Film Comment: The Judas Project

The Judas Project (1990) is a "modern version" of the Jesus story about "Jesse" and his followers.  Much of the dialogue, escpecially Jesse's is paraphrased directly from the Bible.  The director seems to have intended the film to be a presentation of the life of Christ in a modern setting.   What if Jesus came for the first time ... today?

"Treypole," an IMDB (*) commenter from Texas is a Christian and a filmmaker who said, "Both parts of me were offended by this well-intended turkey."  He describes Jesse as sensitive and weepy-eyed.

Several commenters noticed what they perceived to be a subtle anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish bias in the film.

One commenter describes the film as  a Christian Ed Wood production.  Ed Wood was the nearly legendary exuberant but utterly incompetent director of such hilariously inept films as Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda?, and Bride of the Monster.

* IMDB = The Internet Movie Data base.

The Christian Film Database

If you're, like me, a film enthusiast, you're probably already aware of the International Film Database (www.imdb.com). You can find at least some information on virtually any movie ever made (except for porn; there are separate databases for that, but we won't go there.) If you're interested in a 1925 Japanese film, or one of comedian Eddie Deezen's films, it's probably listed in the IMDB.

Now, there is a database being created for Christian films named, appropriately enough, The Christian Film Database. (http://www.christianfilmdatabase.com/) "We don't sell films, we help you find them." The site makes the listed films available through a film rental program (similar to Netflix) for $7.99 per month.

The non-denominational site features Search functions and categories such as Coming Soon, Films in Theaters, Film Trailers, Browse, etc. The film categories may not be as conservative as would please the most traditional viewers but they all address issues which are currently being discussed in the Church. As the Church, we should be able to address and discuss any issue; we don't do the cause of Christ any favor by pretending the issues don't exist.

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This was originally posted in 2010. When I tested this website on 18 June 2025 it was unresponsive.