Soavi in 1989 > Argento in 1989. La Chiesa (Michele Soavi, 1989)
Michele Soavi's Dellamorte Dell'Amore remains one of the best horror-comedies of all time, so when I got a chance to see one of his earlier films, La Chiesa, I jumped at it. Now, Soavi got his start as an assistant director for Dario Argento, and Argento wrote the script, so it should come as little shock that La Chiesa comes off kind of like second-rate Argento. (Argento's daughter Asia even has a minor part in the film, as she did increasingly often in Argento films during the eighties.) Plotwise, anyway. While Soavi's direction does wear his Argento influence writ large on its sleeve, he learned all the right things from the master of Italian horror, and there's enough actual Soavi in there to ensure that you at least sense this isn't completely an Argento joint (as was, say, "Lamberto Bava"'s Demons).
We open with an extended scene that takes place during what seems to be the Inquisition or the Crusades, in which an entire village is slaughtered for witchcraft and a mad monk tells the murderers to build a church on the land; the consecrated ground will stop the dead from coming back. Fast-forward to the twentieth century. A new librarian starts working at the church while some restoration is going on. The combination of these two things kicks into motion a series of events that ensures, of course, that the dead will, in fact, come back for some sinister purpose. When the dead trip off one of the safety mechanisms, the church is sealed off from the outside, trapping a number of innocents with the vengeful spirits. If you've seen Demons, you know what's going to happen from that point. (The script was originally conceived as a third entry in the Demons series, but Soavi rewrote it to the point where La Chiesa has very little in common with the other films in the franchise. Two other attempts were made to produce a third Demons film, Black Demons and The Ogre; both, interestingly, met the same fate as La Chiesa. Someone must have realized that if Demons 2 was that bad, the series was unsaveable. And thank heaven for that.)
The acting is mediocre, the script not much better; neither is remotely up to the standard Soavi would set for himself with Dellamorte Dell'Amore five years later. What is here and intact, however, is Soavi's incredible visual sense, which is even more pronounced here than it is in his later work. I do note that this may well be because you don't have such niceties as plot, character development, etc., to distract you from Soavi's constant barrage of gorgeously-constructed shots. It's a gorgeous movie, and those who simply appreciate the fine visuals will find this a treat; most filmgoers, however, will likely not be satisfied with a pastiche held together so thinly. For them, I recommend Dellamorte Dell'Amore instead. ***
Quite good and bizarre Italian horror flick! In the medieval ages, christian knights massacred a possessed village and buried all the folks who worshipped Satan to a large burial ground. They build a church over it so that the taint of evil wouldn't come back again, now in the present day a librarian wants to uncover the secrets of the cathedral as he accidently opens the secret sealed tomb as it unleashes demonic forces onto the church and trapping a group of people inside. But can the priests and some of the trapped people put a stop to this unholy curse or will the world be damned forever?
A feverish and bizarre supernatural horror fantasy shocker from Michele Soavi (Director of the brilliant "Cemetery Man" and "StageFright") and from co-writer and producer Dario Argento delivers a grueling and stylish journey to hell. There is some nudity and graphic violence shown with some good make-up and demon effects, the film itself is a sequel of sorts to both "Demons 1 and 2". Legendary Italian actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice does a nice performance as the Reverend, Asia Argento as the young girl Lotte and the movie has a good score by Goblin, fans of "Demons 1 & 2" should seek out this gem.
This DVD contains good picture and sound with a couple of extras like trailer and bio to director Michele Soavi.
Also recommended: "Prince of Darkness", "Evil Dead 2", "Demons 1 & 2", "End of Days", "The Omen (1976)", "The Exorcist", "Suspiria", "Inferno", "Tenebre", "Phenomena (a.k.a. Creepers)", "City of the Living Dead (a.k.a. Gates of Hell)", "Hellraiser", "Hellbound: Hellraiser II", "The Amityville Horror (1979 and 2005)", "The Wicker Man (1973)", "Evilspeak", "Cemetery Man (a.k.a. Dellamorte Dellamore)", "Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend", "House By The Cemetery", "From Dusk Till Dawn", "The Fog (1980)", "The Blind Dead Series", "StageFright", "Poltergeist", "Exorcism of Emily Rose", "The Shining", "Rosemary's Baby", "Pumpkinhead", "Mark of the Devil" and "The Beyond".
Decent movie mostly saved by the visual side The Church is the 2nd feature film from director Michele Soavi who was dubbed as the savior to Italian horror. Soavi came around when Italian horror was on its last legs. With the exception of Dario Argento a lot of the other popular filmmakers were on the decline, were having trouble getting work or became knockoff directors. Michele Soavi was hailed as the savior and to be honest I never quite got why.
Originally The Church was meant to be the 3rd part of the Demons series, but it ended up going in a different direction and what we get is a very mixed bag. The Church wasn't a bad movie, but the problem is nothing really happens.
The screenplay was written by Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini & Michele Soavi. Dardano Sacchetti, Lamberto Bava and Fabrizio Bava also contributed to the screenplay, but were un-credited. So due to that I'll just mention the credited writers.
The screenplay actually wasn't too bad; there were some interesting concepts, while there might be a silly moment or two for the most part the script wasn't bad. The basic concept here is the same as Demons, but there was a little more depth to the screenplay. Demons and Demons 2 were fun splatter flicks, but The Church was more serious. The biggest problem here is the lack of action. The screenplay really wasn't too bad and made even better by what was coming out of Italy at this time.
But there are some problems; the two lead characters pretty much go MIA in the 2nd half, other characters might appear early on than don't come back until the end. The 2nd half introduces some new characters and they don't add anything to the plot. They are just there to die and we don't even see most of the deaths.
The Church does benefit from a solid cast, Giovanni Lombardo Radice has a small role and it's always great seeing him in a horror movie and a young Asia Argento also stars. The Church was Asia's 3rd movie.
Michele Soavi worked under Dario Argento as an assistant director and it is quite clear he learned a lot. Dario Argento is a very visual filmmaker and if I didn't know any better I would think he was the director. Soavi creates a movie that is visually stunning. The Church is one of the very best shot movies I have ever seen. Dare I say it's on par with an Argento movie?
The problem though is really nothing happens. The first few minutes are set in the medieval times and we get a little bit of action, but surprisingly little gore. After that we cut to the present and from that point on it's mostly talk and more talk. Michele Soavi is able to build some suspense and tension, but the problem is there is no pay off; though to Soavi's credit he's very much able to have a nice gothic looking horror movie.
Like I said The Church is slow, but what saves the movie from being an all out bore is the visuals. The first half in particular is just so amazingly shot. The Church easily rates as one of the best shot horror movies I have ever seen. In the case of Italian filmmakers not all, but most have this great visual side to their movies and Michele Soavi might be one of the best. The student can't top his teacher though, but you can clearly see the Argento influence. There is some great stedi-cam work as well.
Once we hit the 45-minute mark things begin to pick up with an excellent scene, which a character is chased around her house and I thought right there would be the turning point, but instead after that nothing really happens again. Once the hour mark comes in we have a group of characters trapped in the church and it seems like the action is about to start, but guess again.
This is the biggest downfall to The Church the lack of action like I said we get some good moments of suspense and tension, but there is very little pay off. Despite the lack of anything happening Michele Soavi is able to create some tension and suspense thanks to his visual touch and that is what kept me interested in the movie despite the lack of action. The final act to The Church is kind of messy and more often than not the movie just sort of repeats itself by this point and the ending is very anti-climatic. If you are expecting a big showdown between the characters and demons you can forget that.
I can't really explain why I enjoyed The Church; there is very little action, but the gore level is decent. While it might take sometime to get to the gore and when we finally get it, well it seems like a long time till we get it again, but it is done well. But not a whole lot happens. It's a lot of talk and build up with little pay off, but yet there is just something about The Church I liked. I guess it's the visual side that held my interest, but the 2nd half none of this works as well.
In closing, The Church is a movie with a lot of potential, but just doesn't seem to go anywhere. Even though I did enjoy the movie it's not a must see and it's really the visual side that keeps things interesting, but that can only save it for so long.
The Church sometimes goes under the title of Demons 3 along with two other movies, 1 being Lamberto Bava's The Orge and Umberto Lenzi's Black Demons. None though are sequels to Demons, but The Church is the closest one in that style.
Produced by Dario Argento Many times a movie is criticized for having bad actors. This is not one of those movies. The actors actually are not bad. Where this movie goes wrong is in the actual script for the storyline and the production by Dario Argento. The actors did the best that anyone else could have done with a far fetched script that was actually silly more than scary or at least suspenseful. The main characters did show emotional range and good acting ability. So, what should a potential buyer be forewarned about? Here is a short list of production flaws in this movie: 1-horrible 80's organ music from a cheap casio keyboard. If music is included in a horror movie to build suspense, the music should be gothic and atmospheric, not sesame street level toddler piano. The bad music is distracting from noticing the main actors of the video. 2-poor special effects-one scene has a sesame street looking monstor with glowing red eyes-very poorly done. 3-Some of the scenes did not match with the rest of the movie. Too much time was wasted on camera shots or conversations with non-essential characters who just appeared at various parts of the film who had no real impact on the movie. On the other hand, there is a demon sex scene-it is filmed from a side angle and from a distance. So, don't expect to see any details in that scene either. This is an example of a movie that actually has some talented actors, but, had a well known producer who did a poor job co-writting and producing this movie. My feeling is that Dario Argento rushed to write the script for this movie and really did not apply himself to at least make a believable horror film like he did with some of his other classics. Unless you are an extremme fan of Dario Argento, stay away from this silliness. In fact, I would not recommend that anyone watch this video for free on cable. My rating for this video is 1 star Very poor script writing that limited the actors ability to perform-
What in the Hell? I did anticipate getting this movie becaus of the director and thought this would be of simillar to the others at the time. This movies is sloww all the way through, I kept waiting for something to finaly happen, but no. Just more pointless dialog about trying to figure out whats making stuff happen. Dont expect gore and blood its not here. Watch this when your having trouble sleeping, because your going to sleep!
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