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?
-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?