Film / The Day of the Beast

The Day of the Beast (or El Día de la Bestia in the original Spanish) is a 1995 Spanish Action Horror-Comedy film.

Father Ángel Berriatúa is a Basque Catholic priest and professor of Theology who, after studying St. John's Apocalypse for 25 years, has discovered that Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: according to a secret code he believes to have found in the Bible, The Antichrist will be born in Madrid on Christmas and will turn it into the "Day of the Beast", bringing The End of the World as We Know It. In his quest, Ángel teams up with the Heavy Metal fanatic José María and Professor Cavan, the Italian host of a hit TV show about the Occult, in order to find the Antichrist and stop him before it's too late.

The film was the Breakthrough Hit for Basque director Álex de la Iglesia and his lifelong screenwriter Jorge Guerricoechevarría (their first collaboration, Mutant Action, only achieved cult film status among De la Iglesia's fans), as well as a Star-Making Role for Santiago Segura (José María), who would go on to create the Torrente film series.

Together with Tesis (released the following year), The Day of the Beast can be considered a Genre Turning Point for the whole of Spanish cinema, as it was a clinching counterexample to the Common Knowledge of the time that Spanish filmmakers only made low-brow comedies or porn disguised as Le Film Artistique. Here was proof that there was a new generation not afraid of exploring genres like Action, Horror, contemporary satire, using special effects and modern pop culture references, in summation making films intended to be entertaining. As such, this film particularly heralds the Spanish Fantasy-Horror boom of the early 21st century exemplified by films like [REC], Pan's Labyrinth, and The Orphanage.

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The Day of the Beast contains examples of:

Tropes A-L

• Abhorrent Admirer: José María makes no secret that he lusts for Mina, a woman who helps his mother's business.
• Abusive Parents: Rosario hits José María when he gets on her nerves and openly prefers Mina to her son.
• Accidental Murder: Ángel kicks Rosario in the face to try stop her No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, but it results in her Cruel and Unusual Death.
  • Downplayed, but Cavan accidentally breaks a water cooler on the ground which will cause another freaky death.
• Action Girl: Rosario is a rare aged example, being old enough to have an adult son but also trained in using a shotgun and hand to hand combat (possibly related to her late husband being a Civil Guard officer). Terele Pávez's height and physique helps sell the trope.
• Action Survivor: Implied to be Rosario's background, given her paranoia, angry attitude, and the Wretched Hive she lives in.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: With LSD playing the part of alcohol. The three characters' reaction to someone banging on the door (which they think is Satan, whom they have summoned themselves) is to flee through the window and climbing down a giant neon sign. José María in particular becomes Too Dumb to Live, trying to jump to his death while laughing his ass off and eventually causing Cavan to fall.
• All for Nothing: As the movie progresses, Ángel loses faith in his quest and starts considering that it may come to this.
• Alternate Landmark History: Cavan realizes that the Antichrist will be born under Madrid's Gate of Europe leaning towers, because they resemble a recurring motiff in Satan's alleged signature.
• An Ass-Kicking Christmas: While a lot of what happens in this holiday movie is played for horror, it also packs a crazy romp with wild chases, reckless driving, shoot outs and beatings.
• Anti-Hero: Ángel thinks he needs to perform bad actions to find the Antichrist, though his ultimate intention is still to stop him.
• Agony of the Feet: As part of his "doing as much sin as possible" plan, Ángel marks crosses on the soles of his feet via Cigarette Burns so that he's literally stomping on Christianity with every step he takes.
• Bathroom Brawl: Two heavies at the Satannica concert finish their brutal beating of Ángel by dragging him to a dirty restroom and shattering a urinal by smashing his head against it.
• Becoming the Mask: Professor Cavan is just an actor who doesn't believe in the spiritual stuff his program is about, but as things get stranger, he begins to buy into the supernatural and embrace his Occult Detective persona.
• Big Shadow, Little Creature: Implied Trope. If you interpret that everything supernatural is in the protagonists' heads, then the large horned shadow in the final scene belongs to the homeless couple's goat rather than the Devil.
• Blasphemous Boast: The "Clean Madrid" gang kick Cavan at the tune of a Christmas carol.
• Blatant Lies: As part of his "sinning" plan, Ángel blatantly rips one of Cavan's books from its package, puts it in his pocket and attempts to walk out of the bookstore. When the clerk tells him that he has to pay for the book, he asks "How? What book?"
• Blood Magic: The ritual to invoke Satan requires the invokers to drink the blood of a Virgin woman, among other substances.
• Bound and Gagged: Cavan's girlfriend Susanna ends like this when Ángel and José María take her hostage.
• Broken Pedestal: A cop is a fan of Cavan's program and asks him to sign his book; Cavan obliges while telling him everything in it is bunk.
• Butt-Monkey: Though all three main characters and plenty of extras take a beating, nobody gets it worse than Cavan after he is forcefully recruited into the group. Until José María is killed, at least, but it is not played for laughs unlike Cavan's plight.
• The Cameo: Comedian El Gran Wyoming as Cavan's replacement on TV.
• Celibate Hero: The main character was a perfect, unironic Catholic priest and scholar before deciding to become a sinner for the greater good. Even then he never thinks about having sex.
• Chekhov's Gag: Rosario is upset that Mina let Ángel in at night, telling her that she must trust no one because a woman in the second floor got robbed by a guy with a syringe. In her ramblings she also fantasizes about how she wouldn't mind letting a creep in because it'd give her the excuse to use her shotgun to cripple the bastard. Later, Rosario catches Ángel while taking the blood of an unconscious Mina with a syringe and attacks with her shotgun and bare hands.
• Chekhov's Gun: The shopping mall security chief has an iron over his desk, no doubt just retrieved from another shoplifter. Ángel uses it to knock him out and escape.
• Chekhov's Gunman: During the opening titles, Ángel passes by the Gate of Europe and a homeless couple with a pregnant woman and a black goat, all of which return for the final scene.
• Climbing Climax: Ángel and José María are chased to the top of the reclining towers by the Kill the Poor gang.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: How Ángel convinces Cavan to cooperate.
• Comic Trio: Ángel pushes the story with his mission to stop the imminent apocalypse, José María follows his lead while Cavan is for the most part the Only Sane Man of the bunch.
• Construction Zone Calamity: The final fight takes place at the Gate of Europe while the interior was still under construction.
• Country Mouse:
  • Father Ángel, a beret-wearing rural priest somewhat cluelessly trying to be a sinner in the capital.
  • José María blames Mina's origin in a village of Toledo for her refusal to sleep with him.
• Crapsaccharine World: The movie is set in a dark, urban Wretched Hive full of Christmas lights, carols, etc.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • The priest in the opening scene getting crushed by the huge cross.
  • All the poor homeless people set ablaze by the "Clean Madrid" gang.
  • Rosario falling down the spiral of the staircase and being violently hit by the handrails of each floor before finally hanging dead.
  • A policeman getting horribly electrocuted when picking up his pen from a wet floor that was electrified by faulty backstage cables.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: José María laughs right in the Devil's face, successfully distracting him long enough to allow Ángel's escape.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Ángel seems to shoot the Devil dead at the end of the climax, unless he only killed the goat that belonged to the homeless couple.
• Disney Villain Death: The Devil drops José María from the tower to his death.
• Deal with the Devil: Ángel forces Cavan to help him summon the Devil so that he can gain admittance to the Devil's coven and kill the Antichrist during the ceremony of his birth. They base the ritual on letters written by people selling their souls to the Devil, going back 500 years, that are reproduced in Cavan's book.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: The Devil lets José María fall to his death in response to his mocking laughter.
• Downer Ending: Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane aside, it doesn't change that José María is dead, and Ángel and Cavan have become homeless bums.
• Ear Ache: Rosario misses her shot when Ángel hides under a bed, but still manages to painfully lacerate his right ear.
• Eat the Summoner: Feared by the main trio when they invoke Satan, which is why they remain in the protective pentagram and later escape through the window.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Ángel believes that he can prevent it from happening by finding the Antichrist and killing him.
• Establishing Character Moment: Right at the start, Ángel walks into frame, looks around awkwardly, and heads into the church behind. You know right away that he's a priest and something's not quite right with him.
• "Eureka!" Moment: The moment Cavan figures where the Antichrist will be born from a recurring motiff in Satan's alleged signature.
• Everyone Hates Mimes: Ángel pushes a living statue mime down an underpass entrance.
• Evil Old Folks: Rosario is a paranoid racist and classist that hits her son José María, actively wishes for troublemakers to come to her property so she can shoot them, and has not sent her father to a care home only because of said son's opposition (according to him, anyway). When she dies, José María doesn't mind it much.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: The twin towers of the Gate of Europe are recast as this, being the place chosen for the Antichrist's birth.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Most of the film takes place on the day and night before Christmas.
• Facial Composite Failure: The sketch of Ángel that Cavan shows in his program is a crude drawing of a man in a black beret. However, it works because Cavan only wants to attract Ángel's attention instead of making other people recognize him.
• Failed a Spot Check: Cavan enters a recently ravaged convenience store to get a bottle of champagne from a fridge with a dead clerk smashed nearby, casually taking it and leaving the money to the bleeding corpse.
• The Film of the Song: Downplayed type A. The title is different, but the film's premise matches the lyrics of the 1994 song "Apocalipsis 25-D" by Ktulu, which describes three men obsessively searching for traces of the Beast throughout the city as its apocalypse is nearing. The song is included in the film's soundtrack and José María plays it to Ángel when they first meet.
• Five-Finger Discount:
  • Done or at least attempted repeatedly by Ángel as part of his plan to get closer to Satan so he can stop him.
  • José María is introduced beating a shoplifter who tried to pay for one tape and leave with three more under his clothing.
• Flipping the Bird: Cavan is tied up, but it doesn't stop him from flipping both birds at José María when the latter keeps breaking his stuff.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Ángel's trusted Lancer in his Antichrist-slaying crusade is a tall metalhead named... José María.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When Ángel first arrives in Madrid, he walks past the Gate of Europe towers and the Roma couple with their black dancing goat.
  • In his show, Cavan performs an exorcism on a possessed boy that has two marks attibuted to the Devil slashed on his chest. The marks resemble the Gate of Europe, giving Cavan the "Eureka!" Moment that they are the temple to Satan where the birth of the Antichrist will take place.
  • Rosario berates Mina for letting Ángel check in at night, recalling another woman in the building who was assaulted by a guy armed with a syringe.
• For the Evulz: The "Clean Madrid" gang, moreso if you follow the theory that they don't follow Satan and are just murdering people for fun.
• Genius Ditz: Half-high José María arranges the letters in Satan's message correctly ("This is not a game") while Ángel and Cavan try to calculate the number of possible combinations.
• Gilligan Cut: When Ángel unpacks a copy of Cavan's book and tries to leave, the clerk tells him that he has to pay for the book. Ángel pretends to not know what she is talking about and asks "What? Which book?" Cut to him being dragged away by mall cops.
• Gratuitous Italian: Cavan, his girlfriend Susanna, and his TV producer are all Italian. Susanna says "Mi scusi" when Ángel opens the door for her and Cavan yells at her to run because the priest "È pazzo!" The producer later has a heated argument with Cavan in Italian.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: At the end, Cavan complains about how people will never know that the trio saved the world.
• Gruesome Goat: After summoning Satan with a ritual in Cavan's apartment, the main characters see a large black goat that stands on two legs and growl at Ángel's face when he steps out of the protective pentagram on the floor. The Devil's appearance in the climax combines this with Humanoid Abomination.
• Heroic BSoD: After being beaten up at the Satannica concert, Ángel believes that he could be wrong about the Apocalypse and is willing to turn himself in to the police for all the chaos he caused, but Cavan reaches out to him and José María to continue, having just figured out where the Antichrist will be born.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: José María follows Ángel's Anti-Hero ways, but treats it more like a game.
• Heroic Sacrifice: A feature film-long one. Ángel has most likely led an immaculate life before resolving that he must sin and join Satan's coven in order to stop him, damning himself in the process. At the end of the movie, José María dies saving Ángel from Satan, who in turn saves Cavan from the "Clean Madrid" gang. From their perspective they have saved the world, but nobody will know it and they have lose their identity in the process.
• Hollywood Exorcism: Featured in Cavan's in-universe program, with him taking the role of the exorcist.
• Hollywood Satanism: The movie depicts Satanism like a Religion of Evil where the Antichrist is an opposite of Jesus in every way. Cavan's logic for believing the Gate of Europe to be a Satanic landmark is because most churches have a cross-shaped floor plan, thus Satan's church must have the shape of the mark of the Beast.
• Hope Spot: The protagonists arrive at the Gate of Europe and approach a sleeping homeless couple, hearing the wailing of their newborn... but then the "Clean Madrid" thugs attack.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The Antichrist will be born on Christmas Night because Satan wants to mock Jesus's birth.
• Hourglass Plot: For most of the film, Ángel and José María believe in a supernatural threat that they have to stop while Cavan is the Only Sane Man. By the third act, however, the two start to change their minds but Cavan has become the one who firmly believes in the Antichrist and pushes them to continue.
• Humanoid Abomination: Satan appears at the end as a giant half-human, half-skinned goat.
• The Hyena: José María's reaction to fear is to laugh uncontrollably.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The police fail to shoot Ángel while he is on a stage right in front of them killing the Three Wise Men actors behind him instead.
• Improvised Weapon: Ángel knocks out the mall security chief with a clothes iron he had on his desk.
• In-Universe Soundtrack: José María plays "Apocalipsis 25-D" and the Satannica song (which is just an instrumental version of Def Con Dos' "El Día de la Bestia") when Ángel visits his record store.
• It's Always Spring: The first scene is set in the Basque Country one week before Christmas, but the hill is green and the sky blue, with no sign of cold. The last scene takes place in September, but the trees are starting to grow leaves.
• Kick the Dog: In order to be sinful and get closer to Satan, Ángel engages into committing several of these during the opening titles.
• Kill the Poor: The "Clean Madrid" gang is made of four well-dressed men who drive around Madrid killing homeless people and working class immigrants.
• Kubrick Stare: A cardboard cutout that promotes Cavan's book at the mall has him holding a copy while posing with that expression◊.
• Life Imitates Art: In-universe. Cavan checks his own book and on a chapter with (fictional) Satanism lore he sees a Medieval illustration about two towers leaning towards each other, eerily similar to the Gate of Europe.
• Local Reference: The main character is Basque, like the writer and director (the first version of the script actually took place in the Basque Country).
• Lost in Translation:
  • The English dub makes no attempt to keep Cavan's Italian accent, nor of his relations. Not that him being Italian is fully relevant to the story.
  • The English dub also changes one of the most quoted lines by Spanish fans - José María's "Yes, sir. And from Carabanchel!" to "Yeah, sure."

Tropes M-Y

• Made of Iron: It's not impossible to survive the fall Cavan experienced, but his wounds and pain are downplayed.
• Man on Fire: The "Clean Madrid" gang set a homeless man on fire in front of Ángel. Cavan later almost dies the same way, but Ángel manages to rescue him.
• Mama Bear: Rosario is very protective of Mina, loving her more than her own son José María, and going ballistic when Ángel knocks her out to take her blood.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Some surreal events happen after Ángel forces Cavan to complete a Satanic ritual, but said ritual includes eating sacramental bread dipped in a mix of virgin blood, holy water, and LSD. Did the ritual really give them the power of seeing Satan, or are they just hallucinating?
• Meaningful Name: Ángel is, at heart, a trully angelic man willing to condemn himself for saving humanity.
• Metalhead: José María is proudly this, and he's also a self-proclaimed Satanist, in-line with the movie playing with Hollywood Satanism tropes.
• Mistaken for Murderer: Rosario goes Ax-Crazy on Ángel believing that he murdered Mina after catching him dragging her unconscious body.
• Mistaken for Prostitute: A guy keeps calling Rosario's boarding home thinking it is a brothel, until Rosario angrily tells him that the prostitutes's flat is across the street and hers is for sleeping only.
• Mistaken for Santa: A small girl mistakes José María for Santa Claus when he and Ángel sneak into her family's apartment through the window.
• Monumental Damage: Downplayed. The plot pushes the main characters to action set pieces in iconic Madrid landmarks like the Carrión Building and the Gate of Europe, but the buildings aren't damaged. The closest it comes to the trope is the shootout at Galerías Preciados during a busy Christmas Eve, which results in the actors playing the Three Wise Men being killed.
• Mood Whiplash: The film alternates between horror and comedy.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: The Gruesome Goat bares some monstrous sharp teeth at Ángel during the summoning.
• Ms. Fanservice: Susanna, Cavan's Lady in Red girlfriend, and Mina, who José María has the hots for and wears a generous scoop neck shirt in her last scene.
• Naked People Are Funny: José María's grandad is a non-speaking senile man who walks freely in the boarding home while wearing nothing but an open gown.
• Never Trust a Trailer: An English trailer made for release on the US in the late 90s (to cash in on the Apocalypse-movie craze of the Y2K Era) states that the Antichrist will be born on Christmas of 2000 to be Exactly Exty Years from Jesus' birth. However in the film Ángel gives an Exposition Dump of his thesis that the Bible's secret code sets the Day of the Beast on 25 December, 1995.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: Cavan secretly hates his program, audience, and crew. He calls the audience "ten million assholes" in his last aired appearance.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Ángel is beaten by heavies at the Satannica concert for bothering a heavily pregnant attendant which he considers a possible mother of the Antichrist.
• Occult Detective: Professor Cavan's media persona.
• Of Course I'm Not a Virgin: When learning that they need the blood of a virgin woman for the ritual, Ángel suggests Susanna, which makes Cavan roll out his eyes and say that of course Susanna's not a virgin, he's sure of it.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Ángel assumes that the people at the Satannica concert are actual Satan worshippers and asks a security guard for information on the Day of the Beast. The guard thinks he's asking for a different music group and tells him to check dates with the barman.
• Only Sane Man: Cavan is actually an actor named Ennio Lombardi and doesn't believe in the supernatural. As the movie progresses, however, he becomes a convert while Ángel and José María start to have doubts.
• The Other Darrin: In-universe, a different actor takes the role of Professor Cavan in his TV show when the "real" Cavan disappears from public life.
• Patriotic Fervor: Played for Laughs (what else) when José María proudly defines himself as Satanist and "from Carabanchel [District], too".
• Phony Psychic: Cavan is an Occult Detective hosting a popular TV show about the supernatural and mysticism, but in reality he is a character played by an actor banking on superstitious people who does not believe in the supernatural. This doesn't stop Ángel from forcefully recruiting him to use his knowledge.
• Papa Wolf: Probably, the man who starts beating Ángel for pestering the pregnant woman at the Satannica concert is the baby's daddy.
• Pictorial Letter Substitution: In the movie's poster a silhouette of the Devil stands for the "i" in "Bestia".
• Pietà Plagiarism: José María takes a badly beaten Ángel out of the concert by carrying him up in his arms.
• Plot-Based Voice Cancellation: In the first scene, Ángel tells his discovery to another priest but the audience can't hear it under the sound of church bells ringing suddenly. The audience only learns his plan later, when he explains it to the shopping center security chief.
• Plucky Comic Relief: José María, the most irreverent main character in contrast to the Well-Intentioned Extremist Ángel and Only Sane Man Cavan.
• Police Are Useless: Police mostly exist as an annoyance to the main characters, as they fail to ever catch them (unlike mall cops, in Ángel's case) and are evaded without much difficulty. Meanwhile the "Clean Madrid" thugs kill people with impunity.
• Police Brutality: One of the first things Ángel sees when arriving in Madrid is a group of cops beating some immigrants. In a later display of lacking common sense, they try to shoot Ángel in very busy Galerías Preciados, killing the actors playing the Three Wise Men.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Ángel's list of music groups with possible Satanic subliminal messages includes "Napalm Dez" and "Hace de Cé".
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: One of the "Clean Madrid" thugs tells Cavan that he can also see the future, and that he sees a health problem in Cavan's. Then they start kicking him.
• The Precarious Ledge: The protagonists escape through one while trying to evade the police storming into Cavan's apartment. Due to being still euphoric from LSD, José María makes Cavan lose his grip, but he survives the fall.
• Properly Paranoid: Rosario might have some Evil Old Folks characteristics, but given the sheer state of Madrid, it's very likely that her bitter, judgemental outlook comes from experience. And it turns out that she was right for suspecting Ángel of being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing when she finds him collecting Mina's blood with a syringe after knocking her out.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Even if the protagonists have really managed to stop the Day of the Beast, they're left in a miserable state as a result of their actions.
• Quick Nip: José María nonchalantly takes drugs and gives more to his grandfather while having breakfast with Ángel (he offers as well, but Ángel declines).
• Race Against the Clock: According to Ángel, they have time to find and kill the Antichrist until the dawn of December 25, after that the Day of the Beast will be unavoidable.
• Racist Grandma: During Rosario's rant at Mina for letting someone check in at night, she warns her that the streets are filled with dangerous people, such as whores, killers, addicts and... N-words.
• Red Sky, Take Warning: During the climax, thundering red clouds form above the Gate of Europe to herald the arrival of the Devil.
• Rage Breaking Point: José María's Heroic Sacrifice and the remaining thugs setting Cavan on fire finally make Ángel snap and kill them all with a gun, including the Devil itself, apparently.
• Riches to Rags: Cavan starts off as a wealthy TV star, and ends up homeless by the end of the film.
• Rooftop Confrontation: José María faces off against the Devil at the top of one of the Gate of Europe towers.
• Satanic Panic: Referenced by Ángel's belief that hidden Satanic messages may be found in Metal and Hard Rock records played backwards.
• Self-Deprecation: Cavan signs a copy of his book for a policeman after telling him that it's all crap.
• Scatterbrained Senior: José María's grandpa is deeply senile and non-verbal. He walks around his daughter's boarding home wearing only an open nightgown.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: By the end of the film, José María and many other people have died, Cavan has lost his career and become somewhat insane, and both he and Ángel are homeless, with the latter silently believing that the Antichrist menace might've been nonexistent and thus all the chaos and deaths he caused were All for Nothing.
• Show Within a Show: El Mundo Mágico del Profesor Cavan ("Professor Cavan's Magic World").
• Sinister Minister: Played for Laughs. From the point of view of everyone but José María, Ángel is this: he commits random crimes, kidnaps and forces people to his cause against their will because he believes that the Biblical Apocalypse is near.
• Slipping a Mickey: Ángel knocks Mina out by drugging her coffee when she isn't looking.
• Staircase Tumble: Susanna gets knocked out after falling down the stairs while attempting to run from Ángel. Rosario later subjects Ángel himself to this towards the end of her brutal Extreme Mêlée Revenge.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: After the ritual is done, Cavan unties Susanna himself and tells her to just leave and not to worry. The woman wastes no time to call the police on Ángel and José María.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Played for Laughs. The priest Ángel talks to in the opening scene warns that they must watch their step even inside the church because their enemy is very powerful, it could kill them quickly and may have heard them... and a huge decorative cross promptly falls down squashing him like a bug.
• Talkative Loon: In addition to laughing, LSD-influenced José María cannot stop talking.
• Talk to the Fist:
  • José María's preferred method of ending confrontations.
  • Cavan eventually gets tired of his naggy producer and shuts him up with a punch.
• Tempting Fate:
  • "Father, can we bear this cross?" Cue priest being pancake'd by massive stone cross fall.
  • Rosario wishing some weirdo with a syringe got in her property just so she can shoot him. The weirdo survives and she dies.
• Through the Eyes of Madness: There are reasons to think that the two appearances of Satan are just in the main characters' minds.
• Title Drop: Ángel refers to the Antichrist's apocalypse following his birth as the eponymous "Day of the Beast".
• Tragic Keepsake: In the ending, Ángel sadly toys with the rear-view mirror decoration shaped like boxing gloves that José María hid the LSD into.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Downplayed. The original trailer shows Rosario's death, but considering it also shows Cavan's much more dramatic and fatal looking fall yet he survives it, one could pass her death as a simple display of the film's violent Amusing Injuries moments.
• Twisted Christmas: According to Ángel, the Antichrist will be born on the midnight before Christmas. Thus, this Black Comedy with holiday dressing treats us with things such as three men dressed like the Biblical Magi getting accidentally gunned down by the police.
• Two-Faced: Cavan gains this disfigurement after being set on fire by the "Clean Madrid" gang, which puts a definitive end to his career.
• Unperson: Ángel and Cavan essentially become this by the end of the movie, unable of resuming their daily lives.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: When Mina hands over the 25,000 pesetas Ángel paid her, Rosario puts them into her bra.
• Virgin Power: Satan's summoning ritual requires the blood of a female virgin. Ángel finds it in Mina.
• Welcome to the Big City: The scene after the prologue in the Basque Country, which shows Ángel arriving in Madrid and seeing beggars, street performers, and Police Brutality among others.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ángel and José María consider themselves this while committing morally dubious actions in the belief they are saving the world from the Antichrist.
• Wham Shot: When Cavan finishes his explanation of how Satan's temple must be shaped like the two leaning marks of the Devil, he makes Angel turn around and see the Gate of Europe behind him, now dramatically shot like Evil Towers of Ominousness.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Nothing is shown or said about the fates of Mina and José María's grandad, with the former having lost her employer and the latter being left with no relatives to look after him.
• While Rome Burns: Cavan walks into a recently ravaged convenience store to get a bottle of champagne, ignoring the corpses of a costumer and the clerk's while still leaving money for his purchase.
• Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Ángel tries to play it off as if Cavan is being stubborn and is forcing him to use violence when he starts to torture him into accepting his Mission from God.
• Would Hurt a Child: The "Clean Madrid" killers mercilessly gun down the homeless couple and their baby, to the surprise of the main characters (and the audience) who believe him to be the Antichrist.
• Wretched Hive: Madrid is depicted as a Gotham City-esque place with rampant delinquency and rich killers who murder the poor with impunity.
• The X of Y: The Day of the Beast.
• You Have to Believe Me!: After Cavan becomes convinced that Ángel is right and following his fall, he takes his TV set by assault, looks straight into the camera and warns the audience that the world is ending that night, crazy looking and still bloodied. The production crew, who have known Cavan as a skeptic off-camera for years, are speechless. Nevertheless it doesn't work in any way and becomes his Role-Ending Misdemeanor in-universe.

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