Topic: Harmless, the Fundamentalist horror movie about a haunted box of porn

[andrewclunn]

Okay, new plot.  They guy downloads internet porn but gets a virus that ends up corrupting various files and causes him to lose his wedding photos and video, and his son to lose his homework.  He promises he'll stop and get's anti virus software.  Then about a month later he's back to his old habits but this time he downloads a porn directory from newsgroup that unknowingly has child porn in it.  The cops come and he gets arrested for possession of child pornography, loses his job, and his wife leaves him and takes the kids.  Super believable plot and manages to still get across their anti-porn message.

That is not a movie plot, it's a news story.

Okay, so it turns out that the son was actually the one who accidentally downloaded the kiddie porn.  He confesses to his mother and then the mother confronts the father about it in jail under the guise of a conjugal visit.  The father says he figured it was the son, but didn't want to ruin the boy's life and that it was his fault for bringing pornography into the household in the first place, and if this is the punishment God has for for him, he'll accept that to protect his family.  The wife goes to her pastor because she isn't sure she can forgive her husband for what he's put their family through.  The pastor doesn't downplay the sin, but speaks about atonement and forgiveness and the couple is reunited 8 months later when the father is released.

[Halleyscomet/Wakefield]

More to the point, that doesn't really have an anti-porn message as far as I can tell. It's more about knowing what you're doing on the internet and not being a total idiot, the porn is completely tangential to the whole thing.

Sort of how porn is tangential to a generational artifact that introduces a vengeful ghost into the house?

Andrewclunn, Have you ever considered writing Christian fiction or tracts? You seem to have a grasp of the basic themes yet are capable of expressing yourself articulately. This is a deadly combination. Normally Stephen Lawhead stands alone as the living competent writer in the explicitly Christian writing genres. He really is the best the market has seen since Narnia.

[Sordid]

Sort of how porn is tangential to a generational artifact that introduces a vengeful ghost into the house?

Touché.

...the couple is reunited 8 months later when the father is released.

...unfortunately the marriage then falls apart because of the husband's newfound appreciation for taking it in the butt from big black men.

[Halleyscomet/Wakefield]

Sort of how porn is tangential to a generational artifact that introduces a vengeful ghost into the house?

Touché.

...the couple is reunited 8 months later when the father is released.

...unfortunately the marriage then falls apart because of the husband's newfound appreciation for taking it in the butt from big black men.

And after two months of couple's therapy the wife learns to appreciate the joys of using a feeldoe to peg her husband, and they are reunited.

[Sordid]

And now it's a proper fundamentalist horror movie.

[andrewclunn]

It should be told in a dual timeline progression where there are two starting points, one being their marriage, and the other being his time in prison.  It can start with scenes from their marriage that he's narrating as he writes a letter to his wife from a jail cell asking for forgiveness (though not mentioning what he's done).  From that point it moves forward through their marriage up to his arrest as well as from his writing the letter to their reconciliation.

You can have scenes where criminals kick the shit out of him for liking little kids and all the dark scare tactics taking place in prison, but the big reveal that he's covering for his son's mistake coming toward the end.  Damn it you could make this so stealth that people would think they're watching a real drama, not Christian propaganda.

[andrewclunn]

More to the point, that doesn't really have an anti-porn message as far as I can tell. It's more about knowing what you're doing on the internet and not being a total idiot, the porn is completely tangential to the whole thing.

Sort of how porn is tangential to a generational artifact that introduces a vengeful ghost into the house?

Andrewclunn, Have you ever considered writing Christian fiction or tracts? You seem to have a grasp of the basic themes yet are capable of expressing yourself articulately. This is a deadly combination. Normally Stephen Lawhead stands alone as the living competent writer in the explicitly Christian writing genres. He really is the best the market has seen since Narnia.

I'm the son of a pastor who contemplated following in his footsteps for a time.  It really sucks that I lost my faith in some ways because I would have been really good at it.  Oh well, I can't help that I spent a large portion of my youth working to understand, live, and exemplify something that I no longer hold as valuable or true.  All I can hope to do is (if and when I have kids) to help them to channel that same passion towards understanding reality.  I can't imagine that I'll ever not be emotionally conditioned to wish God were real though.  Though maybe if I drink enough I can kill those brain cells 

[NiceAndBlue]

Starring a young Ellen Page.

[EhJayArr]

Andrew, I am so, so glad you're on our side.

[Skeptress]

Andrew, I am so, so glad you're on our side.

This should be Andrew's new sig line.

[andrewclunn]

You're right.

[DRmeg378]

WTF is an abortion survivor?

The movie is based on a real case, albeit very rare, where a woman claims that she was born after a late term abortion failed. She is literally an abortion survivor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianna_Jessen

That's an outline of the "true" story. There is no evidence, but at the same time I wouldn't expect there to be, and statistically this probably has happened at least once.

[Halleyscomet/Wakefield]

More to the point, that doesn't really have an anti-porn message as far as I can tell. It's more about knowing what you're doing on the internet and not being a total idiot, the porn is completely tangential to the whole thing.

Sort of how porn is tangential to a generational artifact that introduces a vengeful ghost into the house?

Andrewclunn, Have you ever considered writing Christian fiction or tracts? You seem to have a grasp of the basic themes yet are capable of expressing yourself articulately. This is a deadly combination. Normally Stephen Lawhead stands alone as the living competent writer in the explicitly Christian writing genres. He really is the best the market has seen since Narnia.

I'm the son of a pastor who contemplated following in his footsteps for a time.  It really sucks that I lost my faith in some ways because I would have been really good at it.  Oh well, I can't help that I spent a large portion of my youth working to understand, live, and exemplify something that I no longer hold as valuable or true.  All I can hope to do is (if and when I have kids) to help them to channel that same passion towards understanding reality.  I can't imagine that I'll ever not be emotionally conditioned to wish God were real though.  Though maybe if I drink enough I can kill those brain cells 

For years my mother was trying to get me to go to seminary. I even passed out Chick tracts in high school. Yes, I was THAT kid.

[superdave]

More to the point, that doesn't really have an anti-porn message as far as I can tell. It's more about knowing what you're doing on the internet and not being a total idiot, the porn is completely tangential to the whole thing.

Sort of how porn is tangential to a generational artifact that introduces a vengeful ghost into the house?

Andrewclunn, Have you ever considered writing Christian fiction or tracts? You seem to have a grasp of the basic themes yet are capable of expressing yourself articulately. This is a deadly combination. Normally Stephen Lawhead stands alone as the living competent writer in the explicitly Christian writing genres. He really is the best the market has seen since Narnia.

I'm the son of a pastor who contemplated following in his footsteps for a time.  It really sucks that I lost my faith in some ways because I would have been really good at it.  Oh well, I can't help that I spent a large portion of my youth working to understand, live, and exemplify something that I no longer hold as valuable or true.  All I can hope to do is (if and when I have kids) to help them to channel that same passion towards understanding reality.  I can't imagine that I'll ever not be emotionally conditioned to wish God were real though.  Though maybe if I drink enough I can kill those brain cells 

For years my mother was trying to get me to go to seminary. I even passed out Chick tracts in high school. Yes, I was THAT kid.

Would you believe that I did not even know what a Chick tract was until this forum? 

[Halleyscomet/Wakefield]

More to the point, that doesn't really have an anti-porn message as far as I can tell. It's more about knowing what you're doing on the internet and not being a total idiot, the porn is completely tangential to the whole thing.

Sort of how porn is tangential to a generational artifact that introduces a vengeful ghost into the house?

Andrewclunn, Have you ever considered writing Christian fiction or tracts? You seem to have a grasp of the basic themes yet are capable of expressing yourself articulately. This is a deadly combination. Normally Stephen Lawhead stands alone as the living competent writer in the explicitly Christian writing genres. He really is the best the market has seen since Narnia.

I'm the son of a pastor who contemplated following in his footsteps for a time.  It really sucks that I lost my faith in some ways because I would have been really good at it.  Oh well, I can't help that I spent a large portion of my youth working to understand, live, and exemplify something that I no longer hold as valuable or true.  All I can hope to do is (if and when I have kids) to help them to channel that same passion towards understanding reality.  I can't imagine that I'll ever not be emotionally conditioned to wish God were real though.  Though maybe if I drink enough I can kill those brain cells 

For years my mother was trying to get me to go to seminary. I even passed out Chick tracts in high school. Yes, I was THAT kid.

Would you believe that I did not even know what a Chick tract was until this forum?

I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for introducing you to Chick tracts.