Movie Review: "Thr3e"

I'm going to admit this. I have never read a Ted Dekker book before. Well I take that back. I read House, his collaboration with Frank Peretti and I really enjoyed it. But I've never actually sat down with a Ted Dekker book. I really don't have an excuse either. But after seeing this movie, I think I might have to make up for lost time.

I usually end up avoiding Christian produced movies because the actors aren't very good, the special effects are really cheap looking, and the message comes off too preachy. It just doesn't come across as very appealing to me especially after watching the big blockbusters.

This movie however, I really enjoyed watching. The acting was really good. The actors aren't household names although you might recognize Marc Blucas from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The special effects rival those in blockbusters. And the storyline was excellent. Like I said, I haven't read the book so I don't know how much was changed or left off but from what I saw, I liked. It's a Christian movie, but it's not preachy at all. Yet you leave with a sense of deeper knowledge of what faith really is about. A quick plot telling is that Kevin, a seminary student is being hounded by a killer who tells him that he must confess his sins or else he will die. It's really intense.

I think though that my family enjoyed watching this movie more than others would because we don't normally watch scary thrillers like this. For those who have seen Saw or others in that genre, this is just child's play. There's no gore, sex, extreme violence, or even cursing. This will just bore them because they are so trained to needed excessive visual imagery that they cannot enjoy a good storyline. For us though, we were deliciously creeped out (my mom even yelled out in a couple of places) and it definitely gave me the creeps after watching it.

The actress who played Belinda seemed to play her really over the top. What was weird was that same weekend I had been watching the James Bond movie "License to Kill" and the same actress is in it. She played Felix's wife that got killed and what a completely different character that was. It's amazing what a difference 20 years makes. I wouldn't have recognized her if I hadn't noticed the name.

Fox Faith has done an excellent job with putting Christian movies out into the mainstream world. Movies like this are doing a good job with catching the eye of those who would normally avoid anything to do with Christianity. I hope they put out more good movies like this. The trailer for House looks like it falls into the genre of House of Wax or The Hills are Alive. Won't those folks be surprised when they see what it really is about.

I highly recommend everyone to watch this movie. And don't give me excuses about how Christians shouldn't be watching scary movies.