THE UNHOLY (2021) Ending Explained

hey how's it going everybody welcome to found flicks on this thing explain we're looking at the unholy where a hearing impaired girl is visited by the virgin mary and can suddenly heal the sick as people flock to witness her miracles terrifying events unfold are they the work of the virgin mary or something much more sinister yeah what do you think i had a pretty interesting relationship to this movie when the trailer came out i was kind of mad about it looked pretty rote then when i got around to actually watching it at first i was pleasantly surprised like hey this isn't so bad it's well shot and got some nice atmosphere jeffrey dean morgan doing his standard rumple charm thing that always works but then as the run time went on it kind of got goofier and quite bland it really is a very run-of-the-mill experience with some very predictable twists and pedestrian jump scares however it does at least have some kind of character arc for our protagonist so hey at least got something going on in that regard as usual the little depth that i could mine from the story is what interests me the most so that's what we'll be focusing on here the journey of a drunken washed out journalist to that of a man of faith who believes in doing the right thing things also do get a bit complicated or really convoluted regarding the ending so i can see why some people might be confused by where things end up so let's check out the unholy breaking down the story including jerry's journey who is really behind all these supposed miracles and what they're after along with explaining the ending and what it means our story begins all the way back in 1845 everything seen through the pov of a girl gasping and shuddering watched by a group of guys all gathered around one puts a mask on her face and nails it into place with a mallet hearing her flash squelching we hear flames beginning to crackle as she's lifted into the air by a noose a priest approaches asking to contain her soul into a little doll then we are presented with the aftermath for smoldering blackened body hanging lifeless from a tree jumping forward to present day we meet down on his luck journalist jerry starting his day off right with some coffee spiked with liquor yeah usually a sign things aren't going so great he gets a call from his editor about a cow mutilation story offering a whopping 150 bucks for the work jerry laments how much he used to get paid at his old job max coley suggesting well go back to it then clearly not an option he agrees to the gig and heads off to the small town of banfield he's understandably underwhelmed when meeting the local farmer that gave them the tip the cow doesn't look quite as mutilated as promised only sporting a small metallica logo on its backside thanks to the farmer's 15 year old son father hagin comes up angry about his cow crapping all over the place yelling to get it out of here now and hobbles away coughing and wheezing jerry is upset by the turn of events knowing he's not going to get paid for some pics of a cow's ass hearing some eerie whispering voices he follows them to a tree the same one where the woman was killed in the opening sequence in a hole at the trunk something glimmers catching his eyes eddie unearths the doll seeing it chained up and finds a little tag mark february 31st 1845 but wait a minute that's not a real date the farmer informs him it's what's known as a kern baby used by farmers they plant them for good luck but says he hasn't seen one quite like this one before what he sees is a chance to save his story smashing the doll and asking the farmer to pose in a picture as though he's the one that found it so his reckless actions here are twofold as he has obviously unleashed the woman spirit that was kept in the doll and is also more than willing to make up stuff just for the sake of getting paid for his story pretty unseemly stuff there jerry going over his embellished version of events in the car that a broken talisman released an unholy evil hungry for blood which he is actually right about but he has no idea at this point he stares at himself in disdain saying what happened to you you were gonna win a pulitzer not paying attention a young girl appears right in front of them in the road and he reactively swerves into a tree not even rattled apparently but his car is effed he sees her wandering off into the foggy woods and follows after he comes to her back at the tree and the voices return the girl chants to it i pledge my soul to you and as though she is hearing someone instructing her she says i will then thank you a kind of smoky apparition looming over her after the pledge it appears to dissipate into her body effectively entering into her in some way he reaches out a hand to her shoulder and she turns back immediately collapsing unconscious he carries her to father hagin's who calls the doctor jerry looking a little bit shaken up dr gates asks how she's feeling and now understanding the girl is deaf signs to her from what natalie can tell she is completely fine he brings up that she was talking and she scoffs that that's not possible she's never spoken a word in her life he swears he knows what he heard but she just writes him off as being drunk well you got me there natalie in the morning jerry updates max that the story is going to be late but unlucky for him another rival paper has just ran a similar story so it's off the table with no alternative he pitches him another story about a deaf girl that spontaneously talks he's intrigued but still a cheapskate with the rate and demands photographic evidence as well and you run a hard bargain there max he noisily squeaks into the back of the church a service in session alice hears a woman's voice speaking to her and oddly gets to her feet appearing to be in a trance and walks out as she passes by other girls and eventually the whole congregation files after her at the tree she sees an ethereal entity bathed in white glowing light only seen by alice and hagan cautiously approaches holding out his hand to his surprise she speaks and she's surprised too taken aback by her own voice she addresses the others saying the lady has an urgent message for all of us she wants us to come again tomorrow and says her name is mary looking like we got a real miracle on our hands people seeing an opportunity here jerry reaches out to his old boss monica who isn't too happy to hear from him we learned his little fabricating issue has been going on for quite some time and in fact almost ruined the paper's reputation people even losing their jobs thanks to his egregious behavior she then abruptly hangs up on him sounding like he burned that bridge real good he then has a weird dream the sky blood red and the doll's face cracks a ghostly woman and a cloak rises out of the creek and creepily crawls on all fours getting right up in my business there's a significantly bigger crowd gathered at the church the next day including a wheelchair-bound boy hopeful that alice can heal him hagan addresses them and assumingly trying to protect his niece tells them that she won't be coming out today but then alice steps outside everyone gasping upon seeing her she breaks through the crowd heading right for the tree she places a hand on it again seeing the angelic woman thanking her she approaches the boy toby asking if he believes in miracles him sheepishly nodding in response then walk she commands reiterating mary wants you to he isn't confident that he can and she keeps encouraging him to believe and he's strange to get to his feet taking a few hesitant steps the people all falling to their knees in amazement praying to mary full of grace blessed the fruit of thy womb we hone in on a merry statue inside the church whose eyes proceed to start bleeding which is probably not a good sign word quickly spreads of the events in banfield with new reports detailing these miracles catching the attention of the church itself leading to a bishop and investigator to visit the town bishop giles gives a rundown of various other reported miracles that have occurred over hundreds of years around the world usually involving the virgin mary specifically these sites where they happened are referred to as shrines and remain massively popular to this day each drawing millions of visitors a year jerry wonders if it's possible for banfield to become one of these shrines dollar signs dancing in his eyes it is possible but the first step is they have to make sure they have a legit miracle on their hands here enter our expert dell guard who gives us the perimeters it must have been an incurable disease the cure must be instantaneous and the cure must be complete he intends to expose the truth of any deceit here if he fails in his task then the miracle will be deemed genuine the reporters are frothing to speak with alice natalie reminding her that she doesn't have to but alice is sure that it's fine besides is what mary wants they all mob her with questions then there's the big question what does she want alice smiles slightly then reveals our faith that subject comes up again when jerry meets with the church officials delgaard is uncertain of alice's malady considering that she could have been able to hear the whole time which jerry flatout does not agree with then the subject turns to his own fate saying that he was raised catholic but has faltered in recent years he believes his lack of faith could actually come in handy able to be a neutral observer rather than someone else from the church who could be considered biased he goes for broke asking for the story to be his exclusive and if it turns out that he's wrong he says he will take all the blame dale guard reminds giles of his poor reputation but giles feels everyone deserves a second chance and boom he's got a big juicy story on his lap which he has obviously been desperate for quite some time pagan is alone at the tree site now housed in a big old tent and finds the broken doll giving it a curious once over behind the tree the lady is there convulsing around strangely they grow very tall exposing long claw-like fingers and the tarp is flung open by someone the entity vanishing it seems that he has his own doubts about what's really going on here as he should well at least alice seems happier than ever dancing around and listening to pop music and jerry sets up his camera for their interview he asks about her favorite type of music so far her beaming back country he groans encouraging her to keep exploring she's curious how many we'll be watching he doesn't know for sure but it could be millions that works for her and mary as she wants to reach as many people as possible as for why mary chose her she says that mary gives a voice to the voiceless she's prayed hard her whole life to her to be healed and she answered she really feels as though she owes everything to mary as before she was healed she was treated as invisible unlike now where everybody is listening making it easy to understand why the girl is so steadfast in her beliefs here she relates it to jerry's own situation you and her want the same thing to spread her word by taking the chance to spread it he will be rewarded and he's like oh yeah cha-ching baby hagan storms in accusing him of taking advantage of her but is overtaken by a coughing fit jerry recognizes that he has emphysema and unbothered hagan goes right for a cigarette disdainfully lighting it he tells him that alice has a gift asking him to imagine what people would do if they could actually see god's work in action hagan is offended that he would talk to him about god especially as he sold his soul for a story to jerry so what if some people profit because of the good they're actually doing its benefits including him and his church everybody wins hagan is more worried about alice establishing where his doubts are coming from where god builds a church he says a devil builds a chapel next door where god goes the unholy follows hey that's the name of the movie he recalls the sobering fates of others from the big shrine sites that had witnessed miracles one was labeled a freak and lived out her days in a convent while at the lord's shrine two girls tragically died so yeah it is not looking so good for alice when it comes to this stuff but this also really hammers into the idea of what the entity is if it isn't already obvious it's not actually mary the virgin mary but an evil entity that is taking on her persona as a mask of sorts in order to trick everyone into believing her thinking she's good but is actually evil knowing that jerry could be a concern our foe mary starts making her presence known to him at the hotel he hears the same whispering and turns back to nothing but when resuming his pace the figure is there amongst the shadows he calls through footage with a local historian discussing the creation of the town by catholic farmers known then as bainfield meaning a place of strange and terrible wonders he presses her what this means but she shrugs it could mean anything back then people saw the devil behind every tree and again that's literally what we got here we saw her appearing behind the tree with hagen a couple minutes ago the heart knows delgrade still doesn't believe what's going on is truly a miracle as all the cases he's investigated up to this point he has proven faults but jerry maintains there's no way he's making all this stuff up and brings up another important part from the bible forgiving people for their sins he agrees yes if a sinner confesses his sins and truly repents then turns back asking him if he has something to say but jerry remains tight-lipped whispering back only now hagan has been enjoying his niece's singing and when requesting the next tune he's overtaken by another attack falling to the ground in excruciating pain just as we saw with toby alice asked if he believes in mary and has faith in her do you pledge to serve her with your heart and soul his heartbeat growing more rapid she places a hand on his chest and just like that it slows to normal he takes a deep breath and to his surprise he can breathe chuckling in delight maybe this merry thing is the real deal after all but perhaps not as when alice bends down he catches a glimpse of the terrifying true mastermind at hand here all evidence points to this being some kind of miraculous recovery as hagen was given six months to live but now his lungs are clear as a bill jerry coyly brings up the requirements for miracle and this does tick all the boxes and giles agrees with the pope even officially declaring banfield a holy shrine after this it's an instant madhouse descending upon the sleepy town alice becoming considered a hero to people all around the country the story becomes big enough for a humbled monika to actually ring jerry and is caved into giving him a position saying that he has done his time but the greedy jerry sees the opportunity for even more besides only he can go through alice so without him there is no story a rattled monika offers to get back to him him chuffing i bet you will he's quite pleased with himself excitedly talking to his reflection look who's back on top this guy with all the new hubbub around alice hagan sends her away to a convent and it appears that jerry elise did form some real kind of bond with her presenting her with a mix cd to help expand her horizons beyond country she thanks him telling him that he's not such a big jerk after all as everyone says going in for a warm embrace hagan continues to have his doubts it is already back to smoking the building creaking ominously around him and the wind starts to whistle it draws his attention to a small cubbyhole discovering an old journal hidden there mary is there nearby rasping and wheezing meanwhile jerry thanks to natalie starts to piece together that maybe he shouldn't have broken that creepy doll thing after all he knows about the kern baby but details that this one was different with a chain and a fake date she does know its purpose as besides good luck current babies can also be used to trap bad things in them yeah i don't know about you but if i saw that creepy ass thing in a field i would leave it alone but i guess the point is that that is just how loose his morals are just to make a quick buck i get that but come on only now is he all like oh yeah shouldn't have done that maybe finally starting to figure out there's something more nefarious at play here i'm taking a stroll they happen upon a familiar place the same creek from his dream from whence the entity emerged that recalls that it used to belong to the church including the same time as the girl's death he peers into a small pool of bubbling water and mary pops out giving him a nice spoon he looks back and she's there too only to disappear once more like i'm on to you jerry he's now certain something must have happened connecting here to the church seeking out hagen for answers pagan does get answers from a surprising source mary herself back at the church a woman appears in the confessional and starts rattling off her sins like destroying lives and leading souls to perdition and now i've come for you she bangs her claws on the window her voice turning distorted and demonic and spills the real beans here she confesses that it was satan that gave her the power to perform miracles sure he can pray to sweet blessed mary to save him but she believes that she's even stronger on edge hagan checks the other booth and the pipe organ blares an off note he tries to run but she's already there and folds her hands together beginning to chant in latin she growls and lunges upon him looking like that is the end of the road for the padre jerry shows up later finding no signs of him around hearing raps at the booth's door he peels back the curtain and it's empty then hagin's body drops from the ceiling hanging by the noose discussing things with giles he says he was confused since hagen was healed but giles is more interested in keeping the ball rolling asking him to keep this quiet worried about the damage it might do to the newly reborn town he reminds him of his own pivotal role in everything jerry glumly sulking away unable to stop what he knows now is wrong meeting with alice at the convent he broaches the idea that there might be other forces at play here she's too blinded by the light convince mary would never let that happen it also gravely warns him to never doubt her she's the blessed mother of god after all she stops getting a message from mary that backs us up doubt weakens faith and leads to damnation well we don't want that now do we back in his room he scrubs through their footage noticing a kind of distorted energy next to alice he goes through it frame by frame and mary appears in the noise attacking the camera man mary really loves her jump scares huh at hagen's funeral jerry teams up with natalie and they search through the church's dusty back room for any kinds of clues inside an old chest he finds this same book that hagan found latin scribbled inside which luckily natalie can read it details the testament of one father prescott concerning a witch and bride of satan mary eldmar she performed miracles and could heal the sick claiming that the virgin mary was speaking through her she would heal you if you pledged your soul to her yet anyone who challenged her met a brutal end hmm sounds pretty familiar huh she was captured and submerged in the creek waters that he saw in his dream and was punished by having a mask of the virgin mary's nailed onto hers she was then hanged by an oak tree in the shadow of the church burning her body and imprisoning her soul inside the kern baby i mean yeah obviously but they're not exactly quick on the uptake here it appears once she passed all those that she healed relapse and jerry finally picks up that hagan was killed because he found out the truth about mary just as he feared wherever god goes the unholy follows the wind whistles over a claw it's just jesus chilling there but then mary appears scaring the crap out of them and both flee outside just missing her long fingered grass they attempt to warn alice at the church but she's mobbed on the way out and whisked away before they get the chance with some pretty bad timing he gets a call from monica offering everything that he asks for at least he's finally growing a bit moral-wise and has changed his tune explaining how he got it all wrong and they have to kill the story she's baffled wouldn't you sell your soul for a story full of regret he bemoans that he already did man everyone says that to him he busts into giles office to show him the truth but unsurprisingly he's been well aware since the very beginning after the first miracle he found her confession but dismisses it as an ugly occurrence of vigilante justice that happened 200 years ago he tries to argue that she killed hagen but he continues with the cover story that that was just an accident now giles true colors have come out he doesn't give a flip at all about spreading faith but instead making cold hard cash is his highest calling giles doesn't even get why jerry would want to blow up his career like this but obviously a changed man he sees it's the truth too bad no one will believe him giles sneers doing some more research he discovers another connection between alice and mary elmar before her death she gave birth to a son that was claimed by a local nicholas paget meaning alice is actually mary's descendant and we see the importance of that in another latin passage i live on through my children meaning her attention is to live on through her descendant the call cuts out and the document smolders away to nothing a virgin mary statue start to crack and crumble away its eyes disappear revealing mary's underneath and she busts out he flips a table at her which she flings across the room to block the door delgrave luckily shows up chanting latin at her she roars and turns the ink to liquid but he has it memorized and continues unabated causing mary to dissolve away gone for the moment jerry is all oh so now you believe me and explains the familial connection to alice with a big ceremony planned for tonight he knows that everyone is in danger they've been feeding her with faith faith and evil empowers it further their big plan is for alice to recite a mockery of the holy trinity calling on people's faith three times and on the third time their souls will all be damned to eternity in hell with the stakes high and people's lives on the line jerry comes to terms with his role here that it was all his fault as he broke the stupid doll in the first place but delgrade encourages him that there is always a chance to do the right thing redemption and god often chooses a sinner to serve his design purposes jerry is dumbfounded god chose me delgrate responding well he does work in mysterious ways some more so than others he knows a ritual to tin with mary first we must seal the wax by holy fire the flame representing the living god but annoyingly mary keeps blowing out the dang match until he tries one more time and flames explode onto jesus on the cross he shouts to get back and doesn't heed his own advice the flaming cross falling right onto him and killing him well should have backed up more than like six inches i guess the other statue is all starting to weep blood natalie is worried that they can't stop her without dalgrade but a newly emboldened jerry has an idea if they can get the followers to doubt mary she will lose her power and they better get a move on as alice takes the stage to astonish gasps she tells the audience mary is here and wants him to pledge their faith to her pray to our lady of banfield she leads him in a prayer the group echoing what she says alice's eyes fogging over in a black haze mary's voice returns instructing her now is the time and she asks them to all pledge their souls to her gotta do it three times as we remember before she can recite the last time natalie catches her attention in the crowd warning that mary isn't who she thinks she is and is deceiving her drawing booze and jeers from the followers jerry pipes up too saying that there never was a mary bafflingly monica has shown up and gets the group to hear him out for some reason he says that he made the whole thing up and that the healing was just some kind of placebo effect which makes absolutely no sense but okay he reveals that mary killed hagen and the church asked him to cover it up giles is pissed at the correct accusation dismissing him as no man but an atheist they keep trying to get through to alice to fight back against her mary demanding that she finish the prayer they must pledge their souls now or she'll never speak again putting her in a tough spot lose her voice or call out the evil at play we see a change jerry is telling the truth she cries mary isn't real she growls from the trees setting in a blaze followed by the many crucifixes all hanging around the flames spread quickly leading to instant chaos in the tent and little toby finds that he can't move his legs all of a sudden the cure has been reversed nat snatches the boy up carrying him to safety while a shell shock giles looks at a scheme going up in a blaze on stage mary kind of separates from the flaming tree and shrieks she sends flames flying further with her fingers terrifying him what in god's name is that he shrieks she removes her mask revealing a skeleton face underneath he feebly holds up a cross to keep her at bay and she puts a hand to his chest destroying him in an instant well too bad so sad giles as normally you have to have real faith for krause ii work against evil and we know better he's all about the buccaronis jerry and alice aren't faring much better mary popping up all around the dang tent to prevent them relieving and grabs jerry's hand burning it at the touch she launches the chairs away and gets on all fours roaring and growling she sticks a flaming finger on his stomach burning him up good just about to get him alice intervenes getting the hand of flames on her chest and saving jerry mary shrieks and her hand begins to dissolve to dust followed by the rest of her body jerry twist the knife in alice was your only descendant you'll never live again he says as she fades away into ash floating in the air he attempts to revive alice but she's a goner causing jerry to tear up and turn to an unexpected ally the big man upstairs he cries that he's not good at this but alice sacrificed herself for him and pleased to god to let her live simple as that she opens her eyes inhaling deeply however as suspected her cure has been undone and she's reverted back to her previous silence state from before mary intervened he turns to the heavens thanking them taking the girl in his arms we pick up some time later everything back to normal no tent or merch tables the trio visit hagan's grave alice signing that he was a good man and jerry signs back that he has no doubt he's watching over her she asked how he can be so sure and again a changed man after all this crazy experience he chuckles faith so he did kind of come to terms with his very obvious issues putting fame and success whoever everything else and has learned after all sometimes you gotta fight for the truth and have a little bit of faith hallelujah okay all right i guess so sure he blew his big comeback but there might be some opportunities at the local paper as per nat suggestion he's still hung up on alice's revival which appeared to be you know a legit real miracle after all those evil shenanigans he knew that she had no pulse she was gone and natalie shrugs well maybe god was present after all i'd say there's no real question in this regard as there is enough groundwork laid about jerry having a greater purpose over the course of his journey he starts off as a selfish drunk who makes up to a caring man who puts it all on the line for the truth and it's only due to this profound change that god decides to bring alice back he ultimately was worthy of that second chance or redemption that delgread mentioned the man has learned a real lesson and in the end was rewarded for his own sacrifices and hey at least there was some kind of semblance of a character arc like i was saying always appreciated i feel like in a way all of this was orchestrated by god in a sense even that twinkle of the doll that caught his eyes that set events into motion could have actually been god's hand guiding him down this whole path of redemption thing as well as helping to vanquish the evil entity things conclude with an ominous quote from the bible warning of the danger of sheeps in wolf's clothing and false prophets which is certainly relevant relating to murray aldor's own story that brings us to the conclusion of this ending explain on the unholy but don't forget before we go you can always send me requests for any movies or tv shows you'd like to see me explain by sending them my way on any of my social media accounts at foundflix what did you guys think of the unholy and attending do you think mary is gone for good what's your favorite religious based horror flick let me know your thoughts down in the comments below make sure to like subscribe and follow thanks for watching found flicks see you next time

Channel: FoundFlix

Views: 1,117,088

Rating: 4.9547944 out of 5

Keywords: the unholy, unholy 2021, unholy ending explained, ending, explained, explanation, trailer, clip, final scene, end scene, jeffrey dean morgan, sam raimi, mary eldmar, unholy monster, monster, ghost, spoiler, spoilers, review, meaning, foundflix ending explained, foundflix

Id: m0zaeM1xNYo

Length: 26min 17sec (1577 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 06 2021