THE UNHOLY : Tuesday 20th April 2021.

'THE UNHOLY' is an M Rated American supernatural horror film which I saw at my local multiplex earlier this week. Written for the screen, Co-Produced, and Directed by Evan Spiliotopoulos in his film making debut, this is based on the 1983 novel 'Shrine' by the acclaimed British horror author James Herbert. Released in the US earlier this month, the film has so far grossed US$11M off the back of a US$10M production budget and has generated mixed Reviews so far. Sam Raimi Co-Produces here.

The films opening sequence is set in 1845 with the execution of a woman for witchcraft. She is hoisted up an old oak tree, an iron mask is nailed to her face and she is burned alive, while a Priest binds her body inside the chained up body of a clay doll. Fast forward to the present day and disgraced albeit very successful former journalist and skeptic Gerry Fenn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) works for a lowly publication reporting on strange and mysterious stories. We join him as he drives into Banfield, Massachusetts to meet with a local farmer claiming that his prized cow has been allegedly mutilated by some otherworldly force. It turns out to be nothing more that a teenage prank. However, as Fenn prepares to leave, under that same old oak tree as was seen in the opening sequence, he notices something glistening in the bright sunlight. Venturing over to investigate further, partially buried under the soil he uncovers the same doll, wrapped in chains with a date stamp - the 31st February 1845. The farmer siddles up and takes a look over Fenn's shoulder and notices that its just another corn doll that are a common occurrence in these parts and they are forever cropping up in the fields. But this one is different. Fenn crushes its head beneath his boot, not knowing that in so doing he has unintentionally set the woman's spirit free. 

When driving out of Banfield later that evening, Fenn crashes his car headlong into a tree when a girl dressed in a white gown suddenly appears right in front of him, forcing him to swerve suddenly to avoid hitting her. He gives chase through the forest undergrowth and comes to a clearing to find the young girl staring at the same old oak tree where Fenn had earlier in the day found the doll. From behind he hears her talking and then she collapses. He knocks on the door of the nearby church having carried the girl there and is greeted by Father Hagan (William Sadler) who beckons them in. It turns out that the girl is called Alice Pagett (Cricket Brown) and she is a deaf mute, and that Father Hagan took in her in years ago when her own parents died, and has been her guardian ever since, raising the late teenager as through she was his own. Hagan says that it would have been impossible for Alice to speak as she has never been able to talk or hear anything. When Alice comes round she speaks, dumbfounding Hagan, and leading Fenn to believe that this story may just have some merit, so he decides to stay and investigate further. 

The next day during a church service, Alice gets up mid-way through and walks outside followed by other younger members of the congregation, then their parents, Fenn and Hagan. She walks up to the old oak tree and stuns the gathered onlookers by speaking clearly and claiming that she has been cured by the Virgin Mary who speaks directly to her. Needless to say this leads to a media frenzy, and in the process Alice heals a young wheelchair bound lad who is unable to walk, but miraculously is able to for the first time by having faith. All of this is filmed by Fenn.

Within a few days the Catholic Church send Monsignor Delgarde (Diogo Morgado) to investigate whether the claims of miracle healings are genuine or fake. He says that for a miracle to be truly considered genuine it must meet three key criteria - first, that it is not explicable by natural or scientific laws, second the healing must be instant, and third, it must be long lasting. He further states that he has debunked many so called miracles. He is assisted by Bishop Gyles (Cary Elwes). Fenn asks Delgarde and Gyles for exclusivity of the story, and although they are both fully aware of Fenn's chequered history as a now disgraced journalist, they agree. And so Fenn befriends Alice and begins filming his interviews with her, during which time he comes to realise that while she has been speaking with a Mary, it has only been assumed by her that this has been the Virgin Mary, and not some other entity. In the meantime, Fenn has been experiencing his own visions of a sinister Mary figure. This leads him back to Father Hagan, who has also been healed of emphysema by Alice, but also suspects the true nature behind the healings, having had visions of his own. He says that whenever God builds a church, the Devil builds a chapel next door!

Father Hagan discovers an old bound book in a wall cavity detailing the death of Mary Elnor (Marina Mazepa) the woman hanged and burned back in 1845. Mary sold her soul to Satan in order to seek revenge for her death. He would allow her and her descendants, revealed to be Alice, to perform 'miracles' so people would pledge themselves to her and in turn to Satan. To their horror they learn that Alice, who they believe is unaware of Mary's true nature, wishes to hold a service by the tree which is now cordoned off under a big marquee like structure, turning it into a shrine, and broadcast it to the masses. Father Hagan tries to prevent this, but is ultimately visited by the evil spirt of Mary Elnor in his church and winds up very dead suspended from the rafters of the church by his neck.

Meanwhile Fenn is scouring through the archives of the town in the HQ of the Boston archdiocese in an attempt to uncover more of the sinister events that occurred on that 'impossible date' in 1845 while on his mobile phone to local physician Natalie Gates (Katie Aselton) who had previously treated Alice when she was first seemingly cured. As he does so the microfiche files suddenly melt away and the statue of the Virgin Mary in the room begins to crumble and crack. In disbelief at what he is witnessing, the physical embodiment of Mary Elnor appears out of the crumbled Virgin Mary and lurches to attack. Delgarde enters the room brandishing a Holy Bible, a crucifix and chanting at which point the evil spectre vanishes into thin air. 

Back in Banfield, Fenn, Delgarde and Gates go to the church, and on the alter prepare to recite the spell from the bound book previously uncovered by Hagan. But Mary Elnor is already one step ahead of them and out of nowhere the cross standing proudly over the alter bursts into flames and comes crashing down on top of Delgarde. 

As the service begins marking The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Alice, now standing at the shrine, says that Mary is speaking with her and urges everyone to pledge themselves to her three times. Fenn and Gates manage to stop the crowd from fully pledging, saying that none of the miracles are real, and they were all a result of the placebo effect, and that the whole story was fabricated by him. This causes Mary Elnor to angrily appear and kill Bishop Gyles before attempting to kill Fenn. She is stopped by Alice, who sacrifices herself to save his life. This in turn causes Mary to disintegrate, as Alice was her last surviving link to the living world, and as the old oak tree erupts into flame. Struck by her sacrifice, Fenn begs God to save Alice's life. She comes back to life, but is restored to her former deaf-mute status.

'The Unholy' is not a bad film, but it's also not that good. There are a few genuine jump scares here; the imagery of the resurrected evil Mary Elnor are surprisingly effective; the combination of Morgan, Brown and Sadler elevate the film above other similar standard offerings; and while the film starts out promising much it quickly falls into familiar predictable territory that we have seen more times than you can hold a crucifix to. Which is a shame because James Herbert's 1983 book was highly acclaimed at the time of its release, with many reviewers, including the Daily Express saying 'Thrills and chills galore from the best-seller Herbert . . . his best yet . . . the build-up to the horrifying climax is subtle and sophisticated . . . ' But here the Director seems to have sacrificed all those thrills and chills and the horrifying climax for a by the numbers routine and largely unoriginal offering. 

'The Unholy' warrants two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 15th April 2021.

The 74th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA's, were held on 10th and 11th April at London's Royal Albert Hall, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2020 and early 2021. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, awards were presented for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 2020 and early 2021.

The winners and grinners in the main award categories, are as given below :-

Best Film

* Presented to 'NOMADLAND', beating out 'The Father', 'The Mauritanian', 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' and 'Promising Young Woman'.

Best Direction

* Presented to CHLOE ZHAO for 'Nomadland', beating out Jasmila Zbanic for 'Quo Vadis, Aida?', Lee Isaac Chung for 'Minari', Sarah Gavron for 'Rocks', Shannon Murphy for 'Babyteeth' and Thomas Vinterberg for 'Another Round'.

Best Actor in a Leading Role

* Presented to ANTHONY HOPKINS for 'The Father', beating out Adarsh Gourav for 'The White Tiger', Chadwick Boseman for 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', Mads Mikkelsen for 'Another Round', Riz Ahmed for 'Sound of Metal' and Tahar Rahim for 'The Mauritanian'.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

* Presented to FRANCES MCDORMAND for 'Nomadland', beating out Alfre Woodard for 'Clemency', Bukky Bakray for 'Rocks', Radha Blank for 'The 40-Year-Old Version', Vanessa Kirby for 'Pieces of a Woman' and Wunmi Mosaku for 'His House'.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

* Presented to DANIEL KALUUYA for 'Judas and the Black Messiah', beating out Alan Kim for 'Minari', Barry Keoghan for 'Calm with Horses', Clarke Peters for 'Da 5 Bloods', Leslie Odom Jr. for 'One Night in Miami...' and Paul Raci for 'Sound of Metal'.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

* Presented to YOUN YUH-JUNG for 'Minari', beating out Ashley Madekwe for 'County Lines', Dominique Fishback for 'Judas and the Black Messiah', Kosar Ali for 'Rocks', Maria Bakalova for 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm' and Niamh Algar for 'Calm with Horses'.

Best Original Screenplay

* Presented to 'PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN', beating out 'Another Round', 'Mank', 'Rocks' and 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'.

Best Adapted Screenplay

* Presented to 'THE FATHER', beating out 'The Dig', 'The Mauritanian', 'The White Tiger' and 'Nomadland'. 

Best Animated Film

* Presented to 'SOUL', beating out 'Onward' and 'Wolfwalkers'.

Best Documentary

* Presented to 'MY OCTOPUS TEACHER', beating out 'Collective', 'David Attenborough : A Life on Our Planet', 'The Dissident' and 'The Social Dilemma'.

Best Film Not in the English Language

* Presented to 'ANOTHER ROUND', beating out 'Dear Comrades!', 'Minari', 'Les Miserables' and 'Quo Vadis, Aida?'.

Outstanding British Film

* Presented to 'PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN', beating out 'Calm with Horses', 'The Dig', 'The Father', 'The Mauritanian', 'His House', 'Limbo', 'Mogul Mowgli', 'Rocks' and 'Saint Maud'. 

Best Cinematography

* Presented to JOSHUA JAMES RICHARDS for 'Nomadland', beating out Sean Bobbitt for 'Judas and the Black Messiah', Erik Messerschmidt for 'Mank', Alwin H. Kuchler for 'The Mauritanian' and Dariusz Wolski for 'News of the World'.

Best Original Music

* Presented to JON BATISTE, TRENT REZNOR and ATTICUS ROSS for 'Soul', beating out Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for 'Mank', Emile Mosseri for 'Minari', James Newton Howard for 'News of the World' and Anthony Willis for 'Promising Young Woman'.

Best Sound

* Presented to 'SOUND OF METAL', beating out 'Greyhound', 'News of the World', 'Nomadland' and 'Soul'.

Best Editing

* Presented to 'SOUND OF METAL', beating out 'The Father', 'Nomadland', 'Promising Young Woman' and 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'.  

Best Casting

* Presented to 'ROCKS', beating out 'Calm with Horses', 'Judas and the Black Messiah', 'Minari' and 'Promising Young Woman'.

Best Special Visual Effects

* Presented to 'TENET', beating out 'Greyhound', 'The Midnight Sky', 'Mulan' and 'The One and Only Ivan'. 

Additionally, accolades were also awarded to ANG LEE for lifetime achievement in the form of the BAFTA Fellowship; to NOEL CLARKE for his Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema; and the Rising Star Award was presented to BUKKY BAKRAY. 

For the full list of all category winners and nominees you can visit the official BAFTA website at : https://www.bafta.org

And so to tease you out to your local Odeon on a balmy Autumnal evening there are four new release films kicking off with a British drama about a gay couple, one being a musician, the other a novelist, who set out on a road trip as dementia starts to take hold of one of them. This is followed by a supernatural horror offering telling the story of terror when a disgraced journalist investigates a girl who seemingly has suddenly been granted the inexplicable power to heal the sick. Next up is the unforgettable tale of the infamous head of a record label and of how one written-off young Glaswegian upstart rose to irrevocably change the face of British music culture in the late '80's and throughout the '90's. And closing out this weeks new releases we have an acclaimed documentary looking at the daily life of a pig and its farm animal companions - two cows and a one-legged chicken filmed in glorious black and white and without any dialogue. 

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'SUPERNOVA' (Rated M) - this British drama film is Written and Directed by the English Actor, Writer and Director Harry Macqueen in only his second film making outing following 2014's 'Hinterland'. This film had its World Premiere showcasing at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September 2020 and played as one of only twelve physical screenings at the 2020 London Film Festival. It was the opening film of The Dublin International Film Festival in 2021. It has generated widespread critical acclaim, opened in the US in late January, in the UK in early March and this week arrives in Australian cinemas having so far taken US$383K at the Box Office and collected two award wins and four other nominations from around the awards and festival circuit. 

Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), partners of twenty years, one a musician the other a novelist, are traveling across England to the Lake District in their old camper van visiting friends, family and places from their past. Following a life-changing prognosis in which Tusker was diagnosed with early onset dementia two years ago, their time together has become more important than ever until secret plans test their love like never before. Also starring James Dreyfus, Pippa Haywood and Sarah Woodward. 

'THE UNHOLY' (Rated M) - is an American supernatural horror film Written for the screen, Co-Produced, and Directed by Evan Spiliotopoulos in his film making debut and is based on the 1983 novel 'Shrine' by the acclaimed British horror author James Herbert. Released in the US earlier this month, the film has so far grossed US$3.5M and has generated mostly negative Reviews so far. Here then, Alice (Cricket Brown) is a young hearing-impaired girl who, after an alleged visitation from the Virgin Mary, is inexplicably able to hear, speak, and heal the sick. As word spreads and people from near and far flock to witness her miracles, disgraced journalist Gerry Fenn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) hoping to revive his career visits the small New England town to investigate. When terrifying events begin to happen all around, he starts to question if these phenomena are the works of the Virgin Mary or something much more macabre. Also starring William Sadler, Cary Elwes, Katie Aselton and Diogo Morgado. 

'CREATION STORIES' (Rated MA15+) - is a British biographical film Directed and starring the English Actor, Producer, Writer and film maker Nick Moran and is about the Scottish businessman and music industry executive, Alan McGee who formed Creation Records in 1983 and ran it until it closed down in 1999. The film was adapted from McGee's 2013 autobiography of the same name, by Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh, saw its Premier at the Glasgow Film Festival in late February and went on general release in the UK in late March. The films charts music impresario Alan McGee's (Ewen Bremner) journey from his native Glasgow in which he was written off as a young upstart into the heyday of '90s British rock music, intercut with an older version of himself recounting these events to an interviewer. Also starring Suki Waterhouse, Jason Isaacs, Jason Flemyng, Steven Berkoff, Irvine Welsh, Danny John-Jules, Paul Kaye and Thomas Turgoose. 

'GUNDA' (Rated G) - this American-Norwegian documentary film is Directed, Co-Written and Co-Edited by the Russian documentary film maker Viktor Kossakovsky. Joaquin Phoenix serves as an Executive Producer on this film, which has so far picked up four award wins and another twenty-one nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit and has garnered universal critical acclaim. The film had its World Premiere screening at the Berlin International Film Festival back in February 2020 and it went on to screen at the New York Film Festival in September 2020 and at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2020. Gunda chronicles the unfiltered lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with masterful intimacy. Using stark, transcendent black and white cinematography and the farm's ambient soundtrack without any dialogue, the Director here invites the audience to slow down and experience life as his subjects do, taking in their world with a magical patience and an other worldly perspective.

With four new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the coming week, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-