Christian Movies Make Me Cringe

From God’s Not Dead to Adventures in Bible Town, there are many Christian movies and series that have made me…. well cringe (looking at you Pureflix). Pureflix and other faith based companies seems to pump out 10 Christian movies a month it seems. They put the message above all else and everything else comes second. Before I get into this too much, let me say that I think communicating the Christian message through film is great, BUT I feel it could be done better.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, this is where the whole “turn or burn” type of films came (i.e. A Distant Thunder) and while these films were effective, they seemed to be used as scare tactic more than anything else. Other films that followed this were Left Behind (the Kirk Cameron version), The Returning, Rapture, etc…. These were also known as End Times films. Again, done correctly, these types of films can be great.

The message, the quality and the acting I believe should all be equal in respect to filmmaking. Too many times these movies have missed the mark. However, there have been great movies that have hit all these points (.i.e. I Can Only Imagine: The MercyMe Story) and I think if Pureflix would adopt this type of stuff, I would be more inclined to consume their content. You can still have a message but also team it up with quality (just don’t have the message be so overbearing). Not every character has to have a conversion experience, do a complete 180, etc… though that seems to be the trend with most of these movies.

All I can say is if I see another God’s not dead movie, it will be too soon!