Anti-Role-Playing-Game Jack Chick Tract to Possibly Become a Movie

Forget Zach Braff. This is a Kickstarter worth backing.

if you’re not familiar with Chick tracts, it’s not for Chick Publications‘ lack of trying – they’re among the most widely distributed comics in the world, often handed out for free or left in public places. They’re mini-comics in which somebody inevitably finds out that he or she was completely wrong in his or her philosophy of life, and must pray to Jesus RIGHT NOW.

That may sound dull, but it’s not. Jack T. Chick has a very peculiar interpretation of Christianity, in which the Roman Catholic church is responsible for every major war in history, not to mention every other religion, all of which are a front for the Pope and Satan. Good people routinely get tossed into Hell, while bad people can go to heaven provided they say a prayer to Jesus right before death, and this is a good thing. Satan is also responsible for pop music, animal control, faking evolution and of course, Dungeons and Dragons.

…all you really need to know is that it sets out to show what Jack Chick knows to be the truth behind role-playing. It shows that;

*Playing RPGs can make you gain real life magic abilities

*If you gain a high enough level you will be invited to join a secret cult

* Gamers whose characters die are in danger of committing suicide.

* That DM’s are vile temptresses that are out to corrupt their players to the forces of evil.

It’s this one that interested aspiring filmmaker JR Ralls, who actually contacted Chick Publications for the movie rights. Amazingly, they said yes, and now Ralls is trying to raise the money. He claims the movie will be made absolutely seriously and straight-faced…while simultaneously offering high-level backers the chance to play RPGs Are Evil: The Role-Playing Game with him. If he gets more than his $12,500 budget, he promises to expand the movie’s world into dealing with Cthulhu mythology, among other things, which Jack Chick totally believes is real.

There have been attempts to film Chick tracts before – an unauthorized anthology movie called Hot Chicks can never be released for legal reasons, although it did the festival circuit; while Chick himself has talked about doing a Jesus movie made entirely of still paintings that may or may not have ever been completed. This would be the first authorized live-action adaptation.

And if this works, maybe we can get a filmed version of The Adventures of the Crusaders next.

Watch the video after the jump, and tell me Tommy Wiseau should not star in this.