User Reviews

Corny yet sweet. I totally understand their message of no sex before marriage but I think the "no kissing" idea and that the first kiss is going to be a gift for your husband on your wedding night- I think thats a little too ridiculous and 99% of the kids of today are not going to follow that. They might even miss the whole message of the movie because they view that statement as absurd. It also has no biblical merit or passage that I know of where you cant kiss or date. It sounds like a man-made idea/rule.

I think when Pamela asked: "how do I meet my future husband if I cant date" -was a very realistic question. She also asked her dad to give her a passage from the bible that forbid dating. I don't think dad had any ammunition in that argument. He pretty much gave her a "because I'm your father" kind of an answer. She was right in her question and I think most kids watching that film would shake their head at the absurdity that you cant date your future spouse.

It struck me as odd that she couldn't go to a basketball game with her friends and that guy- as a group- but yet it was OK with her dad for her to leave with his employee and go to the wilderness to look at rock formations all by themselves. Think about it, she had more chance of getting laid out there in the wilderness, with just he and her there, than she did by going to a basketball game with her friends and a guy and a huge crowd..... That rock formation scene really contradicted the whole theme of the movie, no dating, no boys.

Remember when she asked if they could go to the ball game as friends and he shot her this look like "Uh No!!" you cant do that either. Yet she goes off alone with this guy to look at rocks.

I found it odd that dad always talked in this preacher voice. What dad talks like that all the time?

It seemed this movie had the right intentions but should have showed an alternative to being told no and then going upstairs where she is now sad and alone. I think if the writers would have inserted some alternative for her such as having friends over or getting together at Christian events it would have portrayed a better picture than a sad, bored, girl whose Christian beliefs have prevented her from having any type of fun and here she sits lonely on her bed sad and depressed. It paints the Chrisitan life as one of loneliness.

This movie looked like it was from the 1980's. The guys hair styles were dead-on to the hairstyles of 1986. Even the production credits looked "old timey" I wonder if this movie was made in the 80's but not released until 1998?

Lastly I think they could have left out the line that the dad said "Do you know what a Christian Film Library is"? I laughed out loud at the absurdity of that sentence. Its like asking "do you know how a boiled egg is cooked"?

I think its the corny, cheesy, lines like this that turn people away from watching more Christian films. Most people view Christian films as lame and lacking in the writing with no suspense or drama. I think a lot people are hungry for a Christian movie but yet are bored with the lameness and blandness of Christian movies like this. Nothing against the Christian message, I just mean Christian films could be more intelligently written to appeal to the youth that are growing up in the 21st century. This isn't Amish country 1930. We can pretty much understand what a Christian Film Library is there's no need to ask if we know what it means.

By the way I am a Christian so I am not trying to demean the message, just commenting on the way it was presented and how it was missing the mark in some ways.

I don't think anyone who sits down to watch "Pamela's Prayer" is really expecting an Oscar-caliber experience, but even with lowered expectations this movie would would be best as fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000 - that is, really good for a group to sit down and make fun of.

Pamela is a young girl who feels as if everyone is dating but her, problem is... she's right. Her father believes that she should not date or kiss anyone until her wedding day. How that helps a teenager develop socially I'm not sure, but the father's opinion is placed on par with the Will Of God. One of my biggest problems with this movie, aside from the acting (which I'll get to in a minute), is that some of the father's actions just don't make any sense. He won't let Pamela go on a group date while she's in high school, but as soon as she graduates he'll let her go on a single "date" unattended to an isolated area. Wha...? That just doesn't make any sense to me. While I can applaud the relationship between the father and Pamela, it just seems so far moved from reality as to be laughable. For example Pamela's father is asking her about how she would feel if she had to tell her husband that she'd kissed another man, or how she would feel if he told her he'd kissed another girl. My first response was, "I'd say, 'Oh... okay.'" The act of kissing is portrayed as being so intimate... almost rivaling actual sex.

Speaking of laughable, the "acting" in this movie is abysmal. All of the father's lines are delivered in the actor's best "stained glass pastor" voice. It never really changes even when he's disciplining his daughter. The rest of the cast doesn't fare that much better. Everyone sort of goes about the scenes and the dialog as though it were a skit for church. Though honestly I'm not sure how much life the cast can inject into a script with such lines as, "Do you know what a Christian Film Library is?" Seriously, I can't believe that line got past the rough draft stage let alone into the movie itself.

If I must give the movie credit I can say that all of the scenes were edited as to form a comprehensible story. There weren't any glaring continuity errors such as sudden day/night changes. The music, while clearly from a Casio, services each scene and makes sense.

I will not argue the merits of waiting to kiss versus not waiting though if you are a parent who wants to instill the "not kissing" virtue, you're better off doing it yourself instead of showing this film. In fact, I would dare say showing this film might push them in the opposite direction. Ultimately the movie just doesn't work because it takes itself too seriously causing the audience to not take it serious at all. Instead of a heartfelt plea for purity, the movie comes off as unrealistically hilarious.

I'm a minister's wife, and I think this was an AWFUL film for Christian teens.

For one thing, the film itself is just plain *bad*. The dialogue, costumes, and overall quality make the film seem a lot older than it really is. When I first saw it, I figured the film was made around 1974 or so, but apparently it dates from 1998. It doesn't seem like it, what with the retro outfits and the way everyone seems to say things like "Well, gee whiz, mister! I sure would like to stay pure!" But beyond the poor production values, the film says disturbing things about the ways in which young girls ought to relate to their peers, their love interests, and their families. A young woman is a PERSON— a person who has agency, and an individual identity, and isn't just an extension of their male relatives' personalities. Throughout the film, Pamela is continually prevented from doing anything on her own, and must either follow her father's commands or risk learning a lesson "from God" about what happens when you disobey daddy.

While I think it's good to present kids with the message that peer pressure is something to be resisted, and that being like everyone else isn't always a good thing, I think we ought to be teaching them to rely on their own personal sense of right and wrong— and not necessarily to unquestioningly follow everything their (male) relatives tell them even into adulthood. Furthermore, I'm disturbed by the manner in which Pamela's "relationship" with Frederick became an actual marriage— Frederick never seems to ask Pamela what she'd like to do or what she enjoys, but prefers to ask her father, who then answers for her. Fred asks Pam's dad if she can come for a ride with him in his car— but he doesn't actually ask HER. He asks Pam's dad if he can marry her without even finding out if she wants to marry him. And when Fred proposes to Pam, Pam can't even say yes without watching for her father's nod of approval. Creepy, if you ask me.

Overall, this film was unwatchable, except from a too-bad-to-be-real standpoint (i.e., a Mystery Science Theater type of deal), and taught some really disappointing lessons to young women who, surely, are in need of better advice than "do whatever men tell you to do." I'd certainly never want to show this to my daughter!

i can't believe a movie like this even exists. I mean i am a 19 year old Christian and i do believe that kids/teens should be taught the value of having high morals, but this movie doesn't make any sense! why does it portray kissing/dating as a bad thing when that's part of a teenager's life? Plus, it's ridiculous that it made it seem like it was all worth it when the girl( the main character) got married. I mean just because you don't date others before you get married does NOT guarantee you a happy fairytale marriage! plus, i would rather date and get to know a lot of people before i choose to settle down with one person. That way i would feel like i made the right choice. So parents, don't expect this to teach your kids about purity. It will make them want to rebel! plus if you notice, throughout her whole teenage life, it was shown how sad and bored she felt to waste her young life!

This is a prime example of an enjoyably bad movie; one whilst failing completely at its primary purpose of transporting the viewer with skill, talent and the 'magic of the movies', nevertheless succeeds by entertaining via sheer vigorous ineptitude. The other reviews here relate exhaustively most of what ails 'Pamela's Prayer', so I'll just make a few additional observations.

-Rick Scheideman's performance as Pamela Bucklin's steadfastly Bronze-Age dad Wayne is worth noting as a contender for one of the ten creepiest fathers in cinema history. Even forgetting Wayne Bucklin's jaw-dropping 'Old Testament' values and possessive-obsessive behaviour re daughter Pamela, his psycho pinned-pupil stoned stare and skin-crawlingly quiet, measured tone of voice (neither of which he deviates from throughout) will send chills down your backbone. It is as though he were constantly keeping up an artificially calm appearance whilst stifling the seething cauldron of inhuman rage inside. Quite seriously, if you'd begun watching 'Pamela's Prayer' without being told it was a 'Christian movie', you could be forgiven for assuming that the palpably sinister father would soon begin eliminating permanently any hapless kid unfortunate enough to fall for his Pamela. It is a pity that Scheideman only appeared in this one movie, because on the strength of 'Pamela's Prayer' he could easily have carved out a long career in horror. They could have had a 'Wayne Bucklin' franchise.

-Yes, the acting is pretty bad, but even the best actors would have trouble with a script which seeks to trumpet Taliban-like family relationships which border upon child abuse. The father has never missed an evening praying at his daughter's bedside until she's almost a teenager? She's gone through childhood with no school camps, no sleepovers, no nothing except Daddy? He lost his wife, and apparently his mind, too. He also seems to have no friends. This movie is just crying out to be remade as a horror.

-Also note that the wardrobe department have decided to clothe Pamela in the least sexy garb possible; all bulky jackets and baggy trousers. In addition, notice that the only boys who are interested in Pamela seem remarkably less-than-macho. Why so? In any case, Pamela's eventual beau gets her overbearingly Patriarchal dad's approval, possibly because Fredric exhibits an eerily calm demeanour and creepy stoned stare similar to his own. And they both work in a film library. In 1990. Ever heard of 'videotape', guys? It's really catching on.

-Oh, and in case you're squeamish about lip-contact (which this movie seems to regard as the first step on the Stairway to Hell), you will be relieved to learn that the movie cuts away just before the happy couple actually perform that first kiss as newlyweds. So you won't need to hide your eyes. Guess to where -or rather to whom- it cuts?

A better title for this movie would be, "Virgin/Whore Complex: The Movie". It is SO CREEPY. It's not even about the title character, Pamela. It's about her dad and his unsettling obsession with her virginity. The message of this movie is simple: if, as a girl, you EVER even kiss a boy, you are ruined forever. In fact, Pamela's best friend does the unthinkable and acts like a NORMAL teenage girl, even going so far as to have a *gasp* boyfriend, which ends in her having sex with him. They make it very clear that the sex was consensual, but she talks about it, and acts as traumatized, as if she had been raped.

This movie sends a HORRIBLE message to teens, especially girls. Not only does it enforce the classic virgin/whore complex, it also says that a girl's father should be involved in her (non)sex life to a degree that is downright terrifying. The fact that Pamela is not really developed as her own character is not an accident. Her only purpose is to do and be exactly what her father wants. She's not allowed to make her own choices or her own mistakes. She's not allowed to even make the decision to wait until her wedding day for her first kiss: it's a decision her father makes FOR her. And once she's married, she's not allowed to even make the decision to make a phone call without permission from her new husband.

This is not a movie about a girl discovering the beauty of purity. This is a movie about a father's creepy FANTASY of his daughter remaining a virgin until she passes from his iron-clad ownership into that of another man. Pamela is not a person in this movie, she is property. And the fact that this is being taught as something "beautiful" or, more horrifically, "holy", is something that ought to terrify any parent with a conscience.

It's important to teach teenagers that sex has consequences, and that the decision to become sexually active is one that should not be taken lightly. But this movie goes off the freaking deep end and promotes a worldview that is not only not realistic, it is insane. Any father this deeply involved in and obsessed with his child's love life in the real world would be more likely to be a sexual predator than father of the year.

One final thing: if you watch this movie, and can get past the horrible acting, horrible music, and horrible writing, ask yourself one question: How would this movie, this story, have been different if the child had been a boy instead of a girl? That's the worst part of this movie: ZERO attention is paid to male sexuality. It's all about controlling or shaming the sexuality of the FEMALE characters. They try to mask this by having Pamela's eventual husband say that he made a commitment to the Lord to wait until his wedding day for his first kiss, but it's not the same as Pamela AT ALL. Pamela's husband made the decision for himself, with no one else's input, after careful prayer. Pamela had the decision made for her by her father.

This movie has deep emotional issues, especially with women. Beneath the poorly written surface, there is a deep misogyny that says that women are to be the virginal property of their fathers and then their husbands, with no ambitions or desires of their own, and that if they fail to meet the expectations of their male owners, especially in the arena of sexuality, then they are ruined forever.

If you have a conscience, or you're a good parent, don't watch this movie. And certainly don't show it to any teenagers.

This movie wants to teach teens what the bible says - that there are certain acts that are sacred. However, it does this in a totally unrealistic portrayal of American high school, not to mention not actually focusing on issues that teens face. It shows nothing of how a Christian teen of the noughties would deal with the dating scene, with sex, with raunchy culture, with porn, with peer pressure. In the instances that the film has a chance to even attempt to do that, it glosses over them. A teenage girl is pressured into sex with her boyfriend - that's not a Christian issue - that's an issue that EVERY American teen faces. And the message the film sends? Kissing is bad. The title character finds herself the subject of rumors of her kissing a boy. Again, this is glossed over. Girls in American high schools find far worse rumors spread over them, oftentimes for far less. And the film doesn't address this at all.

If the message is that saving yourself is the best thing for you and your partner, ignoring the realities of American high school is not the way to do it. Show this film to any American high school and kids will snicker through the entire thing. It's not about kids of noughties or the nineties. It's about kids from 1954. Tell a more modern story, and the message - though not modern - might just stick.

STD's, unplanned pregnancies, and the abortions that usually follow, are no laughing matter. Sure, the acting in _some_ Christians films isn't the greatest (although they've improved in the last few years), that's not the point. "Pamela's Prayer" is about living right in a world living wrong. The parameters in Pamela's life, put there by her father, are no different from the parameters the heavenly Father sets before those he adopts as _his_ children. God wants only the best for his children (as any human parent would), and so those rules are there to protect, not only the adopted child of God, but their future marriage as well. Pastor Paul Sheppard (Enduring Truth Ministries), once shared in a sermon that 80 to 85 percent of people who engage in premarital sex, divorce later on compared to those who don't.

If this movie can keep just one young person from making the same mistakes I did, then this wonderful piece of celluloid has done it's job. Kudos to Rich Christiano and "Pamela's Prayer"!