Wonderfully Horrible Netflix Instant Films: “Left Behind”

I grew up on Growing Pains. The adventures of the Seaver clan was a daily staple in my life. The breakout heartthrob of the series was the eldest teenage son, Kirk Cameron. He was on the cover of Tiger Beat almost every month. I remember my cousin having a picture of him over her bed. Somewhere along the line Kirk found Jesus. Big time. He started making demands on the producers to make the show, which was already pretty White and uptight, more family friendly. Not outright Christian, but certainly really overly moral. He even objected to his character wanting to be an actor because that wasn't a serious profession...even though he is an actor himself. In the years since, Kirk became a staple of Christian programming. So, it came as a surprise to no one when the bestselling series of Christian novels, The Left Behind series, was optioned that he would star. The result is an apocalyptic, (tee hee), trilogy of movies, the first of which is Left Behind.

Cameron stars as Buck, a reporter with not-CNN. He is in Israel reporting on the good works being produced by one Nicolae Carpathia, a billionaire UN-Secretary general who happens to also be the (DUM! DUM! DUM!) Antichrist. Suddenly, the rapture happens and millions of Christians are sucked into heaven while the rest of us are...wait for it...left behind. Buck begins his investigation of the disappearances, which lead him to a small church where he accepts Jesus Christ as his lord and blah blah blah. Carpathia has plans for world domination that begin with the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple. Then it is up to Kirk and his Christian group to stop him!

The production value is horrible. I mean bad. It's surprising because the Left Behind books were so popular, even with non-Christians. You'd think they could have gotten more money and better filmmakers. But no, they got a production backed by the Trinity Broadcasting network and Mike Seaver. Given the subject matter there is no reason that even though it is ultimately a Christian story that it couldn't also be entertaining. Think of all of those Biblical epics from the fifties. A lot of them were really good movies. So, there is no excuse. Still, if you are anything like me and you enjoy bad Christian programming, this is the movie for you. Oh, and now the made a new version starring Nicolas Cage...