When director/producer Sam Raimi's name is attached to a horror film, it sets an expectation of a creative, possibly even quirky take on the genre. After all, between Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness and Drag Me to Hell, Raimi has proved himself to be a master of hilarious gore and campy frights. Unfortunately, The Unholy, which Raimi produced with Rob Tapert and the film's writer/director Evan Spiliotopoulos, doesn't live up to that promise. Instead, this is a trite tale of misplaced faith and the horror it brings.
The Unholy follows Gerry Fenn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a disgraced journalist who scrapes by on second-rate assignments. So when he's sent to a small Massachusetts town to report on a strange occurrence, he quickly comes to the conclusion there's no real story there -- although he's not above fabricating evidence so he has something to sell. But then he witnesses Alice (Cricket Brown), the teenage niece of the local priest (William Sadler), devoutly whispering to a petrified tree. This is especially shocking because Alice is deaf and has never spoken a word. Yet after the incident, Alice can hear and speak as if she's been doing so her whole life. Soon, Alice is performing miracles, like healing a boy's legs so he can walk, which she attributes to the Virgin Mary, who she claims speaks to her. She demands the locals who observe her miracles pledge their souls to Mary in exchange for her blessings, and the townsfolk are only too happy to oblige.
Sensing a chance to regain his professional reputation, Fenn spreads the word of Alice's miracles far and wide, leading the hopeful masses to flock to her small town. However, Fenn slowly starts to realize something isn't quite right, and with the help of the local doctor Natalie Gates (Katie Aselton), he works to uncover the truth -- which is rooted deep in the town's history -- and save Alice and everyone else from what may, in fact, be an evil force.
Adapted from James Herbert's novel Shrine, The Unholy doesn't break any new ground. After all, this is a horror movie, so viewers already know the supernatural entity driving Alice's actions isn’t the divine presence she believes it to be, and most of the first half of the film is spent waiting for the characters to catch up. So although current issues like fake news and how fame can corrupt are touched on, the movie doesn't do much to innovate on its familiar plot. A similar storyline was even tackled with more originality on the TV series Supernatural, another property featuring Morgan.
In addition, the character design of the evil entity at the heart of the story isn't particularly terrifying. The character features prominent elongated fingers and exaggerated movements that come across as more silly than scary, a particularly perplexing issue given how sophisticated movie effects have become today.
Despite these shortcomings, The Unholy is reasonably entertaining, even though it never feels surprising or frightening. The movie eventually takes on a thriller-like structure and the desire to learn the story of the malevolent being who's really behind Alice's so-called miracles maintains narrative momentum in the movie's second half. That, along with solid performances from Morgan, Brown and Aselton, sustain the plot. Brown, in particular, in her first major feature film role, is a charming performer who we'll hopefully be seeing a lot more of. Ultimately, however, The Unholy is far from a must-see, although for horror buffs, especially those who have a soft spot for religious horror, it's an enjoyable enough way to spend an hour and forty minutes.
Written and directed by Evan Spiliotopoulos and produced by Sam Raimi, The Unholy stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Cricket Brown, Katie Aselton, William Sadler, Diogo Morgado and Cary Elwes. It will be released in theaters on Friday, April 2.