The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord (2021), written by Jared Jay Mason and directed by Mason and Clark Runciman, is a film that raises more questions than it answers. An independent movie distributed by Random Media, it features two actors, Jordan Ashley Grier (Gabby) and Swayde McCoy (Michael). It received seven award nominations. This review will contain spoilers, so be warned.
About the spoilers: there’s no way to review this film without them.
The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord takes place over a weekend—intended to be romantic—with Michael and Gabby. They aren’t engaged, but in love. They drive to a remote cabin (and this isn’t going where you probably think it is) owned by his family. Arriving before dark on Friday we quickly learn that Michael is intense, loving, and sensitive. Gabby’s holding back a little because she’s not ready to trust him with her secrets. They have a drink and smoke some pot to unwind. As they’re dancing through the stylish cabin, Michael suddenly reveals to Gabby that he’s God. More than that, he’s come to her without Michael’s knowledge to tell her she’ll die before the weekend’s over. And she’s going to Hell.
Check out the trailer for The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord:
That kind of puts the damper on any romantic weekend. Over the evening Michael occasionally comes back to himself with no recollection of the things he’s said as “God.” Gabby’s an atheist and grows more and more terrified that Michael’s psychotic and plans to kill her. She wants to leave and drive home, but she’s had too much to drink and Michael has passed out on the couch. She decides she can’t leave him there, in good conscience, because if he’s ill he needs help.
Saturday morning, Michael has no recollection of saying the things he did as God. He solicitously agrees to drive Gabby home, but in the car God reappears. He convinces Gabby that he’s real by revealing something she never told Michael. If, he says, she leaves the cabin she will end up in Hell. Crying and confused, she decides to stay one more night. Michael is back to himself and he fixes her dinner. Then God reappears. He tries to get Gabby to accept him before it’s too late. She’s now convinced that he’s God, and nearly comes to trust him. Then Michael comes back to himself and reveals that he’s schizophrenic. In college he had an episode where he thought he was God. She must, he insists, drive him home immediately or they’ll both be in danger. Gabby refuses.
That night she finds a working phone and calls Michael’s mother who insists he’s not schizophrenic. Michael catches her in his room only this time he’s Satan. He threatens to kill her and tells her she’s going to Hell with him. Frantic, Gabby begs God to come back. When he does, she runs to him.
The next morning, accepting she’ll die that day, Gabby watches the sun rise with Michael. He reveals that he doesn’t remember anything after their dancing on Friday night and she tells him about meeting and coming to believe in God. God then reappears and tells her she won’t die for many years. Her old self died when Satan threatened her. They pinkie promise (a theme throughout the movie) to stay together.
That may not sound too much like horror to you. The two hours of the film are almost all dialogue—very informed theological dialogue—and the horror comes from not knowing who Michael really is. The film keeps the viewer off balance from the moment Michael claims to be God. An added horror may be present for anyone raised in a conservative religious family as the film may bring back lingering nightmares and doubts.
Jordan Ashley Grier (Gabby) and Swayde McCoy (Michael)
Jared Jay Mason studied psychology at Albright College (the film is set in Pennsylvania, at least from the license plate and reference to Pittsburgh), and this psychology background shows. One of the most uneasy situations in which to find oneself is not knowing what is happening. Is Michael really schizophrenic – or is God (as he claims) really choosing to speak through him to Gabby? The viewer has to be tolerant of extended theological discussion: Gabby lays out the classic arguments for why there is no God or, if there is, why he’s not good. (In theological circles this is known as “theodicy”—the discussion of whether God is just, given the suffering in the world.) Psychologically, the viewer finds her/himself being swayed by what’s called Pascal’s wager. Blaise Pascal, the seventeenth-century French philosopher (you probably didn’t expect to be reading that in a horror movie review!), argued that with stakes so high—consequences are eternal—a person has nothing to lose by believing in God. Not knowing if Michael really is God, the viewer wants Gabby to take the safe route and accept that he is. Then, upon critical reflection, questions that decision. Is Michael manipulating her or is something supernatural really happening?
All of this is done with no special effects, no blood, and very minimal violence. It’s a remarkable achievement. Without any Jack Torrance axe-wielding scenes, this film manages to traverse similar ground. With enough f-bombs to convince viewers it’s not an evangelical conversion ploy (unless it’s a very clever one), it features an intelligent—eloquent even—script that makes you think. The acting is quite good, although McCoy—a couple of times—speaks too fast. The camera angles are effective. There’s really only one jump scare.
Not all horror fans will find it compelling. There’s a certain amount of homework that has to be done to make it convincing. Or being reared in a particular religious setting. For those unfamiliar with evangelical Christianity, there’s likely still some real horror here. Being trapped in a remote vacation spot with a person who’s seemingly psychotic—unable to leave because of your own mind—worked for The Shining, after all. (Of course Wendy and Danny are physically trapped as well.) For the atheist watching The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord there is no God so the whole of the fear has to be driven by the uncertainty of what Michael will do to Gabby. Will he rape or kill her? Perhaps both? You’ll need to deal with lengthy discussions about the existence of God with no monster or madman trying to break in. For a certain cross-section of horror viewers, however, plagued with a religious childhood, there is a double charge of horror here that won’t soon be forgotten.
You can stream The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord on Amazon (ad):
Steve A. Wiggins is an independent scholar who has taught at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Carroll College, and Rutgers and Montclair State Universities. He is the author of Holy Horror: The Bible and Fear in Movies (McFarland, 2018). and Nightmares with the Bible: The Good Book and Cinematic Demons (Lexington Books, 2021), which we review here. Check out his website. Steve has also written for Horror Homeroom on “The Golem as the Perfect Monster” and sex and death in The Lighthouse and The Witch.
Check out our review of Steve’s book, Nightmare with the Bible: The Good Book and Cinematic Demons, here.
