"Victory Through the Word of God"
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What You Need To Know:
There are some turgid and corny emotions and dialogue on display in parts of THE VISITATION, but the movie has a dramatic, exiting ending that should thrill moviegoers who enjoy supernatural thrillers like this. The movie's best part, however, is that the Word of God is literally victorious over the demonic forces in the story, and Travis regains his faith. THE VISITATION contains some strong scary scenes, including some violence, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for pre-teens and sensitive moviegoers.
Content:
(CCC, BBB, O, AB, H, L, VV, A, M) Very strong Christian worldview where the Word of God and Christian goodness overcomes demonic possession, evil satanic plots and doubt, plus some problematic portrayals of Christians such as Christian leaders in town argue, Christians in town seem gullible and untrained theologically, a story about one reverend who abused a child plays a part in the mystery behind the movie's demonic plots and villains, and protagonist is an ex-minister who has lost his faith and expresses humanist skepticism about two or three times; only one instance of foul language where a villain tells someone to "Go to Hell" and villain calls God evil and implies God is uncaring; strong, often scary, violence and violent references including a villain is stabbed, implied occult murders and satanic torture, a menacing tone appears throughout the movie, gunfire, van wrecks but driver miraculously survives, woman tied up to be murdered, young woman has bloody wound on her forehead from apparent torture but doctor says wound is not deep, man touches people to heal them and they get a kind of electric shock from his touch, demonic flies come out of a villain's mouth, pastor exorcises demons from two people and demonic flies come out of their mouths, images of female corpse's feet tied with barbed wire and bloody wound on her foot as if she may have been crucified, images of skeletons from previous murders, teenager tied to barbed wire fence and crucified briefly as punishment; no sex scenes but reference to a past case of child abuse or child sexual abuse and false prophet invites young women alone to house where he stays; no nudity; villain drinks wine; no smoking; and, villains pose as Christians, angels and Jesus, plus Christian leaders argue, human villain accuses God of abandoning him, and demonic villain steals man's dog.
More Detail:
The Word of God, the Bible, is one of the heroes in THE VISITATION, a supernatural thriller made by Christians. It is an effective supernatural thriller that takes the Bible and Jesus Christ, who is the Word incarnate, seriously.
Based on the novel by Frank Peretti, THE VISITATION opens in the past, in a small Midwestern town in the United States called Antioch, where a minister’s wife is murdered in an apparent Satanic ritual. The police cannot find the killer or killers, and the minister, Travis Jordan, loses his faith in God and Jesus Christ.
Three years later, signs and wonders, including miraculous healings, occur in Antioch. One of the healings is traced to a new worker on one of the local farms. The farmhand calls himself Brandon Nichols. Brandon starts to preach revival in a tent on the farm. He lets the amazed townspeople think he is Jesus Christ, but his words are filled with meaningless platitudes about opening your heart and asking for more miracles. The platitudes he preaches contain no specifics and include no biblical references.
Despite Brandon’s apparent miracles, the local Pentecostal minister, Kyle Sherman, questions Brandon’s ministry and sermons, as does Travis. Travis begins to think that Brandon and the mysterious man who accompanies him are not what they seem, and may even have had something to do with his wife’s murder. He also begins to think that the Kyle’s declarations that Brandon’s ministry is demonic are correct.
There are some turgid and corny emotions and dialogue on display in parts of THE VISITATION, but the movie has a dramatic, exiting ending that should thrill moviegoers who enjoy supernatural thrillers like this. The main cast also does a good job, including Martin Donovan, Edward Furlong, Randy Travis, and Kelly Lynch as Travis, Brandon, Kyle, and the town’s new female veterinarian. Donovan is especially good. He makes a fine troubled hero who must defeat his own inner demons.
The best part of THE VISITATION, however, is that the Word of God is literally victorious over the demonic forces in the story, and Travis regains his faith. In fact, Travis learns the importance of getting spiritual endurance through the Word of God and through Jesus Christ. A quote from the Book of James provides the movie’s theological crux. It helps to give Travis a new and deeper understanding of what Christianity means. Through this quote, the movie reiterates to viewers the importance of taking the Word of God, the Bible, seriously and living by its principles.
One possible theological problem in THE VISITATION, however, may be its delineation of how exactly can a Christian tell a false prophet or teacher from a true one. It is not clear from watching the movie that the best way to tell a false teacher from a true one is by noting whether the teacher truly teaches what the Bible, the Word of God, says. In the movie, Brandon looks like Jesus and performs miracle healings like Jesus and even bears marks on his wrists like Jesus might bear after His crucifixion, but Brandon does not preach like Jesus, nor does he refer to specific biblical passages or specific teachings from the Bible. The screenwriter could have made this point a lot more clear in his movie. After all, the two main minister characters in the story, Travis and Kyle, are supposed to be theologically and biblically trained Christian leaders.
This problem is why MOVIEGUIDE® urges all Christian filmmakers to get some solid theological and biblical training and to put more of that actual training into their scripts, without, of course, being preachy, self-righteous or confusing. Our publisher, Dr. Ted Baehr’s, book SO YOU WANT TO BE IN PICTURES, helps screenwriters and filmmakers put such principles into action in their scripts, movies, videos, and TV programs.
THE VISITATION also contains many scary scenes and scary violent references to occult murders and physical attacks from people who are demonically possessed. The violence includes some images of corpses and skeletons. The movie also has a menacing tone throughout its running time. Thus, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for children aged 2 through 13, as well as caution for those moviegoers, parents and teenagers who are bothered by movies in this genre.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
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