Customer Reviews:
DECENT BUT NOT SPECTACULAR.......2007-11-03
In Medieval Europe, a group of Knights raid a supposed Satanic village and bury the occupants of the village in a landfill, over which a large Catholic Cathedral is built. In the present day, the Church receives a new librarian, Evan, (Tomas Arana) who arrives to catalog the works stored there. His presence his immediately met with disdain among the other members of the church, especially the Reverend (Giovanni Lombardo Radice). During a restoration of the basement of the church, Lisa (Barbara Cupisti) finds an unknown parchment and takes it Evan, who becomes fascinated by it. Strange events begin plaguing the church and its grounded, Evan is incensed to find out the truth about the basement. Father Gus, (Hugh Quarshie) thinks that the supernatural forces buried under the church may be the cause for the supernatural activities, and he struggles to keep a group of people trapped inside alive when the evil escapes.
The Good News: As is the norm for the Italian genre, the focus is to maximize the effective-ness of the visuals above all else. In here, we get some pretty great scenes. The best one is the opening massacre of a heathen village, which looks like an actual scene that might've occurred in real life. It looks completely accurate for this sort of movie, which is what was needed. The interior of the church, where we spend the majority of the time, is appropriately a massive place, full of odd nooks and crannies that contain numerous spook opportunities. It should, being the center of attention in the movie, but it still had to be said that it did its just admirable. There is a pretty high body count here, resulting in some pretty gory deaths. The most impressive is a power drill in the stomach, which spins around inside, spinning while it's inside, creating a giant splatter scene. Also included is a pretty brutal impaling through the neck with a wrought iron gate, a metal lock shoved into another's mouth, and a metal spike in the chest, among other great, brutal deaths. It's very gory, so there's no blood loss for the fans at all. Also, the start of the film is really creepy. Its all pretty much mind games played with the viewer with what happens. Strange noises in the middle of nowhere, illusions, and the ever-popular "that shouldn't be doing that" type of scares are used, and they all work perfectly. Besides being clichés, they make the film that much scarier.
The Bad News: There were times where it could've moved faster, as in the middle section. It languishes on themes and plots that go nowhere and could've been trimmed to cut down on running time. It does feel overlong as well, so it could've been speeded up, and the length middle section is the right place.
The Final Verdict: A little overlong, but other than that, this wasn't that bad. It's one of the Italian staples, and it does entertain. Definitely recommended for Argento or Italian horror fans, as well as those who like a little twists on their beloved genres.
underrated gem!.......2006-06-23
Browsing amazon I noticed to my horror that this film only recieved one star. Trust me, this film is actually very good indeed. The film plays more as an atmospheric piece than the usual argentoesque gore fest fans of italian horror are used to and along with a great location, actors and creature effects this manages to be the best italian horror movie of the 80's!!!
Dario Argento fan but sorry this is tripe!.......2004-08-06
I am a huge fan of Dario Argento hence buying this DVD.
What can I say ... a huge disappointment! There are a perhaps a few select scenes worthy of the great maestro's influence but the rest of it is complete garbage!
You would be much better off watching Soavi's other film "Stage Fright" which is actually very good and street's ahead of this film and much more similar in style to Argento's.
The Church starts with potential but ends up losing it very quickly. Don't bother!!
The Church, damn cool, but rubbish at the same time........2003-09-28
If your dedicated and resourseful enough to have actually sought out a copy of the church then you probably know exactly what to expect or have seen it before. We all watch this paticular kind of film for the grotesque special effects and if we're lucky, the palpable sense of fear instilled in us by directors such as Argento when they're having a good day. The acting is ever so slightly suspect a lot of the time here and of course the plot is as thin as we like it, sharing nearly exactly the same storyline as The Gate and Fulci's The Beyond: Something accidently built on the gate to hell etc. Yet it's this predictability that makes it so good to watch, like all horror films of this ilk where the star of the show is the brooding atmospherics and the cool special effects which like the famous Yuzna/Gordon flicks of the eighties (Society, From Beyond and Re-Animator most famously, Really will make you squirm. Well worth a tenner as you'd be hard pushed to find it in any normal video store in the land.
Customer Reviews:
DECENT BUT NOT SPECTACULAR.......2007-11-03
In Medieval Europe, a group of Knights raid a supposed Satanic village and bury the occupants of the village in a landfill, over which a large Catholic Cathedral is built. In the present day, the Church receives a new librarian, Evan, (Tomas Arana) who arrives to catalog the works stored there. His presence his immediately met with disdain among the other members of the church, especially the Reverend (Giovanni Lombardo Radice). During a restoration of the basement of the church, Lisa (Barbara Cupisti) finds an unknown parchment and takes it Evan, who becomes fascinated by it. Strange events begin plaguing the church and its grounded, Evan is incensed to find out the truth about the basement. Father Gus, (Hugh Quarshie) thinks that the supernatural forces buried under the church may be the cause for the supernatural activities, and he struggles to keep a group of people trapped inside alive when the evil escapes.
The Good News: As is the norm for the Italian genre, the focus is to maximize the effective-ness of the visuals above all else. In here, we get some pretty great scenes. The best one is the opening massacre of a heathen village, which looks like an actual scene that might've occurred in real life. It looks completely accurate for this sort of movie, which is what was needed. The interior of the church, where we spend the majority of the time, is appropriately a massive place, full of odd nooks and crannies that contain numerous spook opportunities. It should, being the center of attention in the movie, but it still had to be said that it did its just admirable. There is a pretty high body count here, resulting in some pretty gory deaths. The most impressive is a power drill in the stomach, which spins around inside, spinning while it's inside, creating a giant splatter scene. Also included is a pretty brutal impaling through the neck with a wrought iron gate, a metal lock shoved into another's mouth, and a metal spike in the chest, among other great, brutal deaths. It's very gory, so there's no blood loss for the fans at all. Also, the start of the film is really creepy. Its all pretty much mind games played with the viewer with what happens. Strange noises in the middle of nowhere, illusions, and the ever-popular "that shouldn't be doing that" type of scares are used, and they all work perfectly. Besides being clichés, they make the film that much scarier.
The Bad News: There were times where it could've moved faster, as in the middle section. It languishes on themes and plots that go nowhere and could've been trimmed to cut down on running time. It does feel overlong as well, so it could've been speeded up, and the length middle section is the right place.
The Final Verdict: A little overlong, but other than that, this wasn't that bad. It's one of the Italian staples, and it does entertain. Definitely recommended for Argento or Italian horror fans, as well as those who like a little twists on their beloved genres.
underrated gem!.......2006-06-23
Browsing amazon I noticed to my horror that this film only recieved one star. Trust me, this film is actually very good indeed. The film plays more as an atmospheric piece than the usual argentoesque gore fest fans of italian horror are used to and along with a great location, actors and creature effects this manages to be the best italian horror movie of the 80's!!!
Dario Argento fan but sorry this is tripe!.......2004-08-06
I am a huge fan of Dario Argento hence buying this DVD.
What can I say ... a huge disappointment! There are a perhaps a few select scenes worthy of the great maestro's influence but the rest of it is complete garbage!
You would be much better off watching Soavi's other film "Stage Fright" which is actually very good and street's ahead of this film and much more similar in style to Argento's.
The Church starts with potential but ends up losing it very quickly. Don't bother!!
The Church, damn cool, but rubbish at the same time........2003-09-28
If your dedicated and resourseful enough to have actually sought out a copy of the church then you probably know exactly what to expect or have seen it before. We all watch this paticular kind of film for the grotesque special effects and if we're lucky, the palpable sense of fear instilled in us by directors such as Argento when they're having a good day. The acting is ever so slightly suspect a lot of the time here and of course the plot is as thin as we like it, sharing nearly exactly the same storyline as The Gate and Fulci's The Beyond: Something accidently built on the gate to hell etc. Yet it's this predictability that makes it so good to watch, like all horror films of this ilk where the star of the show is the brooding atmospherics and the cool special effects which like the famous Yuzna/Gordon flicks of the eighties (Society, From Beyond and Re-Animator most famously, Really will make you squirm. Well worth a tenner as you'd be hard pushed to find it in any normal video store in the land.
DVD Review:
- ECW - Guilty As Charged 2000
- Eight Legged Freaks [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- El Chupacabra [2003]
- Final Scream [2001]
- Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers/Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars/Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe [1936] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- From Dusk Till Dawn 3 - The Hangman's Daughter [2000]
- Ginger Snaps Back - The Beginning
- Gremlins [1984] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Hell in the Family (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Henry - Portrait Of A Serial Killer [Uncut] [1986]
DVD Review List
DVD Review
![Demons 3 - The Ogre [1988]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/213G8A03NRL.jpg)
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Demons 2 [1987]
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Graveyard Disturbance [1987]
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