Yesterday was a double bill of horror films for me as I headed over to Cineworld to check out the new movie starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, The Unholy.
On the holiest weekend of the year comes The Unholy, which follows Alice, a young hearing-impaired girl who, after a supposed visitation from the Virgin Mary, is inexplicably able to hear, speak and heal the sick. As word spreads and people from near and far flock to witness her miracles, a disgraced journalist (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) hoping to revive his career visits the small New England town to investigate. When terrifying events begin to happen all around, he starts to question if these phenomena are the works of the Virgin Mary or something more sinister.
I’ve been ignoring the trailers etc for The Unholy as I wanted to go in without any spoilers, so I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a movie with some good jump scares or not, but I have to say that the film uses those age-old techniques of loud noises to try and make the audience jump and for me that doesn’t really work anymore.
But besides the lack of jump scares The Unholy isn’t that bad of a film, yes there is a lot in the film that we have seen before in so many films and it does have that feel of the horror films that we had in cinemas around 10 years ago, the film opens up with a rather gruesome scene set in the 1800s with a possessed woman having a mask impaled onto her face before being hung in a tree and burnt, when I say gruesome it’s the sound of the nails being hammered in and the screams of pain that make the scene unsettling.
We then jump forward to modern day with Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character trying to put a story together, only to discover the tree and the corn doll that was buried under the tree.
I can’t give you a comparison to the book that the film is based on, but with the film slow build up the film has you wanting all hell to break out a little sooner than it does.
There are some nice shot scenes in The Unholy that give you some unnerving moments such as a scene in a small river than runs past an old building and statues covered in white sheets, yes I know a bit of a cliché I know but for those that aren’t big horror fans or are rather nervous this works rather well.
The film isn’t one of the best horror movies in it’s style, but it’s not the worst, but it did remind me of a extended version of one of the episodes from Supernatural, The Unholy is most probably going to appeal more to fans of Jeffrey Dean Morgan that to horror fans.
The Unholy is produced by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Evan Spiliotopoulos, written for the screen and directed by Evan Spiliotopoulos, and is based upon James Herbert’s best-selling book Shrine.
The Unholy will be available to Download & Keep, Rent on Digital and on Blu-Ray™ & DVD on August 2.
Be Careful Who You Pray To
Movie title: The Unholy
Movie description: A hearing-impaired girl is visited by the Virgin Mary and can suddenly hear, speak, and heal the sick. As people flock to witness her miracles, terrifying events unfold. Are they the work of the Virgin Mary or something much more sinister?
Date published: May 17, 2021
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 39min
Director(s): Evan Spiliotopoulos
Actor(s): Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Cricket Brown, William Sadler
Genre: Horror
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
