Le Jour de la bête

As films like "Perdita Durango" prove, Spanish director Álex De La Iglesia is a specialist for macabre humor. One of his earlier films, "El Dia De La Bestia" aka. "The Day Of The Beast" of 1995 is a perfect example for this director's talent, a macabre and hilarious black horror comedy that entertains highly from the beginning to the end. A catholic priest (Álex Angulo) goes to Madrid in order to prevent the birth of the Antichrist, which he believes to take place there on Christmas Day. In order to find the exact place where the Antichrist is to be born, the kind-hearted priest is forced to commit 'Sins', and furthermore associates with the surprisingly friendly Death-Meal lover and Satanist Jose Maria (Santiago Segura)... Angulo and Segura both fit very well in their roles, especially Angulo is very hilarious as the priest. Armando De Razza is furthermore great, and hilarious as Cavan, a hypocritical TV psychic. Director De La Iglesia did a great job making this film a hilarious Horror-comedy and still maintaining a dark and somehow gloomy atmosphere. If you like satirical Horror, make sure not to miss "El Dia De La Bestia", and enjoy 100 minutes of macabre humor and originality. Highly Recommended!

I have become increasingly dissatisfied with most of Hollywood's output, horror or otherwise. Too many movies are either highly cynical commercial products, aimed at teenagers with no discernment or real love of movies, compromised messes that please no-one, stale rehashes of previous works, or just plain STUPID. 'The Day Of The Beast' is none of these things! I was almost put off by the packaging with it's description of a "horror action comedy", expecting some kind of juvenile 'Army Of Darkness' crap (a movie I have no time for). Surprisingly, it DOES have horror, action and comedy, but blends them in original and exciting ways Hollywood hasn't dreamed of. Just compare this to recent supernatural themed thrillers like the brain-dead 'End Of Days' or 'Stigmata', and you'll see that director Alex de la Iglesia is working on a much more intelligent and provocative level.

'The Day Of The Beast' concerns a naive priest's attempts to summon Satan so that he can try and prevent the birth of the Antichrist and Armageddon. He befriends a hilarious acid-gobbling Metal fan (the wonderful Santiago Segura), and with the reluctant assistance of the host of a TV show dealing with the paranormal, the two comrades bumble through a series of adventures while trying to complete their task. The whacky humour and general silliness is balanced with a genuinely dark vision of Madrid and this is what gives this movie such a unique flavour. It juggles comedy, horror and social criticism marvellously, and never loses sight of it's themes of faith, evil and moral responsibility.

I can't recommend this movie highly enough as the antidote to the onslaught of contemporary asinine horror and fantasy movies. Make sure you track down the original undubbed Spanish version to fully appreciate it. 'The Day Of The Beast' ranks up with Mexico's 'Cronos' and Canada's 'Ginger Snaps' as one of the most imaginative and original horror movies of the last ten years. Don't miss it!

Holy schmoley! How did this movie ever escape me? - I couldn't believe that it was made 17 years ago, and I've never even heard of it. Thank goodness for Pirate Bay or I never would have. What a great blend of story, characters, humor, and of course being on "a mission from God!" I'm buying this one. I wonder why it hasn't been picked up yet by American producers. You know, like they did with "The Grudge", "Dark Water", and a host of others. I'm kinda glad they didn't. They would probably screw it up. - Along with the priest the fabulous sidekick Jose Maria. - I'd love to see these two together again. - Anyway, it you haven't seen this yet, hunt it down and enjoy. If you don't it might just be the "end of the world."

Over a year ago I accidentally bought Day of the Beast off Ebay with no subs. Finally after a long wait I got the chance to check out this flick, and what a damn shame I wasn't more safe when buying it the first time, because this was a really good flick.

El Dia De La Bestia is a comedy/horror/action hybrid that really meshes on a level that few movies have. It's Xmas Eve and a Priest, Metalhead and a TV Host band together to try stop the Anti-Christ from being born. Sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it's the truth and these guys go through some ridiculous stuff trying to accomplish their goal. The acting, cinematography, directing and especially the screen play were all great. The writing was fast, realistic and smart, just like how the movie played out. Day of the Beast has barely has any dull scenes, it's funny, and moves at a pretty fast pace. I suppose it's not gonna be everyone's cup of tea, but hell, for me, there's nothing in it worth complaining about.

I really hope this film gets more popular, because it definitely has the opportunity to have a large fan base. Hopefully someday it will get some more recognition and you'll be seeing it in Best Buys and so on. And the best part is the director has many more flicks that are supposed to be just as good. If you're looking for a plain old good flick, look no further, Day of the Beast is it.

A complete cult film in Spain.

I think Alex is one of the most original talents in nowadays cinema. And not only in Spain, all over the world.

You have to realize what it means to issue such a film, and what a danger you take. How he uses black humour and keeps tension on every scene is incredible. And he has shown that in every one of his films, specially in The perfect crime (a pearl of how to use black humour), 800 bullets and Common Wealth. These are films to take with an open mind, no previous thoughts of what are you going to find. I'm still surprised at each one of his new films.

A masterpiece, but not a film for everybody.