The Day of the Beast 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

The Day of the Beast 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 15, 2021

Severin Films has long been the purveyor of some interesting cult releases, including everything from the Russian film Viy to the decidedly more American (for better or worse) Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection, and they're now beginning to enter the 4K UHD market with this release and the simultaneous 4K and 1080 release of Perdita Durango 4K. Both of these films are rather fascinating efforts from co- writer and director Álex de la Iglesia, though of the two, Day of the Beast may be at least a little more accessible, since it offers its black (mass?) comedy a bit more overtly than Perdita Durango. Day of the Beast revolves around a priest and theology professor rather ironically named Ángel Berriartúa (Álex Angulo), who reveals in the film's opening scene that he has "cracked the code" of the apocalyptic elements of the Bible (one assumes he's talking about the book of Revelation, though it's not explicitly detailed) and that he has a plan to prevent the Antichrist from appearing. Kind of weirdly, that plan involves Ángel proceeding to sin inordinately, and after a sight gag involving another priest listening to Ángel's intense announcement about his "mission", the film then documents several vignettes of a supposed "holy Father" engaging in a variety of less than honorable activities. Already The Day of the Beast is off on a rather provocative, and what some "true believers" may find a potentially objectionable, course, and it only gets more bizarre from there.

Not all of the underlying "reasoning" for Ángel's choices is actually explained, and so there's a certain "go with the flow" sensibility The Day of the Beast requires, including the almost random meeting Ángel has with a record store employee named José María (Santiago Segura), who, despite being a rather sweet natured dude, albeit a Satanist, is introduced beating the living daylights out of a suspected shoplifter. That turns out to be kind of ironic, in that one of the next scenes documents Ángel attempting to steal a book from a bookstore. In any case, José María first introduces Ángel to supposedly demonic inspired death metal, then invites Ángel to a concert by a local Satanist band, and just for good measure tells Ángel that his mother runs a boarding house where he can stay.

Ángel is convinced the Antichrist is due on Christmas Eve, the next day in the film's chronology, and when he keeps getting what he assumes are divinely inspired "messages" he sees broadcast by a TV charlatan named Cavan (Armando Da Razza), he decides he needs Cavan's help, and promptly ends up taking the hapless huckster hostage. Cavan, beaten bloody and near senseless by Ángel (the film offers a number of patently hilarious moments of Ángel just decking people with a variety of blunt objects), turns out to actually have salient information for Ángel (and José María, who has joined in the "merriment", if that's the right word). That leads to the film's completely gonzo finale, which is either a showdown with the Devil himself or perhaps merely an LSD laced hallucination.

There's a definitely cheeky ambience to a lot of The Day of the Beast, with perhaps obvious jokes like Ángel desperately trying to find an actual virgin to extract blood from, mixed with a slight horror aspect that is displayed mostly in the head and facial wounds several characters endure as the story progresses. (There is one absolutely shocking moment where José María's mother beheads a rabbit she's getting ready to cook, in what was probably intentionally meant to deliver an adrenaline boost.) The comedy here is often combined with a generous dose of discomfort, but despite the Satanic undertones of the entire proceeding, it's actually kind of remarkable how (very much like the character of José María) sweet natured and good hearted a lot of the film is.

The Day of the Beast 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 Blu-ray. Additional screenshots of that version are available accompanying our The Day of the Beast Blu-ray review.

The Day of the Beast is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Severin Films with a 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. The press sheet Severin included with this disc states this was "restored in 4K from the original negative". Severin has sometimes encountered some wobbly encodes, but the good news here is both the 1080 and 2160 versions of the film look largely great. There's a certain "lo-fi" ambience to a lot of The Day of the Beast that is probably not helped by the increased resolution of the 4K UHD version, notably some of the optical effects in the last act, and some of the deliberately "low res" supposed television stuff featuring Cavan, but on the whole the 4K presentation here offers nice detail levels and noticeably improved shadow detail from the already generally excellent 1080 presentation. Grain is quite heavy throughout the film, and can occasionally look a little "iffy", as in the opening shot of a sky and the kind of generally rough looking credits sequence, but on the whole, things resolve very well, and there's certainly no sign of any aggressive filtering. This is not a deeply saturated film, and so HDR does add some nice highlights, as in the almost crimson reds in the opening church scene, but most of the improvement to my eyes came courtesy of the many dark scenes, where at least a little more lurking in the shadows can be made out in the 4K version. If this is a sign (of the Beast?) of what Severin has in store for their 4K UHD offerings, my hunch is fans will be generally well pleased.

The Day of the Beast 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both the 4K UHD disc and the 1080 disc offer the same audio options, the original Spanish track in either DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, or an English dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. I spent most of time toggling between the two Spanish language tracks. The surround track definitely opens up the head banging elements featured as both supposed source cues and underscore, while also providing a more spacious accounting of some of the outdoor material, notably the climax in (on?) the skyscraper. The surround track does tend to ebb and flow a bit in terms of immersion, but both it and the 2.0 track render dialogue and effects without any problems whatsoever. The discs come with "English subtitles" listed on the menu and automatically offered for the Spanish audio tracks, but you can remove the subtitles if you wish by using the toggle button on your remote.

The Day of the Beast 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4K UHD disc included with this release contains no supplemental features, and the score above reflects that fact. The 1080 Blu-ray also packaged with this release of course includes the rather nice array of bonus content detailed in our The Day of the Beast Blu-ray review.

The Day of the Beast 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've had an interest in Jewish mysticism since I was quite young for some reason, and so it was kind of funny for me personally to hear subjects like Gematria (alphabets that also serve as number systems, allowing for "cross referencing" as Ángel actually overt refers to in the film) doled out in various dialogue scenes. There's a curious sweetness to this film despite it being about the Antichrist and selling one's soul to the devil. Severin has provided a release with secure technical merits and some outstanding supplements on the 1080 disc. Recommended.