The Day of the Beast (1995)

 I realize that horror fans my age of 43 or in that vicinity often talk the gloom and doom of the 90s as a decade of horror then I watch de la Iglesia's El día de la bestia and start to question that assessment. Perhaps it takes investigation and pursuit. I'm still processing the experience so a detailed analysis is forthcoming.

The synopsis as I could tell: a priest and teacher of theology "uses math" to find the answers he needs in the bible to determine a mission to halt the incoming apocalypse, thwart the Devil, and make sure the AntiChrist doesn't emerge on Christmas. This priest (Álex Angulo) tells a fellow priest he must appeal to the devil, sin and offer his soul to him, embarking on this delirious quest to defeat him by getting close enough through methods of "persuasion", eventually conducting a sojourn through Madrid, joining forces inexplicably with a heavy metal enthusiast / occult store employee (Santiago Segura) and eventually (after holding him captive in his own lavish home!) a popular television personality (Armando de Razza), recognized for his pop culture paranormal show! This unlikely trio actually goes through a series of madcap adventures through Madrid involving a Nostradamus scholar, apartment complex super (Terele Pávez, the mother of Segura), a fellow tenant (Nathalie Seseña, whose virgin blood becomes highly important to Angulo), the girlfriend of de Razza (Maria Grazia Cucinotta, who gets around surprisingly well in a tight, curve-hugging dress, latch stockings, and stilettos), and a gang of thugs (spray-painting graffiti on buildings, setting hobos on fire, and pummeling folks that are in their way).

Now the film is just this explosion of energy from Álex de la Iglesia, with a pace that won't quit, a creative and innovative use of Catholicism and Christianity (and especially Satanism) to tell an absurd story driven by what appears to be a priest gone completely and totally mad, with one chaotic and exhilarating setpiece after another. The scene involving Angulo pursuing the blood of Seseña while Pávez believes he is trying to harm her, pursuing the priest with a shotgun in hand (one shot through a bed taking off some of his ear!), as Pávez eventually takes a bad drop down the stairs (and hangs herself) is incredible. Another scene has Devil appearing to the film's trio in the form of a black goat, eventually "standing up" and "barking" at them in what could just be a hallucinatory vision is bonkers but a real trip. Whether or not the trio actually follows clues and stops the Antichrist from coming is up to the viewer...but how the thugs who set the bum on fire (while wearing the shirt of a band called Satanis) become involved could encourage doubt in what the viewer sees as opposed to what the priest, metal-head, and pop culture occultist believes. It is up to the viewer to interpret the results of the story. Opinions will vary, and this could either enhance or undermine the experience.

If anything else, much like New York or LA can often become a character in a film, so does Madrid, in my opinion, with how de la Iglesia makes sure the city is very much important to his story. The priest is ALL OVER Madrid in the film, committing startling acts in order to encourage a "contract" with Satan, such as pushing a mime off his perch into a subway entrance/exit, stealing from vagrants collecting donations, sneaking off with a man's luggage, smacking a bookstore manager's face with an iron in order to confiscate de Razza's popular book on Satanism, and chasing an occult "expert" on advice on how to locate the Devil's precise whereabouts. Holding de Razza hostage with help from Segura and eventually gaining their alliance on his journey serve as unbelievable developments only a genius like de la Iglesia could orchestrate in such an unpredictable and surreal tour de force. The giant cross falling on a priest planning to accompany Angulo on his quest inside the church lets you know immediately that de la Iglesia's film would be quite the wild ride. The way the camera captures the action, how this whole accumulation of shock and awe mayhem is edited and put together, and the slapstick nature of Angulo's every move from one situation to the other (for instance, how his endangered life seems to avoid certain death while others aren't so lucky); this entire Satanic horror comedy set at Christmas time (and is anything but a Christmas film, as the father of kids claiming Santa arrived in their home gets punched out while the mother looks on in confusion) barely takes a breath. 

One scene has Angulo, in his priest "uniform", moving about a heavy metal shindig, snatching off a necklace, beaten by patrons among the manic moshpit, carried into a bathroom, and hurled head-first into a porcelain sink that breaks! Angulo and Cucinotta in de Razza's apartment in chase, and Angulo, Segura, and de Razza outside the fancier apartment of de Razza with onlookers on the street held transfixed by their dangerous ledge walk are further examples of the film's insanity. 4.5/5

How at first de Razza is dismissive of Angulo's mission, only to eventually join him, with a game Segura all in and never wavering, is quite a story evolution that would seem improbable, but in the skilled hands of de la Iglesia, The Day of the Beast just somehow works despite every reason not to.