El día de la bestia (1995)

El día de la bestia: Directed by Álex de la Iglesia. With Álex Angulo, Armando De Razza, Santiago Segura, Terele Pávez. Bent on committing as many sins as possible to avert the birth of the beast, a Catholic priest teams up with a Black Metal aficionado and an Italian connoisseur of the occult. Now, he must become an unrelenting sinner. Is there still hope?

“I have become increasingly dissatisfied with most of Hollywoodu0026#39;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. u0026#39;The Day Of The Beastu0026#39; is none of these things! I was almost put off by the packaging with itu0026#39;s description of a u0026quot;horror action comedyu0026quot;, expecting some kind of juvenile u0026#39;Army Of Darknessu0026#39; 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 hasnu0026#39;t dreamed of. Just compare this to recent supernatural themed thrillers like the brain-dead u0026#39;End Of Daysu0026#39; or u0026#39;Stigmatau0026#39;, and youu0026#39;ll see that director Alex de la Iglesia is working on a much more intelligent and provocative level.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026#39;The Day Of The Beastu0026#39; concerns a naive priestu0026#39;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 itu0026#39;s themes of faith, evil and moral responsibility.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI canu0026#39;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. u0026#39;The Day Of The Beastu0026#39; ranks up with Mexicou0026#39;s u0026#39;Cronosu0026#39; and Canadau0026#39;s u0026#39;Ginger Snapsu0026#39; as one of the most imaginative and original horror movies of the last ten years. Donu0026#39;t miss it!”