The Day of the Beast

Director - Alex de la Iglesia (The Last Circus, Witching and Bitching)

Starring - Alex Angulo (Pan's Labyrinth, Possessed), Armando De Razza (Lightning Strike, The Squad), and Santiago Segura (Blade II, Pacific Rim)

Release Date - 1995

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "A comedy of Satanic action!"

Format - UHD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Several months ago Severin revealed that they would be releasing two new films on UHD for the first time.  As a collector, this really excited me.  Vinegar Syndrome and Arrow Video has been doing an amazing job with their UHD releases and I couldn't wait to see what Severin had in store for us.  When it was revealed that the two UHD releases would be The Day of the Beast and Perdita Durango I was excited.  I had never seen these films but I was extremely excited to check these out.  After watching Nosferatu in Venice I decided to spin the 1995 black comedy The Day of the Beast.  I want to thank Severin and MVD for sending this one over.

     The film follows a rogue priest who has uncovered a hidden code in the bible that predicted the apocalypse would happen during Christmas in 1995.  He teams up with an occult television host and a metalhead to prevent the end of the world.

     The Day of the Beast is one I had heard a lot about prior to Severin's announcement.  A lot of horror fans that have similar tastes in film as me often recommended it to me but I was always hesitant to pull the trigger on it especially when I saw the quality of releases out there.  Now I feel like a fool because I think I found my new Christmas must watch.  It was goofy, dark, and extremely fun.  Sure, it does feel a little dumb at times but I loved it.  The acting in this one is very entertaining.  Angulo was great as the priest trying to save the world.  He's goofy at times but his character's personality really made the film.  De Razza was great as well as the television host reluctantly pulled in by this theory.  His character was just as fun as well.  With all that being said, genre veteran Santiago Segura delivers my favorite performance.  He always brings the most memorable characters in a film to life and here his metal head character fit so well with the Satanic angle.  I fucking loved him.  The story for this one is a bit of a stretch but if you just go with it the pay off is well worth it.  Having a priest uncover a hidden message in the bible that predicts the apocalypse is a pretty good start for a black comedy if you ask me.  Following this religious hero as he gains two accomplices in the way of an occult master and a metal head is even more brilliant especially if you are a horror fan that loves metal.  It does drag it's feet a few times throughout but these slower scenes make way for better scenes.  Finally, the film isn't a gory one.  It does have some blood and a few great practical stunts involving fire.  I was a bit let down by these scenes, however, the scenes with the horned demon more than make up for the lack of gore.  Overall, The Day of the Beast is not the movie I was expecting at all.  I loved the character and the story but a lot of the humor does miss it's mark.  Regardless, its a movie I will be revisiting every December and a movie I would highly recommend checking out.  The UHD release from Severin is great.  The artwork for the release is a little bland but I highly recommend checking it out.