Overview
The Unholy is a 2021 American supernatural horror film written, produced, and directed by Evan Spiliotopoulos (in his directorial debut), based on the 1983 novel Shrine by James Herbert. Produced by Sam Raimi through his Ghost House Pictures banner, it stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Katie Aselton, William Sadler, Diogo Morgado, Cricket Brown, and Cary Elwes. The film follows on a disgraced journalist (Morgan) who discovers a series of seemingly divine miracles in a small New England town and uses them to resurrect his career, though those ‘miracles’ may have a much darker source.
The project was announced in December 2018 under the working title Shrine, with Sony Pictures adapting Herbert's novel of the same name. The cast was announced between 2018 and 2020, with principal photography commencing in Boston, but on March 14, 2020, filming was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Unholy was theatrically released in the United States on April 2, 2021. Despite the film receiving negative reviews from critics, it was a commercial success, grossing over $31 million worldwide against its $10 million budget.
Plot
In 1845, in Banfield, Massachusetts, Mary Elnor, a woman who has been accused of witchcraft, is hanged from a tree and set on fire. Before she dies, however, her ash is kept in a kern doll, indicating the doll has been possessed by Mary's spirit.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
