The Unholy

On The Trail Of
The Lonesome Shrine

The Unholy
2021 USA
Directed by Evan Spiliotopoulos
UK cinema release print.

I first read James Herbert’s novel Shrine when it was released in the UK in 1983. I would have been 15 so I don’t remember if it’s the first of his novels I’d read... but it’s one of the first. I found a common thing over here in the UK is that boys in their early teens devour a lot of horror novels. I remember Herbert was one of the ‘big two’ who pretty much everyone at school was reading. So you’d read all of Stephen King’s catalogue (which was obviously a lot less back in those days) and then you’d read all of Herberts, which weren’t necessarily quite as well written but, he had two things Stephen King didn’t have as a writer... one was that the were all set in England, in places we knew about (such as Epping Forest in The Rats, for example) and also they had loads of sex in them. And violence but, it was mostly the sex which kept the pages turning in those days. So the pattern would continue and you’d read everything that Herbert had written at that stage and it was only then that you’d branch out on other writers delivering similar horrific thrills such as Dean R. Koontz, Shaun Hutson, Guy N. Smith, John Farris, Tristan Travis and John Halkin etc. Eventually, within the space of about a year and a half, you’d read all the major horror writers and you were on to picking up horror books to feed your obsession in way out locations based purely on the covers. So if you were holidaying in Wales, say... and their local, quirky bookshop had a cheap copy of a book with a nude lady being attacked by a slime coated jelly fish, you knew you were still probably onto a winner.

Anyway, I remember Shrine coming out in its New English Library imprint, sporting a white cover with a little girl levitating on the front. It was much thicker than the average Herbert book, more like the kind of doorstop Mr. King would write but, I remember I didn’t think all that much of this one. For starters it had no sex, which was always a downer. Also, it had a truly horrific scene, from what I remember. Horror books never really freaked me out but, for some reason, there was a passage which haunted me for a long time. It was when a car crashed and became a blazing inferno. My memory is that one of the passengers was trying to push their way out of the back windscreen but it had already become molten glass so instead, when they tried to push their way out, the glass just coated their face and hands and filled their now eyeless sockets. It was a horrible death scene and it stayed with me for a while.

So, in all honesty, I’m not sure whether I should be pleased or disappointed in the fact that this new movie adaptation of Herbert’s Shrine, called The Unholy, has no such scene or incident taking place. In fact, there are a few differences I can think of which, although I barely remember the novel at all, tell me this isn’t exactly a faithful version of Herbert’s work. For instance, the village of Banfield where this is set has been relocated to America... so the unique ‘Englishness’ of Herbert’s work has been lost in translation to some extent. Also, the little deaf/mute girl called Alice (played here quite brilliantly by Cricket Brown, it has to be said) has suddenly become a lot older in this version, it seems. More of an advanced teenager here. So, yeah, I won’t harp on about the pitfalls of the craft of adaptation. Decisions have been made and I suspect, if you’re a big fan of Herbert’s original work, then you may be a little disappointed.

Here’s some good news though. If you take the source material out of the equation, you get quite a nice little horror movie which, although full of conventional horror tropes and clichés, is a really fun watch. It doesn’t get all its scares right... the jumps often don’t work but, you know, some of them (enough of them) do and, I have to admit that, though it doesn’t really offer anything new to the mix (most films don’t anyway, these days) its a nice kind of old fashioned horror film.

The plot is of an evil witch who manifests herself doing miracles by appearing to Alice and curing her of being deaf and mute and also allowing her to bring others to her death site to be cured. The trade off is that people have to believe in her and commit their souls to her before she starts killing them all off. As it is, she starts with the people who doubt that she’s the Virgin Mary and a 'down on his luck', trash journalist has to find his way to the truth and stop this ancient evil (well, not that ancient, to be fair), from gaining power in the village which now holds her shrine... to stop her from exacting a vengeful destruction on everyone. And that’s about it... it doesn’t outstay its welcome as an entertainment experience.

Although the style of shooting is more modern in tone, it almost feels like it comes from the 1970s and this would make an excellent companion piece to something like The Omen, I felt. There are the obvious set ups to various set pieces such as when you are confronted by a room full of sheet covered statues (no prizes for guessing how these are going to soon be used in the scare department) and, like a lot of horror movies but maybe a tad more irritating in this, nobody seems to want to do their research on what’s going on in a place with actual good lighting, preferring to stick to dark places so they can be easily surprised by any creature of Satan hanging around.

I have to add here that the opening, pre-title sequence really is a throwback to a true staple of early 1960s horror, Mario Bava’s ‘official’ debut feature, the oft discussed and much influential Black Sunday (aka The Mask Of Satan... reviewed by me here). You may recall that this film starts off with a particularly visceral moment where the witch played by none other than horror queen Barbara Steele has a spiked, iron mask hammered onto her face. Well, the opening of this movie is a direct steel from this although, surprisingly, it doesn’t match the severity, somehow, of Bava’s black and white opening but, it’s definitely a nod in his direction for sure.

And there’s the odd, really nice scene included in the movie such as when the reporter finds a visual anomaly in some video footage he’s shot when he’s playing the digital file back on his laptop... which is perhaps too quickly thrown away as an easy scare but it’s a nice moment. And the relationship between this character and this new, slightly older version of central figure Alice is well done here too.

Added to this, there are a terrific bunch of actors in the cast. I’ve already mentioned Cricket Brown as Alice but, as the ‘journalist’ Gerry Fenn, we have Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Morgan is someone who I’ve been championing for a while and, once again here, he knocks it out of the park. He’s one of those actors who seems to be able to inhabit any character he takes on and I can’t figure out why he’s not getting much bigger roles by this point in his career. He’s pretty cool in everything I’ve seen him in (even when the film itself may not be up to scratch). We also have William Sadler (Death from the Bill and Ted films) as the priest Father Hagan (Alice’s uncle) and Cary Elwes as Bishop Gyles. Not to mention the wonderful Katie Aselton as the local doctor, who is working with Fenn to confirm the miracles are taking place... before they realise the truth about Alice’s ‘visions’.

There’s also a nice score by someone who’s become a bit typecast with horror music in recent years, Joseph Bishara. I was surprised he was on this production, actually, because it feels a lot lower budget than films which are usually scored by him, such as the Insidious or Conjuring franchises and spin offs but, yeah, a top quality score which I’ll more than likely not get to listen to away from the movie because they’ve only released an electronic download rather than release it on a proper CD. What a shame.

All in all, though... and putting the film’s source novel aside... The Unholy is a nicely put together low budget shocker which I’d be happy to watch again. I can see straight away that this would go on my list of ‘comfort horror movies’ which are nice things to just stick on the Blu Ray player from time to time. Also, the film has a nice redemptive quality where the reporter lies and diminishes his own, recovered status and poses as what everybody else sees him as rather than let the horror continue... so that’s a nice theme for the ending which elevates this one a little more in terms of the way the story has been handled. And if you’re going to go for that kind of slightly more subtle shade to a main character, then Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the guy you’re going to want playing the role for sure. If you’re a fan of ‘old school’ horror movies then you should probably get yourself down to your local cinema (if you can do it safely given the present... ‘almost on our next Covid lockdown’ status) and give this one a go. I kinda had a good time with it.