Final: The Rapture – the horror movie 'winning people to Christ'

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/23/final-the-rapture-horror-movie-christ

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The Ten Commandments, The Passion of the Christ, the forthcoming Russell Crowe epic Noah – the Bible has long been a wellspring for filmmakers, who have also used a struggle between Christian good and evil in horror films from The Exorcist to Stigmata. But now Christianity and horror are being blended with pure evangelism in Final: The Rapture, a low-budget thriller that is – very slowly – sweeping the US.

"We're trying to share this so their eyes will be opened … so people go home with hope," producer Susan Chey told the Orlando Sentinel, comparing it to a "Trojan horse" that would introduce people to faith. "The Christian community loves the film because they believe in the Book of Revelation, when Christ returns," says her husband, writer-director Tim Chey. "Atheists love the film from a horror standpoint."

The film is adapted from Tim's book Final, which follows the events of the Rapture, believed by fundamentalist Christians to be the moment when those of faith are drawn up to heaven, leaving unbelievers behind (an occasion recently played to comic effect in This Is the End). Final stars Mary Grace as a Christian taken to heaven in the Rapture, leaving her football player husband stranded, and features three other central storylines following the global chaos in the wake of the Rapture.

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"Final is not fluff, it's not a cheesy Christian movie," said Grace. "It's raw. This is life, blood, shootings, murder. It's a thriller. Final gives a message of hope and redemption with that action."

It is being released city by city, starting in Houston and now transferring to Florida. "We'll never match American Hustle," admitted Tim. "For us success is winning people to Christ."

The film cost less than $10m (£6.2m), and frankly looks it: the badly recorded sound, hammy acting, and a thoroughly unconvincing plane crash sequence all look set to turn it into a so-bad-it's-good cult hit in the vein of Sharknado, Birdemic or The Room.

But Tim hopes it will be the first in a seven-film series, and Susan says that in the Bible they have a great depository of plotlines: "In Hollywood, they're running out of stories. They recycle. But we'll have stories until Jesus comes."