Day of Reckoning (2016 film)

Did You Know?

• A television in the film includes scenes from Big Ass Spider!, which shares the same screenwriter as Day of Reckoning.
• The film was released as a Syfy original and shown as part of the channel's 31 Days of Halloween program in October 2016.
• Filming began in the first week of May 2016 in Los Angeles, California.

Synopsis

The film opens at a mining site where workers detect an issue in c-shaft. Creatures burst up from underground, slaughtering everyone in sight. Across the planet, the same happens at any location with a deep hole. News coverage calls the monsters subterranean and demonic, and the military proves unable to stop them. The assault lasts exactly one day before the creatures withdraw, and the event becomes known as the day of reckoning. Global authorities respond by establishing stations at every deep-core fissure to seal and watch them.

Fifteen years pass. In the interim, more attacks have occurred, and a pattern emerges: dead fish washing ashore in large numbers, birds migrating, and finally a lunar eclipse right before the creatures emerge. Not every eclipse triggers an attack, but another one is due on Saturday, and anxiety builds. The story focuses on David Sheppard, a maintenance chief in an unnamed location.

His ex-wife, a high school professor, is being courted by a colleague named Milton, and she agrees to have dinner with him. Their son Tyler is a high school student dating Maddie, whose parents are heading to Palm Springs while Tyler stays with his father for the weekend. The Sheppards likely split up after the first day of reckoning or possibly the most recent one. Garret Jensen, a homeland security corporal stationed at a monitored fissure, survived the first event and now feels another day of reckoning is imminent.

Around 1 a.m., David’s uncle Ted calls to warn him it is starting again, telling him they must reach Ted’s underground bunker in Barstow by noon. Fish have already started piling up on beaches. At Garret’s post, a creature has already appeared. By morning, Laura phones, wanting Tyler to join her at a shelter where Milton has booked a spot, but Tyler has already left to find Maddie. He vows to stay with her as they see birds flying overhead. At the gate, a dog-like monster kills a soldier, and Garret runs. David gets stuck in traffic, abandons his car, and runs on foot to find Tyler. They reunite and are picked up by Laura and Milton.