after an intriguing setup that takes its time building atmosphere and characters, declining to rush the first death, the film becomes progressively more overwrought and hokey
a poorly made horror takes an interesting concept, from a James Herbert novel, and squanders it with ineffective visuals and a dearth of scares; If the devil did exist then surely he’d have the power to destroy films as dull as this
"The Unholy" loses itself in a horror approach better suited for trailers than sustained feature tension, as blasphemy becomes less and less scary with such basic execution
"The Unholy" is a good tight scary commercial theological horror film; "The Unholy" has a religious plot that actually works for it; it's the rare contempo horror film that actually has faith in the story it's telling
"The Unholy" is a bore; "The Unholy" has the stately aura (and endless speechifying) of a sermon, but it's really a creaky nothing of a B-movie, like a chintzy Halloween exhibit set up inside an old church
"The Unholy" fails to perform the miracle of injecting new life into religious horror. Its attempts at thematic depth end up far too shallow, and there's no real grasp of scare crafting or mood-setting to compensate
"The Unholy" doesn't generate much enthusiasm; "The Unholy" suggests filmmaker Evan Spiliotopoulos could be a strong voice in a crowded field, but this unoriginal and choppy, religious themed venture will struggle to convert anyone
by Robert Kojder [Flickering Myth ]
by Benjamin Lee [The Guardian ]
by Matt Donato [What to Watch ]
