues. However, its ending was altered at last minute, with the original super-dark massacre getting replaced by a end message asking Christians to re-evaluate themselves.
- The Book of Clarence
(2023): Kinda similar gist to Life of Brian, its about down-on-his-luck man named Clarence living in Jerusalem in 33 AD who seeks to capitalize on the rise of Jesus Christ, claiming to be a new Messiah sent by God, in an attempt to free himself from debt and begin a life of glory. Got a mixed reception, but considered unique in how it satirizes religion.
Plots with Bible-thumping villains[edit]
- Da Vinci Code (2006): while the film and its sequels use Christian imagery and locations, they it reinterpret the religion through a lens of conspiracy and a re-imagined history of Christianity, particularly focusing on the sacred feminine. It's ultimately critical of Christianity, though it has its own brand of BS involved, presenting fictional claims that contradict traditional Christian beliefs and history.
Documentaries[edit]
- Jesus Camp (2006): movie about how Christianity indoctrinates children.
- Religulous
(2008): Bill Maher doc which examines the stupidity of Abrahamic religions, Christianity included.
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Because Christianity is not the only religion in the world nor only religion to have movies about it.
- ↑ Usually they are interdenominational, but some films may be targeted towards a specific denomination of Christianity.
- ↑ Albeit heavily edited, with the main character's conversion to Christianity being removed to instead make it a propaganda piece promoting atheism and highlighting American police brutality.
- ↑ The profitability of a film is not solely based on its box office, and huge budget films often lose money despite having high box offices. The aforementioned Cleopatra for instance was the highest grossing film of 1963 and still managed to lose money because of its incredibly high production and marketing costs.[11]
- ↑ A movie needs to make roughly 2.5 to 3 times its production budget at the box office to break even, because theaters keep a significant portion of the gross revenue and there are also large marketing and distribution costs involved.
- ↑ Just before 2010, American Family Association raised noise over the Home Depot using "holiday" and "Hanukkah" on their website in October 2008[36] and then on November 2009, AFA launched a boycott of Gap, Inc. due to them "censoring the word Christmas."[37]
- ↑ Even though he has crazy amounts of acting roles, he doesn't have most of any person in the world. That honor belongs to Indian actor Brahmanandam, who had over 1,170 acting credits in 2022.
- ↑ One may argue that this is best thought of as an "Abrahamic" movie, not exclusively a Christian one since Moses is a hero to Judaism and Islam as well. However, most people involved in the film, including Heston and DeMile, were devoted Christians, and the movie is marketed primaly to Christians, airing every year in the US at ABC since 1965 during Easter.[42]
- ↑ Just like The Ten Commandments, this movie tells a Abrahamic and pre-Christian story, but was also aimed at a Christian audience (and indeed, "Bible" refers to the anthology of books that Christians regard as holy scripture, while "Tanakh" is the Jewish word).
- ↑ At least when its not his Nancy Reagan-looking mother or some Jason-wannabe imposter.
References[edit]
- ↑ VERMEIR, KOEN. 2005. “The Magic of the Magic Lantern (1660–1700): On Analogical Demonstration and the Visualization of the Invisible.” The British Journal for the History of Science 38(2): 127–59. doi: 10.1017/S0007087405006709.
- ↑ Horne, Silvester C. (2006). David Livingstone. Kessinger Publishing. p. 76. ISBN 1-4254-9628-8.
- ↑ Shepherd, David (2016). The Silents of Jesus in the Cinema (1897-1927). Taylor & Francis. p. 3-9, 27. ISBN 9781317806738.
- ↑ Villarejo, Amy (2013). Film Studies: The Basics. Taylor & Francis. p. 40. ISBN 9781135011772.
- ↑ Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2015). Black and White Cinema: A Short History. Rutgers University Press. p. 48. ISBN 9780813572444.
- ↑ Talbot, Margaret (November, 2012). The Entertainer: Movies, Magic, and My Father's Twentieth Century. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 9781101597057.
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(help) - ↑ Pollard, Tom (2015). "6. The Evangelical Code". Sex and Violence: The Hollywood Censorship Wars. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317252207.
- ↑ Kuklick, Bruce (2022). Fascism Comes to America: A Century of Obsession in Politics and Culture. University of Chicago Press. p. 27. ISBN 9780226822457.
- ↑ Carmichael, Deborah. "Gabriel Over the White House (1933): William Randolph Hearst's Fascist Solution for the Great Depression". Hollywood's White House: The American Presidency in Film and History. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813137964.
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on 1966 in film.
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Cleopatra (1963 film).
- ↑ Weiner, Robert G.; Cline, John (2010). Cinema Inferno: Celluloid Explosions from the Cultural Margins. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 295-300. ISBN 9780810876576.
- ↑ Barefoot, Guy (2017). Trash Cinema: The Lure of the Low. Columbia University Press. p. 125-127. ISBN 9780231542692.
- ↑ Balmer, Randall (2014). Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America, 25th Anniversary Edition. Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN 9780199360482.
- ↑ Gribben, C. (2015). Evangelical Millennialism in the Trans-Atlantic World, 1500-2000. Palgrave Macmillan UK. Chapter 6. ISBN 9780230304611
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Beal, Timothy, 'The Rise and Fall of Evangelical Protestant Apocalyptic Horror: From A Thief in the Night to Left Behind and Beyond', in Gastón Espinosa, Erik Redling, and Jason Stevens (eds), Protestants on Screen: Religion, Politics and Aesthetics in European and American Movies (New York, 2023; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Sept. 2023), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190058906.003.0018, accessed 3 Sept. 2025.
- ↑ CNN: "For some Christians, ‘rapture anxiety’ can take a lifetime to heal" by AJ Willingham (September 27, 2022)
- ↑ VOX: "#RaptureAnxiety calls out evangelicals’ toxic obsession with the end times" by Tara Isabella Burton (Dec 13, 2017)
- ↑ "Ronald Reagan: American Slasher | Renegade Cut" (13.10.2019)
- ↑ Dallas Morning News: "Hollywood makes room for holiness" (March 8, 2007) (ARCHIVED)
- ↑ TheGuardian: "Hollywood finds Christ as Foxfaith plans series of religious movies" by Suzanne Goldenberg (September 20, 2006)
- ↑ CBC: "Nigerian church transforms into movie mogul" by CBC Arts (Posted: Mar 26, 2006 4:44 PM EST | Last Updated: March 27, 2006)
- ↑ The New Zealand Herald: "Keisha says controversy spoiled pregnancy" (April 22, 2007)
- ↑ People: "Introducing Felicity-Amore Hull — Keisha speaks about her labor, delivery, and new little girl" June 08, 2007 (ARCHIVED)
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Hollywood Reporter: "Telemarketing of Movie Leads to $32 Million Punishment in Class Action" by Eriq Gardner (September 8, 2017)
- ↑ The Daily Beast: "Hollywood Declares 2014 the Year of the Bible" by Andrew Romano (Jan. 9 2014 5:45AM EST) (PAYWALL)
- ↑ The Guardian: "A movie miracle: how Hollywood found religion" by Tom Shone (July 31, 2014)
- ↑ The Guardian: "Christsploitation – Hollywood gives thanks for the new wave of faith movies" by Jacob Oller (November 3, 2015)
- ↑ "Epoch Times, the conspiratorial pro-Trump outlet, enters a new market: Faith-based movies" by Erik Ortiz and Daniel Arkin, NBC News, 2024 July 8
- ↑ "Last Ounce of Courage - The Cinema Snob" by Stoned Gremlin Productions (28.11.2016) (at 27:45 mark)
- ↑ Pew Research Center: "Wealth inequality has widened along racial, ethnic lines since end of Great Recession" by Rakesh Kochhar and Richard Fry (December 12, 2014)
- ↑ Pew Research Center: "Wealth Surged in the Pandemic, but Debt Endures for Poorer Black and Hispanic Families" by Rakesh Kochhar and Mohamad Moslimani, page 2 (December 4, 2023)
- ↑ TV Tropes: God's Not Dead (YMMV)
- ↑ McSkimming, Josie (2016). "4. "Journeys of change and renewal II"". Leaving Christian Fundamentalism and the Reconstruction of Identity. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317106579.
- ↑ Argyle, Michael; Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin (2013) [1975]. The Social Psychology of Religion (Psychology Revivals). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781135041496.
- ↑ LA Progressive: "The Right's Bogus War on Christmas" by Rev. Irene Monroe (Dec 19, 2009)
- ↑ USA Today: "The Gap's 'Happy Whatever-you-Wannukah' Ad Reignites 'War on Christmas' Debate" by Leslie Miller (Nov 23, 2009)
- ↑ Induced termination of pregnancy before and after Roe v Wade. Trends in the mortality and morbidity of women. Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association. JAMA. 1992 Dec 9;268(22):3231-9. PMID: 1433765.
- ↑ The Guardian: "Former Superman actor Dean Cain reveals he’s becoming an Ice agent to support Trump’s mass deportation agenda" by Sian Cain (August 7, 2025)
- ↑ The Guardian: "Dukes of Hazzard actor John Schneider called for public hanging of Joe Biden" by Ramon Antonio Vargas (December 22, 2023)
- ↑ Eric Roberts on His 700 (and Counting) Screen Credits: “I’m One of The Luckiest Guys in Hollywood” by Alex Ritman (The Hollywood Reporter) November 3, 2022
- ↑ "'The Ten Commandments': What You Don't Know". Writer of Pop Culture. 2022-04-08. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on AFI's 10 Top 10.
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Andrei Rublev.
- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes: 100 Worst Movies of All Time by Editorial, ranked #91 (retrieved Sept 12, 2025)
- ↑ r/WhitePeopleTwitter (2022). "YouTube pastor waited 4 years for his girlfriend to turn 18 and propose". Reddit. Archived from the original on January 17, 2025. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
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has generic name (help) - ↑ STARLOG: "Steel Dreams: Interview with Tom Mankiewicz" by Daniel Dickholtz (December 16, 1998), pp. 67–71.
- ↑ "Elmer Gantry: The Trap of Hypocrisy and Greed" by Ashley Daugherty (retrieved Sept. 16, 2025)