'The Unholy' (1988) - Camilo Vila.
In the blissfully unrepentant, Video shock-saturated era of the 80s, the world’s inveterate, splatter-seeking, hardcore horror hedonists were frequently spoilt for celluloid choice. This was the bravura, head-burstingly bloody reign of the hyperbolic, psycho-crazed fright-flick, and one of the labels that made a nefarious name for themselves was the soon-to-be iconic, ‘far-from-chronic’ Vestron Video. Such was their fiendish allure that I, along with many other gluttonous Gorelings would avidly await news of pending Vestron productions with the pulse-pounding impatience of a strung-out, 42nd street dope addict!
In 1988 sensationalist splatter instigators Vestron Video really delivered the grisly Gothic-horror goods by unleashing their malefic monster movie ‘The Unholy’. Along with ghoulishly gooey fan-favourite, ‘The Gate’ this blasphemous bloodbath remains a sinfully seductive feast of demonic delights! As a wickedly unwholesome example of head-spinningly sinister, cloven-hoofed, haemoglobin heavy 80s horror hokum, Camilo Vila's hysterical, theologically twisted terror flick is an unusually deft horror film. With its sensationally Satanic set pieces 'The Unholy' remains a sensually sacrilegious, strikingly slime-spattered saturnalia that 80s horror freaks are unlikely to forget! Enjoyed today, this bizarrely bewitching, eerily ecclesiastical, super-splattery bonanza can still diabolically defrock a godly priest at 100 yards, and give the saintliest sister VERY BAD habits indeed!!!
The Unholy's formulaic, ‘goodly priest vs. eldritch evil’ narrative was, perhaps, no less stale than the suspect hot dogs they sold in the sticky-floored cinema I first saw it in, but the immaculate casting was positively epicurean! Veteran actors, Hal ‘Rituals’ Holbrook, Trevor ‘everything’ Howard, and Ned ‘Deliverance’ Beatty deliver refined performances. Youthful ex-flaming charioteer, Ben Cross made for a credible, earnestly sympathetic lead as the innocent, demonically beleaguered father Michael. ‘The Unholy’ saves the bloody best for last, as Camilo Vila, and his extremely talented SPFX crew clearly drank the Kool Aid and went full ‘Alejandro Jodorowsky/Ken Russell/Coffin Joe’ with the furiously phantasmagorical, slaveringly salacious, diabolically-demented, ‘who-let-the-dark-gods-out’ flesh flaying finale! The astute publicity department certainly came up with a monster, ding-dang-doozie of a strap line with the classic ‘You haven’t got a prayer!’
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