Coventry Review of The Unholy

The Unholy (1988)

Your usual boring battle between Catholic good and Satanic evil....

[4/10 · 4 June 2005]

"The Unholy" starts out terrific, with young priest Michael (Ben Cross from "First Knight") surviving a fall from a 17-floor building without a single injury! He's then pointed out as the "chosen one" by the spooky blind father Silva (the last role for veteran actor Trevor Howard) and given custody of a small parish where the last two incumbents were brutally murdered. Regretfully enough, the movie then turns in to a tedious mess with miserable make-up effects and incomprehensible plot twists. The poorly written script attempts to bring a exhilarating story about repressed sexuality and ancient demonology but it never really succeeds in doing so. In his parish, father Michael encounters strange omens and wicked people, leading him straight to a final confrontation with "The Unholy"; a hot chic-demon who directly serves Satan himself. Ben Cross' wooden performance makes this movie all the more boring, while the truly cool actors are given too few screen time. Ned Beatty wastes his time wandering around as the over-worried cop and Hal Holbrook is the archbishop whom's character I hoped had more depth. The music is good and – even though the demon effects are laughable – the ordinary gore moments are worthwhile. Best sequence unquestionably features a guy who literally vomits gallons of blood and then suffers from a spontaneous combustion! The only thing I learn from this kind of movies is that the evil-way-of-life is a lot more fun...although good eventually always triumphs, anyway. Beware when you're looking for Catholic-themed horror movies, folks. They are either uninspired Exorcist-ripoffs or tame and meaningless junk like this.