The Day of the Beast

Toronto International Film Festival Program Guide
1995

El dia de la bestia | The Day of the Beast
Alex de la Iglesia
SPAIN/ITALY, 1995
103 minutes Colour/35mm
Production Company: Sogetel/ Iberoamericana/M.G. SRL
Executive Producer: Andres Vicente Gomez
Producer: Carmen Martinez
Screenplay: Jorge Guerricaechevarria, Alex de la Iglesia
Cinematographer: Flavio Martinez Labiano
Editor: Teresa Font
Production Designer: Jose Luis Arrizabalaga, Biaffra
Effects: Reyes Abades, Jose Antonio Sanchez, Daiquiri
Sound: Gilles Ortion
Principal Cast: Alex Angulo, Armando de Razza, Santiago Segura, Terele Pavez, Nathalie Sesefa, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Gianni Ippoliti, Saturnino Garcia

Brimming with perverse violence, crazed speed metal, outrageous effects and vulgarity on every imaginable level, The Day of the Beast is simply the most transgressive film to emerge from Europe in recent memory. It fulfils the promise of director Alex de la Iglesia’s first film, the outstanding Accion Mutante, and, with the help of an outstanding production team and a big wad of cash, takes his twisted visions to another demented dimension. It is December 24. No one knows the evil that lurks in the shadows except Father Angel Berriatua, professor of theology at the University of Deusto. Twenty-five years of studying the Apocalypse according to Saint John has led him to one startling conclusion: the Antichrist will be born on Christmas Day, 1995, in Madrid, before daybreak. Trouble is, the priest does not know the exact place where the birth will happen. So he decides to get in touch with his evil side and do some crimes. This, presumably, will lead him to the captains of mundane sin and, eventually, the baby Satan. Armed to the teeth and fuelled by the musical suggestions of Jose Maria, a young death metal fan, the priest quixotically sets out, with the help of a TV psychic, on a life of debauchery and iniquity. Larded with screamingly funny black humour and some deeply sick slaughtering, The Day of the Beast is never less than completely entertaining. Alex Angulo is a twinkling, mercurial presence in the role of the aging priest, but the real stars are de la Iglesia’s team of effects specialists, and his cameraman, Flavio Martinez Labiano, who create surreal (but absolutely credible) worlds and the creatures that populate them.
—Noah Cowan