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Overall Rating : 2.5/10
Directed By : Daryl Goldberg
Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog (1980) )
Nicholas Brendon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) )
Siri Baruc (Glass Trap)
Supplied By : Anchor Bay Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : September. 6, 2007
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| PLOT Adrienne Barbeau and Nicholas Brendon star in this provocative shocker about a mother’s investigation into the grisly suicide of her daughter. But what begins as a family tragedy will soon lead to a conspiracy of bizarre crimes, occult carnage and a necromancer who may control a dark new trinity of warfare. How far would our government go to harness a Nazi legacy of paranormal power? Has the U.S. military secretly attempted to develop time travel, invisibility and mind-control as weapons? The answers wait in a mind-blowing journey that will take one woman from the trauma of the unimaginable to the ultimate horror of the UNHOLY. |
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| THE REVIEW In UNHOLY Martha, a middle aged Woman has fell on some rough times as of late due to the death of her Husband. One day after returning from the store on her Daughter Hope's Birthday, she arrives to find Hope in the cellar, with shotgun drawn to her chin. Despite what Martha tells her, Hope commits suicide right in front of her. But something just isn't right to Martha and she believes Hope was controlled by someone or some thing. With the help of her Son Lucas they go on an investigation, and uncover an old Urban Legend of sorts, that surprisingly turns out to be real, and has ties to the Government. It turns out that this myth of a figure was actually a Scientist dealing with the occult and his experiments were to help in the brain washing of a nation. It seems that Martha and her son may be the next targets of such activity, and a simple investigation into the cause of Hope's death may lead to their very own. First off, I must say that UNHOLY, may be one of the most complicated and hard to understand films I have ever seen. The film starts off very steadily, and you do actually believe that this will be one that will be easy to follow. But as soon as one gets to the very core of what the film is about and what will be, the film takes a few twists too many leaving the viewer confused. There are tons of plot holes, right down to the point that about 10 minutes into the film I was already lost. The film tries to be ultimately clever with the twists and theories having to do with Government conspiracies and they(the Government) wanting to use time travel and brainwashing, but it just doesn't flow well. As someone who could care less about politics, our Presidency and whatever else, I found this film's plot to be utterly boring. The film stars Scream Queen Adrienne Barbeau, whom I just adore in her earlier work, she's a highly talented actress. And with that said she's the stand-out and does the best she could with a script so tangled and confusing, it's a wonder as to why she keeps accepting roles in these less than stellar indies, as many other talented actors continue to do as well. Nicolas Brendon as Barbeau's son Lucas is about the only one to even come close to Barbeau's level, but he was just average at best. Some of the worst performances, which is the case with many other independent films come from the lesser important characters, which some are are around here longer than others, so that's a good thing. Honestly I believe that the filmmakers who made UNHOLY, tried to tackle a subject that just happens to be bigger than their budget would allow, as the limitations as a little to obvious. When looking at how the film plays out, it seems that Writer/Director/Producer Daryl Goldberg wanted to make some kind of Political statement with this film, and just didn't quite know how to go about it, as the execution kind of shows Overall, Unholy is a very difficult film, and it's subject is not one that most viewers would easily or readily be able to get into, it moves at a snail's pace and doesn't really go anywhere, nor does it resolve anything in the film's conclusion. |
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| GORE
METER 1/10 Just a few shotgun wounds, that's about it. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE Orchestrated and violin music that is really somber and gloomy.... I wasn't really into it much. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM UNHOLY is a film that begins with the feeling that of a movie that would air om the Lifetime channel, but gradually movies into a plot that it thinks is clever and groundbreaking, but all it seems to achieve is that it confuses the hell out of those who watch it. The plot was entirely too slow and boring to me, and after about 10 minutes of the film, as I said earlier, I was lost and just had no interest left. |
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