SGM Month of Halloween Horror Movie for Oct. 4

"The Church" (1989)

Themes: Curses; trapped victims; demonic terror
Synopsis (from the back of the box): In medieval Europe, crusading knights massacre a village full of suspected devil worshippers and build a large gothic church above the cursed remains. It is now present day, and this elaboarate cathedral still stands. But when its sealed crypt is accidentally reopened, a group of people trapped inside the church become possessed by the fury of the damned. Can the blood of the innocent survive this unholy communion, or will the ultimate demonic evil be unleashed upon the world?

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Michele Soavi, director of the superb "Cemetery Man," ushers in this film that has close ties with the "Demons" series (the second of which was under discussion last year). Stylistically speaking, you can tell the distinct difference in approaches between Lamberto Bava, who helmed the first two "Demons" films, and Soavi. The imagery that brings this film alive, for example, is stark, and it helps flesh out the settings, and it lends a grand ethereal air to the proceedings of the film.

Also in contrast to the first two "Demons" films, the setting is like a character in and of itself. Where in the preceding "Demons" films, the settings were mostly incidental - which is a disappointment when you consider the first films setting at a horror movie marathon - "The Church" in question almost exudes personality, and we get to know the church by its background and its interactions with the victims trapped within.

Dario Argento produced this film, and a lot of his influences show. Argento, as my own amateur meanderings through Italian horror would have me believe, is akin to our country's Roger Corman, an individual whose eye on the bottom line aided his artistic talent substantially.

Oh yeah, and Asia Argento's in this. But that's something that can certainly be overlooked. This was prior to her looking like a scagged out coke whore, but, as this was three years after her turn in "Demons 2," it's very apparent here that those days were not too far from now. And yet, if we were solely a horror film appreciation collective, I think it would be imperative that we have precious Asia inducted into a horror actor hall of fame, alongside at least Tom Noonan.

While I enjoyed the film as an extension of the "Demons" series, there was some surrealistic bents that did affect my watching of the film. The ending is pretty chaotic, which resulted in a split opinion: The imagery, again, was pretty solid, although the visual cacophony of the procedings left for some difficult to comprehend resolutions. I assure you, though, there's a lot worse out there in the history of Italian horror than this; it's a pretty solid film.

Rating: 2 1/2 count