The Day of the Beast (1995)
"El día de la bestia" (original title)

A basque priest finds by means of a cabalistic study of the bible that the anti-christ is going to be born on Christmas day in Madrid. Helped by a heavy-metal fan and by the showman of a TV... See full summary »

Director:

Álex de la Iglesia

Writers:

Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Álex de la Iglesia

Stars:

Álex Angulo, Armando De Razza, Santiago Segura

15 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Álex Angulo	...	Cura (as Alex Angulo)
Armando De Razza	...	Cavan
Santiago Segura	...	José María
Terele Pávez	...	Rosario (as Terele Pavez)
Nathalie Seseña	...	Mina
Maria Grazia Cucinotta	...	Susana
Gianni Ippoliti	...	Productor
Jaime Blanch	...	Toyota 1
David Pinilla	...	Toyota 2
Antonio Dechent	...	Toyota 3
Ignacio Carreño	...	Toyota 4
Saturnino García	...	Sacerdote Anciano (as Saturnino Garcia)
El Gran Wyoming	...	Nuevo Cavan (as Gran Wyoming)
Pololo	...	Abuelo Terminal
Higinio Barbero	...	Satán

Storyline

A basque priest finds by means of a cabalistic study of the bible that the anti-christ is going to be born on Christmas day in Madrid. Helped by a heavy-metal fan and by the showman of a TV esoteric program, he will try to invoke the devil to find out the place of birth and kill the baby.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | devil | priest | heavy metal | catholic priest | 

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Taglines:

A devilishly dark comedy

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong brutal violence, language, drug use and brief nudity

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

23 December 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Day of the Beast

Filming Locations:

Aránzazu, Euskadi, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

€2,100,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$6,479 (USA) (25 December 1998)

Gross:

$15,324 (USA) (1 January 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+ España, Iberoamericana Films Producción, Sociedad General de Televisión (Sogetel)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Early in the film the priest hands a piece of paper to José María that reads "-Napalm Dez -Iron Meiden -Hace de Cé", this could be a reference to the spanish pronunciation of metal bands Napalm Death, Iron Maiden and AC/DC.

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Goofs

The last scene takes place nine months after Christmas, but the flowers and trees in the park show that it's early spring.

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Crazy Credits

Jaime Blanch's, David Pinilla's, Antonio Dechent's and Ignacio Carreño's characters are listed as "Toyota". These characters were replaced in later drafts of the scripts as "assailants". In the movie, they are called "Limpia Madrid", but credits still call them "Toyota."

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Connections

References The Omen (1976)

User Reviews

ONE OF THE COOLEST FILMS EVER

Alex de la Iglesia has got to be one of the coolest directors ever. I liked Accion Mutante but I LOVED Day of the beast. It is a shame this movie has not been played in america because it's one of the best movies in a long time. It's funny...very funny if you have a weird type of humor. It's not really bloody and gory like people have stated but some scenes have a shock value to them. Visually Day of the Beast is wonderful it's darkley filmed and has cool production designes. The actors for the most part do a good job only sometimes they go a little over the top. The only thing wrong is that this movie begins to run out of steam at the end and the ending is kinda confusing and when satan appears it's a let down. But all in all a cool movie and a good time.......if only our awards were like spain's