I am a sucker for old movies, particularly the cheesy monster, alien
invasion, chiller moves from the 1950’s. Chiller Theater came on right after
Clay Cole’s dance show on channel 11 every Saturday night, and what better place
for a kid to spend his weekend night. I found Chiller Theater when I was about
10, and all through school, it was an attraction, you could still go out after
when you got older, and it was an open book into this unique genre. And it was
educational too, as from it I learned about how acid eats bodies in House on
Haunted Hill, how the government and science can work together in Earth VS. the
Flying Saucers. Watching Plan 9 from Outer Space I didn’t know it was so bad
until I was told later. We learned about voodoo from The Four Skulls of
Jonathon Drake, about oxygen and breathing in It! The Terror from Beyond Space,
how adultery will get you killed in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, what happens
when mutes cannot scream in The Tingler, and the terrors of going into space on
Creeping Unknown. How radiation exposure will turn you into a monster in The
Hideous Sun Demon, about small English fishing villages in England and the US of
A in The Giant Behemoth, and The Monster of Piedras Blancas. An education we
may have missed if Chiller Theater hadn’t existed, and if viewed as educational
TV we would have avoided.
But if the mind could imagine it, Hollywood would conceive it, and we got
to watch it. Not a movie in the bunch that would win an Academy Award, but to
us no awards could be created for the thrill, scare, and wondering of the mind
and emotions these movies created. Today a whole generation misses out, as
blood, gore, special effects, and the movie telling you what they want you to
see. They miss the scariness of shadows, the sound of a creaking door or a
groaning monster. What an alien may look like is not asked but told, and in
color you lost me long ago. These priceless gems scream to be made in black and
white, how disappointed I was years ago when I was given a VCR tape of Invaders
from Mars, and it was in color. Nothing screams fear like the dark, and it must
be black! Frankenstein in gray, the Wolfman in brown, the creature in green all
lose their fear appeal, as does the Phantom of the Opera in color. Black is
black, not shiny! But today we are only offered what the writer and director are
trying to show, and little is left to the imagination.
As Christians we are given a free range of imagination, but when under the
holy spirit we see things, hear things, and believe things that no man can
produce. No movie can reproduce the beauty of the first day of creation, how
dark it was the day Jesus was crucified, or what it really looked like when
Moses parted the sea, but thanks to Hollywood mention Moses and we think
Charlton Heston. And to my color blind eyes, I see even different colors, maybe
colors that aren’t found in any Crayola box, such is the color spectrum of God.
Imagine how pure and white the dove was that descended on Jesus, and it was even
whiter. Or the blackness of the crow Noah let go. No soundtrack could ever
reproduce the crying and wailing of the millions when it started to rain, and
they were denied access to the ark. In cinema, we would hear the final words of
the thief on the cross plainly, only Jesus heard them among all the sounds of
death around him that day. And so even as wild as our imaginations may be, they
pale when compared to what God has to show us. Consider John one day on the
island of Patmos, trying to describe spiritual things using finite words. Ever
wonder why Revelation is so un-understandable? It takes the spirit! And like
Jesus says, “we can do all things through him who gives us strength.” And
vision. For he didn’t say he who has a mouth let him speak, but did urge those
who have an ear let them hear.
But if we only shackle God by physical events, consider what we do to his
spirit. We are saved by faith, some even walk in it, but when in danger or
tested, fall back on their own understanding, instead of the one who saved
them. While others deny Jesus altogether, where it takes more faith to not
believe than to believe when all the evidence is there for the eye to see, and
the spirit to urge. Sadly, too many of us spend more time watching movies than
in the word...and what the eye perceives becomes truth. Not the truth, but a
truth, really a lie, as all lies are based on truth. Is the same Jesus that
saves you the same truth that will walk with you daily? Is there more to this
Jesus thing than the eye can see? Yet scripture tells us about the kingdom of
heaven, “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the mind imagine the things of the
kingdom,” and what God has in store for us. But he does give us a preview of
coming attractions, as in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus tells us “on earth, as it is
in heaven.” We can have Jesus on earth via his spirit! Let’s see a movie made
about that!
There is something about being scared that man enjoys. But not too much,
there is always a light to turn on and watch the movie. But the scariest ones,
those nights of Chiller Theater were all spent in the dark, where the unknown
sounds, and the unknown thoughts of our imagination were going full tilt. But
we find joy knowing Jesus is light, in him is no darkness at all. He is not the
absence of dark, but light that shines exposing the darkness. In our lives, and
in that we don’t need an imagination. Our sins can be scary enough! Let him
shine light into your life today, and confess your sins, and walk in his light.
Movies may be seen best in the dark, but walking in darkness in life is no way
to be. Christian, if you say you know Jesus are you walking in the light? If
so, where is the shadow? In front, the light is behind you, in back Jesus is
leading. But no shadow, all light, it means he has his proper place all around
you. You can find Jesus, ever try to catch your shadow?
In regards to Chiller Theater movies, so many of them warn of messing with
the things of God. From nuclear war to creating monsters, when we mess with the
things of God we have disasters. Just ask The Fly, OK it is in color, but
imagine that? Frankenstein, no explanation needed. The Amazing Colossal Man
grew tall when exposed to a H bomb, while the Incredible Shrinking Man shrunk to
microscopic size. And how many invaders from outer space dared to scare us,
invade us, or even warn us. Maybe Klaatu’s warning is sufficient, as having
Gort as his emissary was proof enough. He warned if we didn’t live in peace,
that the earth would reduced to a burned out cinder. Klaatu barata nikto. A
warning from a spaceman about things to come, an emissary from above who came to
earth. Now do you believe Jesus? After all there are heavenly beings...and
there are real heavenly beings!
And to which Mr. Spock would agree, “indeed.” Jesus Christ, he only makes
sense. Roll film.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com