[yasr_overall_rating]
A priest battles a demon that kills sinners in the act of sinning.
I was a child of the ’70s so my formative years came in the ’80s. This was also the decade in which I was introduced to horror movies by some older friends of mine. Because our house was one of the first in our area to get a VCR in the early 1980s, it meant when my mother was out at work during the day and we were home from school, we would rent horror films that we knew my mother wouldn’t allow us to watch. Movies like “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” “The Omen,” “Alien,” and, of course, “The Exorcist.” So in many ways, horror films have been a part of my life since I was about 11 years old. The 1980s were a classic decade for horror movies because there were just as many bad ones as there were good.
“The Unholy” was a film that I remember seeing on the video shelf for a long time. It never really grabbed my interest as the artwork looked plain and boring, compared to others at that time but one afternoon, one of my friends rented it so we decided to watch it. I was 16 at the time and at an age where, for the most part, I could differentiate between a good scary movie and a bad one. Unfortunately, “The Unholy” fell into the latter camp. Vestron Video was a distributor throughout the 1980s which was renowned for releasing all sorts of horror films and I still remember their logo today and Lionsgate have revived the Vestron label, and are now re-issuing many of their horror library on Blu-ray but while the overall quality and list of extras on this disc is impressive, sadly, the movie itself is not.
The story takes place in New Orleans and Father Michael (Ben Cross) has just been assigned to a church in a poor part of town. It has been closed for the past three years because the last priest to hold his position there, Father Dennis (Ruben Rabasa), was viciously murdered and those responsible were never found. After he re-opens the church, Michael meets a young woman, Teresa (Claudia Robinson), who claims that she knew Father Dennis and that he helped her when no one else would. She also claims that she knows who killed him, a demon. Naturally, Michael is hesitant to believe her claims but when he begins having nightmares of a beautiful woman trying to seduce him, who then turns into a horrible demon, he begins to realize that the battle between good and evil, is taking place right in his own church.
When his local Archbishop, Mosely (Hal Holbrook), and an old priest, Father Silva (Trevor Howard), inform him that he will be tempted by Satan the Friday before Easter, he laughs their claim off but after even more horrific visions and nightmares, he quickly comes to the realization that they are telling the truth. He is told that if he gives into sin, he will be sent straight to hell and because no other priest has ever overcome Satan’s temptation, all their faith lies with Michael. Now he must wait for the ultimate evil and pray to God that he has the strength and conviction to send Satan back to hell.
“The Unholy” is beautifully shot but the acting, for the most part, even with such veterans as Ben Cross, Hal Holbrook, and Trevor Howard, leaves a lot to be desired. One major factor that detracts from the film, is its soundtrack, if you want to call it that. The ’80s were synonymous with electronic and synthesizer scores and while some composers were able to master that particular sound, John Carpenter, Vangelis, Giorgio Moroder, Brad Fiedel, and Tangerine Dream to name but a few, others failed. Miserably. This movie’s maestro, Roger Bellon, sounded like he just mashed his synthesizer’s keyboard from time to time, and hoped that something worthwhile would transpire. Sadly, it did not, and the movie, which is so very reliant on the right score, especially considering it is a horror film, failed as a result. The fact that the special effects were poorly created and executed, didn’t help either.
Watching a pro like Ben Cross react with fear and terror to creatures that are supposed to come from the bowels of hell, but instead look like they were produced by a group of fifth graders during art class, makes the movie even more laughable. “The Unholy” is one of those films that has not aged well and even upon its initial release in 1988, it didn’t send moviegoers screaming down the aisles. By all means, if you are a horror enthusiast, especially for films of the ’80s, feel free to check this out, the extras alone are worth the price of the Blu-ray, including an audio commentary with Director Camilo Vila, three featurettes, and isolated score selections and an audio interview with composer Roger Bellon. Otherwise, hit fast forward.
Arrives on Blu-ray Tuesday, June 27th
