Evan Spiliotopoulos wrote, produced, and directed The Unholy, a 2021 American supernatural horror film based on James Herbert’s 1983 novel Shrine. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Katie Aselton, William Sadler, Diogo Morgado, Cricket Brown, and Cary Elwes star in the film, which is produced by Sam Raimi under his Ghost House Pictures company. The story revolves around a disgraced writer (Morgan) who discovers a series of seemingly divine miracles in a small New England village and exploits them to resuscitate his career, but the ‘miracles’ may have a much darker source.
The Unholy (2021): Ending Explained
Alice stuns the community the next day when she speaks, stating that she has been cured by the Virgin Mary. This creates a media frenzy, which is fueled by more ostensibly miraculous healings. During the healings, a figure of the Virgin Mary near the church’s chancel sheds bloody tears.
Monsignor Delgarde, aided by Bishop Gyles, is dispatched by the Catholic Church to investigate the charges. Gerry befriends Alice after discovering that she had been conversing with an entity named Mary and had assumed that Mary was the Virgin Mary.
Gerry finds a companion in Father William Hagan, Alice’s maternal uncle, who was treated by Alice but also fears the healings’ actual nature, as he begins to feel something evil is going on as a result of visions of “Mary” as a horrific entity. Fr. Hagan finds a book about Mary Elnor, a witch who performed miracles for Satan, but he is assaulted by Mary and his body is found hanging in the church before he can tell anybody.
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Bishop Gyles persuades Gerry to keep Hagan’s apparent suicide a secret since it will taint the miraculous events. His death has been ruled as a result of an accident.
Gerry befriends Natalie Gates, the town’s doctor, and tells her that he was caught faking stories, which is why he now reports hoaxes in the hopes of relaunching his career. The two finally come upon the information obtained by Fr. Hagan, which reveals Mary sold her soul to Satan in order to gain power.
Satan would grant her and her offspring (one of whom is revealed to be Alice) the ability to perform “miracles,” causing people to vow their allegiance to her and, by extension, Satan. Mary tries to kill Gerry, but Msgr. Delgarde uses prayer and his crucifix to drive her away.
Gerry and Delgarde are taken aback to find that Bishop Gyles was aware of the past in Banfield regarding Elnor, but believed it was unrelated to the recent miracles. He tells Gerry that due to Gerry’s soiled reputation, any attempt to convey his thoughts on the subject will be met with silence.
They believe Alice is oblivious of Mary’s true character and wants to arrange a church service under the tree and broadcast it to the masses. Msgr. Delgarde warns that committing oneself to Mary Elnor will strengthen her and consign one’s soul to Hell. Msgr. Delgarde, with the help of Gerry and Natalie, tries to halt it with a religious rite, but Mary appears and smashes him with a blazing cross.
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When the service begins, Alice encourages everyone to make three pledges to Mary Elnor. Gerry manages to keep the throng from totally pledging by suggesting that the miracles were all a result of the placebo effect, and that they were all part of his scam.
Natalie uses sign language to speak with Alice, pleading with her to end the service. Mary pleads to Alice, pleading for her to keep going or she will never speak again. Alice verifies that the miracles were not of God after realising Mary’s true character.
As a furious Mary emerges from the tree, it explodes into flames, prompting all the attendants to escape in terror. She assassinates Bishop Gyles before attempting to murder Gerry, but Alice saves his life by sacrificing herself. As a result, Mary vanishes, as Alice was her only link to the live world.
Gerry, moved by Alice’s sacrifice, prays to God to save her life. She resurrects, but she is deaf once more. All of the persons Alice cured quickly revert to their previous state, and the video ends with a warning from Matthew 7:15 in the Bible.
Cassey Moore is a features writer for Quest. I’m a British writer of both horror and supernatural series. Cassey is also a digital marketing manager.