The Unholy is a 2021 horror thriller that tells the story of 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 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.
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 cast includes Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Katie Aselton, William Sadler, Cricket Brown, Diogo Morgado, and Cary Elwes.
THE GOOD
Bottom line, The Unholy is a genuinely enjoyable and effective horror movie. It includes most of that what we look for in a film that is designed to scare us, and I think those of you who really enjoy a good jump scare will be very pleased. I can usually see the jump scares coming from a mile away, but they got me pretty good a few times. I also really liked how they portrayed the evil entity, it wasn’t corny at all and even borrowed a few of the better elements from The Ring. The original of course, not that trash new version. She sort of reminded me of the original Woman In Black, which is a compliment. As someone who was born and currently lives in New England, we have a great deal of history here, much of which has a dark past. The Unholy taps into that much like many other movies before, and just the backstory alone keeps things interesting throughout. As mentioned above it is based on the book Shrine, written by James Herbert. I have yet to read the book but it is now on my list.
Horror films involving religion are popular for a number of reasons. As someone who grew up around a church, my aunt and uncle are pastors, I understand the devotion and realize that it is a way of life. The Unholy reminds us that putting our faith in something greater than us can sometimes have terrifying results. We need to watch out for the “pop up” tent churches that end up being more like a cult, similar to what we saw in the first season of the HBO series True Detective. Long story short, tread carefully because you may just sell your soul to the bad guy by mistake.
As far as the technical aspects, everything worked out pretty well all things considered. I thought the CGI element was well done and effective, the score and cinematography kept things consistent with the mood, and everything from a directing standpoint were solid as well. What matters most is the “monster”, and I don’t think they could have done a better job with her. She is extremely creepy and very tastefully done, and this is coming from someone who watches way too many horror movies.
I thought the acting was well above average especially for a horror movie. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who most people know as Negan from AMC’s The Walking Dead, is great in the lead role. He is a legit actor and does a nice job keeping the acting out of the loss column for the movie as a whole. I also really liked Katie Aselton and Cricket Brown, who both played prominent roles. As far as the supporting cast is concerned, as Bill Belichick would say, everyone did their job.
THE BAD
The Unholy deals with many of the usual issues plaguing horror films, but the biggest in my mind is overall believability. To me, this falls on the writing and several missed opportunities during some of the more pivotal moments. It’s hard to keep an audience invested when characters seem largely unphased after some of the more dramatic sequences. I don’t want to spoil anything for this movie so I will give an example from the 2018 horror film The Nun. At one point Demián Bichir’s character is buried alive in a grave with no clue how it even happened. Lucky for him, he is found and dug out but immediately after both characters just act like it wasn’t even a big deal that he was literally just buried alive. Just lazy writing if you ask me.
The Unholy takes place in Massachusetts and the accents were a little brutal during certain scenes. But at the same time let’s be honest, “masshole” accents tend to be pretty rough in general.
THE VERDICT
Although it struggles to reach its full potential, The Unholy is still a very solid entry in the horror genre packed with well-timed jump scares showcasing Jeffrey Dean Morgan in a starring role. As a diehard horror fan, I enjoyed this movie and have no issue whatsoever recommending it. Could it have been better? Sure, but quality horror films are few and far between these days so we need to appreciate movies like this. With an R-rating and some grittier writing, this could have been an instant classic. Recommended.
TED TAKES RATING - 7/10
The Unholy is now playing in theaters. Check out the trailer below.