Image of the Beast (1981) User Reviews

The funniest of the 4!

[TheRuralJuror · 4/10 · 17 October 2006]

I, like most people. saw this movie in my Baptist high school Bible class. I'm not sure if I was supposed to be dramatically affected by this series or what but....I certainly remember it.

To catch up, the first movie tells us about a bunch of hippy kids who turn to Christ and get raptured up, leaving Patty and her two friends. I lovingly refer to them as the evil hippies. You see, they take the mark of the beast and betray their friend Patty AND they have crazy hair and bell bottoms. They essentially represent what the filmmakers were afraid their kids would be. Anywho, the first movie turns out to be mostly a dream where Patty wakes up from a nightmare where she was left behind to find......she's been left behind! What a terrible coincidence!

The second movie tells of her moving onto a farm with 2 other random chicks. One of them's named Sandy and the other one has a name I'm sure I just can't remember it. Well, it's told in flashback from a church where a bunch of Christians are being held to be executed cause they won't take the mark. There's some random preacher there....basically so they can kill off Patty and her friend. Sandy ends up taking the mark, encouraging Patty to do the same, while the other girl loses her head.

Now begins the 3rd one. Well, first off, this movie starts where the 2nd one ended. Apparently, Sandy dyed her hair and applied a lot of hairspray AND changed her shirt in the 3 seconds in between the 2 movies because she has changed A LOT. Patty gets her head lopped off during an earthquake and then preacher man escapes with some random chick who ends up getting in a car accident or something while they're running away. He leaves her, even though they're apparently madly in love, and somewhere along the line hooks up with a woman and her kid. They shack up in a cabin in the woods and, wouldn't you know it, the woman works with evil hippy woman who still dresses in bell bottoms and crazy hair even though she's apparently a big wig government person. Oh, and the girl from the car accident gets nursed back to health by some random old people.

Preacher man and mom woman get by because they somehow figure out how to use a giant 80's calculator and a bar code from a book about the evils of computers (product placement on the producers' part) to make fake marks that they can go shopping with. They run into the priest from the earlier movies who now lives underground and eats rats.

Bla, bla, bla....plagues happen, evil hippy lady comes to the house and gets killed by a giant bee arm made of plastic, Sandy captures the girl after she leaves the old people (now in a wheelchair), preacher and the kid get captured by whoever came with hippy lady, the mom ends up convulsed after being stung by the giant bee....eventually we end up with the kid, the preacher, and the wheelchair lady in jail. Somehow the kid gets a balloon and we get the oh-so tasteful shot of the balloon rising up past a window after the guillotine falls. Wheelchair bites it next and we see preacher man being laid down on the guillotine as the credits roll.

Of course, the 4th movie opens with preacher man NOT where he ended the 3rd movie, but walking to the guillotine down the hallway where a random girl saves him. Apparently he has the same time bending powers that helped Sandy get a makeover. That movie makes less sense (hard to believe, no?) what with its zombie romances and 80's radio technology.

Completely awesome

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 27 September 2019]

This is the third of a series of films that began all the way back with A Thief In the Night. After two movies that focused on Patty, this movie brings in David, who is a Christian guerrilla battling the UNITE forces. While the first two films just dealt with the beginning of the endtimes, this one goes all in and goes completely wild, bringing in all manner of sheer lunacy as the Antichrist ruses and God begins to reign his fury on the sinful men and women left behind.

The beginning of this film is probably the tensest of all of the series, as it begins with a young couple shopping for groceries with Patty - remember our old friend Patty who pretty much as a goner in the last two endings? - checks them out. They discuss a Beverly Kay book on Biblical prophecy and computers and how scary it all is before we smash cut back to the end of A Distant Thunder with Patty goes to get her head cut off. Run-on sentence much? Well, with this movie, you have to!

While Patty is waiting to die, an earthquake hits and she's trapped, all alone, with each tremor of the earth making the blade one step closer to decapitating her. It's harrowing and well-shot, ending only when Patty gives and begs to be given the Mark and the blade chops her head clean off. The moral of Image of the Beast is such: God is done fooling around.

It's time for a new hero in this film, who would be Kathy, who joins Leslie and David Michaels, our aforementioned freedom fighter who just killed an officer in self-defense and stole his uniform. They escape in a jeep but Leslie is shot, so our other two heroes and Kathy's son spend the night sleeping under the car because that's exactly what you do in the post-Rapture. In the morning, the precocious kid runs right into Reverend Turner (Russell Doughten, the dude behind all of this).

If you missed the last two movies, Turner was Patty's old pastor who failed to preach the message that God wanted and is now left behind. He's living a sweet Apocalyptic life, what with his farm, an apple tree and biggest and raddest map of how the end of all things will unfold.

That's when everyone gets the plan that will take up the bulk of this movie: Fake Marks that work on the gigantic UNITE computer and allow our heroes to eat while they try and hack into said computer. Being that this was made in 1980, a lot of said hacking is done with calculators, pencil and paper. There's also a subplot of the BUMS (Believers Underground Movement Squad) trying to find the Christians and take them to get their heads cut off. Of course, Jerry and Diane Bradford from the first two movies are in said group of villains.

I wonder - did PreMillenialist Dispensationalism Christians have a convention where they all decided that the UPC code was bad and that guillotines would be the weapon of choice for the UN?

There's also the hint at the end of this movie that giant locusts have descended on the Earth, which would be awesome to see. And at the end, David sends a kid to his death and walks to the guillotine rather than take the Mark. There's also a nuke that gets dropped.

My wife tried to watch this with me and when I was telling her how the stories of the Antichrist coming back to life and the prophets being killed and rising from the dead and the talking statue were all really in the Bible, she just left the room rather than deal with the realitization that her husband was insane when he was a small child, often highlighting his Bible and looking up the exact passages to try and figure out when the end would come so he would be ready.

The Third Film in a Four-Part Series

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 12 May 2013]

This is the third film in a four-part series. The previous movie, "A Distant Thunder", followed a young woman by the name of "Patty Myers" (Patty Dunning) up to the point where she had to make a choice between accepting "the mark" or being executed. This film essentially takes up where the last one left off with Patty making her decision and then shifting the focus to three other people: "David Michaels" (William Wellman Jr.), "Kathy" (Susan Plumb) and "Leslie" (Wenda Shereos). Not only do each of them have tough choices to make but the situations get much more difficult as "the tribulation" continues. Now, while a couple of the interpretations concerning this period may seem a bit out-dated, the main prophecies are still quite possible. For example, the emergence of a "world church" which replaces Christian gospel with ecumenical humanism is already taking root. Same thing with the advent of a "mark" in the form of a bar-code or microchip to replace paper currency and to provide easily retrieved personal data whenever necessary. The technology is already present and it could easily be used for all kinds of reasons. For example, it could practically eliminate counterfeiting and identity theft. So who could possibly be against something like that? Christians, of course! And if they refuse to get it then the case could be made that they are "trouble-makers" who need to be dealt with. And for anyone with complete control of all media outlets that shouldn't be too hard to accomplish. Be that as it may, I thought this film was pretty good. Yes, there were some scenes which could have benefited from better equipment or special effects. But the acting was surprisingly good and for a low-budget movie of this type I thought everything turned out rather well. All things considered. Overall then, I'd rate it as slightly above average.

Don't take the mark!

[burdurhur · 12 February 2004]

MORE SPOILERS!!! I dunno if this is the best in the series, because, see, all our main characters die! Except the best characters, those being Jerry and Diane--the people who went from being peace-'n'-love non-religious hippies in the first film to full-on world government agents hell-bent on frying Christians in this one. Jerry's moustache has evolved with the times--from the dirty-scruff of 1972 to the faux dirty scruff of 1978 to the nasty "ear-lock-round-the-mouth" look in this film in 1980. I love it. This film also introduces some more new characters, who all suck. The main one, a guy named David who apparently knows everything baout the Bible even though he just picked it up last year when the rapture came and memorized it or something. Oh, and he's also a hacker. Now, this is hacking from 1980, so he does it all with a calculator. When the calculator runs outta batteries--yeah, this was back before solar cells were so common--he and his woman have to try to buy some. But they need the mark of the beast to do so! Luckily for them, David figured out how to forge the mark, and make it so genuine that it taps into some soldier's account (he killed the guy--outta self defense of course--to get it). The problem is that they both have the same account in their marks, so if they go through two checkout lanes at the same time, the computer figures it out and they're in trouble. Now, why they don't just go into the store one at a time and wait for the other to come out, I have no clue. That's right--they have to try to get through within a tight window of opportunity, which is utter and complete rubbish. I love it! So, yeah, if you wanna see the third movie in a series which is focusing on zealots trying to overthrow the new world government after all the Christians disappear by hacking into their communications networks using pocket calculators in the early '80s, I recommend this one highly. Also, if you wanna learn more about the prophecy laid out in Revelation, this one's fun--Russell Doughten returns as Pastor Turner (and honestly, this guy isn't bad at all--he brings some presence and intelligence to the films)--they even got horse people with lion-teeth and crowns and scorpion tails! (all ya get to see is the tail, though, in situations that practically reproduce the landmark Land Shark skits on Saturday Night Live). Image of the Beast gets my rarely-given rating of Golden Nugget of Gold!

cheesy

[sippymccloyina · 1/10 · 21 July 2005]

I saw this movie when I was a child and it terrified me. I still vividly recall images of the Rapture, the Mark of the Beast and the horrible fate of those Left Behind. It's the perfect movie to show your kids if you're a religious fanatic and you want your kids to start wetting the bed and crying in their sleep. It actually sowed the first seeds of my disbelief and started my move away from Christianity. If you have to resort to terrifying people in order to convert them instead of using rational discourse it doesn't say a whole lot for your belief system. This movie relies on the worst sort of emotional manipulation to convey its message. I didn't see the others in the series but since this is the best of the bunch I probably wouldn't bother with the others. I watched this movie again recently and I didn't find it terrifying at all, just really overwrought and annoying. If you like those cheesy Left Behind Books, you'll probably like this version of the Revelation fantasy. Oh, and the acting is really awful.

The Death of the Iowa Film Industry, Thanks Russ.

[haxboob · 1/10 · 14 December 2005]

If you saw The Thief in the Night, then there is no reason to see the remaining 3 films in this 4 part series. I just watched Image of the Beast and guess what, it's the exact EXACT same message and dialogue. It kills me to see such an interesting idea treated in this manner, but perhaps it's a testament to Mr. Doughton that he just doesn't have anything to say, except "go get saved". That's the message, thats all you hear. "so and so isn't going to heaven because they didn't get saved", "uncle John is going to heaven because he got saved", "you should accept Christ and go get saved". Over and over again. I would love to have seen character development and plot points beyond telling me that computers are of the devil, excuse me "hand computers" are of the devil. This film was made before computers really took off and it's sad to see how paranoid Christians were of computers back then. I guess this film could be used as a time capsule of sorts to remind us of how stupid we were and still are with our religious paranoia that everything is going to end, I mean why not? Do you have the capability to see the world continuing on it's present course? Of course not, it would take a person with faith in humanity to do that, to see that our civilization could actually continue and that some day we might get rid of starvation and disease, and be a lot kinder to one another. Not in this religion, according to the time line put down, 2006 is the beginning of the end, when Russia will invade Israel. Sorry for that spoiler there kids but does anyone in their right mind see Russia invading Israel? They have NOTHING to do with one another, but somehow according to Christians it happens, and computers are the way to the devil and in 2007 the beginning of revelations happens which according to the film means that at some point, and I love this piece of information, we will be overtaken, the whole world from Antarctica to Iceland, by 200 million horses and horsemen. And they will do something bad and we will all be sorry. My favorite dialogue comes at this point which is: Fallen Preacher: "the 7th horn sounds and 200 million horses ride forth and blah blah blah" Bad Actress says: "200 million horses!?" and Fallen Preacher says "there were over 200 million horses in China at one time long ago"....OK thanks for that information, I'll stay indoors where the horsemen can't get me. I guess there are 72 virgins and a garden full of dates and, oh wait, thats another religion based on fear. Why are Christians so afraid of living on earth? Why do they need impossible stories that lead to the death and destruction of hundreds of millions of people except them to feel good about themselves? I think Russ should write about Christians need for fear-based control and paranoia, that would be very interesting to watch. As for this film? Avoid like the plague, if you saw the first film there is no need to see the others unless you need a good laugh.

Horrible propaganda

[pincphilip · 1/10 · 5 April 2020]

Anybody else forced to watch this as a kid? It not only gave me nightmares, but it also fueled my doubt in religion. Ironically it also sewed the seeds of mistrust for governments, creating the conspiracy theorist that I am today. I WAS 6 YEARS OLD WHEN I SAW THIS!!! Keep in mind we didn't have a radio or television in our home until I was 14 so this was literally the first and only thing I saw on the t.v. It's a 4 part series and we watched them all at church. It's an old movie, so now it seems silly but damn did it affect me then.

Okay But Boring

[urbanprincess89 · 3/10 · 24 February 2007]

Back in 2005 we watched in church youth group. It was pretty tense at first and all, but was really draggy throughout the rest of the movie. And that made people go in and out of the room during the movie. I think that there should have been a little more action, just like the first two. I guess it really got draggy because Patty was not in it. Image Of The Beast is the most boring Christian movie, I hate to say. They are pretty accurate with all the Biblical stuff, but it was missing the "it" factor. The only thing that was interesting and understandable was faking the mark. I would have done that too if I were them.

God Bless

[captaincali-74548 · 10/10 · 30 April 2021]

I find this movie interesting on the fact that we are living in a time where it feels like its heading towards that direction during this covid era. This movie came out in 1980 when technology was no where near the radar for the general public now we are consumed by it. You dont have to be a christian to see whats going on in the world right now anyways good movie 👍

It was So-So

[anonymousatheistaa · 1/10 · 4 March 2017]

To be honest, I recall this movie from my youth, a scare tactic my grandmother used on me and my brother. Looking back, this was a horrible film to show children! I wouldn't recommend this movie, even if you actually believe it. And PLEASE don't show this to your kids. For a movie made in the 1980s, it was so-so, but overdid the "We're good, they're bad" theme.

a Great message that we all need

[z71-3 · 9/10 · 23 July 2009]

I saw this movie many years ago when i was a teenager attend church. there have been many comments about this movie being to scary. But, if someone who watches this movie things this is scary, God help them if there are here on earth when the real Rapture happens. Because there is no movie that could ever Describe the horrors that await the ones still here. Yes the acting is bad but, your not watching a movie that was pro ducted in Hollywood with professional actors and directors and multi-million dollar budgets. There are people that have posted comments about this movie and comparing it the the left Behind books, i personally owe all of those books and have read them, i believe they are a great group of books. these books and movies with this content have lead many people to the true that Jeuse Chirst is our one and only savior.

LSD

[Freethinker_Atheist · 1/10 · 28 April 2021]

The movies of this series are proof that Christianity is as silly or sick as any other religion, or even sillier and sicker. It is amazing that adult people believe these madnesses, to the point that they make (very bad) movies to convince other adult people to believe them. I am pretty sure that, today, such (beyond weird) doctrines are turning young people away from Christianity, thus achieving the exact opposite.

One in a series of four helping to share God's word

[Zmaximus · 24 October 2001]

The movie although "dated" is a GREAT tool for ministering to public. the story line is good and what it may lack in it's "datedness" it gains in its ability to explain the Bible in ways that others can understand. Yes, it is a no holds barred (including the beheadings) enactment of God's word but unlike what had been commented .. `scenes of people who refuse the mark of the beast being beheaded (to scare the audience into accepting Jesus, I guess)" ... the scenes in the movie are true to what the Bible states is coming and if seeing this movie scares someone to Jesus all I can say is Thank God the movie did it, for what would these people do when it happens to them in real life. I highly recommend this, and the entire `Thief in the night' series to anyone looking for material to do God's work.

Off the rails crazy garbage.

[lonestarmeathead · 1/10 · 13 March 2022]

Christian movies are nuts but this one is maybe the most nuts. Nonsensical dialogue and plot. Ridiculous premises abound with totally fabricated concepts. None of this makes sense like the last two of this God Awful trilogy. Realism would help.

good fun if you enjoy confusion

[Raymond_Marble · 4/10 · 25 August 2023]

I'm not a christian as was not raised as one but i enjoy watching christian apocalypse movies. I'm not going to criticize the theology of the film because i can watch these suspending my disbelief in the same way i watch a zombie or vampire movie. That said, this movie repeatedly sets up unnecessarily illogical and baffling scenes and populates them with amazingly stupid characters. When the only character who shows any signs of basic intelligence is a bearded hermit who lives in a barn with an illustrated pull-down manifesto chart, you know you're in trouble.

The overall storyline is very simple: we're in the period of the tribulation. There's a one-world government led by the antichrist and you have to have the mark of the beast or you'll be executed... and that's bad, even though the people who refuse the mark are christians who know that they're going to heaven as soon as they're executed and also know that everyone on earth is going to be dead very soon.

I could criticize every scene and character in this movie, but for the sake of my own sanity i will choose a few mind-blowingly stupid things to pick on. This won't make sense if you haven't seen the movie.

Was the writer of this so ignorant of computers that he thought that one could hack a computer system with a pocket calculator? Kraftwerk would be proud. At first i was confused by the calculator scheme but later the mustache guy (i didn't expect the greasy state fair guy to make it to part 3) confirms that david used the calculator to make a fake antichrist account. The complex hacking operation via a pocket calculator in a barn was going surprisingly well, but the plan had one flaw: batteries die. Which brings us to the dumbest, most confusing scene in the movie: the grocery store sequence. Why did they have to buy the batteries at exactly the same time? Why not wait a few minutes, look around then buy the second batch of batteries? Why not buy more batteries another day? They seem to go to town all the time. Why did the lady buy most of the groceries and the batteries and go in line at the same time as david but he only had batteries and about four other things? Of course her transaction would take longer because she had more items. Why did the checkout lady have to write a receipt by hand? She's using an electronic cash register and the whole premise of this is that the central computer will see that two transactions are taking place at the same time, but she has to first write every transaction down after ringing it up then send the transaction to the computer? What?? Why was there a soldier in an apron carrying a cardboard box full of raw, unpackaged meat at the checkout lane? How did a steak get into his pistol holster??? What was that?? Why, after crashing the van, did the lady just leave without david? She didn't even check to see if he was ok. The entire scene made no sense.

Every single prediction in the fundamentalist christian end-times prophesy are coming true every day and this lady believes that all of the christians were taken by ufos? She's surrounded by people who do nothing but explain how these prophecies are taking place and she even has a huge, pull-down chart to study, showing every single step of the prophecy and she still doesn't get it?! There's never any evidence of ufos but she and everyone else believes that? How stupid are these people?

If the antichrist troops wanted to find the lady then why was it necessary for her to be at the prophet's rally? They had a tracking device in david's boot and he would presumably search her out wherever she was, so what did her going to the rally have to do with anything? And then when david grabs onto the death squad helicopter the pilot yells to his passenger "don't shoot! If he falls off we'll tip over!"! Yes. That's how that works. So instead of shooting him as they intended, they gently lower him to a field and allow him to run away while they leisurely land and eventually get out to chase him. Really?!?

On a different note, this movie failed in one other hilarious way - it led me to take the lord's name in vain many, many times. Watching these mark iv movies is like watching a zombie apocalypse movie where the characters watch zombie movies every day and discuss zombie lore non-stop but still can't comprehend that the smelly guys that keep eating people are re-animated corpses that spread their infection through bite and have to be shot in the head. It's enraging in a strange and repetitive manner. Five bags of popcorn.

Good

[Latinboi911 · 8/10 · 15 September 2004]

The first one, the second one, and the third one are good movies that show what will happen when Jesus comes to get us. Yeah the clothing is bad, and the hair is messed up, but this movie was made in the late 70's. It's a good movie either way, and Left Behind is nothing compared to these series. It's more people like than government talking throughout the whole movie like Left Behind. It's great, and sad at the same time. I recommend it to people who don't believe in God, and don't believe in the end of the world, until next thousands of years where there are going to be new people building up this earth and starting all over again.

Go out and rent the series!

read

[nicidell · 8/10 · 16 October 2009]

OK so these movies where made in the 1980's and 1970's . They are kinda going to suck with the effects and the sometimes the plot to. The movie could have been better acted and maybe better produced Even with the first two movies to they could have been better acted, But you have to think that this was a low (looks like very low) budget film. it was made for believers and non believers to show them what the world is going to be like, IT may not be exactly like its describe but the points are the same, there is going to be a one world government, He will try to make world peace, and will tell everyone they have to get the mark on their right hand or forehead in order to buy sell or do anything.He will get you to try to believe in him and eventually worship him but this is all a lie and if you get that mark you are doomed But the message is the same no mater how you are going to look at it Jesus is coming again, And will you be ready of left behind?