A Day of Judgment Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

A Day of Judgment Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 24, 2021

Once again, the "synchronicity gods" are being quite active in a certain reviewer's queue. Just a few days ago Arrow's release of Death Screams was at the top of the pile, and some of the supplements on that disc get into "regional" moviemaking in the United States, specifically North Carolina in that case. Among the people featured in the supplements on Death Screams is the interestingly named Worth Keeter, who handled some of that film's special effects and/or makeup effects (despite evidently not receiving an actual credit, at least according to the IMDb). Fans of a certain franchise which includes titles like Power Rangers in Space may actually recognize Keeter's name, as that franchise has provided him with regular employment through the years, according to his IMDb credits page. Keeter is also back at least for a moment or two on Severin Films' Blu-ray release of A Day of Judgment, in a brief supplemental interview that is described in some introductory text as having been culled from a forthcoming longer featurette Severin is working on. While it's perhaps ironically hilarious that Keeter evidently wasn't credited for reshoots on A Day of Judgment either, there's even more information on the North Carolina film industry offered via his comments and an interesting overview by Stephen Thrower also included on the disc as a bonus item. In this particular instance, North Carolina was once again the location for the shoot, but A Day of Judgment also was one of the films produced by a guy named Earl Owensby, and many of the interiors for A Day of Judgment were evidently shot at Owensby's E.O. Studios in Shelby, North Carolina. Owensby (who seems to still be among the living as this review is being written) seems like he was something of a self made mover and shaker, raising funds to shoot admittedly low budgeted fare which more than a few times offered Owensby himself substantial acting roles. E.O. Studios only put out a relatively few films under its own banner through the years, but it has entered the annals of film trivia fame due to the fact that Owensby kind of remarkably ended up purchasing an abandoned nuclear plant in Gaffney, North Carolina, which ultimately provided the location for the immense tank utilized in James Cameron's The Abyss.

One of the interesting things that comes out in the supplements included on this disc is the fact that Earl Owensby was evidently a fairly devout man, to the point that it took a while for his creative staff to convince him to allow things like swear words in his films. That may help to explain the "old school" fire and brimstone subtext that suffuses A Day of Judgment, a film whose very title seems to suggest religious retribution. In terms of the plotting, it's actually fairly minimal and rather vignette driven, depicting a (seeming?) Depression Era southern burg where Christian belief has fallen by the wayside, leaving the local church sparsely populated on Sundays. When Reverend Cage (Charles Reynolds, who also directed) decides to leave the town, he sees a mysterious cloaked figure arriving who looks suspiciously like the Grim Reaper.

A Day of Judgment doesn't exactly go what might be called the Se7en route in terms of overtly offering "deadly sins", but it does document a number of very bad behaviors, including cheating (both monetarily and romantically), lying, usury and even the dastardly poisoning of a pet goat. It's interesting to note that in the brief supplement featuring Worth Keeter, he mentions having to reshoot a bunch of the film to make some of the material more visceral, since original director C.D.H. Reynolds evidently went a somewhat "soft" route in terms of showing sinners getting their comeuppance.

As it turns out, even Keeter's rejiggering didn't alter a different kind of "cheat" the film itself relies on in its closing moments, which seems awfully close to Scrooge territory in terms of "warnings" given via dreams and/or visions which lead to salvation.

A Day of Judgment Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Day of Judgment is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The back cover of this release touts that this is "the worldwide Blu-ray premiere" of this title and that it has been "scanned in 2K from the IP for the first time ever". The results here are a bit variable at times, but at their best look rather good, considering what a low budget cult item this is. In the best lit moments, the palette is quite appealingly robust and detail levels are generally quite commendable. There are some issues with grain resolution in some of the darker moments or occasional opticals (as in the opening credits sequence), where things can look more than a bit pixellated, with what almost look like yellow and blue chroma anomalies swarming through the frame (see screenshot 6 and pay special attention the the minister's face). There's also slight but recurrent damage, mostly in the form of small scratches and/or nicks, some of which can be spotted in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. My score is 3.75.

A Day of Judgment Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Day of Judgment features a fine sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that may not be a "wow" track in terms of sonically spectacular offerings, but which features solid, consistent fidelity and problem free renderings of dialogue, effects and score. Optional English subtitles are available.

A Day of Judgment Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Atheist's Sins (HD; 17:47) is a really interesting overview with Stephen Thrower, who gets into some of the history of the North Carolina regional film scene and Earl Owensby in particular.


• Tales of Judgment (HD; 3:57) is a brief snippet from what is described as a forthcoming longer piece which includes short interviews with filmmaker Worth Keeter and writer Thom McIntyre.

A Day of Judgment Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Day of Judgment is an interesting morality play that might have had more impact if the characters were a bit better developed and their fates were perhaps even more gruesomely documented. Still, this has a surprising sheen for such a low budget affair, and fans of "regional filmmaking" may want to check it out despite its kind of lo-fi ambience. Technical merits are generally solid, and the Thrower supplement in particular quite interesting, for those who are considering making a purchase.