The Church (1989 film)

The Church (Italian: La Chiesa) is a 1989 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Michele Soavi, from a screenplay co-written with Dario Argento and Franco Ferrini, and produced by Argento with Mario and Vittorio Cecchi Gori. It stars Hugh Quarshie, Tomas Arana, Barbara Cupisti, Asia Argento, Feodor Chaliapin, Jr. and Giovanni Lombardo Radice.

The film involves a church built upon the site of slain peasants and their mass grave. The church is designed by an architect who was buried alive with his creation, who created a device to seal off all entrances if the spirits of the church ever tried to get revenge. In the modern day, the cathedral's new librarian Evan investigates the crypt of the church and removes a seal which allows the demonic forces to attack the church occupants.

The Church was originally conceived as the third installment in the Dèmoni series, following Demons (1985) and Demons 2 (1986). Soavi insisted the film to be distant from the series, wanting it to be more sophisticated in style, and re-wrote the screenplay to remove any connection to the series. Filming was primarily shot in the Matthias Church in Budapest and on-location in Hamburg, with additional footage filmed at studio sets in Rome.