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The Passion Of The Christ (DVD) Review

The most controversial film of 2004, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was widely derided by critics and detractors as a two-hour anti-Semitic pornography/horror flick, complete with splattering blood and arduous torture. But among the Christian community (of which I consider myself a part) and open-minded people who actually saw the film, The Passion stands alone as the most eloquent expression of God’s love for mankind ever to grace the big screen.

The Passion certainly is violent, but not anymore violent than similarly rated films of the past ten years. But despite contentions by some evangelical Christians that everyone should see this film, I don’t think young children should see it. This movie is for mature audiences only, and I think anyone under the age of sixteen should have a full understanding of the previous events underlying the main focus of the film before viewing it.

The entire movie was filmed in the original Aramaic with English subtitles. This enhances, rather than detracts from, the film’s enjoyment because it creates an emotional aura of mystery and sacredness to the subject. Since most people are at least vaguely familiar with the storyline, you won’t find yourself distracted by reading subtitles as one might think. With just the opposite effect, you find yourself paying greater attention to the visual images displayed on the screen, and the power of the events unfolding before you is amplified several times over.

The Passion of the Christ combines the four written accounts found in the New Testament Gospels to create a vivid and powerful portrayal of the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The film opens in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus of Nazareth (James Caviezel) is engaged in prayer, asking his Father to deliver him through the events soon to come. A satanic figure lurks in the shadows, dispensing a series of temptations and doubts. “No one man can bear the sin of the world. It’s impossible. It’s too much,” the figure says. When Jesus refuses to give into Satan’s temptations, his disciple Judas arrives to betray him to the Temple Guard.

The Temple Guard leads Jesus away in chains to face the high priest. While Peter and John weave their way through the crowd of onlookers, Jesus is questioned by an assembly of leading priests and teachers of religious law. When Jesus responds to their questioning by affirming that he is indeed the Son of God, the leaders hit him, spit on him, and mock him. They then take him before Pilate, hoping to have him killed.

Finding no fault with Jesus, Pilate nevertheless has Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. This sequence is one of the most brutal in the film. James Caviezel is reported to have actually been hit by accident during the filming of this scene. The brutality and utter lack of empathy on behalf of the Roman soldiers is brilliantly illustrated. In my estimation, if you can make it through this scene, then the crucifixion scene should not be a problem.

Furthermore, Gibson’s cinematic genius is apparent by his measured and precise use of flashbacks which draws the audience away from the violence in brief intervals so as not to cause an emotional overload. Flashbacks include Jesus teaching to a crowd about his power to “lay down my life, and take it back up again,” Jesus washing the feet his disciples at the last supper, and Jesus as a playful personality interacting with Mary. One particularly powerful scene traces back to Jesus as a toddler. When he falls down and injures himself, a panicked Mary runs to his rescue. This flashback correlates with the film’s portrayal of Jesus stumbling under the weight of the cross.

Overall, this ranks as one of the greatest films ever made. If you believe Jesus of Nazareth was the Biblical Messiah (which this film reviewer does), then The Passion illustrates the enormity of God’s sacrifice. But even if you think Jesus was just a common man, this film serves a valuable purpose in that it underscores the barbarity of a human race that, more often than not, persecutes the innocent. Mel Gibson’s greatest production to date is a film every student of history, philosophy, and human nature owe it to themselves to see…

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of The Passion Of The Christ (DVD).

Horror DVD Collection of 2011 Part 1: Slasher, Torture, and 80′s Goodness!

THE TORTURER – NEW DVD $15.52

THE TORTURER – NEW DVD $18.52

THE TORTURER**MASHA MASOUDI/NICHELLE NICHOLS**DVD $16.95

The Torturer DVD $15.54

THE TORTURER (DVD) HORROR,Thriller, A New Kind Of Terror, Official Selection $11.95

American Horror Story DVD $49.99 American Horror Story DVD

Masters Of Horror – Series 1 Volume 2 (DVD) $22.93 Masters Of Horror – Series 1 Volume 2 (DVD)

MASTERS OF HORROR:BLACK CAT (DVD) $19.23 Genre: Horror Rating: UN Release Date: 17JUL2007

SIMPSONS:TREEHOUSE OF HORROR BY SIMPSONS (DVD) $19.24 Compilation of Simpsons Halloween episodes. Includes Treehouse of Horror V, Treehouse of Horror VI, Treehouse of Horror VII, and Treehouse of Horror XII. Artist: SIMPSONS Genre: Television: Fox TV Rating: TVPG Release Date: 2SEP2003

Horror $10 Horror

The Horror $10.49 The Horror

Simpsons, The – Treehouse Of Horror(Animated) (DVD) $11.93 Collection of four Simpsons Halloween episodes. Contains 'Tree House Of Horror V', 'Tree House Of Horror VI', 'Tree House Of Horror VII' and 'Tree House Of Horror XII'. Cast List: The Simpsons Running Time: 88 min

Horror Noire $35.95 From King Kong to Candyman , the boundary-pushing genre of the horror film has always been a site for provocative explorations of race in American popular culture. In Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from 1890′s to Present , Robin R. Means Coleman traces the history of notable characterizations of blackness in horror cinema, and examines key levels of black participation on screen and behind the camera. She argues that horror offers a representational space for black people to challenge the more negative, or racist, images seen in other media outlets, and to portray greater diversity within the concept of blackness itself. Horror Noire presents a unique social history of blacks in America through changing images in horror films. Throughout the text, the reader is encouraged to unpack the genre’s racialized imagery, as well as the narratives that make up popular culture’s commentary on race. Offering a comprehensive chronological survey of the genre, this book addresses a full range of black horror films, including mainstream Hollywood fare, as well as art-house films, Blaxploitation films, direct-to-DVD films, and the emerging U.S./hip-hop culture-inspired Nigerian “Nollywood” Black horror films. Horror Noire is, thus, essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how fears and anxieties about race and race relations are made manifest, and often challenged, on the silver screen.

Last Horror Movie, The (DVD) $3 A serial killer uses a horror video rental to lure his next victim. What begins as a teen slasher transforms into a disturbing journey through the mind of Max Parry, a mild mannered wedding photographer with a taste for human flesh. The subject is a psychotic serial killer without a conscience who gleefully murders people on camera, documenting it with the help of his shy assistant (Stevenson). He loves the fact that his girlfriend (Beamish), sister (Muir) and other friends and family members haven't a clue what he's up to. But we watch him go through a mind-boggling sequence of murders, interspersed with his straight-to-camera gloating. Cast List: Kevin Howarth , Mark Stevenson , Antonia Beamish A highly effective and original horror film from the award-winning director of “Darklands” , Julian Richards' THE LAST HORROR MOVIE combines the faux-reality of “The Blair Witch Project” with the vicarious nature of “Man Bites Dog” and “Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer” to create an experience altogether more shocking and terrifying than any of its predecessors. On the surface Max Parry (Kevin Howarth) is an everyday kind of guy. He earns a living shooting wedding videos and spends most of his spare time socialising with his friends, his grandma, his sister and her family. But beneath this seemingly harmless exterior, Max has a dark secret. The video camera he normally uses to record the happiest day of a couple's life is also used to capture something quite different – brutal acts of cold-blooded murder. For Max is a homicidal maniac, a cunning serial killer who documents, in extremely graphic detail, his grisly crimes in his very own video diary. This film is a copy of Max's video diary. It could possibly be the last horror movie you will ever see. Not one for the squeamish, THE LAST HORROR MOVIE is a genuinely scary and extremely violent film that features an ending guaranteed to have even the most jaded horror fans nervously looking over their shoulders as the credits roll. It is definitely not a film to be watched alone.

The Torturer’s Apprentice $4.99 This brilliant debut collection of stories by O. Henry Award winner John Biguenet is as notable for the rigor of its intellect as for the sweep of its imagination. Whether recounting the predicament of an atheistic stigmatic in “The Vulgar Soul” or a medieval torturer who must employ his terrible skills upon his own apprentice in the title tale, these stories decline to settle for ready sentiments or easy assurances.

Horror Films [With DVD of 3 Horror Shorts] $24.53 Often subject to more cuts at the hands of the censor than a serial killers razor, the horror film has a fascinating history, not only as film study but also as a look at what has been considered acceptable for the public to view, and what the state will allow its citizens to see.But for the most part horror films are about entertainmentconsistently profitable, eminently enjoyable. From horror cinemas beginnings in the late 19th century to the latest splatter films, from the chills of the ghost film to the terror of the living dead, there is more than enough here to keep fans awake at night. Among the many films discussed are the popular Dracula, Evil Dead, Frankenstein, Halloween, Ringu, Scream, and The Sixth Sense, as well as the more unusual Black Cat, The Living Dead Girl, Nang Nak, Rouge, and Les Yeux sans Visage. The guide also profiles such popular directors as Dario Argento, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, Hideo Nakata, and Sam Raimi; as well as cult directors from around the world, including Coffin Joe, Jean Rollin, and Michele Soavi. Author: Odell, Colin/ Le Blanc, Michelle Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 204 Accessory: DVD Publication Date: 2008/06/01 Language: English Dimensions: 7.60 x 5.58 x 0.64 inches

AMITYVILLE HORROR 79/AMITYVILLE HORRO (DVD) [2 DISCS] $25.48 Genre: Horror Rating: R Release Date: 10JUN2008

MASTERS OF HORROR:JOHN LANDIS DEER WO (DVD) $19.23 Genre: Horror Rating: UN Release Date: 15JAN2007

The Torturer in the Mirror $8.95 Before the US invasion of Iraq, before the American public saw the infamous photos from Abu Ghraib, the CIA went to the White House with a question: What, according to the Constitution, was the line separating interrogation from torture—and could that line be moved? The White House lawyers’ answer—in the form of legal documents later known as the “Torture Memos”—became the US’s justification for engaging in torture. The Torturer in the Mirror shows us how when one of us tortures, we are all implicated in the crime. In three uncompromising essays, Iraqi dissident Haifa Zangana, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and professor of sociology Thomas Ehrlich Reifer teach us how physically and psychologically insidious torture is, how deep a mark it leaves on both its victims and its practitioners, and how necessary it is for us as a society to hold torturers accountable.

Val Lewton Horror Collection $45.03 Rated: NRSynopsis: Val Lewton, a famous RKO Radio Pictures producer, redefined the horror genre with low-budget, high-box office films. Now available are nine of these horror classics on DVD in the all new Val Lewton Horror Collection. Exclusive to the collection are a new documentary on the producer and 3 of the 9 films.5 Pack

HORROR OF DRACULA BY LEE,CHRISTOPHER (DVD) $12.68 A Transylvanian vampire travels to London, where he meets an implacable foe in Dr. Van Helsing. Artist: LEE,CHRISTOPHER Genre: Horror Rating: UN Release Date: 7SEP2010

HORROR DOUBLE FEATURE BY KUROSAWA,KIYOSHI (DVD) $23.36 Artist: KUROSAWA,KIYOSHI Genre: Horror Rating: UN Release Date: 4MAY2010

MASTERS OF HORROR:PRO LIFE BY PERLMAN,RON (DVD) $19.23 Artist: PERLMAN,RON Genre: Horror Rating: UN Release Date: 20MAR2007

Inet Video N01085616 Progeny DVD Horror Genre $30.02 Actors: Arnold Vosloo Brad Dourif Jillian McWhirter Lindsay Crouse. Director: Brian Yuzna. Format: DVD. Runtime: 95 Mins. Language: English. Region code: Region 1 (United States Canada Bermuda U.S. territories). Discs: 1. Rating: R. Genre: Horror. Subgenre: Horror. Release Year: 1999.

Greatest Classic Films Hammer Horror DVD $25.98 This classic collection includes four classic Hammer films that are sure to satisfy the most devoted horror enthusiasts. Founded in 1934, Hammer Film Productions is best known for a series of Gothic “Hammer Horror” films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. Horror of Dracula (1958) and The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) both star Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee ; Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) features Lee and Rupert Davies and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) features Cushing and Veronica Carlson . (2 DVD) approx. 6 hrs.

AMITYVILLE HORROR BY REYNOLDS,RYAN (DVD) $19.24 Newlyweds purchase a house whose former residents have been murdered; a series of horrifying and unexplained events occur which lead them to believe the house is haunted. Artist: REYNOLDS,RYAN Genre: Horror Rating: R Release Date: 18SEP2007

HORROR HOSPITAL BY GOUGH,MICHAEL (DVD) $25.97 After a musician checks into a relaxing health resort, he notices the strange behavior of the other people there and suspects that the doctor is conducting dangerous mind control experiments. Artist: GOUGH,MICHAEL Genre: Horror Rating: R Release Date: 15JUN2010

MASTERS OF HORROR:SEASON TWO BOX SET BY MASTERS OF HORROR (DVD) [11 DISCS] $69.72 Collection of episodes from the anthology series of horror stories. Artist: MASTERS OF HORROR Genre: Horror Rating: UN Release Date: 15APR2011

Horror House On Highway 5 $4.67 Rated: NASynopsis: “A cult classic never before released on dvd.” “Wild and wacky horror at its finest.” “Horror films don’t get much stranger than this odd little effort…you may find yourself strangely engrossed.”

LAST HORROR MOVIE BY HOWARTH,KEVIN (DVD) $13 A London based wedding photographer turned serial killer uses videotapes of horror movies to lure his victims. Artist: HOWARTH,KEVIN Genre: Horror Rating: UN Release Date: 5AUG2011

Horror Express(1972) (DVD) $3.43 Professor Saxton transports the frozen body of an ape-like creature from the Arctic, believing it to be the 'missing link'. The full terror of his discovery becomes apparent when the first victims are found dead… Cast List: Christopher Lee , Peter Cushing , Telly Savalas Produced: 1972 Running Time: 88 min

Amityville Horror, The(1979) (DVD) $3 A young family move into their dream home only to discover that it is already inhabited. Cast List: James Brolin , Margot Kidder , Rod Steiger , Murray Hamilton , Don Stroud Produced: 1979 Running Time: 113 min A young family move into their dream home only to discover that it is already inhabited.

Amityville Horror, The (DVD) $6.93 The dream that became a nightmare when the Lutz family moved into their dream house in Amityville unaware of the murders of the last occupants… Cast List: James Brolin , Margot Kidder , Rod Steiger , Murray Hamilton , Don Stroud Running Time: 113 min