The Church (Italian title, La chiesa ~ 1989)
Originally intended as the third entry in Lamberto Bava's Demons series, a change of director (Michele Soavi) and several rewrites resulted in this becoming its own thing (although Demons producer Dario Argento remained onboard). In medieval Germany a group of Teutonic Knights massacre an entire village accused of witchcraft, burying their bodies in a mass grave. An enormous cathedral is built over the spot to contain the Evil (which clearly took many, many years - I guess they just kept their fingers crossed till it was finished). In the present day, restoration work at the cathedral leads to the discovery of a concealed ancient parchment, and the accidental unsealing of the grave - which causes all hell to break loose, literally!
The movie pulls an interesting switch from who seems to be the hero to who eventually steps up. In fact it takes a few unexpected turns. Hugh Quarshie, Tomas Arana, and a 14 year old Asia Argento head the cast, and all do well. The rest of the cast are fair/okay. The makeup and practical effects are good, although it might have been better to not show the creatures so clearly. The story jumps around here and there, but the overall plot is straightforward. However, it's slow at times, and some of the editing is a little confusing (that may be partly down to censorship cuts). The English dubbing wasn't great, either. But it has a good soundtrack (courtesy of ELP's Keith Emerson, Philip Glass, and Argento-favourites,Goblin), and certainly looks stylish. 6/10