There is a great mystery drama to be made about a series of undeniable miracles that are slowly revealed to be less holy than they first appear, but unfortunately writer/director Evan Spiliotopoulos doesn’t seem interested in pursuing that path. This adaptation makes some other smart moves like giving Fenn a more personal stake in the events in Banfield, wisely trims the expansive cast of the book, and swaps out the old English lore that forms the backbone of the book for the more appropriate New England history, including “Kern babies,” a superstition I’d never heard of before. It also ages Alice up from the 11 year old of the book to the much older Cricket Brown. The Unholy transplants the action from Brighton, England to Massachusetts, USA and recasts Fenn as a disgraced reporter in the shape of Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The miracles center on a deaf girl called Alice who can suddenly hear and speak, after being unable to for years, thanks to the apparently divine intervention of “The Lady.” As Alice and Banfield become more well known as a shrine, like those in Lourdes or Međugorje, and throngs of the faithful start to arrive, Gerry begins to have doubts about the assumed divine provenance of the occurrences.
In both book and film, reporter Gerry Fenn becomes embroiled in a series of miracles occurring in the small town of Banfield. Only as the credits rolled did I notice that The Unholy was an adaptation of a novel, The Shrine, by famed British horror author James Herbert. Instead, it was due to the dawning realisation that there was a great story to be told here, but this definitely wasn’t it. Not an unexpected emotion to experience while watching a movie produced by horror maestros Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, but unfortunately, it wasn’t due to any of the horrors on screen.
As I sat in the cinema watching The Unholy, a feeling of dread slowly crept over me.
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