Customer Reviews

Unholy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This movie has very little plot or coherence. It's a stew containing uncooked lumps of time-traveling entities, apparitions in basements, and figments inducing people to commit suicide.

Actually, the director's commentary on this DVD is better than the movie itself. In addition to providing some behind-the-scenes insights into how a bunch of buddies get together to make an Indie film like this, he talks about how he went about casting "Unholy." He says he was sure from the start that he wanted Adrienne Barbeau in the film because he'd remembered her as the all-night DJ in "The Fog," where she'd won him over with her "sexiest voice ever."

Barbeau's presence in "Unholy" is in fact the film's only redeeming virtue. It's good to see her on screen again, but it's unfortunate it had to be in a mishmash like this. So whether you are looking for sex appeal, or for a movie with at least some suspense and semblance of plot - it would in fact be better to go back to the source and check out "The Fog." Watching this movie will just leave you in one.

All I can manage to say about this movie is that I had a ridiculously painful headache after watching it and my mother (who purchased it) made the store take it back even though they didn't refund her money. It is THAT bad. What the hell is going on in this movie? Can somebody tell me and not fall over foaming at the mouth because their brain imploded on itself trying to comprehend it? The only reason it gets one star is because there is no zero or negative star rating. Without a doubt the WORST movie I've ever seen.

Unholy is not an easy movie to classify...part horror, part sci-fi, part psychological thriller, it isn't great in any one area but it is an interesting `small' movie. I use the word small because the two stars, Barbeau and Brendon, ad onscreen throughout almost the entire film. This isn't a scary movie, per se, but it is creepy. It's one of those films that makes you wonder just what the heck is going on throughout most of the movie but a twist at the end brings everything home.

Barbeau is Martha who returns home with flowers for her teenage daughter, Hope. But Hope has locked herself in the outdoor storm cellar with a gun to her head, babbling incoherently about some experiment...just before she pulls the trigger. Brendon plays older brother Lucas in a role not unlike `Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He's slightly timid and tries to make up for it with humor. Martha wants to know why her daughter would take her own life and what this experiment is that she referred to before she took her own life. They find a hidden room in the basement with a painting of a crazed looking man wearing Nazi symbols. Martha falls asleep several times only to find herself in this room, strapped into a chair, and listening to an old record phonograph playing some crazed, cult-like chanting.

This is a film where virtually every character they encounter is some kind of nut or seems to know something about what's going on...from the guy who runs the flower shop to Martha's old next door neighbor, Charlie. Martha and Nicholas discover that the man in the painting was a Nazi scientist working on an experiment with the U.s. Government on what they called the Unholy Trinity: Time Travel, Mind Control, and invisibility. The more they discover, the more strange things become...there's encounters with strange kids in cemeteries, Nazi soldiers, and something morphing out of Martha's own living room floor and grabbing her ankle. You really do wonder where all this is going as it's just so over-the-top bizarre.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

Unholy is a savvy, heady flick that will too easily be categorized as a horror movie. Or, psychological-horror-thriller flick, if you're into sub-categories. In truth, it's much more than that. It brings new fear to old scares, while preying on two of the more frightening elements of the 20th century: Naziism and New Jersey. Now, combine the two. Ooooooo.

But I enjoyed it. Better than most in the genre. The writing is strong and it's always nice to see Adrienne Barbeau on screen. I recommend it.

I saw this a while back at a test screening. Wow. Interesting stuff. Definately a fresh of breath air from all the unoriginal horror flicks flooding the market. I wish there was more gore though. It's an eerie and complex mystery, and has the right blend of suspense and fun. Cult Classic? Only time till tell...

This brilliantly complex thriller, starring Adrienne Barbeau and Nick Brendon, is a refreshingly smart and taut horror film, providing chills and surprises but never compromising the film's intelligence. Given the chance, I would love to see what the makers of this film could do in the future.

This film is full of twists and turns with original writing that present a brilliant story. I don't think you can find another movie out there like this given its low budget that can turn your head inside out and make you want to watch it a second and third time to figure out the mystery behind it. Definitely a film to pay attention to along with its creators for future projects.

I've seen some reviews calling this movie genius, and some calling it a mess...I definitely agree with the first. This movie is brilliant. Especially for direct to video standards. That being said, it is NOT for everyone. It is not a slasher. It is not a straightforward horror. It's DRAMA/THRILLER. If you want a straight forward horror movie, go see any of the countless DTV options. If you want a movie that makes you think, and one of the few movies I've seen where you can watch the entire thing TWICE and it be like seeing two different movies...watch UNHOLY. It's quickly becoming of of my faves...

If only the movie itself were half as good as the marketing campaign created for it, Unholy could have been a pretty good film. It certainly sounded promising, with its talk of a conspiratorial government project experimenting with the "unholy alliance" of time travel, invisibility, and mind control - not to mention the return of Adrienne Barbeau to the horror genre. Adrienne has long been one of my favorite horror starlets, so - despite the fact that she's no longer the beautiful young woman she used to be - I expected big things from this movie. The end result was quite a disappointment.

Adrienne Barbeau plays Martha, a Pennsylvania widow who helplessly watches her daughter kill herself in the cellar of their home. Hope's final words to her mother are "Beware of the experiment." She has no idea what the "experiment" could be, but she certainly knows something incredibly strange is going on. Earlier that day, she had an unsettling encounter with the world's creepiest fruit stand vendor, a man who told her that "they are playing with your future." With the help of her son Lucas (Nicholas Brendon of Buffy fame), she begins searching for a reason why Hope would have killed herself. This somehow leads her to a secret government conspiracy to continue the unethical experiments of a certain Nazi "necromancer." While this might sound interesting, it really isn't because we never learn any real details about any of it. We mainly just watch Martha and her son go out demanding answers during the day and then come home again, as if their lives aren't in any danger whatsoever, to the one place where bad things continue to happen to them. Suspense and paranoia increase (among the characters - not the audience) until the truth is finally revealed. There are a few surprises along the way, but there's never anything to get excited about.

The filmmakers claimed that the story is based on a real military document that referred to a secret occult project with Nazi origins taking place in a rural Pennsylvania community. They went so far as to take their web site down at one point, claiming it had been shut down by the American government because it revealed some dangerous information the public was not supposed to know. On top of that, some visitors to the site were reportedly sent messages warning them to be careful because they now knew too much. Sadly, this marketing campaign exhibits much more careful thought and creativity than the actual script of the movie. A sparse look and feel also does the movie no favors. The sets are minimalist at best and few in number, probably due to a low budget, and the cinematography has a serious case of the blahs. I didn't feel like beating my head against the wall after watching Unholy - but I can't say I really enjoyed watching it, either.