A Day of Judgment

The signs on the IMDb barometer usually never lie, right? When a horror movie has a miserable 2.3 rating out of 10, barely 50 user votes and only a handful of comments that are besides all negative … well, than you better just draw your conclusions and skip it, because more than likely this will be a bad movie. And yet, in spite of all the alarming omens and the enormous difficulties to purchase a half-decent bootleg copy of this obscure movie, I was determined to see it for myself. "Stormbringer" a.k.a. "A Day of Judgment" showed so much creepy potential and even some characteristics of being a genuine early 80's horror gem that got overlooked in the huge contemporary offer; or maybe I just wanted to see those things. Could this really be that bad? Set in the 1920's (in my humble opinion an ideal era to tell a chilling horror story), in a remote little farming community and dealing with devastating themes like retaliation, betrayal of God and the arrival of the Grim Reaper himself! This is stuff that I crave to see more in horror movies. Personally, and as objectively as I can be, I think "A Day of Judgment" is an admirable and undeservedly neglected movie. The pacing is incredibly slow and the complete lack of financial means is a gigantic restraint, but the essence of the film – the most rudimentary aim – is truly original and impressive. The story opens with the reverend of a small community leaving town, mainly because he's embarrassed of his parishioners. On the edge of town he crosses his successor, and he's none less than the Angel of Death, sent by God himself and wielding a giant scythe of justice. The most fascinating aspect of the script is that our reaper meets with "traditional" sinners. We're not talking about terrorists or drug dealers, but good old-fashioned despicable yokels! Nasty old ladies that poison the pets of innocent children, fat and greedy bank managers that put humble farmers out of business, adulterous wives and treacherous employees and snobbish adolescents disrespecting their parents. Admittedly these stories aren't always too spectacular and come across as extremely outdated by now, but especially seen in their 1920's religious context, I really found them quite unsettling and scary. I'm also the first person to admit that the character of the Grim Reaper is dreadfully underused. Here they have a genuinely scary villain, complete with powerful weapon and deformed face, and yet the makers oddly decided to only show very brief flashes of him. The murder sequences are also poorly shot, or sometimes not even shown at all, and most of the cast members clearly never did any professional acting before. But, seriously, these are all minor defaults that are directly linked to the budgetary restrictions and inexperienced director. What this movie needs is some script re-writes (particularly towards the ending… The ending downright sucked and narrowly ruined the entire movie), a couple of wealthy producers and a proper horror marketing campaign. Honestly, why is Hollywood remaking perfectly good horror classics, like "Nightmare on Elm Street" or "The Omen", while there are so many obscure and long- forgotten gems that are begging for a modern makeover?

From Earl Owensby, the North Carolina-based producer / distributor of various independent horror & exploitation pictures of the 70s & 80s, comes this interesting, well-intentioned film. It takes place in a rural town in the 30s, and the local pastor (played by the director, Charles Reynolds) is packing up and leaving because he feels that he's failed to inspire the citizens. And these citizens are a pretty rotten lot, committing some of the seven deadly sins and basically being unpleasant to be around. Then a mysterious character in black begins materializing and punishing them for their sins.

'A Day of Judgment' is more of a melodrama, that spends a lot of time detailing these characters' lives, than true horror film. Touches of supernatural horror only come along at select points, although the finale does get pretty dark. The film is light on gore, although there is one highly amusing decapitation. A good part of the appeal lies in the hope that we will see some of these despicable people get the comeuppance waiting for them: a grouchy old widow (Helene Tryon), a stereotypical, greedy banker (William T. Hicks), adulterers (Larry Sprinkle, Careyanne Sutton), a paranoid drunk (Brownlee Davis) who feels persecuted, etc. The no-name cast is generally pretty good, especially those playing the less-than-honorable individuals. The film is also well-made, and atmospheric, but goes on a little long, losing a little momentum during its final third. It may test the patience of some viewers who hope for more actual horror during the run time. But it IS worth watching, especially for those people who like discovering genre entries like this that are a little more off-the-beaten-path. It's up to the individual viewer how much they respond to the way that the story is resolved.

Jerry Rushing, who plays the Sheriff, was also the coach in the slasher "Final Exam"; in real-life, he helped to inspire the main characters in the feature "Moonrunners" and the subsequent series 'The Dukes of Hazzard'.

Six out of 10.

IMDb erroneously lists Christopher Reynolds as the director of Day of Judgment. The actual director is Charles Reynolds (C.D.H. Reynolds), no relation to Christopher Reynolds. I contacted the site some years ago about this, but they seem loathe to correct the mistake. IMDb also lists the filming location as Wilmington, NC. The film was actually one of many made at Earl Owensby's studios (E.O. Corp) in Shelby, NC, in the western part of the state, hours from Wilmington. Presumably the mistake is that Wilmington would later enjoy something of a filming boom, but this has no relation to the film or to the E.O. Corp. User reviews have consistently commented on the lousy ending. Here's the real story. The original screenplay had a different ending that avoided the horror genre, and was prompted by the recent success of a Johnny Cash film that was playing well on the church circuit. But when the shooting phase was complete, and C.D.H. Reynolds (director) had left town, the marketing department determined that the film really needed to be a horror film to be successful. Following this decision, a different director was quickly brought in to re-film a horror ending.

A series of vignettes relates how a group of townspeople during the 1920's have strayed from God. The Grim Reaper turns up and cuts them down to size. Slow at times and the ending is a bit preachy but I enjoyed it. I liked the scene where the banker got his comeuppance after being locked in a cold cellar. The cast is made up of regulars from the EO Corp studio.

Billed as a horror film in the midst of the slasher cycle, A Day of Judgement can't help but disappoint anyone expecting a straightforward horror flick and it's easy to understand why it's still struggling to find an audience all these years later.

It's like a silly Christian scare film crossed with A Christmas Carol about a bunch of small town sinners in the 1920's being given karmic justice in the form of a grim reaper-esque black cloaked figure who gets them pulled into hell by zombie-like hands or decapitates them.

Performances are spirited and it's not a badly made film in the technical sense, but not much is really going on and the most interesting subplot (there are many!) involves the younger wife of a town businessman carrying on an affair with one of her husband's employees.