Christian Review Magazine Issue 3 - March 2015 | Page 26

MOVIE
REVIEW

Title:

REFUGE FROM THE STORM
Rating:

Starring:

Christian Madsen, Michael
Madsen, Kristen Quintrall,
Jane Santos
Written by:

Elias Acosta, James Ellis
Directed by:

Elias Acosta
Genre:

Drama
Running Time:

101 minutes

MPAA Rating:

PG-13

Production Company:

Vista Films International
Reviewed by:

Christian St John
Release Date:

Out Now : DVD, Blu-ray,
VOD
26 > CHRISTIAN REVIEW MAGAZINE

L

inda is a young woman who is left
mentally and spiritually scarred by
familial abuse and dark spiritual
oppression she experienced as a child. With
her life spiraling out of control and faced
with the truth of God’s love, Linda must
now make a decision that will lead her
away from bondage to sin and into a
personal battle with the forces of darkness.
Billed as a “new generation of faith-based
drama”, Refuge from the Storm is a very
different film from most in the Christian
movie genre. It has a mature storyline that
features some violence, including quite a
graphic demon exorcism scene, some frank
sexual dialog, some drug use, and scenes
that show people involved in false religious
and satanic practices.
As for the production values - It’s obvious at
times that this film was produced on a
lower budget. But overall the camera work
is good, and the picture and sound are both
clear. The screenplay is well written, but
the overall story is a little hard to follow
along with at times.
The acting in Refuge from the Storm is a
little bit of a mixed bag. Kristen Quitrall is
good as the movie’s protagonist Linda, the
young woman who finds herself caught up
in a spiritual battle. Likewise, Michael

Madsen is good as a writer who is tackling
the subject of good and evil for a thesis
project, and Angie Jerez, who plays a
demonically possessed woman, also does
well. However, the acting from the rest of
the cast tends to lie somewhere between
wooden and over acting.
If I had to use one word to describe Refuge
from the Storm, I would have to use the
word brave. Not the easiest of films to
watch - due to the subject matter - this
movie tackles false religion and satanism,
subjects that rarely gets focused on in the
Christian movie scene. I tip my hat to the
producers of this film for taking a chance
and making a movie that doesn’t fit
squarely into the “typical” Christian movie
box. Instead, this movie tells a dark story to
make it’s point… that The Light is more
powerful than the darkness. The end result
is that Refuge from the Storm more than
reminded me of the books by author,
Rebecca Brown.
If you do watch this movie you can
download a free study guide which features
the Scriptures behind the screenplay; this
could be useful to those who find the movie
confusing or those who what to know more
about the topics presented in the movie.