The Unholy (1988)

Sadly Over-hyped

hyped garbage

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Before I start this review, I wanna let you know that this reviews contains spoilers, viewer discretion is advised. The Unholy is a 1988 horror supernatural movie. The plot of this movie is about a father priest is in a middle of a war between God & Satan, this girl was possessed by Satan. So the priest must do everything he can do rescue that girl from Satan. The Unholy as a Exorcist clone did a few things right & wrong. Pros: -Decent special effects -Good soundtrack -Great cinematography Cons: -Bad plot -Poor script -Wooden acting Overall in conclusion, I find The Unholy to be a very average Exorcist rip-off. Not great, but not terrible neither, it could have been better. This movie gets a 5 out of 10, the end.

After miraculously surviving a fall from a high rise building, Father Michael (a fine and credible performance by Ben Cross) gets assigned by Archbishop Mosely (the always excellent Hal Holbrook) to exercise a powerful demonic force from a church in New Orleans. Director Camilo Vila relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, creates and maintains a broodingly serious and sinister atmosphere, offers a nice evocation of the Big Easy setting, delivers a few startling moments of in-your-face graphic gore, and pulls out all the freaky stops for the gloriously wild and over the top special effects heavy climax in which Father Michael confronts the demon and its nasty dwarf minions in their natural grotesque forms. The ace acting from a top-drawer cast keeps the picture humming: Jill Carroll as sweet virginal innocent Millie, William Russ as sleazy nightclub owner Luke, Trevor Howard as sage blind priest Father Silva, Ned Beatty as the diligent Lt. Stern, and Peter Frechette as the suicidal Claude. Ravishing redhead Nicole Fortier positively burns up the screen as an incredibly sexy and enticing, yet still spooky and unearthly succubus. The offbeat script by Philip Yordan and Fernando Fanseca boasts a strong good vs. evil premise about the strength of faith and the difficulty inherent in resisting temptation as well as several inspired oddball moments (the definite loopy highlight occurs when Father Michael receives a crank call from hell!). The slick cinematography by Henry Vargas supplies a striking stylish look. Roger Bellon's moody score hits the spine-tingling spot. A very solid and enjoyable fright film.

Running through some old horror magazines I came across this title. I was rather surprised by the big names in it and the fact that it isn't a popular flick. So it has to deal with some problems.We're running late in the eighties and by then horror wasn't that popular anymore. The slashers were passé and every item they could use to make a horror they used. Here are some names that should attract a lot of attention. Ned Beatty was in it, one we knew from so many flicks but to name one classic, Deliverance (1072), also on the list was Hal Holbrook (Magnum Force 1972 or The Fog 1980). Trevor Howard in one of his last flicks, he died in 1988, we knew him from Ghandi (1982). So really good thespians but were they failed was the fact that they aren't shown that much. On the other hand the movie do deliver at some points but also has some weak parts. There are some parts were there is a bit too much of nothing going on but the mast ten minutes are worth watching. And the first part is also worth mentioning because it is sometimes a bit gory. The demon is played by Nicole Fortier who only appeared in two flicks, Scared Stiff (1987) and this one. She was running in her nudies all through this flick and even has some full frontal nudity. It's weird that she vanished from the screen after this flick, she really had a good looking face. But don't forget to watch the effects and that's what make sit also worth watching. No CGI, this is the real stuff. There are indeed some gory parts with someone hanging upside down on a cross and having his intestines hanging out. Once the priest is having his confrontation with the demon it's also worth watching but the monster itself looks a bit ridiculous for that time. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it a lot, okay here and there a small yawn but overall worth watching. Gore 2/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 4/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

"The Unholy" is a pretty good film with just a few minor grievances.**SPOILERS**Years of dealing with tragedy, Archbishop Mosely, (Hal Holbrook) and Father Silva, (Trevor Howard) are forced to deal with the strange coincidence of Father Michael, (Ben Cross) who has managed to survive a miraculous encounter. Granted his own church as compensation, he begins to hear about the mystery that has plagued the community for several years from Lt. Stern, (Ned Beatty) a local policeman. Upset at both that the case is unresolved and that the church has been reopening, he keeps an eye out as the services at the church continue. Thinking a possible lead from a local story about a Satanic nightclub is worth looking into, he manages to find the disaffected Millie, (Jill Carroll) there who had connections with the past crimes, and offers to protect her, despite the intentions of everyone else. When the real intention of the killer is unveiled, they stop at nothing to protect the innocent from the forces of darkness.The Good News: This here wasn't really all that bad. The beginning of this is quite spectacular, with the two demon encounters being especially noteworthy. The church is quite eerie, with the demon appearing quite unexpectedly and out-of-nowhere. The fact that this is cleverly hinted at but never explicitly that there's anything wrong even though there is. The second one in the hotel room is mostly for it's spectacular shock at the end, which is a great visual and a nice way to end it. The film also manages to get some great demon moments later on, where a fascinating sequence taking place in a Satanic nightclub holding big honors. The lighting, the performance, the air surrounding it makes this a great highlight sequence. This also has a pretty good start to it's grand finale, as things start to pick up after a small spell in the pace. From a wonderful demonic phone call that is pretty chilling to an eerie encounter at a fortune teller and the beginning stages in the church, this here is an all-out spectacle that has high hopes entering the finale. The key crux of this is the film's best point of it's high-quality gore. There's some really brutal moments in here, and the deaths dished out are quite bloody. One is found tied up on a crucifix with their chest torn completely open and exposed, another begins bleeding viciously from the eyes, another is impaled through the hands with sharp tacks, a fall out of a tall window and there's an especially brutal and graphic throat ripping that has to rank as one of the bloodiest examples of that in the genre. This even manages to mix in a little bit of sleaze in it, with a pretty healthy sporting of full-on nudity and a really sleazy dance in the nightclub. Overall, this was a pretty entertaining film.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot that didn't really work. One of the main ones is the really weak and badly-done finale. While there's some great moments to be had from it, there's some big problems from it. Up until then, it had been a strong supernatural horror, and even starts off with some great moments, but then it has to switch over to the personification of the Devil, and it quickly sinks the film. The sight of this obviously special effects driven sequence where the model that the creature is becomes patently obvious. There's no attempt to disguise it any more than it already is, as there's no real way that this is anything but a plastic model. It gets a cool smoke-and-fog entrance, but the sight and design hinder it considerably. The middle section of the film is another problem, as after a whirlwind intro, this slows down the pace and we get some really slow pacing for a while. There's a lot of investigation going on that really just takes a while to get going, and the fact that most of it is blown off at first, then reintroduced without change and then accepted by all involved. That just doesn't really fit and makes it seem like it's dragging things out considerably. These though are it's big flaws.The Final Verdict: There's not a whole lot against this one and a lot more going for it, making this an overall satisfying entry. Fans of the style or interested in this kind of cheesy flicks are encouraged to check it out, while those who aren't are advised to seek caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Full Nudity and Language