Take one look to the left to view the Blu-ray cover for 2021’s On the 3rd Day. Does it prompt you to think “hey, they made a prequel film about Supreme Leader Snoke”?

Perhaps not, though the resemblance of the character on this cover to the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy villain seems obvious. With no connection to that saga, though, Day brings a horror tale.

During a car trip with her son Martin (Octavio Belmonte), Cecilia Amato (Mariana Anghileri) gets into an accident. Three days later, she finds herself alone with no clue what happened to Martin.

As Cecilia searches for Martin, she finds herself deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole that involves a religious fanatic. As she digs into the mystery, Cecilia encounters greater danger.

Created in Argentina, Day came with Spanish dialogue. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, this Blu-ray only offers an English dubbed version.

That shocks me, as n this day and age, I expect the original language for a Blu-ray release. It’s fine if the disc tosses in an English dub as well, but it seems bizarre that Day lacks the Spanish source.

Perhaps I wouldn’t mind the absence of the Spanish dialogue if the English Day came with better voice acting. Across the board, the movie suffers from terrible dubbed performance, work so bad that it felt like the kind of work you’d expect from an “adaptation” meant to create a mocking comedic version.

I’ve devoted so much time to the problems with the English dub because the audio severely damages the movie. Whatever potential positives I might take from Day go straight down the drain because the English version suffers from such terrible acting.

Actually, I get the impression a lot of the track got reworked, as the English dub comes with pretty bad foley work as well. Perhaps those issues impacted the Spanish original as well, but the combination of awful English acting and awkward effects puts a lot of distance between the viewer and the story.

All of this also means I find it tough to fairly evaluate what the filmmakers did with Day. It becomes difficult to discern how many of my issues with the movie stem from the poor post-production choices and how many relate to the original product itself.

Even without the poor English acting and the clunky effects, I still doubt Day would go much of anywhere, and that partly stems from the photography. The filmmakers chose to give the flick an oddly bright feel that doesn’t suit the story.

This means a lot of scenes that lack the dim grittiness they need. Much of the movie feels lit in a way that damages any form of mood – Day looked like a sitcom at times.

The actual story comes with some potential, even if it breaks no new ground. Nonetheless, we find s decent mystery/horror tale on display here.

Try as I might, though, I can’t get past various poor production choices that make Day ineffective. From a terrible English dub to bad foley work to off-putting cinematography, this becomes a clumsy film that doesn’t work.

Footnote: an added scene appears after the conclusion of the end credits.

On the 3rd Day appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This turned into a pretty solid visual presentation.

Overall sharpness worked fine. A few soft spots emerged, but the majority of the movie displayed accurate delineation.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws also failed to mar the proceedings.

Unsurprisingly, the movie opted for a palette heavy on teal and orange/amber. The tones lacked creativity but the disc replicated them as intended.

Blacks felt dark and tight, while shadows showed appropriate clarity. As noted earlier, the movie felt too bright, but that was a production choice. Ultimately, this became a good rendition of the source.

As noted in the body of the review, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack lacked the original Spanish. The presentation brought dubbed English dialogue that felt unnatural and “studio-sounding” but the lines nonetheless always remained intelligible and clear.

Effects also sounded more contrived and less realistic than they should. Nonetheless, they displayed fine accuracy and range, without distortion.

The movie came with a fairly spare score. The music appeared lively and rich.

In terms of soundfield, Day brought a fairly moody offering, one that emphasized spooky ambience. This meant music and effects from the sides and surrounds on a semi-limited but appropriate basis.

On occasion, the mix opened up, especially in terms of violent scenes such as the car crash. Nonetheless, expect a pretty restrained soundscape. Between the low-key soundfield and the awkward nature of dialogue and effects, I felt this was an acceptable but erratic mix.

The disc includes the movie’s trailer but it lacks any other extras.

If seen in its original Spanish incarnation, On the 3rd Day may well offer a quality horror thriller. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray only provides a terrible English dub, and this version robs the movie of any potential and makes it wholly ineffective. The Blu-ray boasts very good picture along with inconsistent audio and virtually no supplements. If you want to watch this film, try to find the Spanish version, as it has to work better than this atrocious English dub.