The Prodigal Planet is the fourth and final chapter in Donald W. Thompson’s series of Tribulation films that began with A Thief in the Night. As with the other movies, it picks up almost immediately where the last one left off. Our hero, David (William Wellman, Jr.) is about to be executed by the Antichrist’s “Unite” foot soldiers when he’s saved at the last minute by an underground freedom fighter named Connie (Terri Lynn Hall). Together, they team up to take down the Antichrist once and for all. Most of their time though is spent riding around the wasteland in his armored RV looking for survivors and avoiding “Doomsday People” AKA: Mutants. Along the way, they naturally run into the preacher from other movies who now lives in a hole and is reduced to eating rats for food who tells them lots of long-ass Bible speeches and vital exposition.
The Prodigal Planet feels closer to your average post-apocalypse movie as the scenes in the burned-out cities crawling with mutants in monk robes has a real Omega Man-type vibe to them. (Other than the shit-ton of Jesus talk, that is.) Some of this isn’t too bad, but the biggest detriment is the over-inflated running time. A Thief in the Night was a breezy hour or so. This one is over two hours, and it drags like a sumbitch in several places.
You get a little bit of everything in this one though. There’s nuclear bombs, awful religious songs, post-nuke cliches, and of course, lots of Bible quoting. Stick with it though because the finale is good for a few chuckles. I also liked how villains die from convenient train accidents and fiery stock footage explosions. Sure, it’s not quite enough to offer you salvation, but it does take some of the sting out of the overlong running time.
AKA: A Thief in the Night 4: The Prodigal Planet.
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