The Film (5/5)

In medieval days a group of knights slaughter a village of purported devil worshippers and witches. They bury the bodies in a pit and build a church over it in an attempt to seal in the evil. Since this is a horror film, you can imagine that seal won't last. Flash forward to present day and new church librarian Evan (Tomas Arana) accidentally breaks the seal and releases the evil from the pit to terrorize all mankind. Luckily, the church's architect designed safeguards to mechanically seal the church in the event of the evil escaping, and several folks are trapped within to fight off the manifested evil spirits.

In a nutshell, that's it. But there's a lot more going on (thank God I didn't have to podcast on this; it's involved.) with the inhabitants of the church and the visitors. Lisa (Barbara Cupisti - Stagefright, Opera) is an art restorer that starts a relationship with Evan which quickly goes south once he is infected by the evil spirits, Lotte (Asia Argento - Dario's daughter, Trauma) is the daughter of the unpleasant sacristan and she knows secret ways in and out of the church, ways she uses to go clubbing at night. None of this really matters, the film is all about two things: style and great practical effects. There are so many great moments that will sear into your memory.

The Church was originally slated to be part of the Demoni (That's Demons to you) series but Soavi wanted it to be a more serious, standalone film. I think he achieved that because it has a different vibe than the more playful tone of Lamberto Bava's two Demoni entries. It carries on with the promise that Soavi showcased in his excellent debut and previous film Stagefright, a giallo slasher hybrid. And here Soavi and co. take in a wide range of influences. The story is loosely (so very, very loosely) based on M.R. James' The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas, the only real connection being a guy hanging around an old church, but that wisp of an idea sets Soavi up with a large palette to paint from. One scene in particular is lifted from fantasy artist Boris Vallejo's Vampire Kiss (you probably know it even if you don't know you know it) and a gargoyle creature is taken from a 17th century woodcut. Did I mention the effects? They are spectacular.

Audio/Video (4/5)

Scorpion presents The Church in 1080p HD widescreen brand new to this release, 2K scan of the original negative with over 45 hours of color correction (done in America, for those worried about shady scanners.) And it looks great. I didn't detect any problems, it looked pretty sharp and primary colors really popped. I didn't see any over correction or nonsense that we all worry about. Audio is presented in a DTS- HD 2.0 stereo track in English. It sounded good, certainly better than the old dvd. No subtitles are present.

Extras (3/5)

The disc features a brand new interview with Asia Argento, a brand new interview with Michele Soavi and trailers. It's not a whole lot to be honest. A commentary would have been nice, detailing the history of the collaboration between Argento and Soavi, it's Jamesian influences, etc. Not a whole lot here, but better than a bare bones disc.

Overall (5/5)

I think that Dario Argento's excursions into producing other folks' films is somewhat overlooked. I don't recall very many of his American contemporaries lending not only their name but hands on advice and guidance to younger film makers. Not a knock on them, I'm just saying that Argento gets dinged for being somewhat aloof at times and he doesn't quite get the recognition for putting work in for others. The name 'Dario Argento' counts for something as producer if nothing other than it means that real money was spent on production value.

The Church is among the last of the great Italian Horror films that trace back to the films of Mario Bava, although they were getting more few and far between. Soavi would go on to direct two more horror films, 1991's The Sect and fan favorite Cemetery Man from 1994, yet The Church stands as a high watermark of late era Italian Horror. It's my personal opinion that for the period from 1987 - 1994, Soavi was the best Italian Horror director (and certainly among the best directors worldwide making horror films.

At the time of this writing The Church is pretty affordable online and I would highly recommend you picking it up. It's a definite upgrade over the dvd and a great slice of Italian Horror from some folks that knew what they were doing.