The Unhealer (2020) User Reviews

Far from perfect, but worth the watch

[carlos-pires · 7/10 · 15 June 2021]

There's a lot of things wrong with this movie. Some of them end up being unintentional comedy, even. The cast is a motley mash of awful, so-so, and good actors; the directing is uneven, and sometimes amateurish, and the same goes for the editing. But the premise and the story is simple and solid, and the way it plays out makes for a fun, interesting watch. I believed this is the kind of movie that would have been awesome if, all things being equal, it had had a great director or even a great producer that could have pushed for higher quality.

I'm giving it an inflated 7/10 to compensate for the bad reviews.

Good story line.

[andersmyren · 7/10 · 9 June 2021]

Yes it is a TV movie, but it has a good story line and i liked it.

Enjoyable

[markthomassintek · 6/10 · 9 June 2021]

REVIEW - THE UNHEALER

Films seem to follow trends, it is sometimes as if studios release similar stories or animations at the same time, now I can certainly appreciate this as they are after your money, so it's good to find a film that actually goes against all of the similar trends in cinema at the moment.

A con artists steals magic from an original Americans shrine and suddenly has the power to heal, or does he?

A boy who is being bullied because of an eating disorder falls I'll and the con artist is called in to heal him.

Naturally things go wrong and the boy ends up with the power but....... No spoilers, because this low budget film is actually quite enjoyable.

A healing power used for other purposes, nice story and nice acting.

Rating 6 out of 10.

Watchable, but generic and predictable...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 20 June 2021]

I stumbled upon the 2020 movie "The Unhealer" in 2021, and I hadn't heard about it. But I saw that the movie had Lance Henriksen and Natasha Henstridge on the cast list, so of course I was interested in watching it. And so I sat down to watch "The Unhealer" from writers Kevin E. Moore and J. Shawn Harris.

While "The Unhealer" definitely was watchable and provided adequate entertainment, the movie was a bit too much on the generic and predictable side, which ultimately dragged the movie down a bit.

The storyline told in this 2020 movie was pretty straight forward, I will say that much. But it was just too generic for my liking. Perhaps I have been watching too many movies throughout the years, but there was nothing new to be had here really.

It was a bit disappointing that Lance Henriksen had such small part to play in the movie, but at least Natasha Henstridge played a bigger part, but their names being on the cover hardly did it any justice, because they were mere support characters.

"The Unhealer" is not a movie that makes use of grand special effects, but there were a fair amount of special effects throughout the course of the movie, and they were adequately made and served the movie well enough.

While "The Unhealer" is watchable, it was hardly an outstanding or memorable movie experience. And it is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time. My rating of director Martin Guigui's 2020 movie "The Unhealer" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars.

Comical at times...

[ezgolucky · 5/10 · 6 June 2021]

Some scenes are so unintentionally farcical they border on the comical. Lance Henriksen provides an over the top performance. Enjoyed the movie overall though...

Better than most quasi-horror sci-fi flics

[tread-12728 · 7/10 · 6 September 2021]

Anyone who has been bullied can relate to the main character. You hope so much that people will just be nice, but "boys will be boys". The plot is believable enough for a paranormal sci-fi picture. The characters are somewhat better than the typical,standard fare small town high school kids and law enforcement. Will our protagonist ever get some peace from his torment? He just might.

Feels relatively pro, but the script is weak.

[rockydrago82 · 4/10 · 25 October 2021]

If you going to do yet another Carrie knockoff, at least make it interesting. Yeah, he eats trash and has (somewhat) unique powers, but it's not enough.

Amateur surprise

[cjgmusic · 8/10 · 5 June 2021]

I didn't have high hopes going into this, but it kept my interest all the way through. Acting could have been better and it had a small budget but this was surprisingly good. It's not great, but it was definitely entertaining and the story was unique. Glad I watched it.

Not great, but not bad either...

[Wikkid_Gamez · 6/10 · 6 June 2021]

Worth a watch, it was a different twist on a heavily used genre. A lot of familiar faces everywhere throughout the entire movie. It almost felt like a homage to some of the top B-actors in the movie game (and I mean that in the best of ways, classics like Pumpkinhead and Species) and with a couple of A-list thrown in. The acting was good, the storyline kept my attention, the music and directing were good. Overall it was definitely worth a watch, like most movies in the horror/scifi genre I probably wouldn't watch it again for at least a decade or so but thats just kinda typical for me personally and not a reflection of the quality of the movie. These types of movies I watch for the suspense factor which is gone once you know what happens. I won't go into details about the plot itself as it would ruin that aspect for anyone looking to watch it. I will only say that I liked how it was handled. It kept a steady pace and had decent effects. I wouldn't mind sitting through it again if I were with someone else that wanted to see it.

The execution drags this interesting premise down

[aronharde · 5/10 · 15 March 2024]

I think this movie has a great premise and the idea could have made for a really good movie. But sadly much of the enjoyment is taken by the bad acting and low budget. This probably felt even cheaper than it was and while the appearance of Lance Henriksen was nice to see, his character had not enough screen time and therefore felt unused.

The movie is riddled with lots of dumb scenes and the characters behave illogical most of the time. We also have some really cliched bully characters that were one dimensional and boring. However the idea was still entertaining and the movie was surprisingly dark which was nice to see. Overall it's a decent movie with quite a few flaws. [4,9/10]

A bit of a surprise

[fredversteeg-65576 · 8/10 · 7 June 2021]

The acting isn't great, but the story is very original. I'm not a great horror movie fan, so I might be wrong, but this story was surprisingly original. It had the teenage revenge story, the love story and, well all the cliches of the teenage horror movie but turned it into something new. . I won't be suprised if it will have a remake in a few years and be a great hit then.

Hit me with your best shot.

[nogodnomasters · 7/10 · 1 July 2021]

Kelly (Elijah Nelson) goes to Stinson High School in Navajo country. (GO Prospectors!) He is has bad eating habits and is picked on. Early on we see him eat plastic, Styrofoam, and pencil erasers (guilty!). Kids bully him and place him in trash cans. When Kelly gets ill, his mom (Natasha Henstridge) consults a healer (Lance Henriksen) a man who recently got actual healing powers from a Native American burial site. The healer dies and Kelly gets the Pee Wee Herman "I am rubber and you are glue" power and goads his bullies to hurt him, knowing it will only hurt themselves.

The cover describes the film as "Stephen King" type of feature, maybe a King Light. It was interesting to watch things play out. They could have created better characters.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Not my favorite

[vader1948 · 4/10 · 7 August 2021]

This could have been a great story but hit focused too much on "do the right thing" instead of just letting it evolve.

Pleasent suprise

[nublingnoob · 6/10 · 13 June 2021]

I wasnt expecting much from this film, sure it aint going to win awards etc, however i really quite enjoyed it, it reminded me of simpler times, it feels like an 80's/early 90's cheesy film, would recomend. Also, natasha henstridge still got it.

had the potential to be great

[liliesbloom · 8/10 · 7 June 2021]

Interesting storyline and good acting. Had the potential to be the next big movie, unfortunately it seem they had the budget for their vision... but this doesn't distract from the story and it's definitely worth the watch.

Enjoyable enough for what it is

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 29 January 2022]

Living in a small remote town, a bullied teen with a strange eating condition is unintentionally given the ability to not feel pain following a botched faith-healing session and decides to set out on a mission of vengeance against the townspeople who picked on him, forcing his friends to try to stop him.

Overall, this was a rather enjoyable if somewhat flawed genre effort. What works best with this one is the general setup and revenge-based storyline that comes into play here. With the early setup giving us a rather appropriate look at him and his condition making him the subject of the repeated bullying that goes on, there's a pronounced sense of his lifestyle going on in the area that plays into how he goes about trying to use them for his own benefit. As the small-town middle-of-nowhere lifestyle is quite adequately captured here regarding his treatment by others and the bullying others inflict on him, this comes off quite nicely for the most part. That, in turn, gives the later scenes involving the supernatural powers coming into play for his revenge a lot more to like. The early scenes of him discovering the powers and trying to subtly use that as motivation against the bullies who targeted him serve this one quite well, especially once there's been a series of incidents between them. The first scenes of him getting revenge, from drowning the participant at the swimming hole, the encounter in the classroom in front of everyone where he shows off his powers, and finally leading to the final confrontation at the football field that's quite brutal and intriguing. These manage to be the films' better features. There are some big issues with this one. The main factor holding this one back is the completely unexplained sense of his powers being gained and transferred to him in the first place. The whole idea of the Indian burial ground excuse that starts everything off seems to be utterly confusing as to why it transferred to him just from the touch of a person who was using it for years, and the finale that attempts to utilize the same trick is equally confusing. As well, the use of the burial ground is just highly cliche and doesn't come off in the slightest bit original or creative as a means to introduce the powers in the first place. As well, with the film being more a drama there's a lot of the film's running time running through a series of cliches and rather familiar plot points that leave this one predictable and easy to figure out. The idea of the bullied teen and the small-town jocks getting away with everything, having the whole town fooled into thinking they're right for bullying a person with a medical condition, and the local legend stemming from a Native Indian bit of folklore that's been running through the community. This renders a lot of the film to be quite familiar and expected, bringing this one down somewhat overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Good B- movie

[gab-67599 · 9/10 · 8 June 2021]

Was this movie low budget, yes.

Where there some really good actors in this, yes.

I must say it was a good movie. Felt a bit too long though. I loved the EMT workers who kept calling dibs on dead ppls things lol. Even in the end, the last few min's they called dibs on the sequel lol. This story was original, yet a bit all over the board. I went into this movie thinking it would have a religious aspect. Turns out this was more of a demonic possession movie. So, possession meets high school and real life bullying of ppl who have an uncontrollable ailment. Then ends with revenge and the lovely Dom riding off into the sunset. I love Adam Beach in anything he does, so even though his role was small it was believable. It was all ok until the main actor starts killing ppl, then the story goes a bit grim. I recommend if you just have some time to kill.

Direct to video horror throwback

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 8 December 2021]

Directed by writer, producer, and filmmaker Martin Guigui (Beneath the Darkness), The Unhealer has a pretty strong cast with Natasha Henstridge (Species) and Lance Henriksen (Near Dark) as the best-known actors.

Kelly Mason (Elijah Nelson) is a young man with a compulsive eating disorder called pica that causes him to eat paper, Styrofoam and anything inedible he can get his hands on. Medical science can't help him, his classmates bully him and his single mother (Henstridge) has no idea where to turn.

Enter Pflueger (Henriksen), a former con artist and hustler who has gone from desecrating ancient Native American burial grounds for artifacts to becoming Reverend Pflueger after an explosion gives him the ability to cure others. Despite the pleas of Native American elder Red Elk to give back the ability, Pflueger claims that he will live forever and use his healing gift for material wealth.

Bernice hires Pflueger to heal Kelly, but the laying on of hands causes the man to die of a heart attack. Now, his gift has been transferred to the boy. Any trauma inflicted on him only damages the people attacking him. So just imagine, if you've been abused by your fellow teens for years, what would you do?

Oh yeah -- and if Kelly eats anything that someone has worn, everything he feels, the wearer feels too. Of course, this leads to a wet dream in the middle of the school day, adding to the late 90s/early 2000s direct to video feel of this film -- I mean, it has a Stabbing Westward song over the credits -- and that's a good thing.

As Kelly becomes more confident and finally wins over Dominique, the woman of his dreams, he starts to realize that these powers are a curse and that they'll demand more violence than just the damage he's dealt to his bullies.

This has been developed as a trilogy, which makes sense, as it has a pretty decent story that feels like it can go on from here. There's an insane moment where Kelly uses a drill on his own knees to deliver damage to a football player that shocked me with both its humor and gore. Well done.

My Review

[souviadas · 7/10 · 12 December 2022]

This is such an amazing ... I'm just in love with this .... I would love to a part of this review section... That is why I decided to took a short amazing review for the goodwill for this .... I think I'm so much lucky that I grabe this opportunity to see this .... I'm so happy to see this so cool thing ... I want myself that much happier to see this full .... I'm so lucky ... Seriously this is the best thing that I have seen today .... I can't forget this thing anymore for atleast a week ..... I'm so thankful to God .... For giving me this amazing opportunity ..... It is so much fun to see this.

For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.

[Vivekmaru45 · 8/10 · 15 July 2021]

This statement is very true for this film. Truly, this is the most unique movie of its kind. I won't give away any of the plot but I will guarantee you that you will be glued to the screen start-to-finish.

Lance Henriksen who is such a legendary actor in his own right opens the movie. Elijah Nelson is the main character of the film. I barely recognized Natasha Henstridge who was considered among the most beautiful of actresses in her time.

The movie has elements of superstition and the gore genre. It is a thriller of the fast paced variety. I would not go as far to say that it is horror film. Though with all these variations, I found the movie entertaining enough to sit through it and my time was not wasted.

good movie

[prashanthgowda-93976 · 7/10 · 9 December 2022]

The story for this one has some very interesting aspects along with some out of place portions that are a little cringy and goofy. The eating disorder angle is very grounded and serious which does add some depth to the film. However, having him eat trash was pushing something serious to the point it was almost comedic. Watching him eat foam takes away from the actual impact of that part of the story. I did love the Native American lore that was mixed into the story but I feel like it was not explored to it's fullest potential. I don't see myself revisiting it again but as a first time watch it was entertaining. Check it out with an open mind and maybe a few beers.

I Agree with Stellar Reviews

[stitchrichard · 8/10 · 23 June 2021]

The reviews were stellar for this thriller/horror so I had to watch The Unhealer, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a small movie with big themes and a killer supernatural spin. The powers that the lead character who's a bullied young high school student are unlike I've ever seen. Instead of superpowers that can whisk away enemies, these powers need to be used with finesse and manipulation of the intended target. A sort of bounce-back or reflective defense mechanism has possessed the misfit lead. When a prank by his nemeses turns deadly, the empowered hero gets revenge. Can't lose on this plot! Must watch.

A struggling high schooler acquires good medicine... or is it bad medicine?

[Wuchakk · 7/10 · 24 October 2022]

A bullied teen with the eating disorder pica (Elijah Nelson) lives with his mother (Natasha Henstridge) in a mobile home outside Phoenix. They call on a gruff healer (Lance Henriksen) and the boy suddenly has the mojo to face the bullies, as well as attract the girls (Kayla Carlson).

"The Unhealer" (2021) is comic book horror with a high school milieu. The basic plot and tone harken back to "Christine" (1983) in which a persecuted misfit gains an advantage from some dubious source and proceeds to wreak vengeance on his harassers. The difference is that this one has the Southwest setting, mystical AmerIndian bits and budget of "Bone Eater" (2007).

Being a riff on the "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" theme, the movie addresses the issue of whether or not Kelly is better off with or without the "medicine." If Kelly is denied protection & justice due to the condoning of adults & authorities, is it wrong for him to take matters into his own hands? If it's not wrong in principle, how far should he go in regards to dishing out punishment? How far can he go before he becomes worse than his arrogant persecutors? These are interesting questions.

Meanwhile the intriguing faith healer of questionable morality element can be traced back to early 1974 and the origin of Steve Gerber's Foolkiller in Marvel's Man-Thing comic. The application here is different, so it's not like it's a total rip-off.

Being straight-to-video, "The Unhealer" has the budget of a decent TV movie and looks it. But this is made up for with an effective cast and compelling writing featuring snappy and sometimes amusing dialogue, comic booky though it may be (there's a type of quasi-Kryptonite, for heaven's sake). As long as you don't expect an award-winning flick, it's entertaining.

The film runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot at Apache Junction & Superstition Mountains just east of Phoenix & Scottsdale in the heart of Arizona.

GRADE: B/B-

Surprisingly good

[jasegarrigus · 6/10 · 7 April 2024]

While the entire movie suffers from a serious infection of overacting, there's no denying the originality of the storyline. Even though the "burial ground" troupe is overplayed at this point in cinematic history, the Pet Cemetery vibe works in this film in an unexpected way. Vengeance, intrigue, love, coming of age... all in a ball of teenage angst and small town foolishness. I'd like to see more from Elijah Nelson, as his character had the best development with the least forced emotion. At times I felt myself in his shoes, empathizing with "Kelly." A word of caution for this who don't care for blood, there are a few scenes that might leave you cringing.

Intense Horror Thriller

[xwxfjtjs · 8/10 · 14 June 2021]

This film is very intense and uses some of the most impressive, gruesome, practical effects I have seen in recent years.

The pacing of the film was quick, however, as a viewer, you never really feel like any of the concepts are under-explained or glossed over.

Overall, pretty good film that I thoroughly enjoyed watching it with my family this weekend. 8/10.