A DAY OF JUDGMENT (1981)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: C.D.H. Reynolds
Cast: William T. Hicks, Brownlee Davis, Jerry Rushing, Harris Bloodworth, Charles Reynolds, Helene Tryon, William Gillespie, Careyanne Sutton,
Produced by Earl Owensby Studios the 80's the regional horror flick A Day of Judgment (1981) is a bizarre, often banal, faith-based slasher set in a 1930s Midwestern small town. The local preacher Reverend Cage (Charles Reynolds, Another Son of Sam) has had quite enough of the lust, scheming, and corruption he's witnessing in town, and in response he gives a not quite brimstone and fire, but more a spiritually stern sermon to his parishioners and then tenders his resignation, announcing that he is leaving the community.
Produced by Earl Owensby Studios the 80's the regional horror flick A Day of Judgment (1981) is a bizarre, often banal, faith-based slasher set in a 1930s Midwestern small town. The local preacher Reverend Cage (Charles Reynolds, Another Son of Sam) has had quite enough of the lust, scheming, and corruption he's witnessing in town, and in response he gives a not quite brimstone and fire, but more a spiritually stern sermon to his parishioners and then tenders his resignation, announcing that he is leaving the community.
The sinful acts committed by the small town community include the shady dealings of banker Mr. Sharpe (William T. Hicks, Death Screams), the mean-spirited old boozer Mrs. Fitch (Helene Tryon, Death Screams) who poisons the goat of trio young kids who she claims are destroying her flower beds, gas station proprietor George Clay (William Gillespie) who is looking to wrongfully commit his elderly parents to an asylum, and then there's the lustful Ruby (Careyanne Sutton), the wife of the owner of the kindly mercantile, who is running around with her husband's employee (Larry Sprinkle, Trick or Treat). Lastly, we have Charlie (Brownlee Davis, Worth Keeter's Wolfman) who is convinced that his wife Grace (Denise Myers) is having extra-marital relations with his employer Sid Martin (Harris Bloodworth).
As the Reverend is riding out of town on his horse and carriage he passes through a covered bridge where he encounters nonother than the Grim Reaper on his way into town, dressed in black and wielding a scythe, to deliver some comeuppance upon the small community. Over the next few days the sinners meet their fates at the hands of the Reaper in myriad ways; old lady Fitch is dragged to Hell by the hands of the damned, the adulterers are burned alive after the Reaper directs lightning to strike their house, the gas station goes insane, and another loses their head in a bloody decapitation. It's all very EC Comics inspired pulpy stuff, but the flick, while featuring a pretty bloody head chop, is pretty tame by the slasher standard of '81 - the greatest year ever for slasher films in my opinion, so the competition was stiff.
The cast are mostly non-actors who didn't go on to do a lot, but they are all pretty solid in their roles, particularly Helene Tryon, who brought to mind the old lady version of John Carradine (The House of Seven Corpses) - she was also in Death Screams a handful of other b-movies but she should have been in lots more! The only really decent Christian folk in the town are the sheriff (Elijah Perry, Final Exam, Mutant) and the three kids old lady Fitch is after, and they're all pretty decent in the roles. The look of the Reaper is also pretty cool, the shot of it arriving n town is spooky looking with the flowing black coat, long scythe and occasionally glowing-red eyes. The only bad thing was make-up for it, which looked like lumpy clay badly molded onto someone's face.
The biggest set back for this is the duration and pace, it's a bit overstretched at nearly 100-minutes and thus it drags quite a bit in places, feeling like an anthology film with vignettes that go on a bit too long for their own good. The redemptive ending is also a bit deflating, but appropriate given the Christian theme, with a cool Torture Garden-esque trip to Hell and a vision of Heaven. I do give the production props for achieving the 1930's scenery and decor on what was probably a shoestring budget, I never felt like it slipped out of that period, which is no small feat with a tiny budget.
Audio/Video: A Day of Judgment (1981) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD and framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, scanned in 2K from the IP. The image looks strong with a thick filmic layer of grain and nice color reproduction. There's a diffuse soft lensing to a lot of Irl Dixon's (The Boneyard) cinematography that tends to sap fine detail and thickens wafts of fog, giving the film a flat finish but it generally looks quite pleasing. The attention to detail of the period setting and costuming is quite good, and close-ups do offer a modest amount of fine detail in faces and period clothing textures.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA mono with optional English subtitles. It's a modest sound design but it does the job, dialogue is never difficult to understand and the score from Arthur & Clay Smith (Dark Sunday) has a nice showing in the mix.
Extras include an interview with author of 'Nightmare USA' Stephen Thrower who gets into the history of the studio, the principle cast and crew and the peculiarities of this region faith-based slasher' plus we get an interview with Filmmaker Worth Keeter (Snapdragon) and writer Thom McIntyre talking about EO Studios and the production of the film. The single-disc release arrives in a black Elite keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster with the Halloween knock-off tagline "The Night HE Came To Collect His Own", the same key art is featured on the disc.
Special Features:
- The Atheist's Sins - Interview With Author Of NIGHTMARE USA Stephen Thrower
- Tales Of Judgment - Interview With Filmmaker Worth Keeter And Writer Thom McIntyre
Made during the height of the early 80's slasher craze A Day of Judgment (1981) probably played more churches than it did drive-ins, made as a Christian public service announcement warning sinners of all ages that they'd better get right with God or the Reaper's coming for 'em. An interesting Christian relic from the slasher era that undoubtedly a bit too earnest in it's execution to work but that's also why I found it so charming. If you're a fan of creaky regional movie making, religious horror and weird slashers this nugget ought to fit the bill quite nicely. Let's all give a tip of the hat to Severin for unearthing another doozy for the slasher deep-divers to plunge into, and a faith-based slasher at that!
Screenshots from the Severin Blu-ray:
