The Day of the Beast

The Day of the Beast follows a Basque Catholic priest, Ángel Berriartua, who becomes convinced he has decoded a hidden message in the Book of Revelation: the Antichrist will be born in Madrid on Christmas Day 1995. He knows the date but not the place, so he sets out to commit as many sins as possible in the hope of summoning the Devil and bargaining for the information. Along the way he teams up with José María, a death metal record shop clerk, and Professor Cavan, the host of a television program about the occult and supernatural. Together they move through a Christmas-time Madrid on a search that mixes gore, sacrilege and dark comedy.

Released in October 1995, the film was directed by Álex de la Iglesia, who wrote the screenplay with Jorge Guerricaechevarría. It was the first of the thirteen features he has directed, followed by Dance with the Devil in 1997. Álex Angulo plays the priest, Santiago Segura plays José María, and Armando De Razza plays Cavan, with Terele Pávez, Nathalie Seseña and Maria Grazia Cucinotta also in the cast. The production was a Spanish-Italian co-production, and it took about four million dollars worldwide.

On IMDb the film holds a critics' rating of 6.9 out of 10 from thirteen reviews, while on TMDB it has an audience rating of 7.3 out of 10 from 636 votes.