Search - Image of the Beast on DVD

Image of the Best?Best All-Time Prophecy Film

12/14/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"IMAGE OF THE BEAST I believe is hands down the best of all the fictional films dealing with the prophecies of the bible.
Cloud Ten does a decent job,(LEFT BEHIND) but their films value slickness over content and artistry. IMAGE OF THE BEAST is definately the finest example of a independent production prophecy film. It is both exciting and extremely informative.IMAGE OF THE BEASE gets rid of PATTY JOE MYERS (From the earlier films THIEF IN THE NIGHT, and A DISTANT THUNDER)early on in the film. No more will she whine about how dreadful her life is.We are introduced to a more introspective and christian male character who is more pleasant than PATTY, but not as campy.
That is why this film is the best...it is the least campy of the series and at times is very moving.Russell Doughten really directs this movie with quite a bit of passion. The script is dead-on and interesting and gives the casual viewer a very thorough explanation of biblical prophecy.It does a better job of this than any film to date.
This is quite a feat as well, considering how much information there is to explain in biblical prophecy.The next and last film in the series THE PRODIGAL PLANET, goes a bit more for the action/adventure set up and looses a bit of it's heart. It is kind of like a biblical DAMNATION ALLEY.
And I'm always troubled by the fact that these people are wondering around with nothing, practically starving, and supposedly living in a bombed out world but the women all manage to be perfectly groomed with full on lip gloss at all times.But I can only HIGHLY recommend IMAGE OF THE BEAST over anything CLOUD TEN has done, and over the other films in this series.
The only advantage CLOUD TEN has I think would be that there films are so slickly done and to the point that they make it very easy to become interested in the subject without going to in-depth. Viewers could then, if they pleased, find out more on their own.
IMAGE OF THE BEAST is a very evangelistic, information filled, informative, well made piece of christian film making. It is one of the defining pieces of art in the field of Christian film making. And let's face it, that is saying something, cuz there are not very many."

The World spins out of control!

Everett | Rio Rancho, NM USA | 06/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So much for our beloved heroine, Patty, she got what was coming to her. It is too bad she got the guillotine, but there was no real way for her to escape anyway. The DVD for the image of the beast is pretty good. You get to know about Russ Doughten, the man who played our left behind preacher, and you get a really neat commentary along with it.

As the story of the end times goes on, David Michaels (William Wellman) takes over for our beloved Patty, who no longer has a head. When he meets up with Leslie (Wenda Shereos) and Cathy (Susan Plumb) and Cathy's three year old boy, the three set out to find salvation, and to find a way to keep out of sight from Unite. When Leslie is assumed dead after being shot, David decides maybe its time to give Unite a piece of their own medicine. As the two try to thwart Unites plans, and using their new counterfiet mark that David has invented, they can do things they never thought possible with the lord on their side. But the Tribulation gets worse as the things prodicted are becoming a reality, and Brother Christopher a.k.a. the antichrist, will stop at nothing until everyone is under his wing.

I think that this was better than A Distant Thunder for two reasons because one: There was a lot more suspense than in the second in the series. The action is also much better in the ways the budget is also much bigger and two: The plot seemed much more thought out and well written than a Distant Thunder. One thing that it lacked from A Thief in the Night was the message. It was displayed wonderfully in the end by Leslie and Billy's performance which was awesome, but it wasn't shown throughout the film as much in A Thief in the night.

I think that the action in the film is the best because it matches A Thief in the Night's (partly because there was no actiong A Distant Thunder) but still keeps it to the limit of christian filmmaking which is pretty hard. For instance, I think the best scene in the film is probably Patty's death scene. As the earthquake drives everyone away, you feel the guillotine. YOu feel it about to slip off it's last tether yet you desperately want Patty to get out but she just can't. As I watched the hook slip right off to the last centimeter, I really wanted Patty to get out. She was my favorite character, but I suppose her end was just. She was pretty much damning herself by screaming "I want the mark!". That's just as bad as taking it!

I hope Mark IV pictures continues to make films. After the Prodigal Planet came out, Mark IV simply petered out but still exists under a different name. I still like calling it Mark IV. If you bought the DVD, you probably know they're trying to make the fifth thief in the night which will finish the series. 35.5 million dollars is a lot of money to raise for an independent film company, especially since A Thief in the Night only cost $60,000 to make (the equivalent of $300,000 today). I hope they will. Status currently is "it's going slow" as I've been told by the people at Mark IV pictures and Russ Doughten films. Give them a call. You might be able to help!"

Patty's gone; Praise the lord! I can't believe I said that.

Franklin Newman | Caldwell, id United States | 10/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Patty gets the axe, I mean, guillotine, in this film. A real shame, really. Patty's death was actually celebrated in my family's house. When she died, mother ordered pizza. Sorry. This happens to be the best of the set of films, though I'd say Distant thunder claims the right to be second-best. This one continues the studies of the prophecies, but it begins to deflect somewhat off of the pure story. This film also reflects the required fear of computers, technologies, and modernity. Here, instead of the panicky and furious Patty, we are left with David. David is a computer expert. David, and his new assistant, Cathy, a computer analyst who takes Patty's place but is far more rational, begin working on a counterfiet mark. Cathy correctly indicates the moral implications of this critical issue. But David rebuffs her, arguing a matter of survival is greater than his committment to Christ. You shall find that David is a hypocrite in some respects, and while he is more biblically trained than most people, he is so innately disgusting, one almost roots for Jerry and Dianne. Of these films, however, this one truly hypes up the emotional terror without Patty there to scream every 2.15 seconds, forcing you to imagine the implications for yourself. A bit of advice, don't drink water during the final third of the movie."