"We don’t want to play within the constraints" of Christian movie-making, says 'Generational Sins' writer-director Spencer Folmar.
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8 (KJV)
EDITOR'S NOTE: My family and I have enjoyed excellent Christian movie-making over the years with great movies like Facing The Giants, Flywheel, War Room, God's Not Dead and a whole host of others. They're exciting, great acting, with a powerful and relative message from the Bible, and best of all, 100% family friendly. These films combined have made hundreds of millions at the box office and online, and now the Devil's counterfeit wants in on the action. Here's how it works. Air quotes "christian" movie-makers want to show you the "real struggle" in the Christian life, so their movies contains scenes of backslidden Christians getting drunk, cursing, fornicating, fighting and all the rest. The net result being you exposed on the screen to the same junk that comes from Hollywood. There is no God in a movie like that, don't kid yourself that there is. Stay away from the theater of Laodicea, it's a trap. Hope this timely warning is a blessing to you and your family.
Are Christian movies going blue? 'Generational Sins', in theaters Oct. 6 via Freestyle Digital Media, is rated PG-13 and contains 32 profanities — not unusual except that Sins is a faith-based movie.
Call them "Hard Faith" films, says writer-director Spencer Folmar, who is trademarking the phrase and whose banner,
Third Brother Films, has more such movies in the works, including one based on Johnny Cash's The Beast in Me.
The faith-based
Dove Foundation, which stamps its seal of approval on family-friendly movies, recently named Sins its first recommendation in its new category for viewers ages 18 and up. The movie, says Dove president Suzy Sammons, "has not only cautionary elements in it, but positive ones. There's an overt godly message with Christian values."
Dove has reviewed 12,000 movies since its founding in 1991, and about 750,000 people use the nonprofit organization's recommendations, says Sammons, who notes that films like Passion of the Christ and Hacksaw Ridge are examples of films that might also warrant Dove's new 18-plus recommendation.
"We're not only targeting faith-based moviegoers," says Folmar, "we're also going after ‘Chreasters' — people who only go to church on Christmas and Easter. If we tell stories of adults struggling with faith, adults will run toward them, so we're working hard on creating this new genre."
But some critics are crying foul. Movieguide, which recommends films based on their Christian messaging, wrote that movies "don't need to be filled with foul language, explicit sex, drug use and the like to reach out to people that aren't walking with God." Movieguide also accuses Folmar of marketing his movie based on the unusually large number of cuss words it contains.
Recent hits in the genre, like the God's Not Dead franchise, which has grossed more than $80 million in the U.S., have been PG rated, with no swearing in them. Folmar, though, embraces the controversy.
"There's been a backlash to Generational Sins, but there are secular and faith-based films, and we believe there should be a third option," he says. "We don't want to play within the constraints of the traditional faith-based community."
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