The Unholy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.0

The Unholy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 27, 2017

There have been very few films which changed the cultural landscape in the same way that The Exorcist did when it was released in 1973. Suddenly films about demonic possession were all the rage, though few if any rose to the heights that the original Exorcist did, and that arguably includes The Exorcist’s own sequels. The Unholy is in many ways another Exorcist wannabe, but kind of ironically it probably relies too much on literal depictions of demons rather than merely suggesting evil, as was so evocatively done in another Satanically themed outing, Rosemary's Baby. The Unholy benefits from some casting gravitas, courtesy of such well known and respected performers as Hal Holbrook and Trevor Howard, but it’s both a curiously rote and also weirdly less than frightening horror film, one whose haphazard qualities might be attributed at least in part to what sounds like a pretty chaotic pre- production and production history. Holbrook and Howard, along with Ned Beatty and Ben Cross, certainly give the film at least a bit of marquee value, but it’s one credit in the “below the line” listing that may pique the interest of devoted film fans. The film’s writing credits are shared by one Fernando Fonseca, a relative unknown with only two feature films to his credit, and Philip Yordan, one of the most recognized and lauded screenwriters of his generation. Yordan’s name is probably sadly underappreciated nowadays, but he was responsible for a huge array of classic or at least relatively well remembered films, including Detective Story (Academy Award nominated), Broken Lance (Academy Award winner), Johnny Guitar, King of Kings, El Cid , 55 Days at Peking, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Circus World (with many of the foregoing being Samuel L. Bronston productions), and Battle of the Bulge. None of those films would seem to suggest that Yordan had any undue interest in religiosity, let alone demonic possession, but evidently The Exorcist “bug” bit Yordan, and an early version of The Unholy was the result, though it’s perhaps instructive to note that Yordan’s script evidently wasn’t exciting enough to immediately be granted a greenlight, and it in fact took several years for it to see the cinematic light of day, and then evidently in a drastically revised version.

The Unholy begins with a brief sequence which probably spills a few too many beans (not to mention quite a bit of blood, as well) for its own good, detailing the seduction of a priest by a scantily clad woman who of course turns out to be a demon. It might be interesting to see if this opening vignette was part of Yordan’s original screenplay, since it’s completely overt, leaving nothing to the imagination (in more ways than one), and making it clear that there’s going to be none of even the minimal psychological ambiguity that informed The Exorcist. Yordan’s aims were evidently manifestly different than what ultimately ended up on screen, and perhaps there’s no better example of this than how the film opens.

The film then segues a bit unevenly to another vignette documenting a potential suicide by a guy on a hotel ledge. Father Michael (Ben Cross) is called by a cop named Stern (Ned Beatty) to intervene, which unfortunately leads to Michael being yanked out of the window and supposedly hurled to his demise several stories below. Except — Father Michael emerges from the plunge pretty much unscathed. Spoooooky. That in turn leads Archbishop Moseley (Hal Holbrook) and cataract laden Father Silva (Trevor Howard) to decide Michael is the perfect, indeed “chosen”, leader to take the helm at St. Agnes, where two previous priests (including the one seen in the opening scene) have perished, though Michael doesn’t initially know that.

There are already a few too many convenient plot mechanics at play in The Unholy, including the fact that Stern is suspicious about the previous deaths at the parish, and that Mosely and Silva seem to know a lot more than they’re letting on. But there’s a fundamental flaw lying beneath the surface of The Unholy’s at least occasionally interesting visuals, namely, why would the forces of Hell focus on this particular parish? It’s never really adequately answered and it leaves the film floundering in a sea of weird sidebars, including the rather bizarre sight of William Russ, a long way from Boy Meets World, as a (I’m not making this up) scantily clad nightclub owner named Luke who may have a, well, Satanic hold on assorted denizens of the place, including Millie (Jill Carroll). It probably shouldn’t come as any huge surprise that Millie, a damsel in distress if ever there were one, turns to Father Michael for a little counsel.

There are a number of interesting ideas presented (or at least hinted at) in The Unholy, but the film generates surprisingly little suspense, and even the big demon reveal is kind of unintentionally hilarious, given his (its?) minions, who are also in attendance. I’m also not sure Cross was the right actor to portray this role. His perhaps inherent reserve comes off as diffidence at times here, something you probably don’t want in a holy man struggling with the cosmic forces of evil.

The Unholy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Unholy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films' Vestron Video imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. While I'm grading this at the same 3.5 level that I have some other of these Vestron releases, this is one of the more variable looking transfers, and as such some may feel this drifts down more toward the 3.0 range. One of the best things here is palette reproduction, which captures nice elements like the purple of Father Michael's cowl or the red of some of the copious blood on display. The entire transfer is on the soft side, to the point that even some extreme close-ups don't offer a ton of fine detail (see screenshot 5). Outdoor or brightly lit scenes offer the best general detail levels, but even then softness is often pretty prevalent and a tendency to shoot at "magic hour" with gauzy, diffused and effulgent "halos" (not of the digitally sharpened variety, just to be clear) also tends to tamp down detail levels. While this bears the same "digitally restored" branding as the other Vestron Video releases, there are still minor signs of wear and tear that can be spotted. The grain field is also fairly widely variant in looking organic or even readily apparent, with, again, the brighter scenes looking the best. Some of the darker scenes in fact flirt with compression hurdles that traipse around macroblocking territory at times. All of this said, there is still enough of a substantial uptick in palette and detail levels from previous home video releases that I suspect many fans will be generally thrilled with the overall results.

The Unholy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Unholy features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. The film doesn't offer the distinctive, instantly identifiable, score like those that graced Rosemary's Baby or The Exorcist, but some washes of synth patches offer a decent stereo spread at times. Sound effects land with decent if not overwhelming force, and dialogue is always delivered clearly and with good prioritization.

The Unholy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Camilo Vila is hosted by Mondo Digital's Nathaniel Thompson.


• Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview with Composer Roger Bellon


• Audio Interview with Production Designer and Co-Writer Fernando Fonseca, Featuring Isolated Selections from his Unused Score


• Sins of the Father with Ben Cross (1080p; 19:09) is an appealing interview with the actor, who seems to take some elements of the film a good deal more seriously than some others may, though he seems to have a sense of humor about things like outfits and hairstyles.


• Demons in the Flesh: The Monsters of "The Unholy" (1080p; 22:26) is a fun documentary on some of the effects in the film (not necessarily relegated to only demons).


• Prayer Offerings with Production Designer and Co-Writer Fernando Fonseca (1080p; 18:35) is an interview with the guy who also (just for good measure) wrote the film's unused score.


• Original Ending Featuring Optional Commentary with Producer Mathew Hayden (1080p; 15:02)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:17)


• TV Spots (1080i; 2:15)


• Radio Spots (2:25)


• Original Storyboard Gallery (1080p; 18:40)


• Still Gallery (1080p; 11:51)

The Unholy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fernando Fonseca, who kind of oddly co-wrote and provided production design for this film (along with having composed a jettisoned score), talks in the interview included on this Blu-ray about how he wanted to make New Orleans a character in the film, but I'd simply suggest that those interested compare the "ambience" of The Unholy with another Big Easy based horror opus, Angel Heart, and decide which film is the more evocative in terms of capturing that weird "magic" (whether black or otherwise) the city undeniably has. The Unholy simply never generates much suspense and some may feel it's actually devilishly boring. As has been the case with some other Vestron Video releases, it's actually the supplementary features, which are plentiful and often quite interesting, which may end up being the real lure here. Video encounters occasional hurdles, but audio is fine, for those considering a purchase.