{"id":6064,"date":"2024-10-14T23:56:22","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T03:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6064"},"modified":"2024-10-14T23:56:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T03:56:22","slug":"end-of-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/14\/end-of-days\/","title":{"rendered":"End of Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"End of Days <\/strong>(1999)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Horror-Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 123 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (intense violence and gore, a strong sex scene, nudity, language, alcohol abuse, Satanism)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Peter Hyams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Andrew W. Marlowe\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Debney\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Peter Hyams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 24, 1999 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne, Robin Tunney, Kevin Pollak, CCH Pounder, Derrick O’Connor, Miriam Margolyes, Udo Kier, Victor Varnado, Mark Margolis, Rod Steiger.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $66.8M (US)\/$212M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0End of Days<\/strong>, a blend of Schwarzenegger action and Satanic horror, is pure hokum. If I had to break it down, I\u2019d say it\u2019s Commando meets Rosemary\u2019s Baby by way of The Exorcist with a dash of The Omen thrown in for good measure. It\u2019s as silly as Satan-themed occult thrillers come. Any movie that includes a Vatican hit squad definitely isn\u2019t playing with a full deck. It\u2019s positively loopy! That\u2019s why it\u2019s so much fun.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Peter Hyams (Running Scared), End of Days<\/strong> opens at the Vatican circa 1979 where a priest witnesses a celestial phenomenon called \u201cThe Eye of God\u201d. It\u2019s a sign that heralds the birth of the mother of the Antichrist somewhere in the world. The Pope (Margolis, Scarface) tasks the priest, Father Thomas Aquinas (O\u2019Connor, Lethal Weapon 2), to go forth, find the girl and protect her. The scene switches to New York where a newborn baby girl named Christine York bears the mark of the chosen one. The nurse rushes her into another room where Satanists perform a rite that involves anointing the infant with rattlesnake blood.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Before I go on, perhaps a few words of explanation are necessary. It\u2019s like this. In twenty years time, Satan will manifest himself in human form and attempt to impregnate the girl. Conception must take place between 11pm and midnight on New Year\u2019s Eve, the final hour before the new millennium. The child formed by their union, aka the Antichrist, will usher in the end of days.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The story jumps ahead 20 years to the final days before Y2K. Christine (Tunney, The Craft) is a troubled young woman who has no idea of the role she\u2019s to play in bringing about the end times. She doesn\u2019t know her guardian (Margolyes, The Age of Innocence) and psychiatrist (Kier, Blade) are Satanists assigned to watch over her- i.e. keep her in the dark- until the arrival of their unholy master. He will come in the form of an unnamed investment banker (Byrne, The Usual Suspects) whose body he takes over in a restaurant bathroom. At the same time, she\u2019s being hunted by a kill squad from the Vatican whose members insist she must be killed in order to prevent the birth of the Antichrist.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Her protector comes in the form of Jericho Cane (Schwarzenegger), a private security guard still grieving for his wife and daughter who were murdered in their apartment by thugs. A depressed alcoholic on the verge of suicide, he blames God for what happened to his family. He and his partner Bobby Chicago (Pollak, The Usual Suspects) are assigned to protect the possessed banker. Of course, somebody makes an attempt on his life. It turns out to be Father Aquinas driven mad after nearly 20 years of waiting for Satan to make his move. After a wild pursuit that involves Jericho dangling from a helicopter at one point, the priest says a few words about the supernatural events to come before being shot and arrested by police. What he says isn\u2019t nearly as strange as him having no tongue. Naturally, this compels Jericho and Chicago to start their own investigation much to the annoyance of lead detective Marge (Pounder, Demon Knight). They\u2019re led to Christine by the words \u201cChrist in New York\u201d carved on the priest\u2019s body. They find this clue after the priest is crucified to the ceiling of his hospital room by Satan\u2019s vessel. Jericho gets to Christine\u2019s home just in time to save her from the Vatican hit squad. Now it\u2019s up to him to keep her out of Satan\u2019s grip until the new millennium begins.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Admittedly, religious-themed horror and big action scenes sounds like a weird combination and it is. End of Days<\/strong> is silly and bizarre in equal parts. Rod Steiger (The Specialist), delivering another trademark hammy performance, plays a priest who heads a team of cyber-exorcists. That\u2019s what I call them anyway. They have a secret room with computers in the back of a church. They appear to be ridding a possessed old woman of an evil spirit. It\u2019s little touches like this that makes End of Days <\/strong>so enjoyably loopy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Schwarzenegger steps out of his action hero comfort zone to play a dark, troubled character given a chance at personal redemption after years of denying God. Given his image, he\u2019s an unlikely choice to play such a character. Originally, the role of Jericho Cane was meant for Tom Cruise, but he opted to sign on for Magnolia instead. I\u2019m guessing Hyams and writer Andrew W. Marlowe (Air Force One) reworked the script to include action scenes to appease fans of Ah-nuld. Thus we get scenes of Arnold hanging from a helicopter and commandeering a subway. We also get the obligatory scene of the big guy arming himself to the teeth in anticipation of doing battle with an army…. of Satan worshippers! In any event, Schwarzenegger doesn\u2019t do too bad a job as Jericho Cane. BTW, if I may play Captain Obvious for a minute, check out the character\u2019s initials. Think about it a moment. It\u2019ll come to you if you know your literary metaphors.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll grant that it\u2019s weird to watch Schwarzenegger play it somewhat straight. By that, I mean he doesn\u2019t get off a single \u201cI\u2019ll be back\u201d in End of Days<\/strong>. It doesn\u2019t necessarily hurt the movie, but it does put it off-balance. HOWEVER, we do get scenes so strange, they\u2019re funny. I never thought I\u2019d live to see Ah-nuld go mano-a-mano with Margolyes (58YO at the time). Her character is made uncommonly strong by her devotion to Satan. Byrne uses his natural charm to great effect. It makes his possessed-by-Satan character all the more evil and insidious. I like that he resists the temptation to tear up the scenery. He downplays it just enough. Tunney is also good as the intended partner of Satan. She looks suitably scared.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I would urge all potential viewers to resist the temptation to look too closely at the plot of End of Days <\/strong>lest you want to get tangled up in its numerous holes. Here\u2019s a perfect example. The prophecy states that Satan and the girl must mate between 11pm and midnight on Dec. 31. When told of this, Jericho asks \u201cEastern Standard Time?\u201d That\u2019s a very good question. This timing was worked out several centuries ago by Gregorian monks. How could they possibly have known about different time zones on a continent that hadn\u2019t yet been discovered in a city that didn\u2019t yet exist? It\u2019s a head-scratcher alright. There\u2019s also some nonsense about the number 666 actually being 999 upside down. Just add a 1 and you get the date of Satan\u2019s next visit to our world. Can I get a Keanu Reeves \u201cWHOA!\u201d? This is why it\u2019s best not to overthink End of Days<\/strong> and just take it on its own goofy terms.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I will say that the effects in End of Days<\/strong> are decent. I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s especially scary. I might say it\u2019s a little eerie. I\u2019d definitely say it\u2019s predictable. It\u2019s one of those Satan-themed horror films where EVERYBODY around the hero is a member of a Satanic cult. Remember what I said earlier about the main character\u2019s initials J.C.? That\u2019s a great big tip-off concerning his ultimate fate. Nonetheless, I like End of Days<\/strong>. It\u2019s a good bad movie. It\u2019s so damn silly, you can\u2019t help but smile and give it a pass.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

End of Days (1999)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Horror-Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 123 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (intense violence and gore, a strong sex scene, nudity, language, alcohol abuse, Satanism)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Peter Hyams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Andrew W. Marlowe\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Debney\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Peter Hyams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 24, 1999 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne, Robin Tunney, Kevin Pollak, CCH Pounder, Derrick O’Connor, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror","category-weird-ones"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/End-of-Days-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6064"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6183,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6064\/revisions\/6183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}