4: Revelation, Rapture, Reds, and Revival

In this episode, we're wading into the weird old waters of Christploitation and Evangelical Prophecy Horror, exploring the ways in which certain tenets of fundamentalist Christian doctrine pertaining to the Second Coming and the End of Days found expression in two low budget, high stakes independent features produced in the early 1970s: Ron Ormond’s deliriously gruesome If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (1971), and Donald W. Thompson’s widely circulated rapture thriller A Thief In The Night (1972). The episode situates readings of both films within the wider context of a discussion touching upon rapture anxiety, premillennial dispensationalism, revivalism, and the evangelical thriller’s utilisation and weaponization of elements more readily associated with exploitation cinema. Follow on Twitter @MondoChrist. Bibliographies, web links and all the rest at www.mondochristalmighty.com.