Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Critics,are you kidding us

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Italian film director Michele Soavi certainly showed plenty of potential in his debut "Stage Fright", and went on to do other fine work in the horror genre - "The Sect", "Dellamorte Dellamore", and this entertaining shocker. One might argue that it's kind of slim on story, but the style on display more than makes up for that. "The Church" is unceasingly grim, loaded with atmosphere, heightened by many striking visuals, and packed with some deliciously grisly violence and makeup effects. It's one of those horror films that lives up to the word "horror". It can appeal to a variety of fans within the genre, for it takes its time and gives us the kind of "slow burn" approach that some people wish they'd see more often.In Medieval times in Europe, some crusading knights slaughter the residents of a village - including the animals. They had believed these people to be in league with the Devil. Subsequently, they build a church over top of the dead bodies. Centuries later, a librarian named Evan (Tomas Arana, "Gladiator") is hired by the church, and his fascination with the local history proves unwise. His snooping around allows the forces of evil to arise, take possession of the living, and commit murder. The church seals itself up, and a variety of victims are trapped inside by these demonic forces.The international cast also includes Hugh Quarshie ("Highlander"), Feodor Chaliapin Jr. ("The Name of the Rose"), Soavi regular Barbara Cupisti, Giovanni Lombardo Radice ("Cannibal Ferox"), and the young Asia Argento (daughter of co-writer / co-producer Dario Argento), who plays a spunky child who regularly sneaks out of the church in defiance of her father Hermann (Roberto Corbiletto, "Dangerous Beauty"). The acting is generally solid, with Quarshie an appealing hero.The finale is the absolute best part (at least, it was for this viewer), and worth waiting for. It features one of the most hideous goat like characters to be seen in religion themed horror. And the music by progressive rock specialists Keith Emerson and the prolific "Goblin" is extremely effective throughout.A must for fans of Spaghetti horror.Seven out of 10.

"The Church" is a film that could have been much better. However, too often it took the cheap gore route instead of genuine terror. Additionally, some of the dialog is pretty stupid. When the film begins, the Knights Templar are beating up poor folks in the name of God when they discover one of their victims is a Devil worshiper. So, they do what anyone would do...kill everyone in the town and bury them all...including a few who might just still be alive. Then, they built a church over it. Centuries pass and now the demons are apparently ready to party. So, they come out and begin destroying and taking possession of folks in the church. Some of the deaths are interesting and fitting (such as the lady who is vain and needs to see herself in the mirror) but most are just cheap gore or nudity meant to titillate. And unlike earlier Dario Argento-produced films, the mood seems far less important than cheap thrills. Some of these problems might stem from the film having 8 writers...a sure sign that a production is in trouble. Regardless, it wasn't my cup of tea and lacked the subtlety of better horror films, such as "Suspiria".

The vast majority of movies from the late 80s look awful, and TC is no exception. Given that this silly Italian flick suffers from the usually host of darioargentonian flaws – silly plot-twists, occasionally amateurish performances, and weak and /or stupid dialog – the one thing that would have been a saving grace would have been impressive visuals. However, the bland, colourless, ugly 80s aura destroys any "eerie" mood this clumsily put together bundle of religious-horror clichés could have had. Argento is well-known (or at least should be) for his style-over-substance approach, i.e. his penchant to toy around with the camera and sets rather than spend time fixing his usually idiotic scripts full of bad logic and far-fetched situations. (This especially goes for his legendarily moronic thrillers.) Dazzling visuals were essentially this movie's only hope, but Argento fails to deliver even in that; supposedly his strong suit. The actors are mostly amateurs; in fact, most of them are so bad that Argento's 13 year-old daughter Asia (who is nothing to shout about talent-wise) comes off as a professional by comparison; even she has some clue how to play her scenes which can't be said for ANY of the actors in the anti-climactic church-destruction scenes. It is almost as if Argento gave acting roles to people who were at first merely recruited as extras. The dialogue is stilted and occasionally laughable even. The attempts at humour are badly timed, not to mention puerile. The demon costumes and make-up are so bad that even Ed Wood might have found fault with them. Dario trusted his make-up department so little that he rarely dared extend close-up shots of the demons to longer than half-a-second. He must have suspected that if he let the viewers see the demons for longer than that, they'd invariably laugh. (The viewers, not the demons.) It's a fine line between a B-movie and a shoddy-looking A movie; although, in this case, the "A" must stand for Argento, and not as a symbol of high quality.While the 1st half has a (small) measure of non-imbecility and non-dreariness, the 2nd half sees the plot and the movie disintegrate into amateurishness; this is when TC becomes a B-movie, for all practical purposes. In fact, I submit that had this exact same movie been made by a Hollywood and/or American director, its IMDb average would have been much lower. This serves as yet another example – and proof – that: 1) anything Argento touches, no matter how mediocre or outright bad, automatically gets overrated - simply because his name is in the credits, and 2) European films get far better critical treatment than American films. This astonishing – and fairly obvious – bias is a result of the special "bull aura" that European films and directors have (stemming from the flawed and frankly naïve belief that US films are commercial pap made by non-talents, whereas European ones are "artistic" and profound). This silly prejudice has been blinding film students and the more fanatical movie-goers for decades, often preventing them from objectively appraising either. This is why on IMDb you will sometimes see a great American movie rated only with a 6.0, while a fairly mediocre European movie might have a 8.0 average.Another major flaw of TC is that it gets rather dull in spots.

Director Michele Soavi who also created other classic flicks, StageFright: Aquarius 1987 and Of Death and Love 1994 and another classic religious flick, The Sect 1991 has created another gem in The Church.Starring Hugh Quarshie who has also been in another classic flick, Highlander 1986.Also starring Thomas Arana who has also been in other classic flicks, Limitless 2011, Frankenfish 2004, Gladiator 2000, L.A. Confidential 1997, Tombstone 1993 and Michele Soavi's classic religious flick, The Sect.Also starring Feodor Chaliapin Jr. who has also been in another classic religious flick, The Name of the Rose 1986.Also starring Asia Argento who has also been in other classic flicks, Land of the Dead 2005 and The Stendhal Syndrome 1996.I enjoyed the cinematography, settings and violence.If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic religious flicks, Babysitter Wanted 2008, Black Narcissus 1947, Black Robe 1991, Communion 1976, Constantine 2005, Red State 2011, The Devils 1971, End of Days 1999, The Exorcist 1973, The First Power 1990, The Holy Mountain 1973, The House of the Devil 2009, The Last Exorcism 2010, The Last Temptation of Christ 1988, Legion 2009, Little Buddha 1993, The Crucible 1996, Mark of the Devil 1970, The Mission 1986, The Passion of the Christ 2004, School of the Holy Beast 1974, Warlock: The Armageddon 1993, Witchcraft Through the Ages 1922, Suspiria 1977, The Shrine 2010, Black Death 2010, The Witch 2015 and Witchfinder General 1968.