The holidays- New Year’s Eve, especially- are a time dedicated to excess. It’s only fitting that End of Days, an action-horror hybrid starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and set in the days leading up to New Year’s, honors the spirit of this time of year with a glut of over the top entertainment and outlandish narrative turns. Released in theaters twenty years ago on November 24, 1999, End of Days pounced on the looming fears the turn of the millennium would bring. Instead of Y2K and crashing computers, though, it was the resurgence of Satan in New York City and his quest to impregnate his chosen bride. In the sort of convoluted way that only a grand epic blockbuster-style film can, of course.
After a cold open featuring the birth of the Prince of Darkness’s bride twenty years before the millennial New Year and an explanation of her destiny, the film cuts to present day where Lucifer explodes from the depths of hell, and the sewers, to find a host body for his conquest. That host belongs to an unwitting banker (Gabriel Byrne). He doesn’t know it yet, but his most significant obstacle to finding and claiming his bride, Christine York (Robin Tunney), is former police detective Jericho Cane (Schwarzenegger).
Anyone well versed in Satanic horror will spot Cane’s character arch from a mile away; the film introduces him as a suicidal alcoholic that lost his faith after the death of his wife and daughter. The Exorcist and its many copycats taught us those reluctant heroes who’ve lost their way eventually regain their faith and save the day. While the bare bones of the plot might be predictable, screenwriter Andrew W. Marlow (Hollow Man) and director Peter Hyams (The Relic, Timecop), who also handled the cinematography, keep the journey exciting.
Mere moments after contemplating suicide with his gun, his partner Bobby Chicago (Kevin Pollack) shows up with coffee. Jericho takes the piping hot cup of coffee and blends it up with leftover beer, Pepto-Bismol, two cartons of leftover Chinese food, a thin cut of meat, and a stale piece of pizza from the kitchen floor. He drinks his revolting breakfast smoothie straight from the blender. It’s this precise brand of outlandishness that makes End of Days transcend its familiar premise.
When Jericho finally crosses paths with Christine, who’s oblivious to the Satanic prophecy and her role in it despite nightmarish visions, he becomes her protector. From there, he deals with an endless barrage of devil worshipers, evil guardians with super-strength, betrayals, hallucinogenic temptations, and a slew of Vatican knights who are on a separate mission to stop Satan’s consummation. If anyone can take a beating over and over again, it’s Schwarzenegger.
1999 marked an anxious time, when computers were expected to fail time zone by time zone, causing an apocalyptic domino effect on society in its wake. It’s fitting that End of Days should mirror that feeling with the Vatican and a slew of New Yorkers standing in the way of a biblical apocalypse set to commence when the ball drops in Times Square. There’s a bleak undercurrent, but it’s balanced by the explosive action and the zaniness of the horror elements. Jericho does kick that old nanny’s butt along with anyone else that gets in his way, and you can count on him to stop Satan, too. He’s just going to do it with over the top flair.
In its own weird and charming way, End of Days perfectly captures the New Year’s Eve holiday; that anxious period in which we try to shake off the year’s stresses and look ahead to the shiny possibilities of a new year heralded in by celebrations and libations. This film is a tonal blend of those warring emotions; the bleak and downtrodden against excess and hope. A campiness that’s matched by poignancy.
End of Days is hardly without flaws; save for a fun CGI climax, poor Satan doesn’t have a whole lot to do. But it’s always fascinating and entertaining. The perfect type of movie to pair with pizza, beverages, and friends, which sounds like an ideal way to spend New Year’s Eve to me.
