The Horror, The Horror
Should churches allow their buildings to be used for horror films?
Here’s a bonus weekend read courtesy of Premier Christianity who asked me to write an opinion piece about a Consistory Court ruling (yes, that is still a thing) that director Danny Boyle could not film a scene of his zombie survival film at a church in Northumberland:
Here’s how it starts:
I’m a big supporter of horror movies. I’ve just never wanted to watch them.
That may seem an odd view, but let me defend it while I also defend the right of St Mary the Virgin in Morpeth, Northumberland to allow Danny Boyle to film a scene for his new film, 28 Years Later. It is a sequel to 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. I have not seen either because, as I’ve already said, I don’t want to watch horror movies, or post-apocalyptic survival zombie films.
As a teenager, I never wanted to watch the Nightmare on Elm Street movies or The Night of the Living Dead. Even Peter Davidson in a blazer and cricket jumper couldn’t stop me cowering behind the sofa at Doctor Who in the 80s. And I still have vivid memories of the BBC’s horrifying adaptation of The Day of the Triffids from 1981. If horror were curry, I was a butter chicken.
That might be my favourite joke in the whole piece, but I’m not done yet. You can read the rest of the article of here:
You might also be interested to read what I wrote over on my other blog about John Bunyan and the creative benefits of being locked up and censored:
If you have kids going back to school, and they are a bit nervous about it, this Faith in Kids podcast might help, with a brilliant new song from Awesome Cutlery:
And you might have been on holiday when I wrote about The Transfiguration:
The Transfigurwhatnow?
On 6th August, the Church of England celebrates the Transfiguration of our Lord with a feast day. You should know the rules by now. If it’s in the Bible, it’s a feast day. (Mostly.)
Might I suggest that the line that says, we live for your praise, is a bit confusing for some people. Are we looking for God to praise us? I doubt that the writers would have been thinking that, but it was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw it.