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DAY OF THE BEAST

A PRIEST TEAMS UP WITH SOME SINNERS TO CONJURE THE DEVIL ON CHRISTMAS EVE



★★★★★ (A Must-See)

Director: Álex de la Iglesia

1995


A man who is dying on the street smiles as a tiny priest in a beret approaches him. The priest whispers in his ear, “I hope you rot in hell” before stealing his wallet and waddling off, and this is just one of the many laugh-out-loud moments in The Day of the Beast (El día de la bestia), a violent and comedic romp through Madrid, Spain on the eve of the apocalypse. Only one man stands between Satan’s rising and that is Father Ángel Berriartúa (Álex Angulo), a diminutive and soft-spoken theology professor who commits as many atrocities as he can in order to summon the beast and sacrifice his soul to save the world on Christmas Eve. The devil is coming, the priest just doesn’t know what time or where. The man’s sinning-spree includes listening to Iron Maiden, keying cars, and teaming up with two oddballs: Satanic music-lover and gentle giant José María (Santiago Segura) and Professor Cavan (Armando De Razza), a rich shyster with a popular occult TV show that claims to know the future. The Day of the Beast is an action-packed ride through a city that already looks like it has succumbed to the sinners despite the Christmas decorations and festivities, and that’s the beauty of this film—the wondering whether it’s even worth the effort to trick Satan into leaving.



After meeting in a record store and bonding over Satanic lyrics, Father Berriartúa goes to stay at José María’s mother’s hostel. The two men have tried everything they can think of to lure the devil to them—including playing records backwards—and are frustrated to have reached a dead end with only hours left to succeed. Cue Professor Cavan, who is not a professor, just a preening TV personality taking calls live on the air on his TV show. Everyone in the country loves him and wants him to predict their future, but Father Berriartúa believes he’s the perfect person to show him and José María how to get Satan to make an appearance and accept the priest’s soul. The two conspirators surprise Professor Cavan at his house and kidnap him, but can they convince him to go along with their scheme before dawn? The ticking clock is always in the back of our minds while unforgettable set-pieces distract us right up to the epic battle between good and evil that delivers everything you were hoping for.


SPOILERS Gruesome violence and sight gags are evened out in The Day of the Beast by serious sociopolitical issues centering the plot. Madrid may be a vibrant city, but it’s also one in chaos. The homeless are burned to death by ruffians who graffiti “Clean Up Madrid” above their bodies. Citizens step over dead people when getting milk from the store. Even before Satan does his thing, we’ve already gotten a glimpse into a world that isn’t far from hell, which makes Father Berriartúa such a hero—he sees all this and still believes it deserves rescuing. His purity of heart gives his petty crimes an aura of wholesomeness, and no matter how you interpret the ending, one thing is certain: Father Berriartúa and his friends did save Madrid from evil on Christmas Eve.





GENRES: Apocalyptic, Funny, Monster/Creature


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