The ’80s Horror With An Original Batman Villain
The legendary Cesar Romero rose from the early days of talking motion pictures, often playing film villains or heavies throughout the first few decades of his career. While still highly sought as a character actor in the 1950s and 60s, Romero made the leap to the small screen where he is best known as playing the Joker on the 1966-68 series Batman. In 1988, Romero acted in one of his final film roles playing the mysterious Octavio in Judgement Day, a lesser-known horror film that desperately needs saving.
The Devil kept his end of the bargain, on the condition that he and his horde of hellish creatures will take vengeance once per year on anyone they see on Santana’s streets.
Judgement Day is the horror story of a small village that is forced to uphold a 300-year pact with the Devil himself. Charlie (Kenneth McLeod) and Pete (David Anthony Smith) are traveling through rural Mexico when their bus breaks down near the old village of Santana. The college kids seek refuge in the nearby town and meet an American ex-patriot named Sam (Monte Markham) who’s bartending in the village watering hole.
Judgement Day sees Charlie and Pete scoff at their new companion’s horror tale of how the village of Santana is visited by the Devil and a legion of demons once a year to seek wayward souls to drag back to Hell. According to Sam, a local from 1689 tricked the Devil into ending a plague in the village only to incur the horror of his wrath. The Devil kept his end of the bargain, on the condition that he and his horde of hellish creatures will take vengeance once per year on anyone they see on Santana’s streets.
The film is very low budget, but director Ferde Grofe, Jr. does well with giving audiences a great buildup of scares throughout the film’s final half.
The town of Santana mostly empties before sundown as the villagers know all too well what fate awaits them if they stay. As Judgement Day continues, Pete and Charlie find themselves unable to leave and witness the Devil and his hooded demons marching those too slow to flee through the streets. Desperate to escape the horror, they stumble into a mansion owned by Octavio (Cesar Romero), who agrees to give them safe haven until dawn.
Judgement Day wouldn’t be a great horror movie if the college boys heeded their host’s advice. Pete and Charlie leave to make sure their new friend Sam is safe (who was stuck in town searching for his daughter just before sundown) and are forced to bear witness to the terror that the Devil is about to unleash on the souls who have stayed behind.
In 1988, Romero acted in one of his final film roles playing the mysterious Octavio in Judgement Day, a lesser-known horror film that desperately needs saving.
Judgement Day is an assembly of mostly unknown actors that all give aboveboard performances in what turned out to be a decent horror movie. The film is very low budget, but director Ferde Grofe, Jr. does well with giving audiences a great buildup of scares throughout the film’s final half. The demons marching through the streets, the torture of the captive villagers, and the ominous beating of the drums the Devil and his minions march to capture a great sense of ominous doom that is sure to give chills.
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Judgement Day is not available to stream on any current platform, and you won’t find this horror movie On Demand, either. The film had a small release on VHS in 1989 and was a staple in many of the video rental stores of its day. To date, this has been the only physical media for a vastly underappreciated film.
