Back in the early 80's, many Christian communities felt that the only way to get nonbelievers to commit to the faith was to scare them with "the truth." Hence comes "Years of the Beast," a marvelous ode to scare tactics, right up there with Hell Houses and reparative therapy. For those who both are easily persuaded and already believe that everything in the Bible, no matter how obviously symbolic or metaphorical, is meant to be taken literally, this movie will affirm your beliefs. For those who take a rational approach to reading the Bible, you will get so many laughs.

And now, a guide to surviving "Years of the Beast."

1. Apparently, all the people of color get picked up in the rapture. There was one Black person in a baptismal scene, but he got raptured out of the plot after a couple of seconds. There was talk about the Chinese, but they are so sneaky, you never actually see them.

2. There are no Christians living in the cities, and no one with the potential to be saved who lives in the cities, so a firestorm can clear out most of the sinners. If you really loved Jesus, you would have gone out to the country and lived on a farm.

3. Women are lousy runners, bad planners, and great cooks. Fortunately, the men drive most of the action and make the important decisions.

4. Actually, all White people are bad runners, especially in the forest. Fortunately, they are also great marksmen.

5. There is not a single moment of suspense that cannot be underscored with an overbearing orchestra and accented with a crash cymbal.

6. When survivors of the rapture get killed after converting to Christianity, they go to heaven. Yes, they could surrender to the authorities, get killed, and get to heaven faster, but that would cut the movie in half.

7. The best way to massacre meager handfuls of unarmed, (marginally) nonviolent Christians is with WWII-era tanks and fighter planes.

P.S. Great drinking game: Every time you hear a crash cymbal, take a shot. You won't remember seeing the movie afterwards, but it'll get you drunk.

During a period of economic uncertainty "Professor Stephen Miles" (Gary Bayer) visits another college professor "Dr. Carl Klineman" (Malcon McCaiman) after class and learns that the next term has been canceled due to lack of funds. While they are talking an earthquake rattles the office and when Stephen looks up Dr. Klineman is gone. Not knowing what to make of it Stephen decides to drive home but on the way he stops for some groceries. Once there he is shocked to see how badly food prices have suddenly skyrocketed. Not long after arriving home, he and his wife "June Miles" (Alana Rader) decide to drive into the country to visit her father who isn't answering the phone. Along the way they encounter mobs who are rioting and vandalizing property. They also run out of gas and are picked up by a recently hired worker for June's father named "Gary Reed" (Jerry Houser). Although there is no trace of June's father, they do find a young woman hiding in the barn named "Cindy" (Sarah Rush) who tells them that both her mother and father along with June's father have disappeared right before her eyes. It's at this time that they realize that there have been strange disappearances all over the world and they are left to fend for themselves in a world that has become very chaotic. Anyway, rather than disclose the entire story I will just say that this was a pretty good apocalyptic film for its time. The acting was surprisingly good and I especially enjoyed the scenes involving the local sheriff, "Jackson 'Pug' Mckifer" (James Blendick). Still, it was obviously a low-budget production and there were some scenes involving the "Prime Minister" (Michael Amber) which weren't of the highest caliber. I also thought that just one film--lasting only 98 minutes--simply wasn't sufficient to fully address all of the information that is available on this particular subject. As a result certain significant events were condensed for the sake of time or money constraints when they could have easily made 2 or 3 movies out of the material they had. Still, this movie was a valiant effort and I believe the best way to enjoy this particular film is to keep an open mind. Again, this was a decent low-budget movie produced over 30 years ago on a topic that is somewhat controversial. While I don't necessarily accept everything about it, I certainly wouldn't want to denigrate anybody who happens to believe it. That said, I am able to give credit where credit is due and I rate it as slightly above average.

The movie is on a low budget, but well acted and directed. I did not mind the story about a group of people and how the characters react during the rapture. Years of the Beast drags a bit due to low productions values. The plague scenes were short. The story is realistic, I am sure mean peoples true natures will come out in a such hard times. I like how "Years of the Beast" portrays how the state can enter your home, take whatever it wants, and orders the characters pledge their belief in the state. I would not want to live in such hard times. I give "Years of the Beast" an six out of ten. I always wonder why the anti-Christ is portrayed as American?