The Book of Revelation in Contemporary Culture

This page is a resource for the course 'Apocalypse Now' which I teach at Cardiff University.

Film

• The dream sequence in Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker (Thanks to Helen Dare for this one)
• The Johnny Cash song 'The Man Comes Around' as used in the opening sequence of Dawn of the Dead (I must reference John Lyons at this point who has, in so many ways, made this song his own!)
• Clint Eastwood as Death in Pale Rider
• Clint again as the avenging angel of death in High Plains Drifter: 'Who are you???' (Thanks to John Weaver)
• Conversation between Ray and Winston in Ghostbusters (1984)
• At the end of the Omen (1976), Rev. 13.18 appears on the screen to explain the identity of Damien, the child who bears the mark of the beast.
• In the auction sequence in the 2004 film Phantom of Opera, the chandelier is lot number 666.
  

Music

• The gods of ROCK, Metallica, perform The Four Horsemen
  
• The Clash with Four Horsemen from their 1979 album London Calling
• Prince - Seven
• Prince - The ending of Darling Nikki
  
• Bob Marley - Lion of Judah: ‘I will say to the people, man, be still and know that His Imperial Majesty Emperor Heili Salassie I of Ethiopia is the Almighty. The Lion of Judah shall break every chain…’
• Iron Maiden from 1982 with The Number of the Beast.
• The Smiths - 'Stretch out and wait': 'Will the world end in the night time? I really don't know. Or will the world end in the day time? I really don't know. And is there any point ever having children? I really don't know. All I do know we're here and it's now, so stretch out and wait.'
• 'Come, the New Jerusalem' in Carly Simon, Let the River Run.
• Depeche Mode - John the Revelator: 'He should bow his head in shame'
• Primal Fear - Seven Seals: 'If seven seals will break, The final day will end in sorrow, As no tomorrow'
• Assorted U2 songs
• Hip-Hop - Life-Time Crisis and Pigeon John
• R.E.M. - It's the End of the World as we Know It
• Gnarls Barkley - 'Storm Coming' (see Polly's comment below for lyrics)
• Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot
• Megadeth - Blessed are the Dead
• Aphrodite's Child - album entitled '666', released 1972. Demis Roussos and Vangelis at their psychadelic best.
  

Literature

• The Four Bikers of the Apocalypse in Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman book Good Omens
• 'Revelation' by C.J. Sansom
  

Art

• Albrecht Durer's woodcuts of scenes from Revelation
• And the tapestry in Coventry Cathedral

T.V.

• Doctor Who "The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit"
• The Simpsons "Thank God It's Doomsday"
• The Simpsons "Bible Stories"
• Stephen King - The Stand
  

Other

• My Little Apocalypse Pony
• Gog and Magog in the Lord Mayor's Show, London
• Rowan Atkinson, Peter Cook, Eleanor Bron, John Cleese, Ken Campbell, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, David Rappaport and Sylvester McCoy are waiting for the end of the world at "The Secret Policeman's Ball" 1979 benefit for Amnesty International.
• One of the Four Horsemen at the G20 Summit Protest
• The four Atheist Horsemen of the Apocalypse
• BBC report of the Babylon Exhibition at the British Museum
  

If you know more - please tell me!