sol- Given the responsibility of his own parish, an overly rational priest gradually learns that he has been selected for the specific purpose of warding off a demon who has a history with the parish in this theologically themed horror movie. 'The Unholy' does not have the best of reputations and has slid into near obscurity over the years, written off by many as just another 'Exorcist'/'Omen' variant, but it is a far more accomplished motion picture than that. The film begins on a very strong note with a grisly parish priest murder and the scene in which protagonist Ben Cross falls out of a window is undeniably intense. The film mounts quite a few genuine shocks from rapid fire editing of bizarre images too. The central dynamic is also very decent as Cross gradually learns to believe in all the stuff the that fire and brimstone preachers say, "telling people they are going to fry in hell", and as one character puts it, it is ironic how unwilling Cross is to suspend disbelief despite damnation being such a key part of his religion. All of this initial promise is almost whittled away with a dialogue-heavy mid-section, and indeed the ratio between talk and scares seems to be a common complaint with the film. Never to mind, things come together very well in the final fifteen minutes with some genuinely creepy monster effects - and awesome special effects in general. The rapid fire editing also continues to the serve the film well as Cross eventually gets torn between seeing the demon for what it is and what it pretends to be, and the film certainly ends on a powerful note.

Aaron1375 Got this film on a pack of horror movies...this is one of eight. Quite frankly, if this was the only movie in the pack it was well worth the five bucks I spent on it. I am surprised to see the score here is so low, I thoroughly enjoyed it myself. This tale that takes place in New Orleans and has a priest trying to solve the mystery behind two previous priests deaths in the church he now resides in, just worked for me.The story has a priest who survives a fall from a building with not so much as a scratch. He is assigned his own Parrish after this incident as two older priests talk of him as the one. Well strange things begin to occur as the priest meets a girl named Millie who works at a bar that is a bit satanic. The owner Luke asks the priest for help, but the priest distrusts this man completely and suspects him of the murders. Time seems to be running out, and the priest has few leads until the two older ones try to tell him that he is a key participant in the battle of good and evil.Like I said, I thought it was pretty good. It had some gore, some nudity and a rather interesting mystery to go along with it. Sure the creature effects were not super good, but I thought they were better than any computer generated monster that appears in low budget films of today. I liked the death of the one guy who pukes, though all the kills are pretty gruesome. Maybe they could of been spaced out better and had more deaths, but overall I liked how the movie was presented.So this may just be a case of me liking a bad film. Would not be the first time mind you, but I like what I like and I do not like what I don't. It is all a matter of opinion, something some IMDb users really need to get in their head before dismissing a review simply because it is negative about a film they like or positive about one they don't or it is given a score other than one or ten! This one had a bunch of stuff I like in a horror film including a supernatural slant and I always enjoy seeing Hal Holbrook in a horror film, though his appearance here is brief. Though I so knew that was going to happen to the priest at the end!

lastliberal I was looking for something good out of the 80s and stumbled upon this one.Father Dennis (Ruben Rabasa) is praying and is tempted by the demon in the form of Nicole Fortier, who, unfortunately, only made two movies. Now, the Pope himself would not be able to resist her unholy charms, so Father Dennis had no chance and died for his sins. he was not the first.Father Michael (Ben Cross from the new Star Trek) has a miraculous fall from 17 stories, so the Archbishop (Hal Holbrook) assigns him to Saint Agnes, not fully informing him of what he was up against.Ned Beatty, one of my favorites, plays a police Lieutenant who is trying to solve the murders. William Russ ("Boy Meets World", American History X) is a club owner that practices Satanic Ritual. One of his employees, Jill Carroll, tempts the good father with her holies, and he resists, proving that he is ready to face the demon with her unholies.Lots of boobage, some blood and gore, and fascinating special effects, especially the exploding midget.

Lee Eisenberg 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.