End of Days (1999)

At the end of the century, Satan visits New York in search of a bride. It's up to an ex-cop who now runs an elite security outfit to stop him.

Director:

Peter Hyams

Writer:

Andrew W. Marlowe

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne, Robin Tunney

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Jericho Cane
Gabriel Byrne	...	The Man / Satan
Robin Tunney	...	Christine York
Kevin Pollak	...	Bobby Chicago
CCH Pounder	...	Detective Margie Francis
Derrick O'Connor	...	Thomas Aquinas
David Weisenberg	...	OB-GYN
Rainer Judd	...	Christine's Mother
Miriam Margolyes	...	Mabel
Udo Kier	...	Head Priest
Victor Varnado	...	Albino
Michael O'Hagan	...	Cardinal
Mark Margolis	...	Pope
Jack Shearer	...	Kellogg
Rod Steiger	...	Father Kovak

Storyline

On December 28th, 1999, the citizens of New York City are getting ready for the turn of the millennium. However, the Devil decides to crash the party by coming to the city, inhabiting a man's body, and searching for his chosen bride, a 20-year-old woman named Christine York. [If he bears her child between 11:00 PM and midnight on New Year's Eve], the world will end, and the only hope lies within an atheist ex-cop named Jericho Cane, who no longer believes in God because of the murder of his wife and daughter.

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Plot Keywords:

millennium | atheist | ex cop | priest | new year's eve | 

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Taglines:

On the eve of the millenium an ex-cop torn by loss must regain his faith in order to quell the end of days.

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for intense violence and gore, a strong sex scene and language

Details

Official Sites:

Universal [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

24 November 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

El día final

Filming Locations:

Altadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$83,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,370,017 (UK) (10 December 1999)

Gross:

$66,862,068 (USA) (3 March 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beacon Communications

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was the last movie to be pressed in the laserdisc format in the United States.

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Goofs

In talking about the End of Days, Father John says that the Gregorian Monks created the Gregorian Calendar in order to be able to correctly identify when the Apocalypse was going to happen (1999). In reality, there is no such monastic order as the Gregorian Monks. The Gregorian calendar was actually named for Pope Gregory XIII, who was Pope when the calendar was first implemented in 1582. The calendar was adopted because the old Julian calendar was slightly too long, and the date of Easter was slowly drifting forward.

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Quotes

[after sniffing Jericho]
Satan's Blind Gatekeeper: You have much hatred and vengeance in your heart... you may pass.

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Connections

Referenced in The Ring Two (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Slow"
Written by Roman Marisak, Jeff Schartoff
Performed by Professional Murder Music

User Reviews

Arnie vs. Satan

Arnold peaked at the end of the '90s, I guess. He's battled Terminators, Greek gods, bears, alligators, planes, and macho men in fish net clothing. The only choice left is, of course, Satan. So they put together a movie about Satan and gave Arnie the lead.

I think everyone working on this thought it would be much better than it actually is. The script was in development for years and Arnie fought to get it made. It's kind of unfortunate because Arnold gives a fairly decent performance in a film muddled with clichés. Of course, it's hard enough to buy a guy with a body like Arnold being a slob who drinks beer and pizza smoothees for breakfast. Getting someone like Jim Belushi might have seemed more realistic.

Apart from the physicality, Arnold's performance is fine. He cries. He does the emotion scenes well enough - at least well enough to find bearable.

It's the direction that ruins this movie. Peter Hyams is a terrible director and has ruined some very unique films in the past (his most notorious butchering in my opinion was of a 1983 Michael Douglas film called "The Star Chamber" - great premise, awful directing).

"End of Days" is like "Exorcist" meets every supernatural thriller ever made. On top of that, Gabriel Byrne should be more menacing. Robin Tunney should be less butch-looking. The direction shouldn't feel like some low-grade TV commercial - all style, no substance.

Is the movie terrible? No. It's not as bad as everyone made it out to be. But it's pretty much the definition of "mediocre." Do I own it on DVD? Hell yeah. It's an Arnold movie - it's an automatic must-buy. But if you're not a fan of Arnie, I wouldn't recommend it - at all. It pretty much feels like any average made-for-TV scary-flick - with even worse direction.

The only other good aspect of this film was that it brought Axl Rose out of seclusion to record his first original song in seven years with a new incarnation of Guns N' Roses. The song, "Oh My God," didn't do too well with the critics. A bit of a shame, really. I dug it. It also fits the industrial, edgy tone of the film.