Image of the Beast
Tags: christian film

Plot synopsis:
The film picks up where A Distant Thunder left off. Patty Myers (played by Patty Dunning) is faced with the decision to either accept the mark of the beast or lose her head. The soldiers strap her to the guillotine, but then flee due to a sudden earthquake. Left alone, Patty first screams that she wants the mark then screams for help, only to die anyway as the earthquake causes the blade to fall on its own. Nearby, a woman named Kathy (played by Susan Plumb) and David Michaels (played by William Wellman Jr.) have just escaped a government detention center during the earthquake along with Kathy's young son Billy, and another woman named Leslie (played by Wenda Shereos).
The group evades the soldiers of the government, called UNITE (United Nations Imperium for Total Emergency). Kathy, David, and Billy become separated from Leslie (with whom David reunites later) when a UNITE soldier shoots her below the shoulder, and David leaves her lying on the ground believing her to be dead. The trio eventually meets up with the Rev. Matthew Turner (played by Russell Doughten). By this time Rev. Turner's church has been forced to close by the government, and he is living underground as a survivalist.
Kathy and David attempt to use their knowledge of computers to create a fake "mark of the beast" which will allow them to move about freely in society; David rationalizes this by saying they are not taking the real mark. Kathy also finds the mark morally questionable, but David convinces her that they have no choice. The fake mark allows Kathy and David to move about freely through checkpoints where guards are checking people to make sure they have the mark, but when they attempt to use it to buy groceries, the plan falls through.
Meanwhile, the Bible prophecies in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation, as explained by the Rev. Turner, begin coming to pass. A new world leader is installed who speaks to the world through a computer-generated image broadcast on television. Earthquakes, wildfires, and a nuclear war occur. Eventually, David reunites with Leslie, and they are set up by, of all people, Sandy. Initially frustrated in her attempts to hack the mark, Kathy eventually realizes that the barcode system itself is the source code for the mark.
Unfortunately, Kathy is discovered by Dianne, who tries to arrest her. Dianne is attacked by a giant locust, and while Kathy flees, she is stung. We do not know what becomes of her after that, though David later implied (in The Prodigal Planet) that she died. Turner is also stung. Billy is arrested, and locked up with Leslie and David, then Leslie leads him to Christ before she is sent to be executed. The guards want David to convince Billy to take the mark, but after Billy tells David that Leslie led him to Christ, he instead tells Billy to close his eyes and put his faith in God. Both David and Billy are then faced with execution themselves.

Review: 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.
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.
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.
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.
Probably the Best of the Four-Part Series.
Being a Christian believer, I can't help but be interested in this four-part series.
There are several ways to interpret the Book of Revelation.
There is the Pre-Millennial interpretation (one I subscribe to) in which one accepts a literal Second Coming of Christ prior to a thousand year period in which the whole earth is directly ruled by Jesus Christ and then there is a New Earth and New Heaven established in which universal peace endures forever.
Other Christians may subscribe to an A-Millennial view in which the prophesies of Revelation are often taken to be metaphorical even though the Second Coming of Christ remains a literal event in the future.
And then, there is the Post-Millennial view in which some Christians believe that the Church on earth establishes the Kingdom of God through evangelism and conversion which eventually climaxes in the Second Coming of Christ.However, the question remains is what are the events that occur prior to the Second Coming of Christ.
Jesus Christ Himself does say that there is a period of time leading up to this event that involves a great deal of travail on earth such as "wars and rumors of wars".
The details of these events are what sincere Christian believers often debate.
Is the beast mentioned in Revelation 13 the same entity as the "little horn" described in the Book of Daniel ?
Is the mark described in Revelation some sort of devious ID that people will be required to possess in order to "buy or sell"?
Will Christian believers be raptured from this distress or will they go through it ?
Does the Book of Revelation 16:16 describe the last world war on earth ?
Much of this would have been impossible during the first century AD due to the lack of technology at the time.
Some sincere Christians believe that the "beast" of Revelation may be a metaphor for Nero, an antichrist of his time.
But as far as I know, no one had to bear some sort of mark in order to buy or sell even though they had to burn incense to Caesar.
Its is possible that the Book of Revelation may contain double references to events during the time of the Roman Empire and to events in the 21st century.
However, due to the accelerating advances in technology, the world does seem to be rushing towards some sort of climax in terms of human history at a rate unheard of in past human eras.
However we may interpret the Book of Revelation and other passages of prophesy in both the Old and New Testaments, we Christians should always be on the watch (as Jesus Himself says - "He will come like a thief in the night") and be prepared for His Return.
However, debating the details should not be a distraction to the true meaning of the Christian Gospel.
There was a time a few decades ago in which people who disagreed on Biblical interpretation (Pre-Millennial vs.
And these people would no doubt be sincere Christian believers, but they would permit their level of disagreement to sow division, something which should not happen in a Christian community.
We should be focusing on how to improve our Christian walk and the way we show our Christian love in the way we treat other people in our lives.
And above all, we should remember the central root of our Faith, namely, that Jesus Christ is God in human form, He became a man, and paid the penalty for ALL of our sins for all time to provide eternal salvation to those who accept and believe in Him. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, He is Lord, and the Father raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).
In the company of Christian believers and as witnesses to the world, this cannot be emphasized enough.Dan Basinger.
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.
Image Of The Beast is the most boring Christian movie, I hate to say.
The only thing that was interesting and understandable was faking the mark.
OK so these movies where made in the 1980's and 1970's .
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?.
a Great message that we all need.
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.
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..
One in a series of four helping to share God's word.
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.
`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..
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.
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.
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.
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!
Image of the Beast gets my rarely-given rating of Golden Nugget of Gold!.
I, like most people.
saw this movie in my Baptist high school Bible class.
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.
You see, they take the mark of the beast and betray their friend Patty AND they have crazy hair and bell bottoms.
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!
The second movie tells of her moving onto a farm with 2 other random chicks.
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.
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..
The Death of the Iowa Film Industry, Thanks Russ..
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.
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.
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.
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.
Avoid like the plague, if you saw the first film there is no need to see the others unless you need a good laugh..
It was So-So. 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.
For a movie made in the 1980s, it was so-so, but overdid the "We're good, they're bad" theme..
This is the third film in a four-part series.
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).
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.
Christians, of course!
Be that as it may, I thought this film was pretty good.
But the acting was surprisingly good and for a low-budget movie of this type I thought everything turned out rather well.