Il sacro male

I have read every book the horror genius, that is James Herbert, has ever written. It was a very sad day when he passed to the other side and to be honest, I do not think it is possible to convert any of his books, realistically, to a movie format; although possibly the best and truest to the book from which it came was "Haunted (1995)" although while not a good port from the book I also enjoyed "The Survivor (1981)".

There is really no way in hell (pardon the pun) that any movie can take the atmosphere, character development, story development, and creative horror genius that exists in the writing of JH (Who incidentally, I rate above Stephen King and even Clive Barker as the best horror writer of all time). What can I say? I have read all the books and never been disappointed with any from the Rats to the final Ash novel, he will be sadly missed.

As for the movie, who does not like Jeffrey Dean Morgan? From TWD and his masterful performance as Neegan to his role in this, he never disappoints and to be fair, although the movie really does not do the book any justice, how can it? It would take a series to convert any James Herbert Novel to the silver screen but the problem with this is that it is not really very scary and the horror is somewhat tame with a really poor ending that feels so rushed, it really leaves the viewer feeling rather cheated!

It is unfair to compare any movie to the book it was taken from, so I am merely reviewing this impartially as an honest review of a new horror film without pointing out where the book differs or criticising it based on that and so I am giving it a fair 6 hatchets out of 10 on the horror scale - JDM elevates it above the base average 5 stars it would have been without him!

I was happy seeing William Sadler in the trailer n it was one of the things which pulled me into seeing this.

The film has cheesy effects n a lousy ending.

But the most important thing, tension n suspense is nada in this movie.

I was recommended to watch the 2021 horror movie "The Unholy", so of course I sat down to watch it.

And I will say that the movie definitely was watchable. Yeah, hold on now, because there is a but here; but, the movie just wasn't outstanding. The movie from writer and director Evan Spiliotopoulos just was a bit too predictable and generic, relying on jump scares that you see coming a mile away.

When I sat down to watch "The Unholy" I must admit that I was stoked, because of the movie's title, its premise and because of a rather unique and interesting ensemble of cast.

But even with the likes of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, William Sadler and Cary Elwes on the cast list, then the movie just never really managed to get out of the mediocre lane given the somewhat lazy writing and the predictability of the movie. It felt like these performers weren't really allowed to unfold and give the performance a full 100%.

"The Unholy" is a fairly generic and mediocre horror movie actually. But if you are new to the horror genre, then of course you will be in for quite something here. But for an avid horror fan such as myself, then writer and director Evan Spiliotopoulos just played it way too safe by following the how-to-make-a-horror-film blueprint.

I will say, though, that the visuals in the movie were interesting and for the most part quite good. The CGI department did their jobs quite well here. So if for nothing else, then "The Unholy" is somewhat salvaged by the visuals.

"The Unholy" wasn't the movie I was hoping for, so I sit here with a somewhat flaccid sense of 'was that really it?' here as the movie ended. I felt somewhat bereft out of what could have been a great horror movie, and was instead served a lukewarm plate of predictability.

My rating of "The Unholy" lands on a very mediocre five out of ten stars.

I loved the storyline and the actual acting. Cheesey CG. Do without that and you've got a good one.

I went in expecting your {now} standard possession/exorcism movie (you know, lapsed/skeptic priest investigates a case of demonic possession. But after witnessing the subject talk dirty, rearrange the furniture, air people's dirty laundry and show off their amazing contortionist skills, said lapsed/skeptic priest becomes a true believer) but I actually enjoyed this movie. One surprise was the injection of humor. The other is that none of the events took place in a dark dungeon or on a dark and stormy night. Third, even though the cast was full of unknowns (except the parish priest, who I've seen in other films), the acting was thoroughly natural and believable enough to keep me engaged. The main characters truly developed and evolved throughout the film. Finally the movie, while never claiming to be anything other than fiction, nevertheless contained a valuable message. I rarely go to theaters to watch movies anymore because streaming has been kinder to my pocketbook, but I don't feel cheated .