Macabre…ish Horror Review: Killing God

 

 

Killing God aka Matar a Dios, 2017/ 1 hr 32 min

 

 

A man and his family encounters, what they assume to be, a vagrant, standing in the middle of the road, blocking their way. Even when they try to go around, he moves to block their way. He’s a tiny, bearded man wearing a hoodie and coat. He goes to the driver’s side window and tells the driver, he and his family are going to die.

 

As the man drives off, he immediately crashes in the ditch, he’s injured, the car ignites and explodes with he, his teen and infant daughter inside. The tiny bearded man casually looks on.

 

•

 

A struggling couple, Carlos (Eduardo Antuna)  and Ana (Itziar Castro), rents a house for vacation to ring in the new year, the husband is hounding his wife about time she spent with her boss that she got drinks and spent the evening with, while they make dinner.

 

It’s not long before Carlos’ brother Santi (David Pareja) arrives with their Dad, Eduardo (Boris Ruiz). Carlos shows Santi to his room and Eduardo stays and chats with Ana about his health and recent death of his wife. He says swapped Priests for sex workers, smokes a lot of weed now and eats whatever he wants. He’s also blowing through his sons’ inheritance. He’s really enjoying himself.

 

Meanwhile, Santi talks to his brother about the break down of his 17 year marriage and friends seeing his wife, Marisa, around with a new man, an Argentinian. Santi is torn up over it.

 

Later, at dinner, all of them are kind of miserable except Eduardo, who is pretty buzzed. Carlos picks a fight over the last bite of dinner, even threatening to slit his wrist. The contempt  he has for his wife is palpable. He accuses her of cheating in front of everyone. Tells the entire story and embarrasses everyone. And he keeps going until Ana had enough and confesses. Her boss treated her with kindness and it was one of the best nights of her life. Carlos is stunned silent.

 

Eduardo comforts Ana and makes her feel better.

 

In another room, Carlos reminisces with Santi about cheating on Ana, sucking a strippers breasts, before they were married. Someone sent him a photo of a male stripper doing the same to Ana, at her own bachelorette party and he almost didn’t marry her because of it. Santi tells him it’s exactly the same thing he did but opposite.

 

Eduardo comes upstairs with a knife, interrupting the brothers. He says someone is in the house. The four of them arm themselves, whoever it is, is in the bathroom.  Before he comes out Carlos makes sure to argue with Ana about who should go check it out.

 

Soon, a tiny, bearded man in a hoodie and coat, wanders out and sits at the dining table. He tells them to come out. He helps himself to food and wine and introduces himself as God (Emilio Gavira). They ask him to prove it and he asks if he resurrects one of them, if they’ll believe then. So he causes Eduardo to have a heart attack and die. And then he resurrects him.

 

Carlos asks why he has come. He says he’s come to tell them something that will change history. Tomorrow humanity will experience a massive change, at dawn. It will be extinguished from existence. Only two people will survive and the four of them can choose who those two will be. Their names need to be written in his book before dawn. He doesn’t care who they choose. And why these four, you ask? Because God said so.

 

The family spends the evening pondering over this. Concluding he’s a cruel God and how it’s strange that he chose them because they are shitty people. So they ask him questions. Is there life after death? Is there a heaven? Are there animals in heaven? Are the great and terrible names in history there? Is Eduardo’s wife there?

 

God is losing patience, he wants two names. After a while they wonder if he might be the devil and is tricking them? God starts screaming about the names again and they decide to pull names out of a hat. They struggle with it. Santi even calls his wife searching for a reason. The call was a mistake. And Carlos circles back to antagonizing Ana.

 

Santi finally says he doesn’t want to be saved, he couldn’t take it. Carlos is excited by the prospect of surviving. Santi also thinks they need to choose competent, young people who will continue the species. Eduardo is offended and takes it as them saying they want him to die but he’s in his 70s with a bad heart, he’s just not a smart choice. As for Carlos, hates kids and is infertile.

 

Anyway, they vote and everyone votes for Santi. He’s written in the book. Now they just need to choose one more person.

 

As the night wears on they are coming to terms with this being their last night. But after God stabs himself with a cork screw, they see that he can be hurt and think about a plan to kill him. So they poison a bottle of wine. But he wonders why they’re being so nice and tells Santi to have a drink. Then Eduardo. Santi finishes the bottle do no one else has to drink it. Then God passes out.

 

With just two hours until sunrise they wonder how they should kill him. Santi and Eduardo soon pass out from the drugged, wine and that leaves Ana and Carlos to do it. So of course Carlos chooses to continue to antagonize Ana.

 

Suddenly, Carlos decides they’re going to kill God and save humanity. But they spend so much time arguing over how to do it that they run out of time. He wakes up,  Carlos swings and cuts his neck. And as God scurries away, Carlos accidentally cuts off his sleep, drugged dad’s hand.

 

Cornered, God announces he’s not God, just a Hobo. He can’t remember anything and he was just joking. Look at him, does he look like a God, he asks?? He goes a long way to convince them but Ana has had enough, just as he affirms and shouts that yes, he is God, she swings the sword, decapitating him. Ana is certain the ordeal is over but Carlos is not so sure they aren’t murderers.

 

It’s finally dawn and they find out what is true. If he was God then humankind is over, if not, then they’re in big trouble.

 

 

This Spanish dark comedy horror was written and directed by Caye Casas and Albert Pintó. Caye Casas was also the director of The Coffee Table and Albert Pintó is also the director of Nowhere. It’s in Spanish but there are English subtitles. And Santi is played by the same lead that was in The Coffee Table, David Pareja. Though small, the cast was perfect. This is very relatable and funny. The tension is great in this but broken up very well by Carlos’ arguing which is often funny. There’s a ton of dialogue but the writing is so good, I really enjoyed it. This becomes more graphic as the movie goes on and but it’s not excessive. This one will be a permanent fixture in my New Years stack.