If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do?

I agree with aagedeppa's review above. I was shown this film in the early 70's as a 8 or 9 year old at church along with my younger sister. I would like to think my parents wouldn't have let me watch if they'd been there but my house was "a kid rides the bus to church" kind. This film traumatized me beyond belief! I will NEVER get the image of the little boy having the stick pushed through his brain and vomiting. I just wonder WTH the adults (deacons, preacher, etc.) were thinking letting small children watch this? Please, no matter what your religious beliefs are DO NOT allow young children to view this film, unless you're willing to part with cash for therapy!!!

Manson-era social anxieties and rabid pinko-phobia fuel this fire-and-brimstone propaganda film, which just happens to be made by a personnel of sexploitation cinema veterans. It sure as hell won't save your soul, but it might lead you to wonder if prankster hippies spiked the Ogallala aquifer with premium-grade LSD...

According to Southern Baptist preacher Estus Pirkle, if Americans don't begin living lives of Christian purity, then a communist takeover is inevitable...within the next several months(!). Television, alcohol, drugs, sex, and miniskirts are condemned in his thundering sermon, which is vividly illustrated in a number of extremely gory scenes(people senselessly gunned down, women raped, and children being beheaded and having their ears jammed full of shish-ke-bob skewers). And let's not forget the age-old sin of DANCING...we all know what THAT leads to, don't we, you shameless whore....

This is, without question, the most relentless assault on the senses I have ever experienced. No matter what your personal belief system may be, you *will* be nauseated, mortified, perplexed, and delighted watching this hopelessly dated cautionary paranoiac vision...a stultifying and richly rewarding viewing experience.

HALLELUJAH!! A perfect 10.

The Reverent Estus Pirckle (no--I never heard of him either) of the Baptist Church lectures a rapt audience on how the communists will be taking over America in the next 24 months! (Considering this film is over 40 years old and communists haven't taken over America I believe the good reverend was wrong). While he's lecturing we are shown "accurate" portrayals of what communists have done in other countries. We get LOTS of views of "dead" men, women and children covered with the fakest blood I've ever seen. The good (sic) reverend tells us about the evils of sex education, Saturday morning cartoons (!!), drive-in movies, dancing (which always leads to sex), alcohol, drugs, magazines, newspapers, books---hell everything! Only Jesus Christ and the Bible will save us. (I guess if you're not Christian you're out of luck).

According to this the takeover will begin with the president and ALL governors throughout the US being shot and killed! Then the communists will round up all Christians and torture and kill them. We see such charming sights as a little boy tied up and having a bamboo stick driven through his ears (and throwing up), a man dangled over pitchforks while tied up, another kid beheaded, people shot down left and right. It SOUNDS horrific but the "special" effects are pathetic, the acting is terrible and everything you're told is so inaccurate that it's impossible to take with a straight face. A laugh a minute here. It's not on DVD but is available (for free) through Google Video.

Religious propaganda (exploitation) film that is so bad, I just could not stop watching. His sermon comes off as a poorly concocted conspiracy theory. I had heard this film was distributed to many churches around the country in the 70s. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at one of those showings back then.

All in all, it is a trainwreck of a movie that is not necessarily satisfying, but watching it gives you the satisfaction of knowing you watched something pretty bad, but has an appealing shock value.

This movie was one that all our local churches gathered for a viewing when it first came out. IMDb has the release year to be 1971, but, we must have been seen it before it was officially released, because I was 5 years old when I saw it the spring or summer of 1969. I remember screaming and hiding my face in Daddy's shirt. It was the SINGLE most terrifying movie that I watched as a child. Horror movies, viewed as a teen, never left such impression on me as this movie did. It is not such a "scary" show NOW in this day and age, but, at the time, it was not a movie for a child to see. My parents have always apologized when this movie has been brought up in conversation. So, please, keep in mind that, while this movie is okay for older children and up, it is not appropriate for children who have not yet learned the difference between what's real and what's not real.