WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? Schwarzenegger vs. Satan! And according to rumor, Arnold does something truly shocking in this film -- he emotes.

THE CAST

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: The muscleman from Graz has come a long way since Hercules in New York. Well, sort of. Arnold's career thus far has existed in two realms -- gun-toting, muscle-bound bad-ass movies with maximum carnage (the Terminator flicks, Predator, Conan the Barbarian) or movies that take his stature/status and mock it up (Twins, Kindergarten Cop.) The serious dramatic aspect of End of Days promises a slight variation on the first theme; Arnold plays a cop dedicated to stopping the propagation of satanic spawn.

GABRIEL BYRNE: End of Days is Gabriel's second genre film this year; the first was Stigmata, in which he played a drool-worthy Catholic priest who fights what appears to be Satan. Here, he is Satan, and I have embraced the dark side. The Irish actor's other roles include Little Women and The Usual Suspects.

UDO KIER: German actor with mucho genre credibility. Among his many credits include Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, Suspiria, Johnny Mnemonic and Blade. Udo plays Satan's henchman, Dr. Donald Abel.

ROBIN TUNNEY: Best-known as Sarah from The Craft, the 27-year-old actress has also appeared in Encino Man, Empire Records and Montana. She plays Satan's potential bride.

THE CREW

PETER HYAMS: Peter has directed a lot of movies that are semi-scary and have a lot of stuff that blows up. Recent fare includes The Relic, Sudden Death and Time Cop.

OTHER

End of Days is distributed by Universal Pictures and was written by Andrew W. Marlowe.

THE PREMISE: Satan comes to New York City, and then buys a house in Chappaqua -- oh wait, that was something else. In short, Arnold plays a cop who revolves to stop Satan from taking a bride, thus creating satanic offspring who will undoubtedly bring forth the apocalypse.

GOSSIP and USELESS FACTS:

• Udo Kier was originally intended to play Satan, but the producers felt that his German accent and Arnold's similar Austrian one might be a too confusing for an American audience.
• End of Days marks the return of Guns n Roses, who feature a song on the soundtrack. The last time G'n'R did a song for an Arnold movie it was Terminator 2, possibly Arnold's best movie ever.