A Distant Thunder

Trailer—A Distant Thunder

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source: A Distant Thunder

SPOILERS AVAST! Right, so, seeing as how A Thief in the Night was all a dream, well, it's almost as if this film starts from scratch. The only things carrying over from the first film are the main characters--bless 'em all--and the fact that the rapture came. People are fine, having come together under a world government and receiving the mark of the beast--which is just a tattoo symbol of 666 in binary numbers. Seriously, no one seems to spaz out except the new Christians, who only just realized the evangelicals were right when they all disappeared. For everybody else, it's fine. Well, except weird things start happening, straight outta Revelation. I dunno, it's utter rubbish, but I love it all. I mean, you get the beheading of true believers and the big Blob-inspired cliffhanger ending where you don't know if our heroine is gonna be beheaded or not--that rules. And the fact that the filmmakers basically had to reestablish everything because film #1 was just a dream, well, I think it's great fun. Very innovative stuff here for the low budget and the fact that it was filmed in my home state of Iowa. I'm all for this kind of filmmaking, even if I'm utterly offended by the views it presents. God bless free speech and the videostore girl who turned me on to this epic, ya know it? Plus, this golden nugget of gold is followed up by a third film in the series: Image of the Beast (filmed in the year of my birth, good ole 1980)!

Frustratingly idiotic film about the christian tribulation. The film follows a young lady and her friends who were 'left behind' after the born-again christians of the world disappear in the rapture. I'm not a christian and was not raised in a christian household, but i enjoy watching their apocalyptic movies. This one had me yelling at the tv as the characters repeatedly fail to comprehend what is happening around them, even though these events are explained to them in detail on a daily basis. How could anyone with even a basic knowledge of christian mythology not understand what is happening and what steps need to be taken? As soon as every fundamentalist christian disappears you should know IMMEDIATELY that their prophecies were correct and that you have to take jesus christ into your heart! Come on! Why would you continue to trust your OBVIOUSLY EVIL former friends who work for the OBVIOUS antichrist? Why would you go about your daily business and continue to participate in society when THE ANTICHIST has set up death squads to hunt down christians? Why would you worry about food and even interact with the antichrist's soldiers to get food when you live on an isolated farm in rural iowa? Iowa is the most fertile land in the entire world! There's no sign of drought or blight because every shot is filled with green grass and trees so MAYBE plant some seeds!! Maybe go fishing in the river we see them sitting at! Go shoot a deer; you have to swerve to avoid them on every rural road in the midwest! These people are incredibly stupid. The idea that anyone could doubt that fundamentalist christian teachings are correct after every impossible prediction they've made has come true is enraging. Add to that that the characters can't figure out that they should be avoiding the satanic death squads at any cost and it becomes baffling. Maybe god used the apocalypse to weed out the stupidest people in the world and send them to the lake of fire... that makes some sense, i guess. I'm watching the whole 'mark iv' series and i enjoyed the first film, hopefully they get better from here.

Remember when Patty jumped off a dam rather than get the Mark of the Beast? Yeah, well six years later, she's still alive and about to be executed the next morning for refusing to take the Mark. Even though Patty knows what lies ahead if she takes the Mark, she still can't believe in a God that would put everyone through the End of All Things. So what happens next? Where can Patty go to avoid the UN troops, now known as UNITE, who want to kill every Christian who remains faithful? Patty and two of her friends, Wenda and Sandy Johnson - hide out at Patty's grandmother's. Our protagonist has lost her grandmother and husband to the Rapture, but she's been left behind. Everyone is now against her, from a beggar she helps to her other friends Jerry and Diane. This movie has descended to the depths of evil formerly reserved for Jack Chick's tract The Beast. There must have been some meeting of evangelical Christians who decided that the Satanic New World Order would destroy those left behind that still believe in God with guillotines. There are plenty of things to learn in this movie about prophecy, how the end of the world will all happen, why you shouldn't believe in UFOs, how credit cards and the Mark of the Beast are the same and different, why authorities on Judiasm don't get Raptured and Christians do...seriously, this movie will simultanelously frighten and educate you. Russell Doughten - who also wrote these movies - appears again as Reverend Matthew Turner, a survivalist with an elaborate chart of the exact timing of the end of the world. I love that this character basically tells Patty that it isn't his fault that he was a bad preacher; it's her fault for not believing. Before all this evangelical craziness, Doughten produced and did uncredited direction on The Blob. Yes, really. Unlike other end of the world theories, like the astounding Ron Ormond film If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? which thought Communism would bring about Armageddon or Jack Chick blaming the Vatican, Doughten figured the United Nations as the ones who would be behind it all.

This is a good sequel to the first, Thief in the Night. The continuation of the main character, Patty, and the "villian," Diane gives it continuity. New characters are also introduced.

Having grown up in a Christian household, I had been exposed to this title as well as the previous movie. Although this is just a novel movie, it's a cinematic look at what is slowly taking place, today, albeit differentially expressed. Of course, everyone's going to have their own views of this film, and to each his/her own opinion. However, when I had seen this, I was about 9 or 10.......and it terrified me so that I couldn't watch it again. To think we're heading towards something like this, little by little.....it's alarming, staggering, and eye-opening!

Now I've seen some terrible Christian movies before, such as the Gods not Dead trilogy, I've even seen some good Christian movies such as The Case for Christ and I Can Only Imagine. But this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen period. But there was one good thing. There was a scene where a character was questioning why God would let all these terrible things happen. The other character then shows her a single puzzle piece, saying that the singular peice makes no sense on its own, but within the whole puzzle it makes perfect sense. That is a great message. But other than that this movie utterly fails. -Acting -Script -Story -Props -"Action" -Dramatic Sequences -Anything else you can think of. All of these things are terrible. The reason that this gets atleast a 2 star rating is that there are a few unintentionally funny scenes and moments, but even with those, I cannot say that the experience was worth it; or that I enjoyed it. Definitely avoid this. It gives Christians a bad name.

In this sequel to "A Thief in the Night", the disappearance of the Christians (known as "the rapture") has occurred and a hell on earth (known as "the tribulation") has begun. Those people who have become Christians during this time are being rounded up and told to renounce Christ or be executed. Those who choose to renounce their faith are required to get the "Mark of the Beast" and are damned for eternity. "Patty Myers" (Patty Dunning) is one of those who knows the truth but is unsure of what to do and this film follows her up to the point of no return. Like the original movie, the acting and script are pretty basic. However, I thought this film was more polished and was a bit more exciting than the first. Again, this is a Christian movie which is based on a controversial interpretation of the Scriptures which some viewers might not understand or appreciate. In any case, it's worth watching for those who might be curious or simply enjoy this specific type of film.