The Unholy

Watched October 22, 2021

1988

Starring: Ben Cross, Jill Carroll, William Russ, and Ned Beatty.

After watching the trailers for Alienator (1990) and Cyclone (1987), we decided on The Unholy which seemed to have the highest production value. Plus Ned Beatty!

A Catholic priest is praying alone in his church altar when a mysterious red haired lady shows up. She is nude except for a sheer tunic. She seduces the priest, they kiss and she shreds his throat, killing him. 

Three years later, the two church leaders Archbishop Mosely (Hal Halbrook) and Father Silva (Trevor Howard) hire a new priest, Michael (Ben Cross). We are introduced to Michael as he is driving around for a while then he gets to an emergency scene when another priest has been throat mauled. The priest warns Michael about the demon before he dies. Lieutenant Stern (Ned Beatty) is the detective who worked the cases of both of the two dead priests. His lead is Millie (Jill Carroll) who works at The Threshold, a sex club run by Luke (William Russ), the dad from Boy Meets World and "star" of Deathbed: The Bed that Eats. Michael does take the job as the new priest, even though he has been warned. A caretaker who has been watching over the church for the last three years helps him clean up the place. Michael instantly has a dream vision of the red haired demon lady. 

Archbishop Mosely and Father Silva wait to disclose more information to Michael about the demon that is haunting the church. Before Michael officially got the job, he went to help a potential suicide jumper at a hotel. Michael gets the jumper, Claude (Peter Freschette) to come off the ledge but then the jumper throws Michael out of the window. Michael survives the ten story fall without injury, this is when the two priests know that Michael is the one who can defeat the demon.

Michael contacts Millie at the club. She's supposedly 19, ran away from an abusive father and is working as a waitress. Luke does weird rituals as a show at the club. Millie does visit Michael at the church. Then Luke visits Michael because weird stuff has been happening to him too. Luke asks Michael to come to his apartment above the club and watch him sleep. Michael does and a crazy wind thrashes Luke's black, gold and glass bedroom but doesn't wake him up. Millie ends up in a padded room as she claims that Luke tried to rape her. A padded cell seems hard to clean as Millie's bloody lip gets all over it.

Millie escapes the hospital and goes to Michael in the apartment attached to the church where he lives. Michael lets her stay. An old bible shows up on Millie's nightstand with a section describing Lucifer being a fallen angel. Michael thinks Luke gave it to her. Luke says he's never touched Millie. The demon made Millie think that. With the book, Millie says the Unholy roam looking for virgins and priests to seduce and kill. She offers herself to Michael thinking if she wasn't a virgin and he breaks his vow, the unholy won't want them. Michael is tempted but says no. The previous priests dog's throat is slashed/mauled.

Archbishop Mosely and Father Silva finally tell Michael what's up, that he needs to resist the demon to send it back to hell. Michael heads back to the church where Luke is already disemboweled and crucified upside down. Claude is there and tells Michael the demon made him throw him out the window. Then the demon makes Claude throw all his guts up and burst into flames.

Michael gets on his priest robes and prays. The demon comes but he casts her aside. She turns into two lumpy baby demons that nail Michael's hands to the altar. Then the big demon shows up alternating between looking like a sexy lady and a weird four legged, but with boobs, demon dog thing with a mouth with four rows of teeth and big tongue. Millie shows up after hearing all the commotion. The demon tried to attack her/lick her. The floor opens up to hell. Michael sees a crazy montage of the tortures of hell including a butt being out, biting flesh, poking eyes, etc. He summons the power of god, and is able to get his nailed hands out. The demon touches his face making him blind just like Father Silva. The demon is sent back to hell. The church is restored, it was pretty trashed and had an open hell pit. Millie and Michael leave together.

It's hard with Catholic church movies that include altar boys not to think of the abuse. Michael is fine, but he doesn't quite do it for me. Luke's look is awesome, bleached hair banded collar shirts. Plus he wears a crazy black banana hammock for sex rituals at the club and for sleeping. Great special effects and gauzy '80s vibes.