Unholy (film)

"Unholy" is an independent film about Nazi mysticism starring Adrienne Barbeau and Nicholas Brendon. It was written by Samuel Stephen Freeman, directed by Daryl Goldberg, and produced by Sky Whisper Productions. Its release on DVD was on September 4, 2007. The movie is alleged to be based on fact, and was produced to document the facts surrounding the experiments in mysticism. Many feel that the film will trivialize the consequences of these experiments and have rallied against its release.Fact|date=February 2007

ynopsis

The film deals with a grieving mother, Martha (Barbeau), trying to uncover the terrifying secret jeopardizing her family. With her son (Brendon), Martha becomes entwined in a conspiracy involving a fabled witch, Nazi occultists, and the United States of America (U.S.) government.

The film is inspired by an actual military document.Fact|date=September 2007 Following World War II, a classified U.S. military document was uncovered that recounted a Nazi experiment of an occult nature smuggled into an underground facility in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. The film's website purports to "have provided the only known copy of a portion of that document ... we strongly advise that you do not download it;" however, the document can be found on the same website.Fact|date=September 2007

The Myth

The Germanenorden was a secret society in Germany early in the 20th century. Formed by several prominent German occultists in 1912, the Order, whose symbol was a swastika, taught members of Nordic race superiority, anti-Semitism, as well as occult, almost magical philosophies. Some say that the Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei (later the Nazi Party) when under the leadership of Adolf Hitler was a political front, and that the true goal of the Nazi Party was to seek out mystic powers to exterminate "inferior" races.

With the victory of the Nazi Party, Hitler’s personal army, the SS, carried on the occult tradition. An occult research department was established in 1935 with SS Colonel Wolfram von Sievers at its head, taking SS researchers as far as Tibet. National Socialism and the Third Reich represented a major attempt to re-establish a culture based on the laws of nature against the entrenched forces of anti-life. With these powers in hand, Germany’s dominance would have been indisputable. However, time ran out, and defeat at the hands of the Allies was to have ended the research.

However, many believe that the research continues today by the last remaining superpower, and that the Nazi occultists who sought to control the laws of nature continue to do so. Scant evidence supports these claims, but that which has been publicized often seems to have been smuggled out without the approval of the government.

The "Reality"

In reality, Wolfram Sievers was a handsome high school drop-out who was the Managing Director of the SS Ahnenerbe (a "Research and Educational Society"), that literally translated means 'something inherited from our ancestors'.Fact|date=September 2007 During the war Sievers was the administrator in charge of the Ahenerbe's Military Scientific Institute responsible for grisly experiments conducted at concentration camps.Fact|date=September 2007

However, the Ahnenerbe was primarily a meeting place for Nazi scholars and scientists who propagated the official party line, whether studying Ancient Rome (Dr. Franz Altheim), anthropology and racial studies in Tibet (Dr. Bruno Berger), runes in Sweden (Dr. Herman Wirth), or mystical and shamanic chants in Finland (Yrjo von Gronhagen).Fact|date=September 2007 For a full and scholarly account of the Ahnenerbe, see Heather Pringle's "The Master Plan: Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust" (2006). It should be noted that Hitler was generally uninterested in the Ahenerbe's activities — at one point he went out of his way to refute an Ahnenerbe claim that Germans were descended from Atlanteans at a 1936 Nazi rally (Pringle, 91-2 citing Sievers to Himmler, 24.09.1936, BA, NS 21/302).

To the favor of the myth as recounted in the film "Unholy", several members of the Ahnenerbe were indeed interested in the occult. Karl-Maria Wiligut is perhaps the best example. An ex-mental patient, he claimed descent from Thor and said he was the protector of ancient Germanic lore. Wiligut was known to slip into trances and speak in tongues, which impressed Himmler enough to give him an office at the Nazi RuSHA offices.Fact|date=September 2007

From the writer

The writer, Sam Freeman, states that:

"When I began to 'probe' into the validity of the military document, I started my journey in small town Pennsylvania. At first, everyone looked at me as if I were the crazy one. But after I dug, and dug, and dug, some of the people I came across seemed to be even more confused than I was thought to be.

The first thing that stood out to me was an overwhelming presence of paranoia. Who were these select few afraid of? Not just normal scared, but "I'm going to inflict physical harm on you if you don't go away" scared. But then again, it's funny how the mere statement, "I may write a movie about your life," allows people to be a lot more willing to be thrown into harm's way. I admit, there was other cajoling involved, and what resulted were the most original, bizarre, and horrific tales I've ever heard. Was there really a witch, or how they put it, a "Necromancer" who resided underground? And could missing persons' reports really be chalked up to townsfolk being experimented on? Not only by a fabled witch, but more sadistically, by our own Government? Exactly how far would our administration go to understand the secrets of Hitler?

I know this all doesn't make sense now, but in my screenplay for Unholy, I tried to make the most sense out of it possible. I tried to tell these peoples' stories to the best of my ability. When the film went into production, the situation of things became even weirder. Not only did the two of the five townsfolk we interviewed for the film completely fall off the radar, the remaining three began to warn and threaten us against going through with their stories. I know there has been talk about higher-ups in the production being contacted by the government as well. I, for one, have not been threatened or contacted by our administration. And I have strongly urged others involved NOT to suggest they have been either.

Whether it's true or not, I'll reserve judgement.

I know this film is nothing like you have EVER seen before. I hope we've created something special for the genre fans, but more importantly, I hope we somehow conveyed the stories behind our friends back in Pennsylvania."Fact|date=September 2007

External links

* [http://www.unholymovie.com Official website]
* [http://talk.unholymovie.com/tool/mb/unholy Official forum]
* [http://whedonesque.com/comments/6464 Independent discussion of the film]
* [http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/7166] , [http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/film/641] Movie reviews
*imdb title|id=0443678|title=Unholy