Dir: Dick Maas
Super-stylish Dutch Christmas horror in which Saint Nicholas turns out to be a zombie bastard with an army of black orc slaves who kill indiscriminately, steal children and ship them off to Spain in giant flying ships. No, really. I'm not making this up. Worse still, this is loosely based on a real Dutch Christmas story. Still, in this film, it's up to the obligatory rebel teenager and an alcoholic cop-on-the-edge to save the day. There's not much in the way of surprises once you've digested the premise but the film's absolutely beautiful to look at, the prosthetic gore FX are squishy, plentiful and effective, and the monster designs are pretty cool. It can never quite decide how serious it wants to be (the rooftop horse chase scene is particularly hilarious) but I'd say go into this one for the yuks and you won't be disappointed. Definitely one of the better Christmas horrors. ***
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Saturday, 9 December 2006
The Day of the Beast (1995)
Dir: Álex de la Iglesia
A theologian priest discovers, through extensive study, that the Book of Revelations is a cryptogram which, when deciphered, announces the birth of the Antichrist on December 25th, 1995. Convinced that this is to occur in Madrid, the priest enlists the help of a death metal record shop owner and a fraudulent TV spiritualist in order to prevent the Apocalypse by tricking Satan. Far from being as crude or exploitative as this sounds (especially when coming from the director of the raucous "Accion Mutante"), "The Day of the Beast" is strangely sensitive towards its subject matter. A 'buddy movie' with a difference, this modern masterpiece is intelligent, lively, loaded with hysterical gallows humour and a constant flow of inventive madness that never descends into schlock. The twisty screenplay is watertight and considered; the photography is breathtaking; the three leads (Alex Angulo, Armando De Razza and Santiago Segura) play their parts phenomenally so by the end, you're not only endeared to them but convinced that their insane mission is somehow bonafide. Quite frankly, this is one of the best films I've seen in any genre and a double-bill with this and "Gremlins" would be the best Christmas present you could give to someone. ****
A theologian priest discovers, through extensive study, that the Book of Revelations is a cryptogram which, when deciphered, announces the birth of the Antichrist on December 25th, 1995. Convinced that this is to occur in Madrid, the priest enlists the help of a death metal record shop owner and a fraudulent TV spiritualist in order to prevent the Apocalypse by tricking Satan. Far from being as crude or exploitative as this sounds (especially when coming from the director of the raucous "Accion Mutante"), "The Day of the Beast" is strangely sensitive towards its subject matter. A 'buddy movie' with a difference, this modern masterpiece is intelligent, lively, loaded with hysterical gallows humour and a constant flow of inventive madness that never descends into schlock. The twisty screenplay is watertight and considered; the photography is breathtaking; the three leads (Alex Angulo, Armando De Razza and Santiago Segura) play their parts phenomenally so by the end, you're not only endeared to them but convinced that their insane mission is somehow bonafide. Quite frankly, this is one of the best films I've seen in any genre and a double-bill with this and "Gremlins" would be the best Christmas present you could give to someone. ****
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