This movie, the church, and a volatile neglectful upbringing, lead to severe paranoia towards the future. It wasn't just the movie, but it was also the philosophy that engulfs so many "christians" about the "mark of the beast"and the rapture.
Thief in the night youtube movie#
This movie terrified my brother and I and shaped how we viewed the world with distrust. I was of the tender age of 6, my brother 4, then again when I was 8 my brother 6. I saw this movie twice through a pentecostal church my family attended in Nanaimo BC in the 1970's. I think I'm the only person in history to make that observation. It even has the SAME EXACT score of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I hate to admit it, but I still thoroughly enjoy watching this. The intriguing adventures of Patty and her journey throughout the tribulation (and two of the film's three sequels) tells her remarkable story of unbelief and ultimately damnation. What used to terrify me in junior high now makes me laugh. The film's premise is grounded in Pre-Millenial, pre-Tribulation eschatalogy, believing that Christ comes once for the secret taking of the true church, and then comes again at the end of the seven years of hell on earth. Instead of taking us to the dramatic scenes of this "post-rapture" tribulation, we sit in the living room, hearing about it on the news because the filmmakers can't afford to show it. What I love most about this genre is its incredible attention to detail, sitting in a living room. Jenkins would shake the world of the Christian subculture (and make millions in the process) with the LEFT BEHIND books, MARK IV Pictures, the Christian film distribution company of the Billy Graham evangelistic association, gave us this masterwork. And while I am able to keep an open mind about the overall subject of the film, from a critical and objective perspective I have to rate it as slightly below average. In short, if a person can get beyond some of the peculiarities I mentioned earlier, they might find this film interesting in its own way. Even so, this film created a stir within its targeted audience and resulted in 3 sequels: "A Distant Thunder", "Image of the Beast" and "The Prodigal Planet". Additionally, as the hairstyles and clothes clearly indicate, it is definitely dated to a time-period (late 60's & early 70's) which may not appeal to a more modern audience. Because of that, the acting is very basic and the dialogue will probably strike many as being a bit corny. Likewise, it is a low-budget production geared more for an evangelical outreach than for general entertainment purposes. As such, there may be many people who may not understand or appreciate this type of film.
Now, as I stated earlier, this film follows a controversial belief of a certain segment of the Christian faith. On the other hand, her other two friends, "Diane Bradford" (Maryann Rachford) and her new husband "Jerry Bradford" (Thom Rachford) were also left behind and like Patty, they are now forced to deal with another fundamentalist event known as the "tribulation" which is essentially a hell on earth. So has her friend, "Jenny" (Colleen Niday). However, her husband, "Jim Wright" (Mike Niday) was recently converted and he has disappeared. In that regard, "Patty Myers" (Patty Dunning) is one of the many who is not taken up into heaven because she is not a Christian. This film follows the belief of certain fundamentalist Christians that an event known as the "rapture" will take place soon which will cause all true believers to disappear from the earth all at once.