Boys' Bible Study

The newest film by the legendary Kendrick brothers, currently playing in theaters, feels impeccably focus-grouped for maximum impact of a Christian movie in 2024. We’re not surprised that director Alex Kendrick and producer Stephen Kendrick were able to create another competent and successful Christian film. They have a history of huge box office success stories on relatively low budgets, including WAR ROOM (2015) which notably became the #1 film in America during its second week of release. On a reported budget of $5 million, THE FORGE has already grossed $26 million in its first month, which is huge in the faith-based genre. THE FORGE seems like a spiritual sequel to WAR ROOM; it casts a lot of the same actors from WAR ROOM in extremely similar roles, including Priscilla Shirer (daughter of mega-church pastor Tony Evans) as a strong but exasperated mother struggling with family issues. In THE FORGE, newcomer Aspen Kennedy plays recent high school graduate Isaiah Wright, a directionless 19-year-old without a father who is unemployed and seems to have no passions in life beyond video games and basketball. When he gets a part time job at local business Moore Fitness, CEO Joshua Moore (played by Cameron Arnett) takes Isaiah under his wing and becomes the father he never had. With the help of an exclusive Christian men’s club called “The Forge”, Isaiah finally feels motivation to become the man he has always wanted to be. But unspoken in the film’s plot is how the setting of THE FORGE, Moore Fitness, is meant to resemble an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. THE FORGE attempts to bring dignity and motivation to fulfillment center employees through an unimaginable plot line where Isaiah and his coworkers volunteer to work a 24 hour shift to save the company. Sadly, this feels laughably out of touch for a film that otherwise does an eerily good job of elevating the mundane of an everyday Christian’s life in today’s fallen world.

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Body swapping is a time-honored film trope, especially in family-friendly inspirational comedies, where a character might “wish upon a star” to switch lives with someone who makes them jealous. Since God can make anything possible through prayer, Christian genre films are a perfect fit for this concept. SWITCHED lulls its audience into a false sense of security by beginning as one might expect a Christian teen body swap movie to go: a socially anxious Christian girl named Cassandra prays her school bully, the famous social media influencer Katie, could experience a day in the lives of her bullying victims. The two girls awaken the next morning in each others’ bodies, and the high jinks begin in school as both must train each other to carry out their their day-to-day lives without being able to explain their unbelievable circumstances. Katie must learn how to play folk guitar for a Julliard audition; Cassandra is now interviewing for a prestigious influencer position on “The Glam Slam”. It’s cute in theory, but SWITCHED ultimately fails because of some bizarre plot choices. Although aiming for originality is admirable, why would Cassandra (who is now inhabited by Katie’s soul) flirt with her own biological brother? Why would Katie’s parents (portrayed in celebrity cameo roles by John Schneider and Denise Richards) be so lackadaisical about Katie’s influencer career, even though they quit their jobs to support her work? SWITCHED is full of delightfully campy moments, like the UI of fictitious social media network The Social, but its desire to be perceived as easily watchable family fare that is light on the Christian message is thwarted by a confusing story that doesn’t stick the landing.

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The collaborations between Baptist preacher Estus Pirkle and the Ormond family of filmmakers are considered some of the most legendary Christian genre films ever for their shocking imagery and urgent sermonizing. With our review this week of THE BELIEVER’S HEAVEN, we here at Boys’ Bible Study have now reviewed the entire trilogy, which also includes IF FOOTMEN TIRE YOU, WHAT WILL HORSES DO? and THE BURNING HELL. All three films feature fiery narration by Estus Pirkle intercut with colorful, dramatic vignettes by the Ormonds. THE BELIEVER’S HEAVEN is unique in the trilogy for focusing on the pleasure of heaven rather than the tragedy of earth or the horrors of hell (but don’t worry — we still get enough of those in this piece to keep our interest piqued.) “In My Father’s House there are many mansions,” says Estus Pirkle quoting John 14:2. He then proceeds to take us on a tour through a real mansion to hype us up for the delights of heaven. This gleeful literalness drives the rest of the film, which includes lots of time spent filming Christians with physical disabilities to prove to non-disabled viewers that they should be excited to take on “glorified bodies” in heaven. However, the close-up shots on the deformities of disabled people remind the viewer that the Ormond family first made their mark in vaudeville and carnival entertainment, where the disabled were frequently displayed as sideshow “freaks”. By titillating the viewer at the expense of the disabled and in the name of religious education, the Ormonds show their talent as “mondo” genre filmmakers, a style marked by a moralizing tone that barely disguises the actual purpose of selling the audience on morbid or lurid imagery. The contrast between the exploitative tone of the Pirkle/Ormond films and their seemingly sincere moral message makes THE BELIEVER’S HEAVEN, and the rest of the trilogy, one of the most fascinating watches in all of faith-based film.

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This silent movie that graphically depicts the famous epic poem Inferno by Dante Alighieri was a box office success in its day, grossing $2 million worldwide due to its longer-than-usual runtime for the era (about 70 minutes) and its titillating imagery, including hundreds of nude actors. L’INFERNO’s aura is still creepy more than 110 years later because the practical effects and camera techniques deployed by the filmmakers are extremely creative and sophisticated. We at Boys’ Bible Study found L’INFERNO a fascinating watch because it caused us to ponder some of the same questions we ask of Christian genre films from the 2020s, including: is this film truly Christian or hiding behind the claim of a wholesome message to sell graphic scenes of sex and violence? Is a shocking depiction of hell on film an effective missioning tool, or does it simply arouse the senses? We suspect in this case the filmmakers simply thought Dante’s Inferno was thrilling source material to explore using the burgeoning medium of film, but perhaps L’INFERNO sold some tickets to curious Christians who wanted a moral excuse to enjoy risqué entertainment. We also theorize that Dante’s Inferno completely changed society’s idea of hell as a concept — perhaps contemporary Christianity’s idea of fire and damnation doesn’t come directly from the Bible, but instead from Dante’s impressive Bible fan-fiction. Either way, this film inspired us to avoid being “simonists”, who Dante depicts as being buried upside down in hell with their feet above ground and tortured for eternity. Nasty stuff!

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Let’s journey deeper into the twisted mind of Tim Chey, the Christian movie auteur responsible for some of our favorite films about the evils of money, Hollywood, and sports. Last week on this podcast, we congratulated Mr. Chey on the success of his newest film THE FIRING SQUAD, which we saw in theaters. This week we catch up on his most recent filmography we’ve neglected: 2022’s JOURNEY TO HELL. This is Chey’s take on the Divine Comedy trope of a guide leading a mortal spirit through hell, but the film is actually based on a John Bunyan novel instead of Dante. In Chey’s adaptation, protagonist Shane Badman is a successful entrepreneur and unsuccessful Christian who believes himself to be saved but is shocked after he perishes in a surfing accident only to wake up trapped in Hell for eternity. As we watch flashbacks of Shane’s corrupted earthly lifestyle, including an extremely meta scene where he makes fun of a bad Christian film, we also enjoy a guided tour of hell and all of the strange characters Shane meets along the way. Shane talks to Mao Zedong, the Zodiac Killer, the Columbine shooters, Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, an unnamed “iPhone CEO”, and even a certain Führer who you might remember from history class. They’re all there on a mission to humble Shane and get him to realize that his meager faith on Earth was no match for his pride, which was ultimately his downfall. JOURNEY TO HELL is a sobering depiction of the consequences of a life without God, where demons are depicted as micromanaging human labor for all of eternity… which honestly just sounds a lot like Earth.

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We here at Boys’ Bible Study jump at the chance to see a brand new Christian movie in theaters, especially one made by a director we trust as much as Tim Chey. THE FIRING SQUAD is the sixth film of his we’ve reviewed for the pod and we found it to possess some of the quirks and qualities we expect from a Chey joint: groups of hunky guys having fun together, D-list stunt casting, evangelical Christianity, and a bizarre hatred of sports. THE FIRING SQUAD finds established Christian genre superstars (Kevin Sorbo, Eric Roberts), a fallen former Oscar winner (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and newcomer James Barrington in a nonsensical plot set in an Indonesian prison, allegedly based on a true story (it's not; we can’t find info on these events anywhere.) Several foreigners facing the death penalty for drug charges in the draconian Indonesian justice system band together in the prison chapel to share the word of the Lord, resulting in some unlikely conversions and a feeling of peace despite the tragedy of impending death by firing squad. Now, we at BBS are all about DIY filmmakers using their big imaginations to tell stories beyond their means, but some of THE FIRING SQUAD’s asks of its audience to suspend our disbelief were a bit much. How did Cuba Gooding Jr., stuck in maximum security prison, acquire three formal suits that fit the protagonists perfectly so they could pretend to be “the media” and escape? Why are the prison doors always open, with guards and prisoners fraternizing like a freshman year university dormitory? Then again, the plot inconsistencies were so perfectly Chey that we think THE FIRING SQUAD might be the prolific anti-sports director’s most solid and enjoyable film yet.

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One of the most bizarre and singular pieces of Christian media we’ve ever watched is this dreamlike documentary from the minds of father/daughter writer/director team Derek and Vanessa Frank, who assembled some of the biggest names in Christian film history to shake the Protestant Reformation down to the “demonic conspiracy” at its very core:  the anti-semitic teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin. In LET THE LION ROAR, Kevin Sorbo, Stephen Baldwin, Eric Roberts, John Schneider, and young up-and-comer Ben Davies star as 16th-century European historical figures who don funny hats and monologue their virulently anti-Semitic views to the camera for extended scenes, some lasting for several minutes at a time. Writer Derek Frank believes that the major weakness  that plagues Protestantism is its insufficient respect for the Jewish faith and an unwillingness for the Christian church to become fully “grafted into Israel.” Mr. Frank has written five more “theses,” to add to Martin Luther’s famous 95 Theses of 1517, that propose full deference to Jews from Protestants that he hopes will heal Christianity and save it from vague, unitarian sluggishness that he reads as weakness. This is an ambitious and extremely boring goal to try to sell to an audience, but the Franks make it fun with uncanny corporate stock footage and a series of costume changes that make Derek Frank look like the Architect from The Matrix, if that character were a hardcore Zionist. In general, Derek Frank’s extreme passion for his case of “finishing” the Protestant Reformation is what sells this documentary — he gazes directly at the audience severely like a cat that has just cornered a mouse and wants to talk to it about Israel for an hour before dealing the death blow that will wipe it out of existence forever. The Lion of Judah is a lion after all, and Derek Frank teaches us that to hammer your point home, you must approach your argument with the ferocity of an apex predator.

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This lurid and captivating film about a family besieged by demons after attempting to contact their deceased loved one via an occultist could only have been produced from the singular vision of the Ormonds. To us at Boys’ Bible Study, writer/director Ron Ormond, his wife June and their son Tim are the “first family” of Christian movies. Some of the Ormonds’ most famous films, such as IF FOOTMEN TIRE YOU, WHAT WILL HORSES DO? (1971) and THE BURNING HELL (1974) are still considered Christian genre classics decades later, known for their gripping exploitation-style treatment of Christian messaging that likely emerged from the family’s shared background in vaudeville performance. This same showbiz charisma could also explain why the Ormonds’ films were financially successful, widely distributed through church tours that were sometimes accompanied by a live presentation by Tim Ormond saving the souls in the audience who had just been moved by a shocking film experience. THE GRIM REAPER is plenty shocking; the Ormonds are skilled at DIY costuming and special effects to depict the supernatural horror of the world of demons, making Satan come to life for viewers to effectively demonstrate why tampering in the occult could doom their souls forever. Celebrity guest preachers Jerry Falwell (!) and Jack Van Impe (!!) also stop by the Ormonds’ set to deliver sermons addressed directly to the camera, hammering down the central theme of THE GRIM REAPER: hell, Satan, and his demons are very real. If you don’t believe in demons, you may as well not be a Christian.

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Merry Christmas in July! We love Christmas movies for their tedious pleas for a return to small town values despite clearly being written by effete big city media types. CHRISTMAS WITH A CAPITAL C is one of the most glaring examples of this we’ve ever encountered, which makes it extremely charming. Dan Reed (Ted McGinley) is the affable mayor of a small Alaskan town with the seemingly perfect life, until his former high school rival Mitch Bright (Daniel Baldwin, who sounds almost exactly like his brother Alec) returns to Alaska after making it big in the city with a plan to dethrone Dan as mayor and finally separate church and state by removing the Nativity display from city hall. It’s pretty obvious that this is a stupid idea and our hero Dan is going to prevail, which he quickly does, humiliating Mitch by revealing that his “rich and successful” act is a total lie. What’s more interesting here is how CHRISTMAS WITH A CAPITAL C reveals that many adults are perpetually stuck repeating their high school humiliations, living their lives according to whether they were designated a “winner” or a “loser” at age 15. Also, the film is notable for a show stealing performance by Christian stand up comedian and film producer Brad Stine, who wrote the song that inspired the story of this film and who doesn’t let a scene of his go by without completely chewing up the scenery. Don’t believe in CHRISTMAS WITH A CAPITAL C? Get on the mic at your local city council meeting and let them have it.

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This DIY surf thriller about the son of a military spy superstar is way more than meets the eye, revealing its intense Christian and poly-spiritual themes in an audacious 45 minute long opening monologue. SURFER: TEEN CONFRONTS FEAR is the first feature film by writer and director Douglas Burke, a physics professor at USC with a lifelong passion for surfing and theater. Burke seems interested in the ways the physical and metaphysical intertwine; most of the dialogue of SURFER attempts to explain the unseen cosmic forces that guide our observable physical reality. In the film, a young surfer played by Mr. Burke’s real life son Sage experiences a near death experience while surfing that causes him to abandon the sport. He is visited by the reanimated spirit of his dead father, played by Douglas Burke himself, who warns Sage that the new physical body which has been crafted for him by God using “squid and electricity” will only survive for a short enough time to reignite Sage’s passion for surfing. This scene between Douglas and Sage is truly astounding — it lasts for 45 minutes (nearly half of the film’s total runtime) and constantly escalates in emotion. After this transformative exchange, Sage finds a top secret military hospital, where a doctor called Banks (Gerald James) has information that could change the way Sage understands his world forever. We at Boys’ Bible Study were lucky enough to catch the Los Angeles premiere of SURFER back in 2018 before we ever had a podcast. We’re excited to share this bizarre and wonderful film with our listeners while also diving deep within its fascinating spiritual worldview. It’s your whale, boy!

Visit the SURFER: TEEN CONFRONTS FEAR official website

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