The Day of the Lord

The Day of the Lord
Image source: Google

Ratings: 2/5

Duration: 93 Minutes

Language: Spanish

Genre: Horror

Director: Santiago Alvarado Ilarri

Writers: Santiago Alvarado Ilarri, Ramón Salas

Production Company: Invico Capital, Magno Entertainment, Minds Eye Entertainment

Release Date: 30 October 2020

Star Cast: Dolores Heredia, Ximena Romo, Juli Fàbregas, Hector Illanes, Oscar Gordillo

Plot: The story is about a person who can be looked as a Godly priest and a living devil at the same time. The priest in the story goes by the name Menendez (played by Juli Fabregas) who has been just released from jail. He was serving a sentence for the murder of a teenage boy.

Menendez lives on his own in a ramshackle and historic house, which is cluttered with religious-looking paraphernalia, including a suit of armour with no arms. Everything is covered with dust and filth. His life consists of waking up from nightmares about a woman seducing him and a dead boy in a chair and then reaching for the whisky.

The woman from his scary dream is Marisa (played by Dolores Heredia) and the dead boy was her son. It is published that he had carried out an exorcism on Marisa’s son, and even though he, in the end, compelled the demon to depart the boy’s body, the younger toddler died in the process. She is grateful to Menendez for ending the kid’s suffering.

Marisa visits his domestic to check on him every week. She knocks on the door to help him clean up the joint and to almost kiss him.

Amid all this, Menendez feels like his life is stuck and he is being pushed for the exorcism that he had performed on the boy. He struggles each day to stick to the remaining remnants of his faith.

But there is someone who calls him many times on his landline, asking about his wellbeing.

Only when Menendez feels like he has left behind all his old ties in the past, there comes Sebastián (played by Hector Illanes). He has come to the priest seeking his help.

Sebastián tells the erstwhile priest that his daughter Raquel (played by Ximena Romo) is possessed and asks for Menendez’s help. He claims that he has tried all possible options, from medical doctors to therapists, however, no one has been able to assist her.

Sebastián is of the opinion that it will be higher for his daughter to die and be with God than to stay and be with the Devil. After adequate contemplation, Menendez consents to serve the Lord and bring Raquel back from the clutches of the demon. Menendez warns him that his techniques are brutal, and Sebastián asserts to those methods thinking that is the only way to save his daughter.

Menendez asks Sebastián to bring his girl with him the next time. Something makes Menendez feel that this time it will all go right. He is hopeful that saving his pal Sebastián’s girl, Raquel will deliver him redemption for his failure with Marisa’s son. But does that happen is something one has to look for.

Review: ‘The Day of the Lord’ is a Spanish language horror movie that is supposed to be the first entry in the proposed film collection ‘Menendez’. It was released as a phase of Netflix’s Halloween 2020 collection. The storyline brings out a harsh reality of blind faith which is still prevalent in many parts of the world.

The movie is centered around the acts of Exorcism which is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed.

The type of exorcism performed in The Day of the Lord is quite different. It involves a priest beating the possessed senseless. All while sporting a creepy smile, since he clearly loves kicking the devil’s ass. He literally uses a teenage girl as a punching bag which is quite gruesome to witness.

It feels like you are watching Hostel more than you are watching The Exorcist. This Netflix exorcism horror movie starts out as more of a psychological horror drama. Then, it moves on to a classic exorcism horror movie with lots of torture adult scenes. Finally, it will turn into something reminiscent of Evil Dead with very dark horror-comedy vibes.

The overall vibe of the movie is quite mixed that can confuse the viewer as to the exact genre of the movie. The movie is not capable to keep one glued to his seat or make one cringe out of horror.

However, there is one actor, Ximena Romo, who portrays the teenage girl, Raquel, accused of being possessed, shines throughout. While the movie fails to do justice to her performance, it is a great introduction to Ximena Romo for many. Hopefully, we will see her in more genre movies again soon.

Also, we must give props to Juli Fàbregas who plays the priest, Menéndez. He is so creepy and weird, which works well for the character that he has played. However, due to a lack of depth in the storyline, these two characters were also not able to do much.

It is a good watch if you have nothing else to do!