I enjoy the movies. I think I most enjoy the movies when I can walk into a movie theater and once the movie begins, I forget that I’m watching anything until the credits roll. I most enjoy movies when they can carry me off to some alternate reality for ninety-four minutes. That’s not the only time I’ll enjoy a movie, but it’s the only time that I really, really fall in love with a movie. Amongst movies, some of my favorites are suspense thrillers, or to a lesser extent, horror movies. But that’s likely on account of the feeling of suspense being unusual in my daily life, so if a movie can pull it off, it’s doesn’t have to go far to get me out of my current reality.

I have obvious gripes with movies that make play with demonic forces. I have issues with movies that point overwhelmingly to hell. But I think most of all, I have issues with movies that are unabashedly grotesque. Sometimes the promos even flaunt them that way. You’ve probably heard that ridiculous voice actor from the previews, “A grisly tail that will haunt you for weeks!” It’s not as much bothersome when the bawdiness is instigated by, or involved in some supernatural or otherworldly force (i.e., aliens, zombies, etc.). However, that’s not really the majority of these movies.

I recently read a review of the movie Untraceable. I have no intention of seeing this movie, especially after reading the review. The basic gist is that people gradually murder victims through carefully designed torture weapons simply by logging onto a website. Sounds great. Before this it was a whole host of other ultra realistic gore parades, including the Saw trilogy, The Hills Have Eyes, and Hostel, just to name a few; movies that recreate very real human suffering only for the sake of entertainment; any redeeming word to humanity was lost long ago in the gallons and gallons of (probably, although we can’t tell) artificial blood.

“In prison, they put iron tubes around his legs and tightened them with screws. Then they beat on the tubes with a hammer until the vibrations broke the bones in both legs. All this to make him confess to imaginary crimes against the government. He did not confess. Several Communist police officers then went to his home and one of them, a woman, held Vladimir’s baby in his hands and told Vladimir’s wife, ‘If you don’t sign an accusation against the prisoner [her husband], we will smash the had of the child.’ She refused… the woman police officer smashed the baby’s head against the wall several times, killing it.”

The above quote doesn’t come from a synopsis of a Hollywood movie; although it likely could have. It comes from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Vladimir was a Christian undergoing very real torture for his “crimes”. To speak hypothetically, let’s say that Vladimir were here today and went to the movies to see one of the installments of Saw. How do you suppose he would react to seeing a victim rigged into some terrifying murder and torture device?

Which brings me to my larger point, how do we go one minute and indulge in the very realistic fantasy of seeing someone brutally and graphically tortured and murdered purely for our own entertainment, to the next minute in which we are supposed to be compassionate, loving and broken hearted for those in pain. I submit that it is unlikely that the two can coexist. Either watching it on screen must break our hearts for those who are, even right now, experiencing similar horrors; or else we must have little or no compassion for those people and on some level delight in their pain. If we continue on this path, I doubt it will be very long at all before someone merges these horror films with reality television and we see a rebirth of the Roman Gladiators.

Jesus, I pray that you would change my heart. I pray that you, by your Holy Spirit would be persistent in sanctifying me. God, I pray that you would create in me an ability for the words of my mouth to meet the actions of my body. Jesus, I pray that you would give me and your church a broken heart for those in need, for those suffering, for those dying; for the sake of your glory, O Lord.

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