The Unholy - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Unholy



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
One thing that endears the horror genre to me is that there is soooooooooo much schlock in the genre. I’m talking about garbage that is so bad that you just enjoy watching it, despite it being a piece of drek. HOWEVER, there are also plenty of movies that shouldn’t see the light of day, and should never be seen by anyone, even if they like “awful” movies. The Unholy is just one of those latter films. A movie so sparse and devoid of entertainment that I actually wondered if the demon would take ME just so that I could stop watching the movie and get this over with. I mean, I really shouldn’t be surprised. This is written and directed by Evan Spiliotopolous, the same brilliant mind that gave us The Huntsman: Winter’s War and the abysmally painful Charlies Angels reboot. That alone should have told me everything I needed to know, but the horror lover in me went in hoping that I could at least laugh at it. That being said, there was no mirth to be found. Only endless pain that went on, and on, and on, and on….for at least 99 minutes.

Gerry Fenn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is an investigative journalist who is at the end of his rope. He’s not exactly in good graces with his boss, and the only way for him to be taken seriously again is to find a killer story that DOESN’T involve podunk townsfolk finding Metallica symbols branded on their cows butts. Well, that all changes when Gerry finds a doll from the 1800s that he crushes and tries to run a story on. Suddenly miraculous things start happening. The deaf ward of father Hagan (William Sadler), Alice (Cricket Brown) begins to talk and proclaim prophecies. Soon she’s healing those around her, speaking for a saint known as “Mary”. Believe that she’s the mother of our Lord, the populace begins to worship at her feet and Gerry finally has his story.

However, things start going awry when Father Hagan starts getting suspicious. Is this “Mary” really the mother of God? Or is she something completely different? Yeah, yeah, I know, this isn’t exactly rocket science. We all know where this is heading. Mary is actually a woman cursed by the Church 200 years ago for devil worship and she’s back with a vengeance. This time she’s not going to be stopped by a few paranoid villagers and her reign of evil will be complete as soon as she can feed on the souls of all her inadvertent worshipers. Things happen, people die, and evil is vanquished. The end.

Yeah, it’s that simple, and sooooooooooooo incredibly painful. Evan’s writing was never anything to write home about in his previous flops….errrr… films, and it’s even worse here. Everyone hams it up to the extremes, and I was just embarrassed to see so many familiar faces slumming it in this film. Cary Elwes, Katie Aselton, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, William Sadler. All A or B level actors with good careers behind them. Sadly they can’t even really muster a modicum of energy, with possibly William Sadler’s hammy old priest role being the most exciting. Everyone else just looks like they want this whole ordeal to end, and rightfully so. The is a god awful (pun intended) movie that just lacks any creativity whatsoever. The effects are dated, the villain is so hilariously cheesy, and the jump scares don’t even make you jolt.

I love good horror movies. I love bad horror movies. I even tolerate a good amount of cheesy garbage. But this was so utterly painful that being dragged to hell by a voracious ancient spirit wasn’t nearly so unappealing after having spent nearly an hour and 40 minutes with the movie. Maybe one day this will be seen as some hidden “so awful it’s good” gem like we rave about from 80s trash horror. Maybe it will be involved with Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the future. All I know is that this was one of the most soul sucking experiences of my horror career. At least in modern history.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for violent content, terror and some strong language




Video:

The 2.39:1 framed AVC encoded Blu-ray looks really good for the most part. It’s not perfect, but it can be incredibly revealing. The outdoor shots in the sunny world are shockingly clear and crisp. Especially that last scene at the very end with Gerry and Natalie talking about what happened. It was so revealing and well detailed with bright and shiny colors. However, a lot of the film is heavily stylized and in total darkness. There’s a massive lean towards yellow and sepia tones depending on the scene, and the dim and murky looking church interiors can show some banding and black crush. Especially when the Demon is revealed for the first time. Slight banding would come and go as the light changed. Colors are rich and vibrant, but never really overly bright and deeply saturated. It’s a dim movie, and supposedly that was how it was filmed, but it keeps the movie from looking truly AMAZING.






Audio:

Well, even though the video was good, and the movie was awful, and basically NO extras included, the audio is stellar. One of the biggest boons to a horror movie can be the sound track, and this one is no exception. The movie is visceral and powerful in every way, with the 5.1 mix just ripping the floor boards up and throwing them all at you with deep and powerful bass. The track was actually mixed a bit on the hot side in my opinion, as I had to turn down my receiver 5 full decibels to sound normal. When that was done though, this was fantastic. The surrounds were alive with the creaking and groaning of church walls, mumbling demonic voices, and the entire sound stage would leap around to many different directions at the drop of a hat. Vocals were all intelligible and clean, and that bass was just INSANE. Great track and probably the ONLY redeeming factor of the Blu-ray watching experience.






Extras:

• Trailers

Final Score: ​

I think I pretty much summed it up above. Bad movie, don’t watch. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great for the most part, but there’s no extras whatsoever outside of a few Sony trailers. I’m pretty sure everyone involved knew that it wasn’t worth even putting together a lazy commentary for, and just simply let the barge float down the river styx in hopes people forgetting that this even existed on their resume. Just run away.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, William Sadler, Cary Elwes, Cricket Brown, Katie Aselton
Directed by: Evan Spiliotopoulos
Written by: Evan Spiliotopoulos, James Herbert (Book)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish (Castilian), French (Canadian) DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish (Latin), Portuguese DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Indonesian, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Thai
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 99 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: June 22nd 2021

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[Todd Anderson]

Hmmm. Tell us what you really think, Mike.

 

[Asere]

I am glad you reviewed this film. Wow, skip it. I will have to watch this one regardless because it got my attention when my son said he saw it. He said it was ok and nothing more in typical teenager language.

 

[Jack1949]

I think I pretty much summed it up above. Bad movie, don’t watch. .