El Día de la bestia (The Day of the Beast) (1999)
El Día de la bestia (The Day of the Beast) Photos
Movie Info
Watch it now
Cast
as The Priest
as Professor Cavan
as Jose Maria
as Rosario
as Mina
as Old Priest
as TV Producer
as Susana
Critic Reviews for El Día de la bestia (The Day of the Beast)
All Critics (12) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (3) | DVD (1)
This second feature by naughty Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia turns out to be a splendidly blasphemous horror-comedy about nothing less than the birth of the Antichrist.
At two hours, the gore is thick but the fun is spread thin. Gallows humour is the order of the day, though nobody seems to have realised that black comedy is still required to be funny.
It's de la Iglesia's wicked sense of humor that proves to be the picture's greatest strength.
The film is aware that the plot points are absurd, and de la Iglesia visually tells the story as if it were a mean spirited comic book, but it all plays straight, with no irritating winking.
Its mildly blasphemous subject matter, weak special effects, and at times murky storyline make it a tough sell to mainstream audiences anywhere.
One key difference between the film industries in America and Spain: America would never honor a horror comedy with multiple Oscar wins, let alone nominations.
Audience Reviews for El Día de la bestia (The Day of the Beast)
hilarious, like a subversive ghostbusters, with great committed performances by alex angulo as the mad priest and especially santiago segura as a heavy metal fan enlisted to help prevent the apocalypse
Super Reviewer
Exceptional dark comedy from Almodóvar protegé, Alex de la Iglesia. Shocking, violent and hilarious, EL DIA DE LA BESTIA is endlessly entertaining. De la Iglesia takes a classic formula and sets it in Madrid to interesting results. Alex Angulo, Santiago Segura and Armando de Razza play a triad of unique characters that compliment each other perfectly, bringing the amazing story by De la Iglesia and Jorge Guerricaechevarría to life.
Super Reviewer
How has this film been around for 14 years without me hearing of it? This is exactly my cup of tea. Original, funny, exciting and dark. The Day of the Beast is about a priest that begins committing sins so that he can contact Satan and trick him into revealing the future birth place of the Antichrist. Thus, allowing him to kill the child and prevent the apocalypse. The film begins with our "hero", a very loose term as he must be evil to save the world, doing stuff such as stealing change from beggars, pushing mimes off high platforms and keying peoples cars. As the end of days approaches, his acts become even more dark, but are always handled with a dark sense of humour. On his way he picks up two followers and the three of them create a very memorable cinematic trio. The film succeeds with a spot-on tone. It's never cheesy, too far-fetched or too serious. It knows when to drive the plot forward and when to sit back and have some fun. It also has some kickass music and memorable death scenes.
Super Reviewer
El Día de la bestia (The Day of the Beast) Quotes
There are no approved quotes yet for this movie.