The Church (1989)
A librarian unleashes an evil spirit dwelling inside a church that was built over the location of a village massacre.
Genre
Characters/Groups
The Bishop - Feodor Chaliapin Jr.
Bridal Model - Antonella Vitale
Reverend Dominic - Giovanni Lombardo Radice
Hermann, the Sacristan - Roberto Corbiletto
Lotte's Mother - Alina De Simone
The Accuser - Gianfranco De Grassi
Heinrich's Wife - Katherine Bell Marjorie
Schoolboy - Riccardo Minervini
The Torturer - Enrico Osterman
Fashion Shoot Photographer - Micaela Pignatelli
Miss Bruckner - Patrizia Punzo
The Architect - John Richardson
Younger Schoolboy - Matteo Rocchietta
Police Officer - Michele Soavi
Schoolgirl - Isabella Rocchietta
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
A group of Teutonic Knights ride towards a village. The Accuser calls to them and shows them a large bolder outside of a cave with the number 6 written on it three times. He leads the Knights into a cave that lets out into an opening. The Accuser sees Mira and says she is a Satan worshiper. The Torturer tells the leader of the Teutonic Knights that Mira and her people have brought a plague of evil. The Leader opens his helmet as Mira offers him water and asks if he is going to hurt her. The Leader grabs Mira by the face and crushes her skull. The Accuser grabs Mira's foot and shows The Leader a cross shaped wound on the bottom of her foot. The villagers are then slaughtered. A woman hides a baby in a basket and wears a basket as a disguise and manages to survive the slaughter. The villager's bodies are put into a pit and when The Torturer sees one of them slightly moving, he orders the pit filled in and a church built over it to imprison the evil. The survivor is chased down by the Leader of the Knights and is stabbed to death with a spear. After the pit is filled, a large cross with a multi-eyed goat head decoration is placed in the center of the church.
Years later, Evan walks through the church as Father Gus looks at his watch and starts the bells ringing. Lisa accidentally drops some art supplies on Evan and apologizes. Evan comments on the fresco that Lisa is working on and invites her to coffee later. Evan walks into the library and is watched by Lotte. He introduces himself to her and she puts a noise ball next to his ear and asks him if he heard the sound of a horse. The Bishop walks into the library and angrily tells Evan he is late and sends Lotte away. The Bishop gives a sermon to the parishioners about a man possessed by demons. Lisa tells some workers to stop jack hammering due to the ceiling starting to crumble. A worker tells her he thinks there may be a cave below the floor. Evan walks into the basement and Lisa shows him the cracks in the building. As Lisa is fixing some cracks, she finds a piece of fabric in the wall. As she picks at the fabric, the wall crumbles away and she finds an old parchment. She shows Evan the parchment and he hides it as The Bishop walks into the library. After work, Evan and Lisa go out together and he tells her he couldn't decipher it but noticed the symbol of the Teutonic Knights. At dinner, The Bishop tells Reverend Dominic he found a quote he can use in his sermon. The Bishop chastises Father Gus for being late for dinner. Lotte sneaks out of the church and heads downtown. Evan drives Lisa home and she invites him inside. He tells her there may be artifacts buried under the cathedrals. While they are kissing, Evan gets the idea to use a metal flask to reverse the image on the parchment and is able to read it. It mentions the stone with seven eyes and he tells Lisa the church is the only one where no one has been buried underneath.
Lotte returns to the church and as she is walking around, hears the sound of horses clopping nearby. She is slapped by Hermann, the Sacristan who accusers her of being out, and notices she has been drinking and smoking and Lotte's Mother tells him to come to bed. The next day, Evan gives Lisa a copy of Fulcanelli's book The Mysteries of the Cathedrals. As Lisa is leaving for the night, she hears the sound of horses clopping. As Father Gus is practicing archery, he sees a vision of a Teutonic Knight running towards him. Evan walks down into the basement and finds the cross with the multi-eyed goat which matches the seven eyed stone from the parchment. He removes the stone piece and finds a circular hole underneath it. The cross suddenly collapses into the ground and a blue light and mist seeps from the hole. Evan finds a large sack which he pulls up and opens. Multiple hands come out of the sack and grab Evan and he collapses. He wakes up and finds a wound on his wrist and the cross once more present. He hears someone coming and then replaces the stone piece. Hermann goes looking for Lotte and is attacked by Evan. Evan calls Lisa, but can only gurgle into the phone and his hands start to turn black and he rips his own heart out. Lisa looks out her window and sees a goat faced man, which suddenly disappears. Something breaks her window and she calls the police. She jumps out of her window and is helped by a Police Officer and another officer. Hermann stares at himself in the mirror and appears to have boils erupting from his face. Fashion Shoot Photographer is outside of the church with her crew. The Bridal Model is told Fashion Shoot Photographer is ready for her and she asks how she looks. Lisa arrives at the church and sees Evan typing and she tells him a monster tried to kill her. He forces himself on her and she pushes him away.
Lotte walks into the library and Evan stares at her legs underneath the table. Miss Bruckner brings her class to the church and Schoolboy asks her if it is true that the builders of Gothic cathedrals built them so they could collapse if the correct spot was pressed. Schoolgirl comments that if is true, Schoolboy will be sure to accidentally press it. Joanna complains to Freddie that if the mechanic doesn't fix his motorcycle quickly they might miss the concert they were going to and Freddie accuses her of only wanting to go so she can see Frank. Heinrich and Heinrich's Wife argue about him being deaf or not. Evan types the number 6 on the type writer over and over and then calls for Lotte. He accuses her of skipping school and she tells him her stomach didn't feel well. Evan grabs a sharp object and threatens to stab open her stomach and she runs away. She tells Hermann about what happened and Hermann accuses her of lying and starts to wash her mouth with soap. Lotte looks into the mirror and sees Hermann's face is that of a demon. She runs outside of the church and runs into Bridal Model. Bridal Model asks Father Gus if Fashion Shoot Photographer can take some photos in the church and he tells them okay. Father Gus goes into the confessional and Hermann tells him he no longer believes in God and an angel of evil possessed him and he now serves him. Hermann runs out of the confessional and heads towards the basement. Schoolboy tells another one that Hermann scratched him as he ran by. Bruno complains about his face, which was hit by Hermann as he ran by. Hermann kills himself with a jackhammer. The jackhammer causes the church to shake and a vial of liquid shatters and the liquid fills a series of cogs that lead to the locking of the church's doors, trapping the Bridal Model against the door when her veil is caught.
Father Gus tells The Bishop, Hermann is dead and The Bishop reads from a stone with script that has appeared. Fashion Shoot Photographer asks Reverend Dominic to open the door. Schoolboy tells Miss Bruckner the book he read says the front door is the only exit out of the building. Father Gus tells Reverend Dominic that they need to get everyone out and to call the police while he tries to open the door. Father Gus tells Reverend Dominic, Hermann is dead. While Reverend Dominic is trying to call the police, he is attacked and killed. Fashion Shoot Photographer asks Lisa if she has a knife. A schoolgirl tries to help Bruno who is sweating heavily. Bruno walks away as The Bishop continues to study an old scroll of torture. As Bruno is staring at a pool of water, he sees a giant fish that seemingly attacks him. Father Gus sees Bruno struggling with himself. Schoolboy tells Miss Bruckner it is midnight and she accidentally drops her glasses. Freddie looks for Joanna and seemingly sees her having sex with a gargoyle. He turns a corner and sees her with all of her clothes on and he tells her they have to leave. Schoolboy tells Miss Bruckner someone found her glasses and she is impaled by Hermann with a metal fence post. Younger Schoolboy tries to comfort Schoolboy who is crying, and Schoolboy suddenly grabs Younger Schoolboy by his face. Joanna and Freddie try to escape as Heinrich and Heinrich's Wife try to get to the belfry. While Lotte is at the club she has a sense that something is wrong and heads back towards the church. Father Gus finds The Bishop at the top of the church and The Bishop tells him there is a place in the basement which if touched will bring the entire church down. He tells him the world is infested with evil and they deserve to suffer. The Bishop rips up the parchment and falls to his death.
The bells start to ring as Heinrich's Wife uses his decapitated head to bang against them. Freddie breaks through the ground in a section of the church and Joanna falls into a tunnel. As Freddie is holding her by her hand, Joanna is hit by a speeding subway. The children see what appears to be Freddie, galloping like a horse. Bridal Model looks into a large mirror and her face appears to be that of an old woman and she rips the skin of her face off. Lisa goes to look for Evan after she had drank tainted water and lies down on an alter surrounded by Evan and some of the other victims. She is then raped by Evan who turns into the seven eyed goat figure. Father Gus puts the scraps of the parchment together and also reads about the founding of the church. He sees Lotte and he asks her if there is another way out. She tells him about the hole she uses to get out and as she sees the image of the girl carrying the basket portrayed on the parchment, she recalls her past life. She tells Father Gus the history of her people and how The Architect was tortured by The Torturer. The Architect is accused of being an alchemist and he says they blame whatever they don't understand on the devil, including the plague. The Torturer then shoves the secret of the church into The Architect's mouth and kills him. Father Gus and Lotte look for the remains of The Architect. Evan as the beast, continues to rape Lisa as Father Gus and Lotte walk by. Father Gus tells Lotte to escape and pulls out a piece of stone from the effigy of The Architect, which reveals The Architect's body. He pulls out a wooden key from The Architects mouth as a mass of bodies rises from the church basement. The church starts to crumble and destroys everything inside of it. Later, Lotte goes to the ruins of the church with some flowers. She switches the old flowers out with some new ones and sees the seven-eyed stone. She digs it up and it flies off revealing a hole in the ground. Lotte stares into the hole and smiles.