Prepare for THE UNHOLY

 

Jeri Jacquin

Currently on Bluray, DVD and On Demand from writer/director Evan Spiliotopoulos and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment comes unsuspecting faith in THE UNHOLY.

Gerry Fenn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is a reporter who is on the outs because of something he did years ago. Trying to find a good story to cover, he arrives in the town of Banfield, Massachusetts to hear about strange activity in a field next to the local church taken care of by Father Hagan (William Sadler). While in the field, Fenn finds a doll and after he is told what it is, decides to step on it.

Preparing to leave town at night thinking there is nothing worth covering, he almost hits young Alice (Cricket Brown) on the road. Following her, he witnesses her speaking to a tree in the middle of the field. Taking her to the church, he learns Father Hagan is Alice’s uncle and that the girl is deaf.

That is the first miracle that starts to bring people to see Alice and also catches the attention of those who need to witness it all to be able to call is a true miracle. Bishop Byles (Cary Elwes) and Delgarde (Diogo Morgado) become involved when Alice says that Mary is a beautiful woman in white robes who want the people to come and believe in her, but Alice also performs healings that become newsworthy.    

But Fenn begins to see something is not quite as it should be and does what a good reporter would do, dig into the history of the town and discovers it is dark and filled with stories that have brought something evil out – and who is responsible!

Fenn and Alice must stop the unholy!

Morgan as Fenn is a man who has all but ruined his career by a bad choice. Finding himself in cow-pattied Banfield, he does not expect the story to pan out. It is when he meets Alice and becomes part of the story himself in a way does he get excited to revive his career. Morgan gives us the charming smile we have come to know but no Neegan bat to forcing us want to follow the story. Instead, Fenn does what we would do – follow the story to its conclusion no matter what it takes.

Brown as Alice is a young woman who gets the chance to see life differently because of her seeing Mary and helping the sick. She honestly believes in everything she is doing and becomes friends with Fenn trusting that he sees the good that can be done by bringing the people to Mary. Brown gives her character an air of innocence and wonder and yet when it comes to protecting those she has brought together, Brown sticks to her characters faith.

Sadler as Hagan has his life invested in his young niece and gets the feeling that what is happening is not exactly heavenly sent. No matter how much Alice tries to convince him, he takes it up on himself seek answers. Morgado as Delgarde may not believe in the beginning but that is his job, and his job is about to get tougher. Elwes as Byles is a bishop that has only one thing on his mind, the flock that can give him cred with the church and is kind of creepy himself.

Shout out to Katie Aselton as Natalie Gates, a character that should have had a more specific story for her character but is a friend to Alice and cares about the community of Banfield.

Other cast include Bates Wilder as Geary, Christine Adamas as Monica Slade, Dustin Tucker as Dan Walsh, Gisela Chipe as Sophia Walsh and Marina Mazepa as Mary of Elnor.

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THE UNHOLY is a combination of creepy and pretty cool visual effects. This is the type of film where you turn off all the lights, make sure the home screen is huge and dive right into a Friday night creep show. These are the best types of movies for that and THE UNHOLY gets to take top spot on the horror film binge party pile.

Everything I love about horror films is in THE UNHOLY. I am a fan of slow story presenting, spooky things happening that are not directly in-your-face and characters taking a chance on getting in evil’s face, so this film had me wide eyed and popcorn eating from beginning to end.

In the end – be careful who you pray to!

RAMPAGE Lets Loose!

Jeri Jacquin

In theatres this Friday from director Brad Peyton and New Line Cinema is a story about a man, his friend and saving a city from RAMPAGE.

Up in space, an explosion of an experimental station sends debris falling from the sky including canisters that the Chicago based Energyn company wants back. Claire (Malin Akerman) and Brett Wyden (Jake Lacy) are siblings who want to make sure no one else gets their hands on it.

Primatologist Davis Okoye (Dwayne Johnson) works with animals at a sanctuary and his best friend is an albino gorilla named George. Speaking to one another through sign language, they have a connection of friendship and humor.

Later that night George finds the canister as it opens shooting a mist into his face. The next morning Davis and his team discover that George is not only acting peculiar but has grown in size. Wanting to know what has happened to his friend, Davis meets Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris), a geneticist who tells him what has happened.

Showing up to take George is OGA-man Harvey Russell (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who knows everything about Davis and Kate. Russell shares with them that George isn’t the only creature on the loose – there is another! The one thing the OGA doesn’t know is that the Wyden siblings have set off a signal calling to both creatures.

Now Davis, Kate and Russell are racing against time to save George before the military makes there move. Plus – there is one other large thing they need to take care of as well.

Johnson as Davis comes on strong and keeps it going from beginning to end. Of course he is charming, funny and has one-liners that absolutely work giving his character a fun edge. That could be considered odd since he is fighting big creatures but hey, you have to enjoy it a little bit or why else save the world with your friend George.

Harris as Kate has her own bone to pick with the Wyden siblings and at the same time wants to help Davis understand what is happening. Knowing things are out of control means jumping right in or perhaps more like jumping right out of things falling all around them.

Morgan as Russell grabs his swagger and quickly learns to believe what he is told by Davis. During the screening, the moment Morgan came on the screen the audience went buck wild. Of course the word ‘oh wow, it’s Negan’ was heard loud and clear but this character is the opposite of the bat-toting psycho. Instead, Russell is in it to help Davis and Kate because missiles aren’t friendly and downtown Chicago doesn’t need anymore renovating than necessary.

Akerman as Claire owns a company that obviously doesn’t care one wit about the human race. She also doesn’t care about ‘liquidating’ anyone that gets in her way. Cold and calculated doesn’t even begin to cover it and brother Brett played by Lacey is just along for the ride leaving sister Claire to do all the dirty work.

Other cast include Joe Manganiello as Burke, Marley Shelton as Dr. Atkins, P.J. Byrne as Nelson, Demetrius Grosse as Col. Blake, Jack Quaid as Connor, Breanne Hill as Amy and Will Yun Lee as Agent Park.

RAMPAGE is pretty much everything you’d think – it’s predictable, a bit hokey, unbelievable with the usual destruction of a major city (this time Chicago) and yet I didn’t care not one little bit. Instead I absolutely had a good time reveling in all those points because hey, it’s Dwayne Johnson and that’s all anyone needs to know.

George is cute and very funny and actually makes a pretty awesome partner for Johnson. I mean if you are going to play opposite The Rock, you better bring some muscle of your own. If you are looking for the bigger picture of the film it’s that George and Davis know the true meaning of friendship and don’t mind kicking a little creature butt to prove it.

This is a big-tub-of-popcorn-share-with-the-family-no-brainer-fun-adventure-action film that the whole family can see. It’s nice to just let a movie be exactly what it is, a movie that gives us all a chance to forget where we are, cheer on the big guy (either one works) and walk away feeling like a good time was had by all.

In the end – big meets bigger!