Shrine

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I had James Herbert on my list for a while now. I wanted to read The Fog and Rats but I stumbled upon this hidden gem and realized that the 2021 movie , The Unholy, was based off this. This was my first Herbert novel and while I didn't think it was amazing, I was definitely intrigued by the plot and overall thought it was 3.5 to 4 stars. With his next novel, Lair (1979), Herbert regaled readers with the return of the rats, and he completed the trilogy with Domain (1984), set in a future where rats are now dominant following a nuclear war that has devastated civilisation. Herbert's The City (1994), a graphic novel illustrated by Ian Miller, was set in the same post-apocalypse world in which only a handful of people have survived. Only as the credits rolled did I notice that The Unholy was an adaptation of a novel, The Shrine, by famed British horror author James Herbert. In both book and film, reporter Gerry Fenn becomes embroiled in a series of miracles occurring in the small town of Banfield. The miracles center on a deaf girl called Alice who can suddenly hear and speak, after being unable to for years, thanks to the apparently divine intervention of “The Lady.” As Alice and Banfield become more well known as a shrine, like those in Lourdes or Međugorje, and throngs of the faithful start to arrive, Gerry begins to have doubts about the assumed divine provenance of the occurrences. N'Duka, Amanda (February 27, 2020). " 'Shrine': Screen Gems Horror Pic Adds Cary Elwes, Katie Aselton & More". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved February 29, 2020.

a b Plint, Alec (21 March 2013). "20 things you didn't know about James Herbert". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 21 March 2013. Journalist Fenn finds the story of his life when he accidentally meets Alice, a girl of eleven who has lost her hearing and speech ability as a toddler. When she suddenly begins to perfectly hear and speak, talks about Mary and the immaculate conception and heals other people too, literally all hell breaks loose. While all the world believes Alice is the reincarnation of the virgin, there are signs that she may in fact be possessed by something sinister and evil. D'Alessandro, Anthony (18 September 2019). "Jeffrey Dean Morgan Takes Lead In Screen Gems' Feature Adaptation Of James Herbert's 'Shrine' ". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 19 September 2019. Potter, Adam Lee (5 September 2012). "James Herbert: My new thriller about Princess Diana's secret son". Daily Express . Retrieved 1 September 2017. Squires, John (March 8, 2021). "Sam Raimi-Produced, Jeffrey Dean Morgan-Starring Horror Movie 'The Unholy' Dated for Release". Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved March 8, 2021.Herbert is capable of granting a fine evocation of rural Sussex as it was at that time and as a sympathetic but realistic portrayal of the Catholic Church and its servants. Then there is that horror, so close to William Peter Blatty's enormous success, which builds up on a premise of ancient supernatural evil working its way into the world through innocent faith even if the ending becomes something that just has to end a little absurdly because there is nowhere else for it to go. N'Duka, Amanda (12 November 2019). "Jordana Brewster Joins Jeffrey Dean Morgan In 'Shrine' Adaptation From Screen Gems". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 29 February 2020.

There are obviously alot of religious themes and undertones here, which is fresh off the exorcist and the omen and all the other 70s and 80s religion horror stories. I enjoyed the character of Fenn and Father Hagan and Delcarde. Fenn isn't religious and is rationale and logical and the two religious characters , while devout catholics, know that things aren't right here and go against their brethren hierarchy in some ways. It adds some depth to their characters. Masterton, Graham, ed. (1989). Scare Care (Tor horror). New York City: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-93156-8. Williamson, J.N., ed. (1987). Masques II: All-New Stories of Horror and the Supernatural. Baltimore: Maclay & Assoc. ISBN 978-0-940776-24-1. An interesting part of Herbert's canon in which an apparent Marion vision near a Catholic church gradually unravels as it becomes clear that something deeply sinister is hiding behind the veneer of holiness. The book plays nicely between the innocence of the little girl who has visions and the brutal violence that whirs around the edges, gradually overwhelming her.The Fog, on the other hand, comes across as quite clumsily written and amateurish, and goes too far with the gore, becoming either tedious or positively ridiculous (viz. the school gymnasium scene!). It also becomes rather turgid with the level of scientific detail given as to what the 'fog' actually is, and how it can be combatted, and finally peters out with the fog conveniently doing something that gives the perfect opportunity to end the menace (I won't spoil it, if you plan to read it). Then there is the horror which is not laid on with a trowel but builds up on a premise of ancient supernatural evil working its way into the world through innocent faith even if the ending becomes something that just has to end a little absurdly because there is nowhere else for it to go. The project was announced in December 2018 under the working title Shrine, with Sony Pictures adapting Herbert's novel of the same name. The cast was announced between 2018 and 2020, with principal photography commencing in Boston,but on March 14, 2020, filming was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.