If you're a fan of poorly made movies or films that
are completely out there, the Christian film saga of
Ron Ormond (and occasionally Estus Pirkle) are
tailor made for you.
This saga (I have no better name for it), includes the Soviet/prison scare films If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (1971) and 39 Stripes (1979), and his biblical scare films The Burning Hell (1974), The Grim Reaper (1976), The Believer's Heaven (1977). His final film, The Second Coming (1980) melds these two genres together to make what I believe is his most ridiculous and underrated film of all time. All six films are pretty similar to each other. They all deal with a down and out Christian with little to no faith who's scared s***less into being saved. This one sets all 5 of those apart because it accomplishes what I've affectionately coined "the 8 image rule". This is when a movie is so bizarre that you can take 8 pictures from different points of the movie and someone who hasn't seen it would likely believe all images were from a different film. The Second Coming does this with flying colors as it berates the audience with bizarre images of biblical costumes, exploding statues, satanic foes, laser guns, medieval torture chambers, and the like. It's so wild that it's hard to know where the direction and logic was during the actual filmmaking process. All I could think during the film's slim runtime was that Tim Ormond (standing in for his late father), was more than likely an obvious George Lucas fan. His movie is shamelessly filmed with Han Solo replica pistols, THX 1138/ stormtrooper-like villains, and a finale that's comparable to Indiana Jones. It's astonishing in the worst way and it deserves to be seen.
This saga (I have no better name for it), includes the Soviet/prison scare films If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (1971) and 39 Stripes (1979), and his biblical scare films The Burning Hell (1974), The Grim Reaper (1976), The Believer's Heaven (1977). His final film, The Second Coming (1980) melds these two genres together to make what I believe is his most ridiculous and underrated film of all time. All six films are pretty similar to each other. They all deal with a down and out Christian with little to no faith who's scared s***less into being saved. This one sets all 5 of those apart because it accomplishes what I've affectionately coined "the 8 image rule". This is when a movie is so bizarre that you can take 8 pictures from different points of the movie and someone who hasn't seen it would likely believe all images were from a different film. The Second Coming does this with flying colors as it berates the audience with bizarre images of biblical costumes, exploding statues, satanic foes, laser guns, medieval torture chambers, and the like. It's so wild that it's hard to know where the direction and logic was during the actual filmmaking process. All I could think during the film's slim runtime was that Tim Ormond (standing in for his late father), was more than likely an obvious George Lucas fan. His movie is shamelessly filmed with Han Solo replica pistols, THX 1138/ stormtrooper-like villains, and a finale that's comparable to Indiana Jones. It's astonishing in the worst way and it deserves to be seen.
