They say not to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes a cover says everything, and Unholy features one of the worst covers in recent memory. Starring legendary horror queen Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog, Swamp Thing, Creepshow)
and erstwhile stutterer and Buffy the
Vampire Slayer co-star Nicholas Brendon, Unholy is a story of supernatural
controversy and intrigue, a movie that tries to play up X-Files-type fears of grand conspiracy, spinning a story that spans
decades and continents out of a grab-bag of spooky and villainous elements (Nazis, witches, governmental
cover-up).

Following World War II, a classified U.S.
military document recounting the results of a Nazi occult experiment was
uncovered and smuggled into an underground facility in Downingtown,
Pennsylvania. Many years later, Martha (Barbeau), a widowed mother of two, is confronted with the grisly reality of the
suicide of her daughter Hope (Siri Baruc). Completely shaken by the experience, Martha takes
it upon herself to prove that someone had a hand in her death. Now, with the air-quote
assistance of her stoned, slacker son Lucas (Brendon), Martha throws
herself into unraveling the mystery that surrounds her daughter’s death. The
only person who really seems to care about Martha is her neighbor Charlie
(Merwin Goldsmith), whose ex-wife Gertrude (Susan Willis) peddles a convoluted theory
that occult-loving Nazis may have something to do with Martha’s personal
tragedies.

It turns out that Gertrude isn’t that nuts, as a bizarre cult plot is uncovered — one which involves the aforementioned Nazis, invisibility and other paranormal powers, brainwashing,
time travel and, of course, a federalized cover-up. But exactly how are all these events linked? That will be up to Martha to sort out.

Lacking the sort of gore quotient that would satisfy diehard
genre fans, and grinding gears with its stultifying dialogue and inane characterizations, Unholy conforms to the easiest set-up
for dismissal: it’s an unholy mess. The plot is tangled seemingly only for effect’s sake — to make things as muddled and complicated as possible, feeding endless chatter. While in a very general sense it’s nice to see Barbeau (ahh, those Cannonball Run memories…) in a more front-and-center role than most of her recent work has afforded her the opportunity, Unholy isn’t a vehicle that lets her shine.

The film’s DVD, housed in a regular Amray case in turn
stored in the aforementioned cardboard slipcover, comes with an insert listing
chapter stops and a small clutch of bonus features, fronted by an audio commentary
track with writer-director Daryl Goldberg and co-writer-producer Sam Freeman. They good-naturedly share a few production anecdotes and talk about their own love of genre movies, but it’s never a good sign when a film’s makers cop to a bit of narrative confusion. The
movie’s trailer and a gallery of poster and still images is also included. The
film is presented in a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfter, with solid Dolby
digital 5.1 and Dolby surround 2.0 audio tracks. A lack of subtitles, though, means
that Unholy can’t translate itself to
other languages. And maybe that’s not a bad thing. To purchase the film via Amazon, click here. D (Movie) C+ (Disc)