User Reviews

This film is not your grandmas felt board in Sunday school. This film brings the Bible to life showing the reality of how brutal life was. This proof of concept film is exceptional! I look forward to future films from these guys!

The work Cliff Graham and Cody Bobay are doing in taking back the film industry for the cause of Christ is awesome and this story is just the beginning. What a beginning it is as well.

The "movie" was very entertaining and created a drive to research the time period more within the pages of the Bible. The story tellers ability to take a single verse and bring it to life was remarkable.

My only complaint is that it was too short. The end came to fast and left me with the desire to watch more.

WOW!! Is all I can say about the Hold the Pass film. Finally a film showing the true grit of the Old Testament Warriors!! You will want to watch it more than once so get it, and get ready for an action packed adventure in the pass!!

Cliff was born to tell Old Testament stories with passion and fire like never before. I have a new found love for the Old Testament Bible stories that I never had before and I'm ready for more.

Cody, the lead actor, has brought the characters internal and outer struggles to an intense reality that you can feel. I felt the struggle and I was drawn to the character because I can relate to some of those struggles within. This team is amazing and I hope there is more to come.

The best short film geared toward men I have seen in a long time. The film inspires men to live their lives as mighty men instead of sitting around doing nothing. The effects are outstanding for a low budget film studio. Gibborim Studios will become a name recognized in the future for producing films and series for men. Highly recommend Hold the Pass.

Hold the Pass is an excellent proof of concept film that definitely "proved" it has the staying power and will be relevant for years to come. A movie straight from the Old Testament that actually shows the rawness of what it was like to fight in those days. It is intense and does not disappoint! I can't wait for the future projects from this group!

For a short film this is very powerful. Love seeing old Testament come to life. Can't wait to see what else Cliff Graham anf Cody Bobay do next.

The first of Gibborim Studios line of media, and this short film is an impressive start! For a small studio to create something so visceral and intense with such great quality and on such a small budget, is nothing but an incredible display of the capabilities of cinema!

Biblical narratives were once the grand epics of cinema at one point, but many times, these movies did not have respect for the source material. Now, Christian movies have respected the source material, but have not the artistry or intensity. This bridges both worlds!

While the film is only a little under a half hour, visual storytelling is the primary focus. As a film should! The film does have clunky moments and minor repetitive sequences. But it's a nit-pick at best. The characters are not very deep, but this is not a character study. It's a action-packed story about a man being put to the test, and if that was the goal, then that was absolutely achieved!

A film involving a tale from the Bible is a daunting task in today's culture. A great deal of negative expectations have been placed on "Christian" media. Thankfully, this short film broke the mold! I'm hungry for more content from this studio!

Hold the Pass is a short film about an Old Testament judge protecting his family and nation against an army of men! Best short film I've ever seen, definitely want a great sound system for all that Dolby!

What a great film to reflect the spiritual battles that we face, whether we like it or not. Take hold of the lesson and Hold The Pass at home, & abroad.

When you think of a Bible movie, would you have imagined something like this. This film takes the approach of accurately depicting a Bible story by asking, what does killing 600 soldiers with a farm tool look like. This approach is carried out with an intensity that makes you think, is the Bible really this violent, and the answer is yes. While the film is twenty minutes of harsh gritty action, there is till an interesting character development going on with the character Shamgar. This development begins as a simple desire to protect his family and then grows to an unstoppable rage to destroy evil.

This film is also the first directorial debut of Cliff Graham, who primarily has written books for the last few years. This transition is always interesting to see happen on film. On screen you can see Cliff's gritty style that he is known for in his books. If you've read Cliff's work you might feel a little disappointed that there isn't more gore and blood, and that's saying a lot considering how violent this film is.

The action in this film is something else to talk about. It's hard enough to make a film that is twenty minutes of pure action, less so action that is intriguing to watch. The crew of Hold the Pass prove their talent in the execution of these action sequences. Yet there are times that some digital effects are too obvious, and there are some pacing problems that make the narrative of the story hard to understand.

In conclusion this film is amazing, and has some breathtaking scenery. It's talent, while some inexperienced, is convincing and has promise. Overall this film is a proof of concept of what Old Testament Bible films could be, and it proves it well.

This is the first time I've seen a video based on the Bible and Old Testament that didn't shy away from the violence of it all. An epic depiction of one of the lesser known stories of the Bible. It's not perfect, but is extremely well done for a low budget short film.

The best presentation of Old Testament battle to ever be demonstrated in film. Highest quality Christian film I've ever seen. Writing, acting, stunts, production, direction and special effects are equal to ( and in many areas surpass) anything produced in the secular industry. Highly recommended for men and their sons. Unleash your inner warrior and become everything God intended you to be as a man!

Hold the Pass brings to light the greatness of God. When we think the odds are not in our favor, God proves once again why he is the One true King. If you have ever read any of Cliff Graham's books, you will see that the Hero in every story is God. In this film, God uses an obedient man (Shamgar) to show this greatness and a faithful warrior emerges. This short film is full of action, great fight scenes and solid acting. You will not be disappointed.

Retelling a story with so little context would seem like a tall task, but man did they do it well!

For a first offering from this studio, it is incredibly impressive! Rich in visual storytelling, you get drawn in quickly. The film tells the story of a farmer (Shamgar) defending his home and family from the Philistine army. The action is quick moving and super intense. A lot of the acting is non-verbal, which again would seem to be a challenge, but it is done rather well!

The future is bright for this film team and I can't wait to see what comes next!

This is an amazing movie! Rivals Troy and 300 in action and filming. It's also Biblically accurate and depicts scenes that actually happened in history not just made up fantasy. This show and Gibborim company inspires men and women around the world to take up their cross and follow Jesus and make disciples of all nations!

If you've seen the Wizard of Oz then you know what it was like when Dorothy stepped into Oz and suddenly black and white turns magnificent color. This film does just that, it takes the black and white words of the Bible and magnificently adds color and rich background! Creativity and imagination are not tools that I have in my shed, so Hold the Pass really helped me to visualize as this story came to life!

Biblical Video/story interpretation of warriors in today's age leave men of the Bible looking soft. NOT THIS MOVIE. Brutal, Violence/war scenes, beautiful cinematography and amazing action make this a must see. Whither you are a believer or not, see how Gibborim Studios has changed the game on telling the stories of God's amazing warriors.

Knowing that this was done as a proof of concept film should help viewers understand there is more of the story that could be told here. The background to "Why" this pass for the invaders was not told, and while disappointing, does not ruin the fast action that the film gets into. A word of warning this is not your flannel graph Sunday School lesson. The film shows the violence of the ancient world in this real time adventure. Many will criticize the intensity of the hero carrying out the wrath of God, but take a moment and realize this is the visual of how badly God hates sin and desires to save His people from it. This film is high quality on a shoestring budget, I'm looking forward to this type of series.

Hold the Pass is a short film based on the Bible Judges 3:31. It is a story where Shamgar fights an army of Philistines off in a mountain pass using a farming tool known as an Oxgoad. The film has very little dialogue or plot to it and focuses more on the fight scenes. It is unclear why the Philistines are traveling, why they must use this pass, and why they don't try another route. One is support to assume it is a must for the film to continue. The camera work focuses on a lot of cuts to imitate fight scenes, which can cause the film to feel very jumpy. In one scene, 11:40 into the film, the actor Cody Bobay jumps on a Philistine soldier to stab him repeatedly to death. You can see clearly that the arrow goes to the actor's left side, missing the soldier completely, without slowing the film down. The idea is to go to the side to imitate stabbing the body, but a misplaced camera catches the whole thing. At two points in the film, one being 19:20 in, Shamgar is killing a Philistine soldier and the dialogue takes a dark turn. Cody Bobay, while drowning a soldier, shouts repeatedly for him to, "look at me." This moves beyond a character fighting to protect his family and land to a character torturing another as they die by forcing them to look someone in the eyes. This is completely unneeded and takes away the impact that Shamgar has as a biblical hero. It transforms his character into something more villain'esk. I gave this film 2 stars. I believe the storyline and plot needs to develop more, even for a short film. It is unclear why this is all taking place in the first place. The focus seemed more on the fight scenes and nothing else, and the degrading character of Shamgar is a let down.

Gibborim Studios does an excellent job here. Hold the Pass was their PoC to do a larger series on the Old Testament.

What the did was create a story out of a single verse with not much to go off of.

The Old Testament is full of stories with Game of thrones, Lord of the rings type battles. These stories need to be shared and told the way they were. Not watered down because Christian flee from uncomfortable scenarios. The Christian man should be a warrior like Shamgar, Caleb, King David. They knew what had to be done to serve the will of God and they did it.

This film being short, low budget, shot in a week. Is excellent, and I can't wait to see what Gibborim Studios does next.

Hold The Pass attempts to bring to life the OT warrior Shamgar, and nails it! While it certainly is a low budget film, the action and filmography hit above its weight class. The story truly does transport you back to the OT and captures how God used a single man to save His people from oppression.