Jim Brymer (BionicBozo)
This movie is fairly suspenseful as far this kind of movie goes. It has its moments where it kept me glued to the TV. On some occasions, I did grow bored enough to go to the fridge without bothering to hit pause. One of the climatic scenes where three of the characters end up in a fight over who will control Nelson's character was just plain ridiculous, and whether intentionally so or not, was out of place in such a serious movie. It seemed rather contrived. Also contrived was the time sequence of the transmission that is at the focus of this movie. The time lapse of the transmission is...(you guessed it. tahdah.) This being my first Cloud Ten film, I won't make a decision on their style and brilliance (or lack thereof) until i have had a chance to see others of these Christian-based films.
bcolquho
Remember the '70s movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind? How about that other '70s movie, (horror this time,) The Omen? Close Encounters of the Third Kind + The Omen = Cloud Ten's latest production, (the first one I've seen, btw,) Deceived. The plot is as follows: Two resident technicians are in a lonely remote mountain observatory in the High Sierras. They discover a signal. They think it's from space until they listen to it. One tech, Tim, goes insane and kills his friend and co-worker. He's hanged upside down in a closet to die. The dying technician writes the words "DO NOT RELEASE" in his own blood. S P O I L E R S P A C EEmmet Shaw, an enigmatic billionaire, who owns the observatory, is going up to the observatory to do a live broadcast and send the signal out over the internet. Shaw's team includes Jack Jones, a technician, Kara Walsh, an investigative reporter who was one a weather girl and owes her career to Shaw, Reverend Jeremiah Fletcher, a minister with the largest radio talk show in the country, and Smitty, the only Christian among them. Shaw and his team arrive at the observatory on the edge of a storm. They're surprised when the resident techies aren't there to greet them. Where are they? What the Sam Hill happened? They, and we, don't know yet. They take up residence at the observatory and wait out the storm. Then they each hear the signal. Shaw, Fletcher, and Walsh are all affected by it. Smitty, the project's director, who's a Christian, and Jack, who's partially deaf. Then the Army arrives ahead of the same storm. Fletcher thinks that we're going to be made into gods. Jack and Smitty uncover the truth. It's non-specific, there aren't any cross-checks, uncontainable, and it only lasts for 6.66 seconds. What's the meaning of this? That's where The Omen comes in. 666 is the Mark of the Beast---i.e., the Antichrist, and it only has one source----H-e-double-hockeysticks. As they try to get out of the observatory, Smitty finds the bodies of the technicians. When the Colonel hears the signal, he's also affected by it as are his soldiers. The only one who isn't is Lieutenant Vasquez, who can literally kill with a thought. When both the Colonel and a soldier try to shoot her, she has the Colonel shoot himself in the leg. She also has the soldier shoot himself. Fletcher, a fat oaf, sees a chocolate cake, Devil's Food Cake perhaps? in the refrigerator and pigs out on it. He commits two of the Seven Deadly Sins, gluttony, and pride, Shaw commits avarice, the Colonel pride, and Kara lust. Kara wants to get into Jack's pants. So Jack resists. Shaw fires Smitty, and Smitty confronts Jack as to why they weren't affected. In the powerful climax, the signal's defeated and everyone's saved.
Sollus
The script is bad, the acting substandard and melodramatic, the budget was probably way up in the 4 or maybe 5 digit range. Even so, I've seen worse. Just because it happens to offer the perspective of a Christian doesn't make it as horrible as so many other reviewers seem to think.There are other movies that preach "New Age" beliefs and aren't treated this poorly. Is it possible that people are letting their beliefs taint the reviews just a little? Yes this IS a bad movie, but some people actually do enjoy watching them. Why not just enjoy it for the poor qualities you would judge any other film?As for whether its Sci-Fi, I've seen Ghost, The Flintstones and The Mainitou listed under Sci-Fi. Unfortunately an argument could be made for their inclusion. Now if there were an accepted category of Christian movies I might agree with moving this there. There isn't, so why quibble? Again just look at it like any other B movie and get off the Anti-Christian rhetoric.
