The Unholy

The film opens with the execution of a woman accused of witchcraft in 1845 in Banfield, Massachusetts. Before she dies, however, her spirit is bound to the body of a doll.Many years later, skeptical journalist Gerry Fenn works a job reporting on all things strange and unusual. His latest assignment takes him to Boston, where the purported strange activity is revealed to be a teenage prank. As he’s preparing to leave he discovers the doll shown earlier in the movie and purposely crushes it, accidentally setting the woman’s spirit free. Gerry later gets into an accident as he’s driving away after seeing a young girl, Alice, run across the road.The Unholy 2021

He follows her to a tree, the site where he found the doll, and hears her speak before collapsing. When he takes her to a hospital later he learns that Alice is a deaf-mute and couldn’t have spoken. Gerry decides to stay in town to investigate what he thinks could be a real story rather than a hoax or prank.

The following day Alice stuns the community by speaking and proclaiming that she has been cured by the Virgin Mary. This launches a media furor that is further propelled by other seemingly miraculous healings. The Catholic Church sends Monsignor Delgarde to investigate the claims, assisted by Bishop Gyles. Gerry befriends Alice, during which time he learns that while she has been speaking to a being named Mary, the girl has only assumed that this is the religious figure. Beginning to suspect that something sinister is occurring due to visions of “Mary” as a horrific entity, Gerry finds a partner in Father Hagan, who was healed by Alice but also suspects the healings’ true nature. Father Hagan discovers papers detailing the death of Mary Elnor, the woman from the prologue. Mary sold her soul to Satan in order to gain eternal life and power. He would allow her and her descendants, revealed to be Alice, to perform “miracles” so people would pledge themselves to her and in turn, Satan.