Day Of The Wicked — Day Of The Wicked (DVD)
Day Of The Wicked is a remake of the early 90’s SOV splatter fest Slaughter Day. The film amps up the production somewhat( it looks like it’s shot on film), and adds in some OTT/ if somewhat cheap-looking, big demonic monsters CGI. Here, from Wild Eyed Releasing, is a region-free/bare-bones DVD of the film.
Day Of The Wicked is from last year, and rather puzzling, it’s listed on IMDB as having been written/ directed by the Cousins Brothers, and it’s their only release. Going by the films write-up it’s suggested that the bros have a history in underground film- so I’m guessing that one of the bros is none other than Brent Cousins- who directed 1991 Slaughter Day( which this film is a remake of), who has a total of eleven credits- not including the film to hand…so most confusing/ puzzling.
Anyway lets get onto the film itself…it runs at one hour and thirty-seven minutes, and from the off it’s clear there is an attempt to make a fairly polished, if clearly still low-budget affair, with its shot use, and grand score, which sounds like it would be more at home in a fantasy film/ Harry Potter rip-off.
The film focuses on an old and abandoned rural school where a group of builders/ tradesmen are working. First on site is the shaven head and wild-eyed John Jones(Gabe Hernandez)- he’s recently broken up with his girlfriend, and is not really in a great state. In the house, he finds a rather dodgy looking/ meant to be, old, & evil looking book- from here he starts turning even odder & wild eyed, as the other builders turn-up- we have a raggedly bearded guy with long stringy dreads, a tattooed short wear & breaded guy, and a woman who also seems to work in a café.
For the first fifty or so minutes, the film plays out more like work drama- with all but the woman, belittling/ bullying the getting stranger & stranger John. He pulls out skulls and bones from the book, wiping up blood with white bread, etc. We get introduced to a team of two agents up in the Hollywood hills- she wears shades & black fingerless gloves, and he’s older with a pockmarked/ ragged beard. They are trying to track down the book
When the gore/ creature effects come in, they are ok, if a little murky for low-budget fare. There’s a giant shadowy fist, teethy ‘n’ tentacle-lashing wall monsters, limbs get chopped off, throats are slashed, and hacked off limbs join with monster heads.
The cast, I guess, is largely ok- though at a few points we do get some awful blank-faced and bland delivery moments. I guess the highlight here is Hernandez as John Jones- he does have a constantly manic/ odd edge/bug-eyed look, and the deeper we get into the film, the more unhinged/ hamming it up he gets.
As I mentioned, this is a bare bones release- with just a trailer and nothing else.
Day Of The Wicked is ok, for a rather subpar Evil Dead rip-off, and it takes way too long to get going. And finally, it’s not as good as the SOV Slaughter Day original, which it’s meant to be a remake of. Personally, I suggest just checking out the original Slaughter Day, which was put out by Wild Eye releasing sub-label Visual Vengeance back in 2022