The Unholy (1988)** (out of 4)Father Michael (Ben Cross) is called to a hotel where a man is about to jump to his death. Instead, the man grabs the Father and throws him out the window sending his body several stories to the ground. Somehow, the Father escapes without a single injury and the detective (Ned Beatty) on the scene as well as Archbishop Moseley (Hal Holbrook) want to know how. It turns out that there's a demon stalking the streets killing sinners and now it's up to Father Michael to try and stop it.THE UNHOLY is a rather interesting failure. The film has some very interesting ideas scattered throughout it but sadly they never fully come together in a screenplay that doesn't seem to know what it wants to do in the end. Part of the film is a rather graphic horror film that offers up a lot more blood and gore than you'd expect from a movie from this period. It also tries to offer up a mystery, although this aspect is somewhat thrown away and wasted during the opening scenes. The most shocking, the film wants to be a serious religious movie.As I said, there are some good things scattered throughout the picture. What I most enjoyed was the first thirty-minutes of the movie as we're treated to some rather bloody death scenes as we're introduced to this lead character who we then follow throughout the rest of the movie. I thought the "demon stalking" was quite good the the special effects were good for the era. I was shocked to see how much blood got through considering the MPAA was pretty much slashing horror films during this era. The film also benefits from the strong performances by Cross, Holbrook and Beatty.What goes wrong? I really wasn't too impressed with the direction by Camilo Vila as there's really no tension, suspense or atmosphere. I'd also argue that the pacing was a bit too slow and this really dragged out the already long 102-minute running time. Another problem is that the screenplay just tries to do too much and none of it ever gets done in a rewarding manor. I respect that the film wanted to be a serious piece of religious drama but at the same time the gore didn't mix too well with that.Either way, THE UNHOLY is an interesting film that fans of the genre will want to check out but it's really too bad more wasn't done with it. Ken Russell was directing movies for Vestron around this time. I can only imagine what someone like him might have done with the material.

This may be a B movie. It still is much better than most of the horror movies made today. First off there is an excellent cast that elevate this movie to a much higher level. Ben Cross and supporting cast never overact or give you the idea they don't want to be in the movie. The story in itself isn't complicated. But I liked the effort to made the viewer think that the supernatural elements aren't real. The direction however ruins the bold take on the classic good versus evil. The pace of the movie is also a bit slow which isn't surprising since not a lot is happening on the screen. Until the finale that is. Then the movie takes a drastic move and goes into Clive Barker mode. There is this sequence that was absolutely weird but at the same time very familiar since it reminded me of scenes from Hellraiser (not surprising since Bob Keen was also involved with that project). Even when this finale ruins any perspective of the events not being supernatural,it is worth the wait. During the movie there are several hints that prepares the viewer of certain twists coming. And in this case it would have been beneficial. Apart from one tiny surprise there is none to be discovered. Still the final sequence in itself can be very shocking if you aren't used to it and certainly if you don't expect it.

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.

I first saw this movie on HBO or Cinamax back when it came out in 1988...I remember they used to play this all the time.Its a pretty cool late 80's horror film....it has a pretty cool story....its a about a priest ( Ben Cross) who has to battle the devil and the forces of evil...but, one of the twists in the movie is that the main Demon in the film Disguises itself as a very beautiful and Sexy girl ( played by Nicole Fortier) and let me say she is a major babe....one of my favorite things about the movie actually....hahaThis movie is a little hard to find....( I ended up having to get a copy off ebay) but, if your into 80's horror movies...Definitely check this one out...its a good one...with a neat story, decent acting, a cool soundtrack, and with evil hot babes ~