User reviews

"The Unholy" is a typical two-star horror effort: serious-minded and with many positive points, but still somewhat disappointing. It has a good basic concept, good (if rather sparse) special effects and a surprisingly distinguished cast (even Trevor Howard, who died the same year, has a small but pretty important role). BUT... it moves kind of slowly, the direction is too often choppy in the wrong places, and when the demon appears at the end, he (or "it") seems childishly conceived (although it's technically well-executed) and doesn't fit in an otherwise very serious movie. Anyway, most horror fans WILL probably find this worth a (single) viewing.

New Orleans church St Agnes has become the grounds of an evil entity, which has tempted the first two priests to their unholy deaths. Soon the head of the church gets Father Cross, who they believed is spiritually blessed to take over the church. The evil is in the form of a ravishing beauty, whom does its best to seduce Cross and make him commit the ultimate sin, which will see him, end up in hell.

Looking at the tag line "Seduction. Submission. Murder. Tonight… evil goes over the edge." Well this doesn't really happen until the last 10 minutes, because the lead up to the hysterically bold and bloody climax with ridiculous rubber demons is damaged by a flat script and woodenly uninterested performances. The main problem I found was that it seems to coast along, with very little happening and the talky script was less than engaging with its uneven context covering religion and sexual repression. Not helping was that the straight-faced premise is the same-old, same-old for those familiar with the sub-genre, and succumbs to trashy silliness. One or two decent set-pieces (like an ominous sounding phone call) slowly creep up onto the viewer, and Camilo Vila's smoothly sterile direction drips with moody brushes, sexual allurement and dreary lighting that creates a visually smoky atmosphere. The music score had that oddly uncanny vibe, which can come across quite bloated. The special effects were pretty much a misfire, though I didn't think that they were the complete pits. Now what really caught my eye was the curious support cast featuring Ned Betty, Hal Halbrook, Trevor Howard and William Russ. Jill Carroll turned out okay and Russ was great, but the former did little to nothing. Ben Cross' sombre performance in the lead role is ploddingly lacking. The irresistible Nicole Fortier as the demonic entity, "The Unholy" glows with seductive temptation and can keep you glued. At least she's turned on for the occasion.

Been down this both before, and what's served up here is cheap, and mostly uninspired. Not awful, though.

This movie was very entertaining and had some really cool 80's special effects(my favorite). I also watched this on Fear.net for the first time(as a poster stated). I was really wrapped up in the story but when the demon midget exploded I almost wet myself. I don't know why but it caught me off guard. I still chuckle when I think of the scene but it didn't ruin the movie for me. I didn't watch this movie as a kid like most of my favorite horror movies from the 80's but I really enjoyed it. I guess I somehow missed this movie as kid, as I have no memory of it. I don't even remember it on the shelf at my local video store and Southtown Video had a ton of horror movies. Oh well, I guess it was a small town video store after all. I recommend it to any horror fan and especially to 80's horror fans.

Despite having an interesting concept (co-scripted by Philip Yordan no less), THE UNHOLY is an uneven mess that tries too hard to emulate titles such as THE OMEN or THE EXORCIST. There is a usually high class cast for a low budget horror film. Ben Cross is very good as the put upon priest. He plays it all serious despite being given embarrassing moments like raising his fists and screaming "Dear Godddddd, what will you have me do?" The only weak performance is by Jill Carroll as the young virgin/temptation who shacks up with the priest after deciding she didn't like being a waitress at a satanic club (uh huh). William Russ is interesting as a club owner who may or may not be evil and there are also fine supporting turns by Holbrook and Beatty. And screen vet Trevor Howard made his final screen appearance as a blind priest.

But all these performances are betrayed by perhaps the flattest directing ever. Camilo Vila is a terrible director who films the scenes with barely a pulse. The dialogue scenes are all shot in close ups so at times it is hard to even tell the proximity of the characters. Vila has no desire to build up to bizarre dream sequences or set pieces, they just happen right out of the blue. And speaking of blue, Vila should never be allowed near blue gels ever again. Apparently he feels this creates mood and constitutes style as he uses them in every other scene to numbing effect. The film actually underwent an extensive re-shoot to up the monster factor for the film's final act. Regardless, these inserts offer little salvation as whoever shot them imitates Vila's dreary style and shoots the titular beast with no mystery at all. The effects work from Bob (HELLRAISER) Keen, no matter how poorly shot, is impressive though. Perhaps under a better director the film would have been more effective.

THE UNHOLY opened in April of 1988 and fared rather poorly. However, it did become Vestron Pictures second highest grosser ($6.3 million) of their short lived theatrical career. Of course a difference of $57 million separates this from their number one rental DIRTY DANCING (1987).

Some unutterable evil is happening on the dark streets of New Orleans and it is up to Catholic priest Ben Cross to stop the spirits that are killing people when they are in the act of committing sins. The film benefits from established actors like Ned Beatty and Hal Holbrook, but it is the unknown William Russ that gives the stunning performance in the film. But the film goes more for shock value than anything else and a truly interesting idea becomes somewhat trivial with typical cliches that dominated films like this in the 1980s. All in all "The Unholy" is good for a scare, but overall it is a film that misses the mark and could have been so much more. 2 stars out of 5.

A religiously themed late 80's horror outing about a priest who finds out that an ancient demon (disguised as a gorgeous & sensual woman) has been killing his predecessors. Now he's next on the list. Occasional flashes of mild bloody gore and some nudity couldn't save the otherwise slow and boring development of events. The most fun parts where the scene where a guy pukes gallons of blood and the final confrontation with a nifty-looking demon (guy-in-a-rubbersuit-style) with his two demonoid dwarfs in the church. That's why I gave the movie an extra point. And well, there's far worse 80's horror nonsense out there, anyway.

Here is a movie I used to like a lot when I was a kid back in the later part of the eighties. I finally just found a copy of this film (unfortuanitly on VHS) and figured I would give it a try. This is a decent film with a solid cast. The story is this, basically there is a creature called the Unholy and it is going around and slaughtering priests. Ben Cross plays one of these priests and is thrown out of a skyscraper like 7 stories up. He miraculously survives without even a mark on his body so the Archbishop believes him to be the chosen one to do battle with the Unholy. The main problems with this movie is that it moves way to slow and the dialog is not very good. There is a decent bit of gore in the film but its only at the beginning and at the end of the movie. So for the most part you have to struggle with good actors working with a terrible script. The special effects also could have been better but are not horrible like most people make them out to be. At the end they should have used stop motion animation to be more effective. But all together this is not a horrible movie it just could have been put together much better. 7 stars

I love 80's horror movies but they usually don't scare me; i mostly watch them for gore/special effects/monsters/nudity, etc. you don't find in the watered down PG-13 crap that passes for horror today. I gotta admit this movie actually creeped me out pretty good. THE UNHOLY involves an evil demon that takes the form of a major babe in order to seduce priests so it can claim the innocent for Satan or something like that. It reminded me a lot of the Italian horror movie THE CHURCH which i also enjoyed. Both take place mostly in big Catholic churches and are filled with satanic hallucinations.

I won't give it away but the opening scene is simply awesome. The movie slows down in the middle but remains stylish with music that almost gives it a similar feeling to the THE LOST BOYS. It also has lots of cool blue and red lighting which makes it look very 80's. (I mean that in a good way, not that the film looks too dated or anything.) It picks back up towards the end and was actually starting to get scary until a couple of cool but funny looking demons show up. There is some sweet gore scenes, cool slimy monster effects, and even some nudity. The pace coulda been a lil faster but the awesome finale makes it well worth it. If you like this i would also recommend THE CHURCH and vise versa.

Running through some old horror magazines I came across this title. I was rather surprised by the big names in it and the fact that it isn't a popular flick. So it has to deal with some problems.

We're running late in the eighties and by then horror wasn't that popular anymore. The slashers were passé and every item they could use to make a horror they used. Here are some names that should attract a lot of attention. Ned Beatty was in it, one we knew from so many flicks but to name one classic, Deliverance (1072), also on the list was Hal Holbrook (Magnum Force 1972 or The Fog 1980). Trevor Howard in one of his last flicks, he died in 1988, we knew him from Ghandi (1982). So really good thespians but were they failed was the fact that they aren't shown that much. On the other hand the movie do deliver at some points but also has some weak parts. There are some parts were there is a bit too much of nothing going on but the mast ten minutes are worth watching. And the first part is also worth mentioning because it is sometimes a bit gory.

The demon is played by Nicole Fortier who only appeared in two flicks, Scared Stiff (1987) and this one. She was running in her nudies all through this flick and even has some full frontal nudity. It's weird that she vanished from the screen after this flick, she really had a good looking face.

But don't forget to watch the effects and that's what make sit also worth watching. No CGI, this is the real stuff. There are indeed some gory parts with someone hanging upside down on a cross and having his intestines hanging out. Once the priest is having his confrontation with the demon it's also worth watching but the monster itself looks a bit ridiculous for that time.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it a lot, okay here and there a small yawn but overall worth watching.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 4/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Ben Cross plays Father Michael,a Catholic priest who ends up at an abandoned New Orleans church where two previous priests have been ghoulishly murdered on their own altar.Pretty soon he's dealing with an inquiring detective,a reticent archbishop,a pseudo-Satanist named Luke,a virgin and a blind priest who keeps trying to warn him that the Devil is more than an idea.There is also red-headed demon played by Nicole Fortier who provides some lovely full-frontal nudity."The Unholy" is a pretty weak horror film with some familiar cast and tons of clichés.There is some gore including blood vomiting,but nothing really shocking or impressive.I really wanted to like this film,but I couldn't.5 out of 10.

I've recently been watching a lot of movies on the TV channel FearNet. While most of these are supposed to be cheap horror flicks, I've actually found some of them quite impressive. Usually not for what they are, but because of what they contain in certain scenes. For example, "Down" (aka "The Shaft") is about a haunted elevator, but contains the original version of the song "Come On", of which a later version was the first song ever released by the Rolling Stones. Also, "Blood Diner" in its culmination played the same music that appeared in Chuck Jones's "What's Opera, Doc?"; you read that right: a slasher movie stirring memories of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Alas, "The Unholy" has no such qualities. It's just the average Devil-themed movie, with an evil spirit leading priests to their doom. I only recommend it if you're into demonic possession movies...or for the shots of the woman in the see-through gown.

Starring Ben Cross ("Chariots of Fire"), Ned Beatty, Hal Holbrook and Trevor Howard.

This movie is about a priest that after the mysterious death of a former priest he is able to take over the church that was left behind from the previous priest. The priest encounters some strange people, stange places and strange happenings. First, he meets up with this Kiefer Southerland wannabe looking guy with a fake southern accent that tells him that he's seeing things and for the priest to watch over him while he sleeps. Then he meets up with a young lady who hangs around places like Gothic clubs and the man tells the priest to leave her alone. There is a black maid that lives there with him that shouldn't even be part of the movie. And the two priest, one blind and the other hiding secrets should get their act together and find out what to do with all these strange things going on. The ending is terrible but almost laughable with this rubber beast licking on the priest legs as he thinks he sees the young lady that he supposebly falls in love with. And who would ever put this pull acting nonemotional priest in this movie anyway. Avoid this one.

The Unholy (1988)

Released in 1988, The Unholy is a cut above the average good v evil story. Indeed there has been other less entertaining films that have gone down the same road.

Directed by Camilo Vila, not really a well known name as directors go, who doesn't do too bad a job. The experienced actors, bringing their skills to this film, no doubt help to achieve this.

Ned Beatty- a well know supporting actor- who appeared in such films as Deliverance and Superman. Ben Cross- in many films and TV episodes. Hal Holbrook – a winner of 4 Emmy awards. Trevor Howard. Well remembered for his performance in Brief Encounter, had a small part in this film, which sadly, was his last. He died in January 1988

The film follows the well-used format of a Priest fighting evil which manifests in his church. The church establishment, as usual, tries to hush up the whole affair.

A well used format, but with this film it works a little better than some others. The priest's initial scepticism is gradually eroded as he realises that evil does exist in a tangible form. It is not just in people's thoughts, including his own, which he struggles to overcome. The final scenes, however, are not helped by the manifestation of the evil force in its true form.

But we have to remember this was 1988. CGI was not the order of the day. So the film's shortcomings must be seen in that context.

Thanks to the British Censor releasing the film uncut for its video/DVD release in 2001, we are able to view the film as originally made To protect us 10 seconds had been removed from the original cinema release in 1988, although their records do not indicate which 10 seconds. If you give this film an airing, which I thoroughly recommend, perhaps you will guess.

Darnmay

7th September 2007

Granted, as much as I enjoy horror movies, of course I took the chance to sit down and watch "The Unholy" here in 2019 when I was given the chance. Sure, 31 years after the movie was released, but so what? The reason for me deciding to watch "The Unholy", aside from it being a horror movie, was the title of the name and also the fact that Ben Cross starred in it.

Right, well the premise of the movie was good, writers Philip Yordan and Fernando Fonseca definitely had some interesting enough ideas on paper. But director Camilo Vila just failed to bring the movie to a satisfactory fruition.

The storyline started out nicely enough, but then it quickly lost its momentum and settled into a slow and mind-numbingly monotonous pace. And essentially it was only the first quarter and the last quarter of the movie that made it worthwhile watching. Everything in between was just filling, a slow-paced and essentially boring filling.

Now, the movie does have a pretty good cast ensemble, which included the likes of Ben Cross, whom carried the movie quite well with his performance as Father Michael. It was interesting to have him on the good side - and by that I mean to see him play a hero character instead of a villain for a change. But the movie also had good performances and appearances by William Russ, whom is a very familiar 1980s face, Hal Holbrook and Ned Beatty.

As for shock and scares, well, let's just say that you shouldn't put yourself up to an overload of such. And the special effects in the movie were adequate, taking into consideration the age of the movie. But they weren't exactly scary or made me go "wow, now that was impressive".

"The Unholy" felt like an ambitious project which failed to deliver on everything the director set out to achieve. The movie felt very bland and mundane, to be bluntly honest. There are far better movies in this Christian vs. Satanic and God vs. The Devil genre available. And of course, with "The Unholy" being in this genre, you know the very outcome of the movie even before you sit down to watch it. And yes, sure enough, that is exactly how the movie ended. Predictable.

I enjoyed this movie and was surprised when I first saw it years ago. I thought it was genuinely scary. The story was a good one, battle of good vs evil. By today's standards it may seem dated, but still comes across as creepy. It also has several twists in the plot the keep you tuned into the story. Character questions about the priests and others and their relationship is also good. I don't believe that you will be disappointed if you watch this movie with the mindset that it was filmed before the whole CAG craze of today. They had to depend more upon the story. When you combine all the elements involved you get a good movie.