Now I loved the first half, it had all the element of a great horror film. One tells a horror story another is a mix of different ideas that did not work out very well. If there is a sequel it would really have to up its game to get me back on board. The Unholy is a merging of two different films. In the film, after a visit from the Virgin Mary, young deaf and mute Alice (Cricket Brown) is able to hear, talk again and is given the gift of healing other sick people. Scratch your way back through The Unholy, and it actually plays out like the pilot to a series, We get the origin of Gerry Fenn, his meeting with a new feisty companion, and a generic adventure to kick things off, so it seems obvious to me that they really hope that this would be the start of a franchise akin to The Warrens and their Conjuring universe, but it fails on almost every level. The Unholy is a new horror film directed and written by Evan Spiliotopoulos, this is his first work as a director. The miracles from Alice could have been put down to placebos, the backstory of the murdered witch could have just remained a backstory adding to the atmosphere, the media circus could have been a clever satire on fake news and the influence of social media, and Gerry Fenn could have had a redemption arc that would have been genuinely worth investing in, but instead, we get a series of BOO! moments, a predictable and preposterous script, and set pieces that actually make no sense.īy the end of the final scene, you are just begging for this mess to end, and it does, and nobody cares. Had the producers - shame on you Sam Raimi! - toned down the CGI ghost monsters and focussed on the characters and how they are reacting to the strange events transpiring, then this film could have had a chance at being something special. There was a chance here to present a horror film that could have tapped into religion, faith, and worship, in a similar way that The Exorcist and The Omen did, however, the ham-fisted direction, ridiculous script, and reliance on cheap scares, reduces this film to pure schlock, and there is just nothing new here to enjoy or engage with. With such rich themes, The Unholy is based on the James Herbert book Shrine. However, it doesn’t take long before the real motivations of the miracles and visions are revealed, and as Alice begins planning a village meeting that will seal the fate of the townsfolk, Fenn seems to be the only person who can stop the evil plan. Disgraced journo Gerry Fenn is suddenly flavor of the month, as Alice will only speak to him, giving him the scoop of the year, and re-launching his career. Our ghostly witch uses poor Alice as her vessel, and Alice embarks on helping ailing townsfolk, performing miracles, and becoming the best press agent ever for The Virgin Mary. There are themes touched upon here, along the lines of blind faith and false Gods, but there is, unfortunately, no attempt to be subtle or layered, as the whole thing degenerates into jump scares and cliché. He stumbles across a doll buried in a field and upon smashing it to make for a better story, unwittingly unleashes the spirit of a witch that is using faith to bring herself back to steal the souls of the townsfolk and wreak revenge, or something. The events are set in motion by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, a disgraced journalist who freelances now for any old rag that will print his stories, who arrives in the town of Banfield to cover cow mutilations. This supernatural horror film follows the story of a deaf and mute girl who has a vision of the Virgin Mary, and can suddenly heal the sick, as well as being able to hear and speak. What a shame the first thing I got to see was The Unholy. It had been months since I sat in a darkened room, along with a group of strangers hopefully as excited to be there as I was. As terrifying events begin to escalate, he starts to question if these are the works of the Virgin Mary or something more sinister.Returning to the cinema this week was exciting. A disgraced journalist (Morgan) hopes to revive his career by investigating this story. The Unholy starts with a young hearing-impaired girl named Alice (Brown) who can one day inexplicably hear, speak and heal the sick after a supposed visit from the Virgin Mary. The Walking Dead’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan leads the film as a journalist investigating the works of a young woman performing holy miracles, with Katie Aselton, William Sadler, Diogo Morgado, Cricket Brown and Cary Elwes starring. Spiliotopoulos is known best for his screenplays, including his work on The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Beauty and the Beast and the recent Elizabeth Banks-directed Charlie’s Angels. Evan Spiliotopoulos serves as writer-director in his feature directorial debut, with legendary horror icon Sam Raimi producing. Sony Pictures' trailer for the new horror feature The Unholy teases a visitation from The Virgin Mary unlike any other.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |