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End Times Reviews

Though overlong and rough around the edges, END TIMES is decently made and occasionally punches above its weight.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 21, 2023

While far from perfect, "End Times" serves as a reminder of the enduring appeal of the post-apocalyptic genre and the creativity independent filmmakers bring to it. 

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Jul 18, 2023

A great reminder of how low-budget filmmakers can still harness zombie genre tropes to tell entertaining stories with all the nastiness audiences expect

Full Review | Jul 14, 2023

In Theaters and Digital

End times (2023) - movie review.

Where are we?  That’s the question which opens up End Times and, certainly, when you see the cities burning, you’ll be asking the same question.  Turns out, we are in Los Angeles.  Only it’s not the city you think you know as a deadly pandemic (sound familiar?!) has turned the metro area into a zombie-infested free for all.

And Claire ( Jamie Bernadette ( I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu, NCIS: New Orleans ) and Freddie Craig Stark ( Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Hateful Eight ) are desperate to get out.  End Times (originally titled State of Desolation ) is gore-iffic; full of bullets through the skull moments as survivors must kill their loved ones and so on.  It is damned unforgiving in its tone, too.  Bringing a seriousness to the whole apocalypse that is a good move for The Asylum.

Written and directed by Jim Towns ( House of Bad, The Possession of Anne ), and starring Jamie Bernadette ( I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu, NCIS: New Orleans ) and Craig Stark ( Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Hateful Eight ), End Times is a post-apocalyptic thriller that does not disappoint as a pair of mismatched travelers, Claire and Freddie ( Bernadette and Stark ), traverse the now wasteland of L.A. and form an unexpected bond that challenges both of them, living as they now do with guns loaded.

Claire is a privileged young suburbanite ill-equipped to survive in this hostile new landscape, until she meets Freddie, a retired soldier who lost his daughter to the virus. As they travel together to reach the perimeter, Freddie teaches Claire the skills that will enable Claire to survive, and the uneasy partnership between the two grows into something more akin to a father/daughter relationship. 

But. before they can reach safety, the two will have to escape brutal gangs, cannibals, cults, the undead, and their own desires for the life they want to lead in this brand new world.

The supporting cast includes Dominique Swain ( Lolita ), Jessica Morris ( One Life to Live ); Kaiwi Lyman ( Den of Thieves , American Horror Story ), Dan Buran ( True Blood, General Hospital ), Stefanie Estes ( Soft & Quiet ), Maria Olsen ( Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief ; I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu ), Sadie Katz ( Wrong Turn 6 ), and Victoria De Mare ( The Beast Inside ). 

End Times are upon us.  But are you ready to make the ultimate sacrifice?  The film is produced by Jamie Bernadette, Jim Towns , and Craig Stark and will have a limited theatrical run in the US beginning July 14th.

MPAA Rating: Unrated. Runtime: 113 mins Director : Jim Towns Writer: Jim Towns Cast: Jamie Bernadette; Craig Stark; Dominique Swain Genre : Horror Tagline: Judgment Has Come. Memorable Movie Quote: Distributor: The Asylum Official Site: Release Date: July 14, 2023 DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: Synopsis : Follows a pair of mismatched travelers, Claire and Freddie, as they try to escape a deadly pandemic that has turned Los Angeles into a zombie-infested wasteland.  Claire is a privileged young suburbanite ill-equipped to survive in this hostile new landscape, until she meets Freddie, a retired soldier who lost his daughter to the virus. As they travel together to reach the perimeter, Freddie teaches Claire the skills that will enable Claire to survive, and the uneasy partnership between the two grows into something more akin to a father/daughter relationship.

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End Times Movie Review

Written by Henry Allison

Released by The Asylum

Written and directed by Jim Towns 2023, 113 minutes, Not Rated July 14th, 2023

Starring: Jamie Bernadette as Claire Craig Stark Craig Stark as Freddie Dominique Swain Dominique Swain as Tina

Any movie is a gamble these days, indie or mainstream. But seeing as how almost anyone can grab a digital video camera and slap together a movie on some low-budget video editing program, indie movies can be even more of a gamble...and horror movies even more so. Zombie movies? Forget it.

Except this one.

End Times is just a flat-out great indie zombie flick. Great practical effects – which was awesome to see, that there isn’t too much cheap CGI – and great gore. The acting is pretty tight, too, which is always super important in a lower-budget film. I can accept slightly lower-than-normal production quality, but I want to at least believe – a little – these characters are real people.

Jamie Bernadette and Craig Stark do a great job in the main roles.

The tone is just right, too – pretty bleak without being totally hopeless. I would like to see more zombie movies focusing on the why of the zombies – this is another one of those that’s less about the zombies and more about how the outbreak has damaged humanity – but even given that, End Times is still a great flick, and definitely worth your time.

This page includes affiliate links where Horror DNA may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

• Henry Allison

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Where to Watch

Jamie Bernadette (Claire) Craig Stark (Freddie) Dominique Swain (Tina) Jessica Morris (Stella) Kaiwi Lyman (Hayden) Dan Buran (Ciro) Sadie Katz (Deirdre) Stefanie Estes (Breanne) Victoria De Mare (Ronnie) Maria Olsen (Alexis)

In a post-apocalyptic wasteland where zombies roam, a grizzled mercenary and a young woman must fight their way to a safe haven before they become prey.

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I was a teenager in the 2000s. My introduction to zombie cinema was George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead , which I was only exposed to because my older brother had seen Zack Snyder’s (great) remake and rented the original. I was always a very terrified kid, and the concept of zombies haunted me for years leading up to the fateful evening my brother left the credits playing in our family room. The mall music playing over shambling corpses enjoying a day at the Monroeville Mall somehow dissipated all fear. I was hooked, devouring Romero’s stuff, the knockoffs, The Walking Dead comics from its earliest issues. Looking back, it doesn’t feel like the time between my introduction to the stuff and its explosion into wider popular culture around 2010 was all that long, but it felt like it at the time. My odd nerd genre was suddenly big-time thanks to a mediocre television show and a string of mostly lousy movies.

Now we’re back there again, as popular culture has moved on (despite AMC’s desire to oversaturate spinoffs of their endless, lousy franchise) but what’s dead is never over with this kind of thing, and independent filmmakers looking to make a dramatic horror movie with blood, guts and violence continue to turn to the genre. End Times is a competent production that runs through the template’s greatest hits, largely without falling into the self-pitying storytelling that defined the past decade’s most prominent zombie tales.

Written and directed by Jim Towns, Desolation follows Claire (Jamie Bernadette), a suburban girl unprepared for the end of the world. Claire quickly finds herself on the wrong end of a band of cruel survivors who rape and humiliate her before leaving her to die alone among the undead. She’s rescued by Freddie (Craig Stark), a former mercenary with a dark past who knows the keys to apocalyptic survival. Together, they travel the wastelands searching for food and battling the disturbing new cultures that have arisen from the ashes of America.

Most of their experiences are straight from the genre playbook. Freddie teaches Claire the art of survival as they explore the world. They eventually come upon her former attackers, which allows Claire to embrace the violence of her new world. Zombies routinely attack them until they come upon a seemingly peaceful society with a hidden darkness.

The violence is well-choreographed, the zombies look grisly and the performances make the characters interesting enough for the story to work. There’s also an attempt at telling a story about women’s agency in the new world through Claire’s experience with sexual violence and later conflict with a cult that encourages “free love” with strings attached, but the themes aren’t properly cooked and mostly function as a half-formed subtext in favor of what becomes a very traditional denouement. Truthfully, the weakest portions of the film are the final scenes between Claire and Freddie, which devolve into the brand of post-apocalyptic emotional conflict we’ve seen countless times before.

Although it isn’t hard to find zombie material, it certainly feels like a genre that has found its way away from its hallowed spot in popular culture. Most of End Times is a nice reminder of how low-budget filmmakers can harness its tropes to tell entertaining enough stories with all the nastiness audiences expect. The ending is a letdown and it doesn’t deliver anything special overall, but End Times is good enough.

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End Times Reviews

• 1 hr 53 mins
• Watchlist Where to Watch

When a zombie-like virus engulfs the world, humanity is plunged into apocalyptic conditions. Amidst the unsettling and, at times, sinister events of her new reality, a young woman finds unexpected kinship with a hardened former mercenary. Determined to protect the young woman no matter the cost, the mercenary agrees to deliver her to a place of safety before they fall victim to the wasteland that surrounds them.

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Film Review: End Times

Though overlong and rough around the edges, end times is decently made and occasionally punches above its weight.

For a film with the Asylum label on it (“Celebrating 25 Years,” exclaims the logo for the low-budget distributor), this is not too bad. Instead of trying to deliver dinosaurs on a miniscule budget (a la Jurassic Domination ), End Times offers a post-apocalyptic horror tale whose ambitions remain mostly within the scope of its resources: isolated locations, a couple of CGI establishing shots, and some good practical makeup and effects. Though overlong and rough around the edges, the film delivers an interesting variation on the familiar scenario and even generates a genuinely moving emotional beat or two.

Despite the title and a few portentous literary quotes, End Times has little to do with the Biblical apocalypse. A viral outbreak is killing people and turning them into zombies; urban centers have become depopulated wastelands, but fragmentary radio broadcasts suggest remnants of civilization may remain. The narrative focuses on a survival trek by the two main characters: Claire (Jamie Bernadette) is young and helpless; Freddie (Craig Stark) is middle-aged and well trained for the current situation. Together, they hope to reach a perimeter set up to contain the outbreak, but their journey is punctuated by lethal encounters with dangerous zombies and even more dangerous humans.

Along the way, a few novel details emerge: Zombies retains some traits from their human life, so one that was a trained fighter might be more dangerous. Perhaps even more troubling, the plague is apparently airborne, so not being bitten does not prevent infection. Claire and Freddy have temporary immunity because of vaccines given to them for travel abroad (her on vacation, him on some kind of lethal special ops mission), but there is no telling how long that will last.

After a bit too much time walking through deserted areas of Los Angeles (including San Pedro), Claire and Freddy find refuge in one of those places that is too good to be true, and this is where the story gets interesting. For most of its length, End Times follows the traditional course of showing an older character showing the ropes to a young protégé; here, the film flips the script somewhat, presenting Freddy as someone so geared for violence that he rejects  the promise of a non-violent life among a happy commune in favor of returning to the post-apocalyptic wasteland.

In effect, End Times is not about Claire learning survival skills; it is really about Freddy regaining his humanity, which is stated explicitly when Claire notes that it took “the end of the world” to turn him back into a “good man.” This plays out in the film’s wraparound sequence, teased at the beginning and fulfilled at the end, which depict a dilemma that typically shows up in these stories: what to do with someone who is infected?

Played out at extended length, these scenes reach a surprisingly poignant emotional crescendo, so effective it makes you want to overlook the somewhat muddled message: Claire berates Freddie for his paranoia about the commune’s leader (whom Freddy amusingly calls a “Viking Jesus”), but his fears turn out to be justified. So is End Times truly criticizing Freddie when it shows him returning to the dangerous outside world and happily seizing the first opportunity to kill someone? His return to save Claire seems to indicate a change of heart, but it takes place offscreen and without explanation. (Presumably, it is supposed to be like Han Solo coming back to help Luke blowup the Death Star.)

The script could have used another draft to clarify this and other plot points. For example why are Claire and Freddy heading to the perimeter even though he repeatedly states that the guards there will shoot them on sight; does he have a plan to prevent this? And the ending seems spliced together from bits of footage to suggest a scene that was never filmed, as if the conclusion was changed in the editing room.

These missteps are unfortunate in a film that strives for a dramatic tone focused more on the living than the living dead. Zombie action is relatively minimal but well done; most conflict takes place among humans. Though not an unrelenting bloodbath, the unrated film does not shy away from exploitation elements, including a brutal rape scene, but at least the script tries to incorporate that trauma into the character’s emotional arc as she struggles to adapt to this horrible new world.

Technical credits and production values are adequate but lack polish, which suits the low-budget horror vibe. However, the character interaction could have been enhanced with a bit more rehearsal time and a few more retakes. End Times is probably not worth checking out during the film’s brief, limited theatrical run, but genre fans may find it worth a look on home video.

End TImes (2023)

Rating Scale

1 – Avoid 2 – Not all bad 3 – Recommended 4 – Highly Recommended 5 – Must See

End Times is a better than expected effort from low-budget distributor The Asylum. Though overlong and rough around the edges, it is decently made and occasionally punches above its weight. Ultimately, we opted for a two-star rating because the narrative missteps were frustrating, but the film was worth watching to the end.

Credits : Written and Directed by Jim Towns. Produced by Jamie Bernadette, Jim Towns, and Craig Stark. Not rated. 113 mins. Distributed by The Asylum. US Theatrical and VOD Release Date: July 14, 2023.

End Times is currently screening in an exclusive engagement at Laemmle Town Center in Encino.

• Asylum Movie Review: Jurassic Domination

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Steve Biodrowski, Administrator

A graduate of USC film school, Steve Biodrowski has worked as a film critic, journalist, and editor at Movieline, Premiere, Le Cinephage, The Dark Side., Cinefantastique magazine, Fandom.com, and Cinescape Online. He is currently Managing Editor of Cinefantastique Online and owner-operator of Hollywood Gothique.

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‘god has your back’: actor neal mcdonough talks new end times film, standing strong for his faith.

Actor Neal McDonough has starred in no shortage of Hollywood films and TV shows, but his latest project, "Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist," is truly unique.

The film, which tells the story of what life might look like after the biblical rapture, is directed by Kevin Sorbo — who also stars in the movie — and will hit theaters Thursday.

McDonough told "The Edifi Podcast" it was a "blessing" to be part of the cast and shared some insight on his character, Jonathan Stonagal, a wealthy and influential man central to the "Left Behind" storyline.

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"It's nice to tap into people who are the big decision makers on this planet, and how these people get to power, and how they, at times, use their power for good," he said. "And, at times, some of them use their power for obviously malicious intent and … their own betterment."

Listen to McDonough discuss his faith, avoiding sex scenes, and why he wanted to star in "Left Behind":

McDonough said putting these sorts of characters in the spotlight can show people how to be "wary" of those who claim to want to lead but are actually "just for themselves."

"I think these kinds of tales are so well received by so many people because it talks about real life," he said. "You know, there's the obvious massive scale that this film touches upon, but for me, it's always the minutiae of the characters. And the characters in this piece are really well-crafted."

The actor openly discussed his Catholic faith and spoke about how God has blessed his life in incredible ways, including with a loving wife, wonderful kids and a multifaceted career.

McDonough said he's incredibly "humbled" when he considers all he's been able to accomplish.

"God has given me so much and has blessed me with so much that it's nice to play characters like this that take me out of me for a moment, and [I] realize, 'Holy cow. I'm so fortunate to be the person that I am,'" McDonough said. "And surrounded by the people that God has surrounded me with."

The actor said being in front of the camera is his "second happiest place on the planet," next to being with his wife, Ruve McDonough. McDonough has long made headlines for his refusal to do sex scenes; he was allegedly fired in 2010 from the show, "Scoundrels," over his personal policies.

He also doesn't kiss others on-screen and has reportedly long been open about that fact as well. When asked about his filming guidelines, he was candid.

"I have to play a lot of villains because I won't do certain scenes, and that's fine," he said. "I've loved my career getting to play Damien Darhk for all these years, getting to play all these other villainist characters because it … makes me realize even more how much God has given me."

In addition to his committed marriage, McDonough also spoke about his love for parenthood and the values he pours into his children. He said he and his wife encourage their kids to work hard, showing them the ins and outs of movie set life.

"Don't just sit around and think that you're going to get things easy in this house," he said of his message to his children. "You got to work it. If you work hard in life and you're a good person, good things will happen to you."

As for the lesson he's hoping "Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist" teaches, he said it's all about building faith in God and oneself.

"Believe in yourself, believe in yourself wholeheartedly and know that God has your back," he said. "Those are the tenets that we kind of live by in our house."

"People are going to say horrible things about you. People are going to tempt you with horrible things. People are going to throw everything off."

But rather than falling prey, McDonough encouraged people to turn to the Lord. Find out more about "Left Behind" and get tickets here .

This story originally appeared on Faithwire.com.

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5 End Times Movies that May Surprise You

The end times continue to be one of the most popular and confusing subjects in Christian circles. A new end times thriller seems to hit the stands every year. Speculations about what the end times will look like range from whether there will be a rapture to what the seven seals mentioned in Revelation are. Of course, there have also been various movies about the end times, from action adventures ( Revelation Road ) to challenging dramas ( The Rapture ).

The following end times movies approach the subject from a variety of angles. Some interpret Revelation in an easy-to-follow way. Others challenge viewers to consider what Revelation really says. Some are famous, and others you may have never heard of. Let’s take a deeper look.

Editor’s Note: These movies’ inclusion in this article does not mean Crosswalk.com endorses the companies who produce the movies, or any dramatic license taken with the material. Readers are encouraged to research the movies for their own conclusions.

Photo Credit: Getty Images/santoelia

1. Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist

Rating: PG-13

Recommended for Kids: Maybe

Where to Watch

This film functions halfway between being a sequel and being a reboot. It picks up after the events of the 2014 reboot Left Behind starring Nicolas Cage, but has a new cast. Kevin Sorbo directs the movie and takes over Cage’s role as pilot Rayford Steele, reeling from the rapture that caused his wife and son to disappear. The narration from one character, pastor Bruce Barnes, covers all the events from the previous film. Consequently, the movie is technically a sequel to the 2014 film, but no one who missed it will wonder what’s going on.

The plot, loosely based on Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins’ novel Tribulation Force , involves Steele adjusting to his new faith. At the same time, journalist Buck Williams tries to unravel a conspiracy that may involve United Nations secretary Nicolae Carpathia. As Christian films go, this one is fairly standard. However, it has a better cast than the average Christian film and a few moments of humor from quirky side characters.

2. The Bible Collection: The Apocalypse

Rating: TV-14

Rather than contemplating what the end times may look like, this film considers where we get our description of it: the book of Revelation.

The Bible Collection dramatized various Bible stories, most focusing on one character (David, Jesus, Moses , etc.). The Apocalypse  is the one entry not named for a person and alternates between two stories. The first concerns the apostle John (living on Patmos, having unexpected visions). The second involves Christians from the churches that John started (waiting for his letters, unsure how much persecution they can stand). The early church subplot involves Roman emperor Domitian cracking down on Christianity, with his officers (some Christians but hiding it, others treating Christianity with contempt) having a range of responses. As some of John’s followers look for him, his visions provide surprising answers to their questions.

The special effects of John’s visions haven’t always aged well, but they cleverly fit between several extremes. Sometimes the visions shift from Biblical imagery to future scenes (from seals being broken to skyscrapers being destroyed), implying John’s visions are about the final judgment. Other times, his visions parallel things that the early Christians are experiencing (a soldier on a charging horse slaughtering people), suggesting that the visions refer to what’s happening in the present. Or, the visions could be about both the present and the future. The Apocalypse sums up all the classic interpretations of Revelation, while showing how the book does fit into a larger story. It completes the story of the early church, while pointing the way forward.

A clever film about Revelation and end times teaching for people across the eschatology spectrum.

Photo Credit: Lux Vide-Lube /Rai Fiction/Kirchmedia/Quinta

3. A Thief in the Night

Rating: TV-PG

The first of four end times movies made by Mark IV Productions Incorporated in the 1970s-1980s, A Thief in the Night has a pretty simple premise. Several teenage girls hear about the rapture at a church event. One listens to the message. The others go on with their lives. Sometime later, one of the girls who ignored it is married… but one morning, she wakes up to discover her husband has disappeared. The radio carries reports of other disappearances and world leaders arguing over whether this phenomenon is something prophesied in Revelation.

A Thief in the Night isn’t the most memorable movie in the Mark IV series (most people remember the third film, Image of the Beast ). However, it has the most suspenseful opening and is just over an hour long. For viewers who find end times thrillers silly, this is at least interesting as a cultural artifact. For better or worse, this movie sums up the end times craze started by Hal Lindsey’s 1970 book The Late Great Earth . That trend reached its summit with the Left Behind novels in the 1990s, but LaHaye and Jenkins have been quoted as saying they built on this movie’s model. Christianity Today  contributor Dean A. Anderson argues in many ways, this movie is a Christian horror movie, which has become much more fashionable since then. Viewers may love it or hate it, but it’s impossible to ignore the impact of A Thief in the Night .

Photo Credit: Mark IV Pictures Incorporated

4. The Omen

Recommended for Kids: No

While not typically labeled a Christian film, The Omen began with pious intentions. A Christian businessman’s idea for a film about the Antichrist’s rise caught the attention of film producer Harvey Bernhard. Screenwriter David Selznick read various theology works as research, including throwing in some popular speculations that the Antichrist would be a political figure. Later changes (including hiring a director who pitched Gregory Peck on it being a thriller with nothing supernatural) made it an ambiguous movie. It’s about a diplomat discovering he may have adopted the Antichrist, but nothing supernatural happens onscreen. The “biblical references” include a Revelation prophecy nowhere in the Bible. This is a very different movie than A Thief in the Night .

However, Revelation scholars can attest that every end times movie fictionalizes something. Even ones produced by Christians who claim the film is “based on the Bible with no interpretation” interpret Revelation’s images (the mark of the beast , the 144,000) in ways the trained scholars often find bizarre. The more important question is what the plot says about God and faith. The Omen uses its material to ask some intriguing questions about whether humans can second-guess biblical prophecy… and whether their attempts to stop the devil’s end times plans only further what has been prophesied. Despite not fitting the Christian film mold, The Omen is a clever film about what humans can do about the end times: predict it, try to stop it, or focus on what God actually commands people to do (witness, serve God well).

Photo Credit: Fan poster by G. Connor Salter

5. Ballads of the Revelation

Rating: Not Rated

Since Revelation contains so many surprising elements (visions, poems, letters), and doesn’t have a straightforward narrative like Acts or Exodus, it’s hard to make a movie that includes all its elements. The best option may be to take certain scenes and images to tell a story covering Revelation’s core themes.

Ballads of the Revelation takes the interpretative approach further than most. Like Ballads of the Exodus (a movie by the same filmmakers about Moses ), it tells a story by images more than dialogue, more like a music video than a conventional film. It has a basic plot (a man telling his son about the events in Revelation, the son seeing images from Revelation), but little dialogue. Occasionally words will appear on the screen to show which scene from Revelation is being dramatized, and songs played in the background give more hints. For example, one scene starts with the words “fifth seal” appearing on the screen. Then the child sees the names of the martyred apostles on a wall, he sees people in white robes kneeling, and his father sings a song about waiting “just a little while longer.” The scene is about Revelation 6:9-11 but leaves the audience to put the clues together. The movie also cuts multiple times to characters who could be a Christian suffering for his faith, perhaps the apostle John.

Ballads of the Revelation can feel disorienting, but a recurring message keeps appearing: persecution is coming, so be ready. The experimental feel pushes viewers to focus on Revelation’s big ideas about the End Times, not its specifics. The big idea (persecution will happen, but hope in Christ) matters more than trying to figure out how soon the end times will arrive.

Photo Credit: FAI Studios

6. Honorary Selection: The Book of Eli

Not strictly an End Times movie since it doesn’t set the story in the last days, The Book of Eli is a post-apocalyptic movie with some very relevant themes for the end times discussion. It depicts a brutal world where people scavenge for everything and one man with a mission. He has what may be the last copy of the Bible anyone has ever seen. Some people want to steal it from him and twist its teachings for their agendas. Others want to see if its message truly will change their lives. The man plans to take it somewhere he believes it can be used to help everyone… but he’s going on a plan he says God gave him.

The movie may be about the earth being renewed rather than its last days, but it may have a message that is especially relevant to end times discussions. It imagines a post-apocalyptic setting where the Bible still exists and may renew humanity, reminding viewers that even if terrible things happen, God’s word will carry on. Furthermore, The Book of Eli pushes viewers to realize that God alone will decide when the end times come. What looks like the end (nuclear war, a global virus) may be the end of an old chapter. God may be working on something we don’t expect.

Photo Credit: ©Warner Bros.

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End Times, The Asylum's Take on The Last of Us, Gets New Trailer

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Mother, Couch Director Niclas Larsson on the Mind-Warping Allegorical Film and Its Stacked Cast

Every western movie and tv show starring timothy olyphant, ranked, why kevin costner’s $38 million horizon gamble flopped.

The Asylum has released the official trailer for the new horror film End Times . A post-apocalyptic zombie movie that seems to take great inspiration from The Last of Us , End Times stars Jamie Bernadette ( I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu , 4/20 Massacre ) and Craig Stark ( Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , The Hateful Eight ) as a pair of survivors in a decimated Los Angeles. The film will be released on VOD and in select theaters on July 14, 2023. You can check out the new trailer below.

Jim Towns ( House of Bad , The Possession of Anne ) wrote and directed the film. Along with Bernadette and Stark, the movie also stars Dominique Swain ( Lolita ), Jessica Morris ( One Life to Live ), Kaiwi Lyman ( Den of Thieves , American Horror Story ), Dan Buran ( True Blood, General Hospital ), Stefanie Estes ( Soft & Quiet ), Maria Olsen ( Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief ; I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu ), Sadie Katz ( Wrong Turn 6 ), and Victoria De Mare ( The Beast Inside ).

Per the synopsis, End Times follows "a pair of mismatched travelers, Claire and Freddie (Bernadette and Stark), as they try to escape a deadly pandemic that has turned Los Angeles into a zombie-infested wasteland. Claire is a privileged young suburbanite ill-equipped to survive in this hostile new landscape, until she meets Freddie, a retired soldier who lost his daughter to the virus. As they travel together to reach the perimeter, Freddie teaches Claire the skills that will enable Claire to survive, and the uneasy partnership between the two grows into something more akin to a father/daughter relationship. Before they can reach safety, the two will have to escape brutal gangs, cannibals, cults, and the undead."

Related: 10 Horror Movies Where the Zombies Are Fast

Jamie Bernadette Says End Times Is a Heartfelt Horror Movie

Bernadette, who also produced with Towns and Stark, said of End Times in a statement, “We have a heartfelt horror here that has not only scared those who have previewed the film, but has also left them in tears at the end. Perhaps the toughest acting I have ever done is in the last 20 or so minutes of this film—yes, maybe even tougher than I Spit on Your Grave if you can believe that ha ha. It tried me as an artist, pushed me as an actor, and tested me as a person. I owe a big thank you to actor Craig Stark for being an incredible scene partner throughout this film and to writer and director Jim Towns for his brilliant vision and guidance.”

“I’m excited that after a lot of hard work, End Times is being unleashed on the world," Towns added, "This film was a battle to make from start to finish, but I’m so very proud of it and of everyone who came together to make it. I think it tells a universal story about the bonds between people that get us through tragedy and disaster, and finally bring us to a place of hope. My thanks to my producing partner Jamie Bernadette, our stars Jamie and Craig Stark, Dominique Swain, Kaiwi Lyman and Sadie Katz, and to the Asylum for their trust in the film.”

End Times will be released in select theaters on July 14, 2023, via The Asylum . Designated market areas include Los Angeles, CA; Cleveland, OH; Minneapolis, MN; Miami, FL; and Atlanta, GA.

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10 Rapture Moves About The End of Times

Christian writers and filmmakers have created various interpretations of the end times, and although Christians should not depend on a movie as Gospel truth, films do inspire us to think, study, and investigate the scriptures for ourselves. This list of rapture movies about the end times will help you explore important biblical themes and imagine what the biblical end times might look like.

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One of the most well-known events in the end times is the “Rapture.” The Rapture is a prophetic event that is perhaps most widely known as the belief that God will supernaturally rescue Christians before the Tribulation period, a time characterized by chaos and destruction that unfolds as the end times kicks into high gear. Its theological elements make it a prime event for depiction on the big screen.

This idea of a so-called “pre-Tribulation Rapture” (a Rapture before the Tribulation period) is a widely accepted belief in many evangelical circles — but not everyone agrees that it’s a biblical slam-dunk. Some theologians and pastors flatly reject the idea that Jesus will usher believers off of the Earth before the Tribulation period, though, regardless of where Christians stand on the Rapture, the vast majority believe in a still-unfulfilled event known as the Second Coming — a time when Christ is expected to return to battle the Antichrist and establish His kingdom.

If you have questions about the rapture and the end times, you can explore the following list of powerful end times and rapture movies (plus: we have a helpful end-times theology guide you can download).

Rapture Movies to Stream Today

The moment after.

This is one of the end of the world movies you don't want to miss. In the twinkling of an eye, a mass disappearance has occurred. The FBI is called in to investigate and locate those missing. As Agents Adam Riley and Charles Baker search for the truth, a government conspiracy is uncovered.

Stream " The Moment After " now available on Great American Pure Flix. Complete the series of these end of the world movies by watching " The Moment After 2: The Awakening " as well.

Dream Motel: Enemies Of The State

Every soul that has ever lived has had a role in laying the spiritual foundation upon which humanity’s future has been laid.

Watch the new series " Dream Motel: Enemies Of The State " with a free trial to Great American Pure Flix.

The Dark: Great Deceiver

This movie about the end times is set in the Seventh Year of the Tribulation. The world is in ruins. Christianity has all but disappeared, except for small bands of believers, hiding, surviving, and waiting for the Second Coming.

Watch “The Dark: Great Deceiver” on Great American Pure Flix Now.

Read Also: 11 Powerful Bible Passages About the End Times and Jesus’ Return

Jerusalem Countdown

In this "24"-like story of terror and the fight for peace, agent Shane Daughtry teams up with a CIA agent to stop an apocalyptic plot that will detonate nuclear bombs on American soil. This Christian end of the world movies is based on the best-selling novel by John Hagee.

Watch "Jerusalem Countdown" on Great American Pure Flix.

New World Order

"New World Order" is yet another end times movie available to stream on Great American Pure Flix. Here's the plot: It's been three years since the apocalypse happened, and Demi and Christen are living in the New World Order.

Watch "New World Order" on Greawt American Pure Flix.

Left Behind Triology

A list of end of the world movies wouldn't be complete if we didn't mention the "Left Behind" trilogy starring Kirk Cameron. After learning that millions have completely vanished, an airline pilot, his daughter and others work together to unravel the mystery of those left behind in this film based on the hugely popular book series.

Stream the whole trilogy with a free trial to Great American Pure Flix! " Left Behind, " " Left Behind: Tribulation Force " and " Left Behind: World At War " are available today!

Revelation Road Movie Series

The Rapture takes place as traveling salesman Josh McManus stops a robbery by a vicious biker gang, then tries to get home to his family in the midst of the resulting chaos.

Watch "Revelation Road" on Pure Flix. And don't miss " Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire " and " Revelation Road 3: Black Rider ."

The Mark Movie Series

Focusing on the prophecy in Revelation that the mark of the beast will be required to buy and sell, "The Mark" movies follow ex-military man, Chad Turner, as he finds himself marked and tries to stop the same from happening to the rest of the world.

Watch "The Mark" right now. And be sure to stream " The Mark 2: Redemption, " also on Great American Pure Flix!

In the Blink of an Eye

Stuck reliving the same nightmare day after day, a man discovers evidence of a worldwide event known in biblical prophecies as The Rapture. This is one of the most intriguing Rapture movies worth exploring.

Watch "In the Blink of an Eye" on Great American Pure Flix.

Christian Documentary on the End-Times

End times: how close are we.

Are the end times upon us? When it was written, nearly 30 percent of the Bible’s content was prophetic. Today, nearly all these prophecies have become recorded history. So, let's dive into what all that means.

Watch "End Times: How Close Are We?" on Great American Pure Flix.

For more food for thought, check out the book, " The Armageddon Code: One Journalist’s Quest for End-Times Answers" by author and journalist, Billy Hallowell .

Plus, want more great faith and family-friendly films and TV shows? Head over to Great American Pure Flix today ! If you're not currently a member, you can grab your free trial here .

Billy Hallowell

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Cannibals, swingers and Emma Stone: Let's unpack 'Kinds of Kindness'

Spoiler alert! We're discussing major details about the plot of the new movie "Kinds of Kindness" (in theaters now).

Emma Stone is back with another squirm-inducing curio.

“Kinds of Kindness” is the actress’ fourth collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos , just months after their freaky Frankenstein film " Poor Things " netted Stone her second Oscar for best actress. Clocking in at nearly three hours, the pitch-black comedy is split into three loosely linked stories, all featuring a core cast of actors playing different roles.

The most intriguing tale is the provocative middle section, “R.M.F. Is Flying,” which puts a deranged twist on the true-crime genre. In the roughly 40-minute film, a stilted police officer named Daniel ( Jesse Plemons ) is thrilled when his missing wife, Liz (Stone), returns after a research expedition gone haywire. But soon Daniel starts to suspect that the woman in his house isn’t the real Liz but an imposter. He begins to test her devotion: first, by ordering her to chop off her fingers and cook them for dinner. When she obliges, Daniel takes it even further by demanding that she cut out her liver.

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The mind-bending mystery stemmed from conversations between Lanthimos and co-writer Efthimis Filippou, who wanted to explore relationships and memory. “You can sometimes forget people that you love and you don’t recognize them anymore,” Lanthimos says. “At some point, I had written this little thing about a woman offering parts of herself to someone to show her love. So as we were discussing the film, we felt these ideas together made sense.”

Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone worked with intimacy coordinator for 'weird' sex scene

In the other two sections of “Kinds of Kindness,” Plemons, 36, plays a cult member and a submissive businessman. But he says Daniel was the character he felt least confident about taking on.

“He was hard to peg, which I really liked,” Plemons says. “He was really hurting at the beginning, and those feelings of his partner vanishing could have stirred up any number of things.”

The most cringingly funny part of “R.M.F. Is Flying” comes at the beginning, when Daniel invites his swinger friends Martha ( Margaret Qualley ) and Neil (Mamoudou Athie) over for dinner. Afterward, he awkwardly asks them to watch a homemade sex tape they made with Liz.

“He just wanted to relive the good old days. The simple times!” Plemons jokes. The Oscar-nominated actor says he was initially nervous to shoot the graphic group scene. “You know it’ll be a little weird,” he recalls. But on the day, “it was just the actors, Yorgos and the intimacy coordinator in the room. It’s inevitably a little uncomfortable, but the intimacy coordinator walks you through the conversations you need to have so everyone feels safe.”

The end of 'R.M.F. Is Flying' is meant to be 'ambiguous'

Raunchiness aside, the film’s gruesome images may prove challenging for some audiences to stomach. After agreeing to slice off her fingers (in reality: silicone replicas), Liz reluctantly decides to carve out her liver and serve it for dinner. The prop used in the movie is an actual animal organ. (“Pig or cow liver − I don’t remember which,” Lanthimos says.)

“R.M.F. Is Flying” ends with Daniel walking into the kitchen, where he discovers Liz dead on the floor, having bled out after trying to extract her liver. The doorbell rings, and Daniel greets another Liz (also played by Stone) with a warm embrace. The final moments are left purposefully vague: Did Daniel gaslight his actual wife into killing herself? Or was that an imposter in his home all along?

“I don’t think there’s a wrong interpretation or answer,” says Plemons, who won best actor at Cannes Film Festival last month for his performance. “It can change from viewing to viewing – it even evolved for me while we were shooting. But for me personally playing Daniel, I had to feel like he was right and she was an imposter.”

For most of the film, viewers are in Daniel’s shoes watching Liz’s strange behavior: She struggles to fit into her heels and ravenously devours chocolate cake (a food she used to hate). But as the story goes on, Liz grows concerned for Daniel’s mental health, and he becomes increasingly deluded. Viewers are left discombobulated and unsure whom to trust.

“It really is ambiguous in that sense of, ‘Who’s right? Is it happening in their heads? Are they both right?’ ” Lanthimos says. “That’s why we found it an interesting story to tell, and allow people to ask themselves those questions.”

End Times News Report - Week in Review: 6/30-7/6/24

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‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ Review: It’s Busted

Eddie Murphy struggles to revive the moribund action-comedy franchise.

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By Robert Daniels

In “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” the Detroit detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is no longer the fast, young cop we last saw 30 years ago. The beleaguered Captain Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) thinks the older and slower Axel should reconnect with his estranged daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige), who works as a defense attorney in Los Angeles. She is representing someone accused of killing a possible dirty cop. When masked men dangle Jane’s car with her inside from a roof, Axel, at the request of his longtime pal Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), comes to Los Angeles to find the culprits.

Murphy returns with the same Detroit Lions jacket, his familiar chuckle and his movie star grin. But there’s little to smile about in this painfully lackluster retread desperately trying to justify its own existence.

In his feature directing debut, Mark Molloy — who plied his trade making commercials — tries to imagine a world where Axel is no longer a beloved wisecracker. Jane hates Axel for abandoning her as a child. Her former flame, Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who later teams up with Axel, also thinks Axel’s penchant for public destruction is outdated. Axel’s ruminations on parenting and policing are short-lived in the face of the flashy Captain Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon), who seems to be actively impeding Axel’s investigation as a bemused Chief John Taggart (John Ashton) looks on.

Molloy’s film ( streaming on Netflix ) is a slog: The dirty cop mystery is half-baked; the visual effects are half-rendered; the action lacks any sense of physical space. In the opening scene, Axel’s attempt to stop a robbery in the Red Wings’ locker room becomes a shaky street chase with Axel in a snowplow and the robbers on bikes. Rather than film the scene as a cohesive shot, Molloy filmed the bikers and Murphy separately. The result is a scattered set piece without any visual cohesion.

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Paramount and Skydance merge, signaling end of a family reign in Hollywood and the rise of new power

FILE - Producer David Ellison poses for the media during the ‘Top Gun Maverick’ UK premiere at a central London cinema, on Thursday, May 19, 2022. The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape. It also signals rise of a new power player, David Ellison, the founder of Skydance and son of billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of the software company Oracle. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

FILE- In this March 29, 2017, file photo, Shari Redstone attends the premiere of “Ghost in the Shell” at AMC Loews Lincoln Square in New York. The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape. It also signals rise of a new power player, David Ellison, the founder of Skydance and son of billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of the software company Oracle. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE -Media mogul Sumner Redstone arrives at the 2013 MOCA Gala celebrating the opening of the Urs Fischer exhibition at MOCA, in Los Angeles, April 20, 2013, The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape. It also signals rise of a new power player, David Ellison, the founder of Skydance and son of billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of the software company Oracle. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - The main gate to Paramount Studios is seen on Melrose Avenue, July 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. Entertainment giant Paramount has agreed to merge with Skydance, a deal that will hand over control of the company that owns CBS and the studio behind blockbuster films such “Top Gun″ and ”The Godfather.” The new combined company is valued at around $28 billion. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

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NEW YORK (AP) — The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades-long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape.

It also signals the rise of a new power player, David Ellison, the founder of Skydance and son of billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of the software company Oracle.

Shari Redstone’s National Amusements has owned more than three-quarters of Paramount’s Class A voting shares through the estate of her late father, Sumner Redstone . She had battled to maintain control of the company that owns CBS, which is behind blockbuster films such as “Top Gun” and “The Godfather.”

Just weeks after turning down a similar agreement with Skydance, however, Redstone agreed to a deal on terms that had not changed much.

“Given the changes in the industry, we want to fortify Paramount for the future while ensuring that content remains king,” said Redstone, who is chair of Paramount Global.

The new combined company is valued at around $28 billion. In connection with the proposed transaction, which is expected to close in September 2025 pending regulatory approval, a consortium led by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital will be investing $8 billion.

Skydance, based in Santa Monica, California, has helped produce some major Paramount hits in recent years, including Tom Cruise films like “Top Gun: Maverick” and installments of the “Mission Impossible” series.

Skydance was founded in 2010 by David Ellison and it quickly formed a production partnership with Paramount that same year. If the deal is approved, Ellison will become chairman and chief executive officer of what’s being called New Paramount.

Ellison outlined the vision for New Paramount on a conference call about the transaction Monday. In addition to doubling down on core competencies, notably with a “creative first” approach, he stressed that the company needs to transition into a “tech hybrid” to stay competitive in today’s evolving media landscape.

“You’ve watched some incredibly powerful technology companies move into the ... media space and do so very successfully,” Ellison said. He added that it was “essential” for New Paramount to chart a similar course going forward.

That includes plans to “rebuild” the Paramount+ streaming service, Ellison noted — pointing to wider goals to expand direct-to-consumer business, such as increasing engagement time on the platform and reducing user churn. He also said that the company aims to transition to more cloud-based production and continue the use of generative artificial intelligence to boost efficiency.

Executives also outlined further restructuring plans for New Paramount on Monday’s conference call, with chairman of RedBird Sports and Media Jeff Shell noting that they had identified some $2 billion in cost efficiencies and synergies that they’ll “attempt to deliver pretty rapidly.”

Shell and others addressed the declining growth of linear TV. Flagship linear brands will continue to represent a big chunk of the company’s operations, but learning how to run this portion of business differently will be key, he said.

The on-again, off-again merger arrives at tumultuous time for Paramount, which has struggled to find its footing for years and its cable business has been hemorrhaging. In an annual shareholder meeting in early June, the company also laid out a restructuring plan that included major cost cuts.

Leadership at Paramount was also volatile earlier this year after its CEO Bob Bakish, following a number of disputes with Redstone, was replaced with an “office of the C.E.O,” run by three executives. Four company directors were also replaced.

Paramount is one of Hollywood’s oldest studios, dating back its founding in 1914 as a distributor. Throughout its rich history, Paramount has had a hand in releasing films — from “Sunset Boulevard” and “The Godfather,” to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Titanic.”

The studio also distributed several early Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including “Iron Man” and “Thor,” before the Disney acquisition. In addition to “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun,” Paramount’s current franchises include “Transformers,” “Star Trek” and “Jackass.”

While Paramount has not topped the annual domestic box office charts for over a decade, the wild box office success of “Top Gun: Maverick” in 2022 (nearly $1.5 billion worldwide) was an important boon to both movie theaters and the industry’s pandemic recovery.

Still, its theatrical output has declined somewhat in recent years. Last year it released only eight new movies and came in fifth place for overall box office at around $2 billion — behind Universal (24 films), Disney (17 films), Warner Bros. and Sony.

This year the release calendar is similarly modest, especially with the absence of “Mission: Impossible 8,” which was pushed to 2025 amid the strikes. The studio has had some successes, with “Bob Marley: One Love” and “A Quiet Place: Day One,” and still to come is Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” sequel.

The National Association of Theatre Owners, a trade organization that represents over 35,000 screens in the U.S., said in a statement Monday that it plans to look closely at the details of the merger with an eye towards whether it will produce more or less theatrical releases.

“We are encouraged by the commitment that David Ellison and the Skydance Media team have shown to theatrical exhibition in the past,” said Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “A merger that results in fewer movies being produced will not only hurt consumers and result in less revenue, but negatively impact people who work in all sectors of this great industry – creative, distribution and exhibition.”

Sumner Redstone used National Amusements, his family’s movie theater chain, to build a vast media empire that included CBS and Viacom, which have merged and separated a number of times over the years. Most recently, the companies re-joined forces in 2019, undoing the split consummated in 2006. The company, ViacomCBS, changed its name to Paramount Global in 2022.

Under Sumner Redstone’s leadership, Viacom became one of the nation’s media titans, home to pay TV channels MTV and Comedy Central and movie studio Paramount Pictures.

It is a company with a rich history, as well as a deep bank of media assets, and Skydance wasn’t the only one to gun for Paramount in recent months — Apollo Global Management and Sony Pictures also made competing offers.

Late last year, Warner Bros. Discovery also made headlines for exploring a potential merger with Paramount. But by February, Warner had reportedly halted those talks.

AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report.

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What is Project 2025? The Presidential Transition Project explained.

The detailed plan to dismantle and reconstruct the government laid out by  conservative groups  known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project has critics up in arms over its " apocalyptic " and " authoritarian " nature.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., led an effort to create the more than 900-page  "Mandate for Leadership,"  published in April 2023, reimagining the executive branch and presented a plan to overhaul several federal government agencies, including the FBI, for the country's next conservative president to follow.

More: Project 2025 head says 'second American Revolution' will be 'bloodless if the left allows'

According to the Project's website, the playbook provides a governing agenda and a lineup of people ready to implement it to "rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left." It includes a domestic and  foreign policy  agenda, a list of personnel, training, and a 180-day playbook.

"It is not enough for conservatives to win elections," Project 2025  said on its website . "With the right conservative policy recommendations and properly vetted and trained personnel to implement them, we will take back our government."

Project 2025's Director is  Paul Dans , who served as the U.S. Office of Personnel Management chief of staff in former President Donald Trump's administration. Although it mentions Trump by name, the handbook does not directly assume the Republican party's presumptive nominee will be the one to carry out its agenda.

What is in Project 2025?

The mandate attacks several policies that former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden instituted, including  student loan forgiveness  and  Obamacare . It simultaneously calls for expanded executive power for the commander-in-chief while criticizing what Project 2025 members perceive as overreaches by the Biden administration.

"Presidents should not issue mask or vaccine mandates, arbitrarily transfer student loan debt, or issue monarchical mandates of any sort," the plan reads. "Legislatures make the laws in a republic, not executives."

The playbook calls for the reinstatement of a  Trump executive order  augmenting a president's power to hire and fire federal officials by replacing civil servants with political appointees throughout government.

It also seeks to repeal aspects of the  Affordable Care Act , urge the Food and Drug Administration to reverse the  approval of abortion pills , and further empower Immigration and Customs Enforcement to  deport undocumented immigrants .

The plan also specifically addresses LGBTQ+ issues and attacks "radical gender ideology." In addition to calling for an end to the Department of Education, it suggests legislation that would forbid educators from using transgender students' names or pronouns without written permission from their guardians. It also appears to oppose same-sex marriage and gay couples adopting children by seeking to "maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family."

Project 2025 generates concern

Project 2025 has received substantial criticism from Democrats, including  Representative Jasmine Crockett , D-Texas, who called out the controversial plan during a congressional hearing last month.

"I don't know why or how anybody can support Project 2025," Crockett said. "In the United States of America, dictatorships are never funny, and Project 2025 is giving the playbook for authoritarianism as well as the next dictator to come in."

Progressive Democrat U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts called it a "far-right manifesto" in a  post on TikTok . The Biden campaign captioned a video detailing Project 2025, stating it "needs more attention."

Rachel Barber is a 2024 election fellow at USA TODAY, focusing on politics and education. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, as @rachelbarber_