The Killing of Satan (Lumaban ka, Satanas [Fight, Satan] in Tagalog-Filipino) is a 1983 horror film from the Philippines, starring Ramon Revilla. "Horror film" is a misnomer. It has a middle-aged "everyman" hero named Lando San Miguel, who is charged with assassinating Satan as well as his lieutenant the Prince of Magic. If you want a taste of what the apocalypse would look like in the tropics (and how quick and campy it would be, flamboyant sorcerers, topless typhoon sequences, Satan in a red tuxedo and all), this movie is it.
Watch it here in its dubbed glory
on YouTube.
This film has examples of:
- The Atoner: Lando is an ex-convict who is released from prison at the start of the film.
- Big Bad: Satan, who has kidnapped Lando's daughter to make her his bride.
- Chosen One: Lando is granted what amounts to the powers of God following the death of his uncle.
- Covers Always Lie: The epic poster art seen in the page image is not accurate to what the actual villains look like in the movie. The Big Red Devil in the background is allegedly Satan, but film!Satan just looks like a man in a red and black suit.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: When Lando reaches Satan's stronghold, Lando calls him a coward to get him to show himself.Lando: You are yellow, Satan!
- The Dragon: The Prince of Magic works for Satan. He causes a lot of the film's atrocities, actually.
- Event Title: The title of the movie is "The Killing of Satan".
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: At least under the English title. It's about Satan being killed.
- Fanservice: If you consider the National Geographic-style nudity in Satan's dungeon as such.
- Guns Are Worthless: Played straight and averted. Several people are shot in the beginning of the film, but when Lando takes his own gun to Satan's stronghold, he never uses it, favoring instead his new-found holy magic.
- Immune to Bullets: Lando becomes this when he triggers the power in his left hand.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Lando simply walks off major injuries after fight scenes.
- McGuffin: A talisman is stolen from a village's shrine by the agents of Satan. Their afflictions (as well as the movie) end the instant Lando recovers it.
- Panty Shot: A gale force wind arrives just as Satan is defeated, and, for whatever reason, we're treated to a lingering shot of Lando's wife's skirt being lifted by said wind.
- Satan: He is featured as the story's Big Bad, terrorizing Lando's village through his underling, the Prince of Magic.
- The Sociopath: The Prince of Magic is willing to torture women into madness and make a teenage girl marry Satan for the sake of power. However, he has no loyalty to Lucifer either, being willing to molest said teenage girl before giving her to his master.
- Spoiler Title: Satan is killed in the movie, but the Tagalog title which translates as "Fight, Satan" doesn't give away the ending.
- The X of Y: The Killing Of Satan. But not in the Tagalog, where it is called "Fight, Satan" instead.
